Wildfire Hurricane (A Ryder Boys Novel Book 1) (18 page)

“You look like you’re in pain.”

He shifted his aching boner to a more comfortable place. “You almost broke my hand.”

“Sorry.” A faint smile touched her lips.

God, how he wanted to hold on to her forever! “I don’t mind.” He sniffled and his eyes stung.
How much time do we have left? Not enough.

Around the room, people coughed and hacked. A child cried while her mother held him and sang with tears streaming down her face. Tom walked over to the door again, placed his hand on it and immediately pulled it back.

Simone slid closer. “We’re going to die here, aren’t we?”

Her words made the truth he’d been avoiding concrete. “Probably.”
Don’t give up!

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t pull that shit.”

“Okay, definitely.”
Damn it!
He should’ve been able to save her.
That’s what heroes do, right?
“We’re toast.”

“I can’t believe you said that.”

The handshake he’d shared with Flynn came back to him.
Know when it ends.
He cringed. “But the smoke will get us first, so…won’t feel a thing.”

“That’s comforting.” She wiped her eyes. “We’ve had enough pain in our lives.”

Leaving her had ripped a hole in his life, but the thirteen long years they’d spent apart left him empty and broken. He wanted to rebuild with her, but now they’d never have the chance. “More than our share.”

Her trembling lips flattened and her eyes hardened. “We don’t deserve this.” A sob escaped her, and he held her close until the shudders subsided. Simone cuddled against him and sighed. “But we’re together now, and we’re going to stay together for the rest of our lives.” She forced a smile and squeezed his hand.

Dash let tears roll down his face. “I love you more than you’ll ever know. My God, I can’t believe it took this for me to figure that out. All that anger, and hate, it was just so stupid. I should’ve put that aside sooner. Came back and made you mine.”

She sat up and grabbed hold of his shirt. “I shouldn’t have let you go. I’ll never do that again.”

He caressed her damp cheek. “Oh, Simone, my one true love.” He sat up and faced her, holding both her hands in his. “I want to say something profound and meaningful. But I can’t find the words. What good are they anyway?”

“Words are all we have left.”

They’d lost everything: their homes, friends, the past they’d shared. But Dash had seen enough destruction and redemption—hell, he’d experienced it—to know that something would survive. Somehow. “No. I have hope.”

“How?”

Hope. He’d never used that word in his poetry, but now he found it in his heart. “You gave it to me. Life will go on. Love will too. And you and me—when they find us—we’ll be together. Forged forever in a fire that will burn for eternity because we loved each other from the moment we met through our last breath.”

She squeezed his hands and slid closer. “And beyond.”

“Always gotta have the last word.” He smiled and raised her fingers to his lips.

Tears streamed down her face. “I want these to be my last words to you: you are the love I craved all my life, and I’m so lucky to have found you twice.”

“Don’t let go.” He wrapped his arms around her, sobbing into her hair as she clung to him and cried in his shirt.

An explosion rolled over their heads. A girl wailed and men gasped. The lights flickered and darkness fell, snuffing out hope. Dash held his breath and waited for his heart to stop.

Chapter 18

A splintering crash woke Dash from a violent and passionate dream about making love to Simone while a forest burned around them. He coughed as dust rained down on his head. A flashlight beamed through the smoke. He sat up, still holding Simone, and peered into the haze. The door dented and fell as a man with an axe strode in.

“In here!” His call brought more men. Firefighters poured in and rushed to aid people.

Holy shit, we’re saved!
“Simone!” He shook her, but she didn’t move. “Simone?” He grabbed her shoulder and rattled her.
Fucking hell, no!
His heart raced and cold sweat dotted his brow. “Please, darlin’! I can’t live without you!”

She coughed and moaned, reaching for him. “I’m here.”

His heart soared and he crushed her against his soggy shirt. “Oh my God! You scared the shit out of me.” He planted a kiss on her dry lips that left her gasping for breath.

She squinted at the firefighters. “What’s going on, Dash?”

“Dash Ryder?” The man with the axe yanked his helmet off and ran to them.

Dash turned and recognized the big, pig-eatin’ shit grin on the soot-covered face. “Ray!” He tried to jump up, but his legs gave out.

Ray pulled him to his feet. “Superintendent! So glad we found you.”

“Me too!” Dash threw his arms around Ray, knocking him back a step. “I thought you were dead.”

“Nah.” Ray patted his back. “The shelter saved my hairy ass.”

“Damn glad it did.”

Simone grabbed Dash’s arm, and he helped her stand. “Status report.”

Ray filled them in. “The fire is eighty percent contained.”

Dash had seen no sign that it would ever stop. “How’d you do it?”

“The hurricane made landfall right on top of us early this morning. Thunder, lightning, sheets of rain as thick as lead. The whole shebang.”

“Losses?” Simone squeezed Dash’s hand.

“Heavy.” Ray’s grin faded. “The entire east side of the city was destroyed. The high school is gone. Wasn’t that a shelter? I hope everyone got out.”

Simone nodded. “We did.”

The ceiling split, dropping chunks of paint and drywall on top of them. Ray grabbed Dash’s arm. “We’ve got to get everyone out of here. There’s a bus on the roof that’s going to end up in our laps.”

Dash helped the firefighters escort everyone outside while Simone grabbed a flashlight and searched the room. “Is that everyone?”

Her beam stopped on an object on the floor as dust rained down. She bent and grabbed it. “It is now.” She waved a teddy bear over her head.

A deep rumbling shook the building. Simone ran toward the door, meeting Dash in the middle of the room. Tires slipped through the widening gap. He grabbed her hand. “Come on!”

They ran out the door as the ceiling caved in and the bus crashed down behind them.

Firetrucks and ambulances filled the parking lot. The rescued evacuees huddled under tarps the firefighters had set up. Simone gave the teddy bear to a forlorn-looking girl who squealed and hugged her. “You found my best friend!”

Tears rolled down Simone’s cheeks. “I found mine too.”

Chaos ruled, but instead of heralding doom, an overwhelming sense of joy and relief settled over the impromptu shelter.

Dash stood in the pouring rain, letting it wash the soot and grime off his body and the dirt from his soul. The storm had cleared the air, and he breathed deep.

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Simone took his hand.

“Feels new. Like an overdue shower. Fresh and clean.”

“Nowhere near clean.” She wiped dripping mud from her face with a dirty hand.

“Not yet.” He raked his soaked hair back with his fingers and gazed out over the ruined city. The rain turned the ash to rivers of gray mud. Blackened buildings smoldered and piles of debris littered the ground. “We’ll rebuild.” He tugged their linked hands and pulled her close, staring into her worried eyes. “Everything.”

A hopeful smile lit her face. “My apartment is gone. Where am I going to stay?”

“With me.”

“Your house is ashes.” She quirked an eyebrow. “Where are you going to stay?”

“With you.” His hands settled on her hips.

She laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. “You’re such a dork. But I love you anyway.”

“Yeah, you do.” He kissed her, holding her soaking wet body close while she damn near purred against him. Thunder echoed across the barren landscape, and rain poured down, dampening his spirits. They’d survived, but their entire lives had burned. He’d promised her they’d rebuild, but where would they start?

Simone shivered, and Dash held her tight, having only the warmth of his body to offer her. No, he could give her more than that. Love for a lifetime, friendship without end, and maybe someday the family she deserved. The hope she’d planted in his heart blossomed.

He stepped back and held her hands in his. “Darlin’, I want to ask you something.” His legs bent and one knee landed in a puddle.

“Hold on a second.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “I think I got it this time.”

Cold mud seeped through his pants. “Got what?” He wobbled a bit as wind and rain pummeled him.

A bright smile spread across her face as she sang. “I was raised by two wet bleh bleh hains.”

Did she get hit in the head?
He straightened and stood, releasing her hands as he searched for dry ground to stand on. “That’s not even a word and you know it!”

She followed him. “That’s why it works. The words aren’t real.”

“The words have to be real.”
Jesus, is she serious?
No one sang gibberish. He spun and backed her into dented car. “Why do you turn everything into a fight?”

Simone slapped her hand over her face. “Oh my God, we’ve known each other since…forever and you still haven’t figured that out?”

“No!”

She groaned as rain trickled through her long hair, dripping down her shoulders and flowing along her arms to her fingertips. “When I met you, you were Mal’s pet, a devoted puppy following him around and doing whatever he wanted. You started doing it with me too, and it got on my damn nerves real quick. I almost ditched you.”

“Are you serious?”
Holy shit.
He had no idea how close they’d come to splitting up—or how often.

“But I decided you needed a challenge, so I argued with you every chance I got. After a while I did it just for fun, and then you and me were thick as thieves.” She grabbed a handful of his soaking wet shirt and tugged him closer.

But his mind was occupied with putting clues together and failed to send the message to his feet. “Do you think that’s why Mal hates you? Breaking us up because you blew him off is pretty petty.” His revenge had run deep. “You stole me from him.”

She used her grip on his shirt to move closer to him. “I never wanted to come between you guys. I just wanted you to grow a pair.”

“Grow a—! I’ll show you the biggest set you’ve ever seen!” He stepped back and reached for his zipper.

Simone laughed. “And watching you lose your shit is a huge turn on. Ninety percent of our fights turn into makeup sex. Pissing you off is foreplay.”

A spotlight shone on their past, revealing the truth of their relationship. Every provocative comment, every stupid argument—they’d all ended in a massive makeout session.
“Well, holy shit.”

“But if you still don’t get that, after all these fights and all this sex, maybe we’re better off apart.” Her eyes twinkled as she waved him off and headed toward a fire truck.

“I’m not letting you get away from me again.” He snagged her arm and dragged her into his chest. Fuck asking. He’d tell her. “Marry me, damn it.”

Her eyes widened as her feet slipped in the muddy ash and she clung to his wet shirt. “What? Now? We just got back together. We need to rebuild all this.” She waved her arms at the destruction around them, spinning in a circle as if to encompass the enormity of their task. But as she turned back toward him, her protests died. “But we both know how short life is. Maybe we should…” Her words trailed off as mischief sparked in her eyes and a smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “No.”

Jesus, she’s doing it now!
“I’m not gonna argue about this.” He crossed his arms over his chest and planted his feet, bracing for the battle she was bringing. “Spend the rest of your damn life on my team.”

“Your team?” She jammed her hands on her hips and faced off against him. “Oh, hell no. I’m still your boss. You marry me.”

“What the—!” Dash dragged his hand down his face. “This isn’t up for debate.”

She reached out and wiped mud off his scar. “Yes, it is. Marry me and I’ll spend the rest of my life debating your fine ass.”

Of course, that’s what she wants.
And he’d have her no other way. He smiled, captured her busy fingers and held them to his heart. “Well, yeah, that’s what I had in mind.”

She kissed him in the rain, hanging onto his shoulders as water swirled around their feet. “But you need a bath first. You smell like a stale campfire and you look like hell.”

Dash rolled his eyes. “We’re not getting married right now.”

“Damn right. We’ll get married when I say so.” She turned her back to him and strode away.

What the—? She always found his shortest fuse and lit it with a fucking blowtorch. He tripped on a broken two-by-four and stumbled after her. “Fuck that. Get me a judge or a priest or anyone with legal authority, and I’ll marry you right here in the mud and the mess.”

“You’re so romantic.” She picked her way through the littered parking lot, stepping over dirty puddles and shattered glass.

“Since when do you care about romance?
I’m
the poet. You’re the pain in my ass. Thorn in my side, the itch I can’t scratch.” He leaped over an oozing river of mud and slipped as his back heel landed in it and nearly toppled him on his ass.

“It takes more than a wildfire hurricane to get rid of me, sweetheart.”

Sassy woman, throwing my own words at me.
He caught up to her and slipped his hand under her elbow, slowing her escape. “I’ll try harder next time.”

Her eyes turned shiny and her lower lip trembled as he swept her into his arms. “Thank God for next times.”

The rain let up as he kissed her, holding her close while they shivered. The sun poked through the clouds, shining a spotlight on them—muddy and drenched, but together. A firefighter walked over and cleared his throat, offering them a blanket. Dash wrapped the warm, scratchy wool around them, sealing in the love they’d resurrected and the hope he’d found.

He brushed Simone’s dripping hair behind her shoulder. “Every time. You and me. Every stupid fight. Every makeup kiss. There will always be more to come. In this life and the next.”