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“Natalie!” I scream, knowing the explosion came from her bedroom.
Sam and Brody wrap their arms around me, and I fight against them to try and get to her bedroom.
“I have to get to her!”
“You can’t. We have to go around!” Brody yells through the comms, trying to be heard above the noise of the fire. I can’t fight against the two very large firefighters who manage to pull me from the house.
“Get the ladder ready,” Sam says to Brody, and one set of arms drops from my shoulders. My entire body is taut with tension as I wait for the ladder to be in position. It feels like it’s going in slow motion.
Once it’s in place, I race up the ladder, quickly smashing open the window. The walls are blazing as I step into her bedroom. My eyes scan the space, finally landing on Natalie who is laying on her bed, her arms hanging at a weird angle. When I get closer to her, I see her hands are cuffed to the headboard, but I don’t have the capacity to rationalize what I’m seeing. I rush over to the bed, through the flames, and try to break the cuffs. Despite using all of my strength, I can’t detach them with only my hands.
“Bring the bolt cutters,” I say into my comms, hoping Brody hasn’t come up the ladder yet. The heat is shimmering around us the longer we’re in the room, and I know we don’t have much time.
“Copy,” he responds.
After what feels like an hour, but was probably only two minutes, Brody is at my side, leaning over the bed and snapping the cuffs. I swoop in and lift Natalie into my arms.
“Get out of there, guys. It’s getting too intense,” Chief says.
I don’t even respond as I stalk back to the window, carrying my entire world through the hole and down the ladder. Once I’m back on the ground, I lift Nat onto the waiting stretcher and watch as the paramedics begin working on her.
With my heart in my throat, I follow them as they roll her to the ambulance, wishing she would wake up and tell me she’s okay. They get her into the back and Taylor looks at me. “Follow behind us, we’ll need the room to work.” I nod my head as I watch them do what they can to save the love of my life.
“What the fuck was that?” Sam asks me as we watch them drive away.
They’re still working on putting the fire out, and I realize I don’t have a vehicle to go to the hospital. Why the fuck didn’t I get into the back of the ambulance?
I run my fingers through my hair, and Sam’s voice finally registers.
“What?”
“Why was she handcuffed to the bed?”
“I don’t…” I shake my head, trying to clear my thoughts and make sense of what we saw. “I don’t know.”
Sam looks at me like he wants to say something but he just stands there looking at me.
“No. She wasn’t cheating on me. I know with one hundred percent certainty. I mean, we were moving in together, it doesn’t make sense.”
“Okay. It’s just the first thing I thought of.”
“I know, but she wouldn’t. We’re solid.”
He nods his head and looks around the street. His eyes land on Uncle Jack, and he runs over to talk to him. All I can do is stand there, watching them put out the fire. I can’t make sense of anything right now.
Sam jogs back over to me, holding up keys. “Chief gave me the keys to his SUV so we can go to the hospital. He’ll catch a ride on the truck when they’ve put the fire out.”
I don’t think there will ever be words to express my gratitude for Sam or the other guys on the team. Knowing they have my back, as well as Natalie’s, is a comfort I never knew I’d need.
Sam and I get into the SUV, and he drives us to the hospital. I jump out the minute we pull into the ER bay with Sam’s voice behind me telling me he’s going to go park the truck.
I see a few people sitting in the waiting room when I walk through the doors, but I head straight for the front desk. “Natalie Carlisle was just brought in by ambulance. Can you tell me where she is? I’m her fiancé.”
The nurse at the desk looks at her computer. “Looks like they have her back in a room right now. They’ll come out with more information when they have it.”
I clench my teeth together to keep from yelling at the nurse because I know she’s just doing her job, but I’m about to come unglued without any information.
Once I have my temper in check, I ask her to get an update on Natalie’s condition. She gives me a long look and then picks up the phone, hopefully calling back to the nurse’s station and not security.
