Only Mine (Honey Mountain #5)(59)

“Fuck,” Niko hissed under his breath. “Tell her.”

“Don’t call your sisters until we know more, please.” Jace cleared his throat. “We only got bits and pieces off the radio, but it’s a big one, and your dad went in as the lead. He fucking knows better than to do that when we aren’t there to back him up.”

“What? Why would he do that?”

“Because some of the new guys were probably not ready. I’m sure Rusty tried to stop him, but your dad must have insisted that he’d go in first.”

“Oh my god,” I whispered as we approached the building that was literally up in flames. They most definitely didn’t have it contained at all. I knew quite a bit about fires from growing up in this world, and this fire was completely out of control.

“Jesus.” Niko came to a halting stop and put the truck into park as we all jumped out. We were sprinting toward the building while people stood off to the side, gaping and watching and taking photos.

Brady Townsend was blocking the path, and Jace turned back to me. “He’s not going to let you in. I’ll come back and fill you in as soon as I can, Dilly, all right?”

No fucking way was I going along with that plan, but I nodded because the last thing I wanted to do was slow down Niko and Jace when I knew they needed to get in there.

Brady held the tape up, and Niko looked back at me and tossed me the truck keys just before he slipped under. “I’ll text you as soon as I can. You can take it home if you want to leave.”

Jace gave one last glance before he took off running toward the flames.

“Sorry, Dylan. I can’t let you in there.” Brady stood there, listening to someone telling him the fire was growing faster than they could handle.

No duh, genius.

Anyone with two eyeballs could see that.

But then the words I feared most in life came through on Brady’s radio as I stood just inches from him. Lottie had made her way over to me, and we both heard it clear as day.

“Jack Thomas has taken a big fall. He’s in bad shape and unconscious.”

The words were still processing before I charged. Brady dove at me as I tore the tape apart, and he wrapped his arms around me tightly.

“Dylan, settle the fuck down.”

I kicked him hard in the shin and broke free.

“If you want to stop me, you’re going to need to shoot me.” I didn’t recognize my own voice. It was angry and fierce, but I knew it was fear talking.

I could not lose my father.

We could not lose my father.

We’d had enough loss in our lifetimes.

Brady held his arms up as if he was not going to fight me, and Lottie shouted for me to go. I sprinted toward the flames, seeing fire trucks and several ambulances lined up outside the building.

“Jace!” I shouted as I saw him standing near one of the paramedics, who were just lifting a man into their truck.

“Fuck, Dilly. He took a bad fall.” His voice cracked, and Niko sprinted toward us.

“What the fuck happened?” he shouted.

“The floor gave out. He fell two stories,” Rusty said, his face covered in soot as tears streamed down his face. “I tried to stop him from going in, Dilly.”

The ground started to spin.

“Is that him?” I asked, and Jace nodded. I jumped into the ambulance as I heard Niko shouting out orders to pull themselves together. They still had a fire to put out.

“Go with him. We’ll meet you at the hospital as soon as we can,” Niko said, and Jace squeezed my hand one last time before all three of them charged toward the building.

My father was hooked up to all sorts of tubes and had a mask over his face. They were cutting some of the clothing off his upper body to check for burns, I think.

I reached for his hand, and he didn’t squeeze back. There was no life there. “Is he okay?”

“I don’t know,” the paramedic said, his gaze empathetic when he looked at me. I didn’t recognize him or the other two guys that were there.

“I’m right here, Dad.” I sniffled. I would not fall apart. My dad needed me. My sisters needed me. “Why isn’t he moving?”

One of the guys shouted to the driver. “I called it in. We need to get him there now. His pulse is barely there.”

I could literally feel my world spinning on its axis. I had no control to stop it, and my throat tightened as I tried hard to breathe because I didn’t know if I could survive in a world that my father wasn’t in.

“Can you drink this?” a voice said, and I blinked a couple of times and saw one of the EMT guys offering me a little container of juice.

“No. I’m okay.”

“You look like you might be ready to drop. You lost all the color in your face.” He glanced over his shoulders as the other two guys continued taking care of my father. But there was no sign of life. He wasn’t talking. He wasn’t coughing. He wasn’t moving.

We pulled up at the hospital, and there were at least six or seven people waiting for us outside when we pulled up. I was shoved back as they hurried my father out of the ambulance, and I jumped down and chased after him.

“Dad!” I shouted, catching up and reaching for his hand again.

“I’m sorry, but you need to stay here. You can’t go any further. We’ll let you know how he is as soon as we can,” the nurse said. She was tall with red hair and kind eyes, and I just stared at her, refusing to let go of his hand.