AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“What’s going on, Danny?” I respond with a sigh, hating that I was right, and it was work. Someday soon, I’m going to kidnap Junie and take her to the Caribbean and force Lodge to take over so I can have time with my woman.
“There’s a fire—”
“Then call the fire department. Damn it, man, can’t Lodge handle this? He’s on duty.”
“He’s already at the scene, Ben. It’s… It’s June’s bar, man.”
“Motherfucker,” I snap, anger, fear, and uneasiness all rolling together to form a tight ball in the pit of my stomach.
“Sorry, Sheriff. I knew you’d want to know and be the one to tell June.”
“I got it. Talk soon,” I tell him, hanging the phone up and looking at Junie with regret.
“Oh fuck,” she hisses, knowing just from my look that whatever is going on, can’t be good. “Ben? What’s going on?” she asks, and I hate seeing fear move over her face.
“It’s the bar, Junie.”
“The bar? A frown creasing her forehead. She gets out of bed before I can answer, moving quickly through the room to her closet. “What’s going on? More vandalism? I don’t care how young this kid is, I’m going to press charges. Maybe a stint in juvie will do him good.”
I get out of bed and walk to her, trapping her face between my hands.
“There’s a fire,” I tell her and that fear on her face morphs into pain.
“Oh God,” she cries.
“Junie, it’s going to be okay. Let’s get dressed and we’ll go see how bad it is. The department is already there. Okay?”
“Oh God, Ben.”
“Breathe. Let’s wait until we see how bad it is, okay?”
“Okay.” She nods, tears stinging her eyes.
“Get dressed, Baby,” I tell her when she doesn’t move.
“Okay,” she says again, and I let her go when she turns to find clothes. I do the same and we’re out of here in record time.
Junie doesn’t talk. She just clenches her fists tight in her lap, her knuckles stark white with the pressure. I don’t say anything either—but I break about every traffic law I can to get there quick, praying it’s not a total loss. I’m not sure Junie could handle that. She’s already had to deal with enough.
Junie
Istand in the kitchen of my bar with this sick feeling clawing at my stomach.
“Junie?” I hear Gavin behind me, but I can’t force myself to turn around. I’m staring at the brand-new grill that I bought. It was top of the line and so pretty to look at. Now, it’s ruined. A mixture of stained black smoke, a ton of water from the firemen putting out the flames, and sun shining down on it from the gigantic hole in the ceiling.
It could be worse. I keep saying that over and over, but the trouble is, even though that may be true, it still looks horrible to a woman with an aching bank account. It’s also entered my brain to just stop trying. To just…walk away.
“Junie?” Gavin says again, and I can’t seem to turn around. Instead, my head drops and my eyes close, because I can hear the pity in his voice. I hate hearing that. There’s been too many occasions in my life where others have felt pity for me. It’s always been something I hated.
“Junie, honey, it will be okay. We’ll help you and it will be back up in no time,” Gavin says pulling me into him.
I fall into him, my body stiff. I know he means well, but right now I just feel... frozen. Ben said the fire marshal will be doing an investigation, but they’re pretty sure the source of the fire was this grill. It had been left on with a dishcloth lying on top of it.
A simple mistake. That’s what the guy had said. Only the thing is, I cleaned the kitchen. I did it before we shut down, because it had been so slow. I did it before seeing the vandalism, and I remember doing it. I also remember turning it off.
Ben and I locked up. We were the last ones to leave having let Dawson go soon after Ben got there. There’s no explanation for how this fire started. The only thing I truly know is that there’s no way on God’s green earth that it could have started from that grill—unless there was some kind of mechanical error on the grill and it switched on. I might even believe that happened, except for one thing: that dish towel is not one of ours. I don’t recognize it at all.
“It’s okay, Gavin,” I lie, because I know that he needs to hear that from me. I don’t tell him about my suspicions or about the grill. There’s no point, at least not right now.
