Page 73 of Kiss Me Forever

“What can I say? I’m pretending to be frugal. Okay, Ms. Aly, you tell me where you want these, and I will get to work. Reece said that he needed you at project site B,” Dash called out.

“Really? Oh, did they get the inspection through?” I asked. Project site B was the second burned building that might be a loss, and we were still waiting on a few things before we could even begin.

“Yes, you can go in. I already did and the place is going to need a lot of work. But be quick, because I have no idea where your plants go.”

“I’m so glad that you offered to help then,” Aly teased.

“I’ll be right back. Promise.” I waved to them and made my way to the project house, knowing that our family was working ourselves a little too thin. We considered this branch of projects one major endeavor. We had finished up the smaller projects, as well as the one that my cousin Lexington had been working on so hard last year. Honestly, we had been moving through everything as quickly and competently as possible. But I would be glad when we were done with this set. It was a lot of back-breaking work, and we weren’t even close to being finished.

“Hey, Brooklyn, over here to check out the corpse?”

I frowned at Jesse, one of Lexington’s team members.

“Really? You’re calling it a corpse now?” I shivered at that, not surprised the team had found another way to add a nickname that weirded me out.

Jesse shrugged in answer. “I don’t know if Reece is going to be able to fix the place. That fire took it out hard core. And this one isn’t even as bad as the one he’s at.”

“So he’s not at this project house. I thought Reece wanted me to be here.”

“Reece is on his way, don’t worry. You love birds can have some privacy. I’m going to go help Dash with the plants.”

I rolled my eyes as he went to help Dash and walked into the small house. There wasn’t a front door anymore, and everything that the firefighters had put it through had pretty much ruined most of the uniqueness that made this house a home. It hurt my heart that there didn’t seem like there was anything we could do, but between Lex and Reece, they could usually think of something.

I moved into the living room and froze as the sound of a huge crack echoed through the area. Somebody shouted, and I whirled, wondering which house it was from. Then a shadow split over me, and I tried to move out of the way. Three huge beams that had been part of the roof tumbled forward, and my foot slipped, tripping over an upturned board. I hit the floor, splinters digging into my palms as the first beam slammed right over me. Part of it hit my shoulder, and I screamed.

The other two hit each other, slowing down somewhat, but were still coming at me from the second story. It all happened so quickly, that it felt as if with each breath, there was no escaping it. I tried to get up, but the first beam pinned me down, but then Reece was there, strong hands on my arms, as he pulled me out, and the other two beams slammed into the floor with a breathtaking speed, shards of wood flying everywhere. Reece covered my head and shoved us both to the ground, keeping me safe.

My heart thudded in my chest as I looked up at him, wide-eyed.

“What the hell were you thinking being in here?”

“Are you serious right now?” I pushed him away and winced at the blood on my hands. “I’m in here because we already had the major inspection done. I’m allowed to walk in here. I’m the one who fucking owns it.”

“You could have been killed!” Reece practically shouted in my face. We were both kneeling on the ground, and I moved away from him, standing up without putting my hands on the floor. People were shouting now, running towards us, and I couldn’t even look at Reece.

He’d saved me, but screaming at me in front of everyone else? What the fuck.

“Are you okay?” Dash was there, looking down at my hands and cursing. “We should take you to the doctor.”

“I’m fine,” I said, ignoring the ache in my shoulder. “I just need to wash my hands or something.”

“You should go to the fucking doctor,” Reece snapped.

I looked at him then, my eyes narrowed. “I think you’ve done enough yelling. If you’d like to yell some more, go find the inspector who fucking lied.”

“Freckles, don’t be stupid. You’re hurt. You’re going to the doctor.”

Silence settled over the entire place, every single member of my team staring at us in shock. This. This was why I had tried not to want Reece. Why I’d tried to keep my eyes off of him. Because when things weren’t going well, we fought. And he acted like this.

And I’d always be the person too fragile to stand up for myself.

Or I had been.

I saw the fear in his eyes. I only wished I could latch onto it. To lean into it. But I didn’t think that was an option. Not now.

“I’ll take her,” Aly said as she came to my side. “No need to act all growly. She freaked me out so I get to take my new best friend to check out that noggin of hers.”

“No one says noggin, Aly,” Dash drawled, trying to lighten the tension.