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I don’t know how long it took to drift off, but soon I was off to sleep, and my mind had taken me back to a time I wished I could forget.
There was a loud ringing in my ear. My whole world had just flipped on its axis, leaving me disoriented and confused. I didn’t know which way was up and which way was down.
Slowly I willed my eyes open even though the pressure in my skull wanted me to rest.
Fire. I could feel the heat of fire not too far away from me. Glass covered my body, and my seat belt clung to it, keeping it in place.
I turned my head, with great effort, to the side and found my mother. Her eyes were facing forward, her head dripping with blood. Her body shook uncontrollably as her hands held onto a rod lodged in her abdomen.
“Mom?” I croaked. My throat felt like I had swallowed a pack of rusted nails. “Mom?”
She turned her neck in my direction, and my heart caught in the middle of my throat.
“Baby…”
My body surged forward as the alarm blared in my ears.
‘Engine 68, school fire 3564 Willow Grove Ave,’ the alarm blared.
I watched Xander run past me with the rest of my squad, and I hopped out of bed as my instincts kicked in.
I hadn’t dreamt of my mother and the accident in over ten years, but the dreams returned. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that this had to do with a certain new-to-town woman with a smart-ass mouth.
Amelia Carter would be the death of me.
6
AMELIA
“Come on, you look fine,” Selena said as we walked into the entrance of the new bar that had just opened in downtown Chicago.
“I look like a hooker,” I muttered, trying to pull up the tight corset showing just a tad bit too much cleavage for my liking. “Did you have to make me wear this? Look at me.”
She stopped dead in her tracks and pulled my attention to her. “You are a hot single woman going out on the town. You can’t stay cooped up in your apartment like a hermit. You are hot, young, and sexy as fuck. Flaunt those perky boobies before they sag.”
“I just…” I looked down at myself. “I’m a little out of my element here.”
She placed her hands on my shoulders and squeezed them tightly. “And that is a good thing. You kept in your shell for years, but now it’s time to live a little. I know you like coloring inside the lines, but be a little reckless for tonight, okay? Flirt. Make out with a random stranger. Get dunk. I don’t care. Just let loose, Lia.”
I rolled my shoulder and shook out the trapped tension in my back. “Okay. To a night of bad decisions.”
Selena’s face split into a shit-eating grin. “That’s my girl. Now come on. Let’s go con these men into getting us free drinks.”
She hooked her arm in mine and walked me to the bar's entrance.
A large neon blue sign read, ‘Billy’s Well.’
The name could have been better, but the vibes were immaculate as soon as we walked in. The bar was decorated like one of those old Western bars that you saw in the movies. Everything from the furniture to the walls and floors was made of dark wood.
The decorations on the walls comprised various number plates from different states—parts of a motorcycle and some pictures of Chicago sports legends.
The music played through the speakers could only be described as old country bangers.
I didn’t miss the way the men in the bar turned to look at us as we walked in.
I wouldn’t say we stuck out like sore thumbs, but we didn't exactly blend into the casual appearance of the rest of the bar-goers. While most of them wore jeans and T-shirts, we dressed like we were ready for the club.
Skinny jeans, thigh-high boots, and corset tops rearranged my internal organs.
