When I'm with You (Hope Town #3)(56)

THE HIGH SCREAM OF MY smoke detector is the first thing that I hear.

Confusion fills my sleep-fogged brain, but when I feel Bam jump on the bed and whine in my ear, I wake with a start.

He starts leaping from the bed to the floor while the alarm continues to blast and I almost fall on my ass in my hurry. Luckily, when Nate left, I had pulled on some yoga pants and an old tee shirt, so it didn’t take me long to leave my bedroom. As I cautiously walked down the hallway, the first thing that hit me was the smell of smoke. Panic started pulsing through me when I get to the living room and see the flames dancing around my kitchen.

I can’t tell how bad it is from where I’m standing, but I don’t dare go look. My house is newly remodeled? but it’s an older construction and I’m not going to take the chance that something snaps and I’m trapped.

I turn on my heels and rush back to my room, where my cell is, before I sprint back to the front of the house and to the front door. I press a few keys before putting my phone between my shoulder and ear. Just when I reach the entryway, I hear the emergency operator asking me a question. I rattle off my address, telling her that there is a fire as I grab my purse off the entryway table and pull the door open. Right when I’m about to run out, I turn and grab the only other thing besides Bam that I care about.

She continues to ask me questions and I answer when needed, but the second I walk to the side yard and see the back half of my home blazing, I want to scream in pain.

Flames completely engulf the kitchen and my studio.

I drop to my knees as I watch the inferno continue to destroy everything it touches.

I distractedly think about the painting that I had just delivered to the gallery earlier that day, but knowing that everything else is most likely going to be gone is still crippling.

Sirens echo through the night, and I hear the operator tell me that they’re almost at my location, but I don’t respond. I feel the tears and roughness in my throat only after I register that I’m crying. When the lights of the firetruck, ambulance, and police car surround me, I climb to my feet and back from the house.

“Ember!”

I turn, phone to my ear and tears running down my face, and see Liam, Megan’s husband, jump from his patrol car and rush toward me. I keep pulling air deep in my throat, feeling my vision start to blur as more tears come. He pulls the phone from my ear and speaks to the operator before hanging up.

“Are you okay? Hurt anywhere?”

I shake my head, still clutching my belongings to my chest and just look up at him.

“Come on, sweetheart. Why don’t you come and sit in my car while I go get some information? Do you want me to call your dad?”

I shake my head frantically, grabbing for the phone that’s still in his hands, and pull up Nate’s name before handing it back to him.

He looks at the screen, his expression slipping slightly in shock, but just nods before walking away. I keep my feet on the ground next to Bam, the door open, and I watch as people rush around to put out the fire. Liam is moving around as he talks, and when I feel someone rush to my side, I look away from him.

“Holy shit, Ember! Are you okay? I just heard about the fire and came right over.”

I jump when Levi pulls one of my hands away from my body, Bam making a noise deep in his throat. The simple touch is enough to knock the shock out of me, and I jerk back, dropping the contents I had been clutching for dear life on the ground.

He bends, ignoring my outburst, and picks up my purse, followed by the frame. The same frame I had just replaced when he had shattered it a few weeks before. He looks at the image, the one of Nate and me, and I see his jaw tick.

“Can I help you?” I hear Liam question, his voice full of authority as he walks back over, handing me my phone.

Levi stands and turns to look at Liam. “You can’t. I’m checking on Ember here.”

“It’s okay, Lee,” I interject before things get weird. “Levi is just an old … friend of mine. He works with the Hope Town Fire Department and was just checking on me.”

“Is that so? That’s mighty nice and all, Larry,” Liam sweetly says. “You just happen to be driving by?”

At Liam’s question, I look over at Levi and notice that he isn’t wearing his uniform. Instead, he has on a nice polo shirt and jeans.

“It’s Levi.” His nostrils flare and he stands a little straighter. “I had stopped by the station, actually, on my way home and was there when the call came in. Not that it’s any of your business.” He adds the last part under his breath, but I know Lee hears him because he gets a cold look in his eyes.

“Actually, Levi, it is my business. Not only because I carry this,” he stresses while pointing to his badge, “but also because Ember is a close friend.”

I ignore them, not interested in their macho bullshit, and look over at my house. They almost have the flames under control, and it looks like it didn’t move far from the back half of my house. I take a deep breath and try to calm my frazzled nerves, but that all goes to shit when I hear the sharp scream of tires protesting. I look up and see my father jumping from his truck and rushing over, my mom not far behind him, and jerk my eyes to Liam.

“That wasn’t the call I asked you to make,” I accuse.

He holds his hands up, ignoring the man still standing next to the open doorway. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not going to get my ass handed to me because I picked the wrong order when it comes to the men in your life. Your father is scary as f*ck, and I know he can kick my ass.”