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Flames poured from where the front windows had once been, the entire dining area fully engulfed. Palmer stopped the truck and everyone poured out, determination etched into every line and muscle of my crew’s bodies. But while they prepared to fight the fire, the only thing on my mind was getting to Hardin.
Going through the front was out of the question. It was a death sentence, and I refused to believe she was there. I ran toward the alley around back to the door I knew came right off the kitchen, and what I saw when I got there set my teeth on edge.
A metal pipe was shoved through the handle, making it impossible to open. I didn’t waste any time ripping the pipe away. Thick smoke bellowed out in huge clouds the instant I got the door opened, but I charged ahead. With my mask, I could breathe, but I couldn’t see more than two feet in front of my face.
“Hardin!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, my heart in my throat the whole time as I moved around the kitchen, searching for her. “Hardin, I’m here!” I waited, praying for a response. “Come on, baby,” I said as I worked my way deeper into the building. “I’m gonna get you out, but you gotta make some noise. Let me know where you are.”
I heard it then, the faint sound of coughing. A dry sob ripped from my chest as I raced toward the sound. The door to her office was partially open, and the instant I shoved through, I saw her, curled up against the wall behind her desk, her shirt pulled over her mouth.
I rushed to her, bending down and lifting her into my arms. Her body was limp as I carried her out of the office and back the way I came, but when I heard her raspy voice say my name, something deep inside of me told me everything was going to be okay.
29
HARDIN
An annoying, persistent beep niggled at my consciousness. It felt like my eyelids were weighed down with cinderblocks. The bed I was lying in didn’t feel like mine, and even with my eyes closed, I could tell the lights of the room I was in were too harsh. Too bright.
It took effort, but I finally managed to get my eyelids to flutter open, and when my vision finally came into focus, I didn’t recognize where I was.
“Hey, you’re awake,” a voice whispered to my left.
I turned my head and lifted my hand to rub at my aching temple, only to have something tug painfully at the back of my hand.
“Don’t try to move too fast,” Owen said as he came up beside me. “Just give yourself a moment. “You’ve been out for a day and a half.”
“Where am—” I cut myself off when the words I spoke lit a fire up my throat.
“Here.” My big brother lifted a white Styrofoam cup and brought the straw to my lips. “Small sips.”
I did as he ordered, the cool, refreshing water soothing my throat. I gave myself a moment before trying again. “Where am I?” I asked, barely recognizing my voice.
His expression grew tortured at the raspy, unfamiliar sound of my voice, but I watched as he quickly pulled himself together, putting on the mask of protective big brother. “You’re in the hospital. Can you tell me what you remember?”
I blinked, trying to put the hazy memories together, but as soon as the last piece clicked into place, tears welled up in my eyes. “Oh god. The fire.” My watery eyes shot back to Owen.
“How bad?”
He shook his head. “That’s not something you need to worry about right now. All you need to focus on is getting better.”
My jaw locked tight, my words coming out in a hiss. “How bad, Owen?”
“We’ll rebuild. Insurance will cover it, and we’ll rebuild. Junior’s won’t be down for long.”
A single tear spilled past my lower lid and trailed down my cheek as I tried to pick out other memories of that night. “Do you know how it started?”
His jaw clenched so tight the muscles ticked violently. He ground his molars together, his fists clenched, at his sides. “Security camera footage caught a woman by the name of Rebecca Duvall throwing flaming bottles of diesel fuel through the windows.”
I sucked in a sharp breath that felt like shards of glass against my throat.
“I’m pretty sure you know her as Hayley. They caught up with her at some fleabag motel off the interstate about an hour from here, and even if her face wasn’t on those videos, clear as day, they found everything she needed for more Molotov cocktails in the trunk of her car.”
I shook my head, trying to wrap my mind around everything I’d just heard. “I don’t understand. Why would she do that?”
“Apparently, after your last conversation with him, Keith ended things with her. She blamed you and had already been following you for days. There were hundreds of photos of you in her phone. She saw you were working late, and when everyone else left, she barricaded the back door and set fire to the restaurant with you in it.”
My mouth gaped open. “You mean... oh my god. She—she did it on purpose?”
Owen came over and placed his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me while the machines I was hooked up to started beeping faster as my heartrate sped up. “She’s never going to be able to get to you again. There’s nothing more for you to worry about.”
