Page 28 of The Night Ride (SEALs on Wheels #3)

Chapter nineteen

S haken more than any raid I’d been on in my military career, I drove away from Beth’s place questioning myself.

Did I really need to rejoin Lucas and Wyatt?

Our last communication put them in California already.

I sincerely doubted that their visit with Paige would take long before they headed up north to Evan and Beth’s baby sister Nora.

Would it be better if I stayed with Beth and joined them on the return journey?

But what good would it do when the result would be the same?

Yet I didn’t want to leave her. She was the best damn thing to ever happen to me. This small slice of time with her had been epic. She was the most giving and loving woman.

What could I even offer her? A townhome that was owned by the government. A man who was away from his country more often than he was in it.

Love.

It hit me like a semi-truck.

Shit.

I was in love with Beth.

Wholly. Completely. With every fiber of my being in love with her. Leaving her felt as if I’d carved what remained of my heart and soul out and left it on her doorstep.

Beth had only wanted me to love her. It didn’t mean we couldn’t commit to each other, get to know each other more during my last two years in the Navy before I hit retirement. As long as we kept the lines of communication open while I was away it could work.

Would she be content with a slower speed? Could she be patient while I finished what I needed to complete?

I had no clue. But I knew the answers didn’t lie in California, they were behind me, in a small little suburb in Saint Louis with a woman that took my breath away, a woman any man would be proud to call their own.

And if I left things where they were, eventually another man would take my place in her heart and in her bed. It was inevitable.

I sent a silent apology to Evan for once again breaking another vow I’d sworn to him. Pulled off the interstate at Saint. Clair, Missouri, and headed east back up the highway toward the woman I intended to make mine, if she would still have me.

By now she would already be at the bakery.

The sun broke through the clouds and beams of light shone upon me as I drove. I took it as a sign that Evan knew about my relationship with his sister and approved. Wyatt had been right. Who better than a SEAL to protect her and love her.

I only hoped she would forgive me for being such a dunderhead.

***

When I arrived at the bakery, it was still dark outside.

I was a little late given the total breakdown I had after Aiden left.

For the first time in recent years, the last place I wanted to be was the bakery.

A part of me wanted to put a closed for business sign in the window today.

Head home, and crawl into bed where I could sob my heart out until it no longer felt like this leaded weight in my chest.

It was ridiculous. I was a grown woman. I knew going in that our relationship was temporary and that he wouldn’t choose me.

But even after everything life had tossed my way, I was an eternal optimist. And had hoped after everything we shared, he would choose me. That he would look me in the eye and say yes, Beth, I want to be with you, let’s tackle this life together.

No such luck.

He left just like everyone else in my life.

And I hated the knee jerk reaction, wondering if there was something inside me that was inherently unlovable, because everyone left me. No one ever stuck. The logical explanation would be that it’s me. I’m the problem.

I did my best to lay to rest the storm of grief swimming in my chest. I had a business to run.

After Tracy’s betrayal I wouldn’t leave it to someone else.

That didn’t mean that once the dust settled and my employees knew that Tracy had embezzled funds, that I wouldn’t take a day or two off.

I needed some time away, even just a weekend to burrow into my house and not deal with the outside world.

It’s the only thing that would mend my broken heart.

I headed in through the back door, making sure to lock it behind me. And got to work, firing up the ovens. But as the ovens heated the scent of gas permeated the air. But it wasn’t natural gas that came from an oven or burner. It smelled like gasoline.

Cool air blew in from the back.

Was an employee here early? Because no one else was supposed to start until nine this morning and that was hours away yet.

I walked toward the back wondering what the hell was happening. When I reach the back hallway, all the air expelled from my lungs. Justin, Tracy’s husband, stood at the back door with a gasoline can and a lit match.

“Justin? What are you doing?”

He was a short, stocky man, his chestnut hair in wild disarray. “You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you? You take it all when Tracy should have the nice shop.”

Excuse me? I hustled my ass to afford this place. I still hustle for it. “I built this place from the ground up. I didn’t take anything from Tracy. She’s the one who has been stealing from me. The forensic accountant found thousands of dollars in discrepancies. And it was every time Tracy closed.”

“So you automatically accuse a woman who has been a friend to you, who fed you and put you up in our home?”

“It was for a single weekend while I waited on the keys to my house and had to move out of my apartment. You both insisted. I bought groceries and cooked for you two the entire weekend as a thank you for putting me up. I’m sure I can find the receipt for that bill somewhere, because I know those Kobe beef steaks cost a pretty penny. ”

“Yeah, you just had to rub it in our faces how much better you were doing.” Justin sneered with his face contorted in rage.

“That’s not why…do you honestly believe it justifies the fact that Tracy stole from me? That you’re standing here with gasoline and a match. Are you planning to burn my bakery down?”

“That’s right. And you can burn with it, bitch.” He tossed the match. It arced through the air and landed on a puddle of gas near the back door. Fire exploded along the back wall.

Justin raced out the back door and closed it with a resounding thud.

Fire raced across the exit. Smoke began filling the back.

I knew any minute the sprinkler system would kick on.

It had to, but as the seconds ticked by, the smoke billowed thicker, creating a haze in the bakery.

I raced into the kitchen and grabbed one of the fire extinguishers we always keep in the kitchen. And I called nine-one-one.

“Nine-One-One, what’s your emergency?”

I choked out a coughing laugh. “Hi, this is Beth Ryder at Sweet Dreams Bakery. There’s a fire.”

“How many people are inside and have the sprinklers kicked on?”

“It’s just me. The sprinklers haven’t come on,” I coughed into the receiver. “I’m going to try to put it out with an extinguisher.”

“Ma’am, how did the fire start? Is it a grease fire?”

“No. A man…he,” the room spun. I was getting dizzy from all the smoke and rounded the corner. “Oh god.”

“Ma’am is everything okay?”

“No, the fire has spread.” The entire back hallway, my office, the accounting room, it was all on fire.

“Okay, ma’am you need to find an exit. The fire department is on the way.”

“Okay, I should be able to get out the front door.” I coughed, still on the phone. I made it to the front door and my stomach dropped into my toes. Justin stood on the other side with an evil smile as he padlocked the door shut.

“Oh god. He locked me in. I can’t get out.”

“Is there glass that you can break to exit the building?”

Coughing, I heard the sirens wail in the distance even as the bakery filled with smoke. I didn’t want to think about the grisly demise that awaited me. I only wanted to thank my lucky stars that I had a chance to be with the man I loved more than life itself.

“There’s a window.” The front door glass was reinforced. The window should be easier. Especially since my head was swimming.

“Okay, I need you to break it open and climb out. The fire department is only two minutes away.”

I didn’t know if I had two minutes before the fire reached the front, not with the gas Justin used. Coughing fits assailed me. I lifted the nearest chair and headed to the window display. The fumes were getting to me. I felt woozy and lightheaded.

“Ma’am, are you still there?”

“Yes, I--,” shook myself, trying to clear my head. I raised the chair, knowing I would only get one chance at this. But my vision wobbled. Before I could swing, the dizziness expanded, my vision narrowed until everything went black, and I slumped to the ground.

***

Fire trucks raced past me as I neared Beth’s bakery. What the hell was going on? Why were they headed in the same direction as me?

Man, they were hauling ass. The only reason I didn’t break the speed limit was because of the all the police cars that went flying by. Last thing I wanted to do was get pulled over.

But then I pulled onto the main drive and saw flames leaping out from above Beth’s bakery. It was connected to a large strip mall, and it looked like the fire had already spread to the nearby buildings.

I parked my bike a block away and raced through the crowd. A firefighter was holding people back.

“Sir, you’re going to have to stand back.”

“Where’s the owner of the bakery? Is she out here?”

“We’re working on a rescue. There’s a woman trapped inside. I need you to back away so we can do our jobs.”

An unholy fear assailed me. Beth was in there. I glanced at my options. There was a group preparing to enter, but it looked like they were waiting on a signal. If Beth was in there, she didn’t have a minute for them to assemble.

I spied a pickaxe leaning against one of the nearby trucks without its owner.

Without thinking it through fully, I swiveled on my heels and raced to the axe.

Hefted it up and raced through the crowd.

Other firefighters and police took note and started screaming that I needed to get back, that it was too dangerous.

I lived and breathed danger. And I wasn’t going to allow Beth to die.

I refused to allow it. She was everything that was good and light in this world.

I raced up to the window and swung the axe.

Glass shattered. Smoke billowed from the broken window.

And that’s when I spied her, passed out on the floor feet from the window, a chair lay on its side beside her.

I cleared out the glass, swinging the axe until it was out of the way. Then ducked inside the window, my boots crunched over broken glass.

I reached her side, trying not to breathe in the horrendous fumes. I tossed the axe down and lifted her up into my arms. With no time to lose, I headed back the way I came in. Outside there were firefighters and paramedics waiting for us.

We exited the building, and I gulped in oxygen as they hurried us away from danger. But I didn’t relinquish Beth to anyone until we reached a gurney. And even then, while the paramedic who was about my age put an oxygen mask over her face and began taking her vitals, I didn’t release her hand.

Out cold, her skin smudged and dirty, she had never looked more fragile than she did in that moment. And I cursed my own inability to see past my nose. If I hadn’t been such an idiot, maybe I could have kept her home with me. Convinced her to take the day off.

“Will she be all right?” I yelled above the din.

“Her vitals look good. We’ll need to take her in for smoke inhalation, but she should be all right. We should get that looked at,” he nodded at the gash seeping blood on my arm. Some of the glass nicked me on the way out.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not. We need to get the blood stopped and you might need stitches.” The medic eyed the wound with concern.

“Just bandage it up. I’m not leaving her side.” I did that once and look what happened.

The medic and I had a pissing match. He didn’t realize he was dealing with a Navy SEAL, and we could be stubborn sons of bitches when warranted. He finally relented with a nod. “Fine. Have it your way. I’ll bandage it up here. I’m assuming you want to ride to the hospital with her.”

“You’d assume right. Do you know how it started?”

“Nope. But that’s for the police and Fire Marshall to figure out. Let’s get you bandaged. Then if you’re coming with me, we need to move and get her checked out at the hospital, make sure there’s nothing more going on.”

“Let’s go. You can wrap it on the way.”

The man just rolled his eyes skyward but didn’t argue as they loaded her into the back of the ambulance. I climbed in after. Just as I took my seat the roof of the bakery caved in. I said a prayer of thanks that I arrived when I did. Because if I’d been ten minutes later, Beth would be dead.

The thought shook me to my fucking core.