“Wait!” I call out. He pauses, giving me a questioning look. “Where’s Detective Lin? Is she here?”
Ben frowns. “I don’t know for sure, but I’ll ask around.” Then he walks toward one of the police officers.
I look tearfully at Seb and B. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “I know I shouldn’t have left like that, but I…”
“You don’t need to apologize, Fi,” Seb says. He walks to the other side of the stretcher and taking my hand. He brings it to his lips and gently kisses each of my fingers.
My stomach tingles.
B is sitting with me, his hands stroking my hair and face like he can’t stop touching me, and he nods, a fierce look in his eyes.
“I lost your jacket,” I choke. “And you loved that jacket.” I’ve literally never seen B without it, so I know it meant a lot to him.
B gives me an incredulous look. “Fiona, Jesus. It’s just a jacket. All that matters is that you’re okay. And whatever you felt you had to do is in the past now. Just…” His voice cracks and my heart cracks right along with it. “Just please don’t do something like that again. I can’t lose you.Wecan’t lose you.” He wipes tears quickly from his cheeks.
“I love you both,” I whisper. “So much.”
The guys share a knowing look, and then Seb meets my tearful gaze. “We love you too, beautiful. Always.”
“Fi, you’re awake.” I look over to see Charlie walking up to the ambulance, Link and Trey trailing behind her.
“You guys came too?” Guilt heats my cheeks when I realize that all I did was put the very people I was trying to protect in harm’s way.
Charlie smiles, tears streaking down her red cheeks, and wraps her arms around me carefully. “Of course, we came,” she whispers in my ear. “You’re our family.” I choke on a sob and hug her tightly.
When I pull back, Lincoln gives me a somber look. “I swear to God, Flowers, if you ever pull that shit again, I will kill you myself.”
Despite the emotional lump in my throat, I laugh and lean forward, wrapping my arms around him. He stiffens at first, but when Trey comes in from the other side, joining the hug, Link grumbles something about sappy shit, and gives in, kissing the top of my head.
“Ms. Flowers?” An Asian woman with a kind smile approaches me and extends her hand. “I’m Detective Lin. It’s so good to finally meet you in person.”
My eyes fill with fresh tears. “Thank you for coming,” I choke out.
“I wish we could have gotten here sooner,” she says with a frustrated sigh. “Some black ice grounded one of our vans on the way here, so we had to call for backup.”
“Did Dennis? I mean, he didn’t get out, did he?”
She shakes her head. “I don’t think so, though the fire will need to be investigated for his remains.”
“That wasn’t part of my plan. The fire, I mean.”
Detective Lin smiles. “Well, either way, it was very brave of your friend Micah to come forward as a witness. At this point,Dennis’s case is being transferred to the FBI’s sex crimes unit. They’ll have some questions for you later.”
“Thank you again for your help, Detective Lin.”
“Of course.” She squeezes my shoulder and leaves us.
B shrugs. “I guess it was a pretty good plan other than the whole putting-yourself-in-danger part.”
“Not really a fan of that either,” Seb grumbles. “You should have waited for us.”
“Would you have let me go if you knew?”
“No,” they say together.
After that, everything happens quickly. One of the fire people? A firewoman? I don’t know the proper term. But she takes a statement from me about the fire and explains that the local police and the FBI will meet us in Brighton. Then I’m loaded into the ambulance.
B and Seb fuss over who’ll ride with me, but in the end, Seb stays with me as the ambulance drives to Brighton while the others follow in Lincoln’s car and B’s truck.
