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THE EXPLOSION IS RINGING in my ears. I open my eyes and see that there’s dust everywhere and debris falling all around me. It takes me a minute to get my bearings. I’m in the front entryway by the front door. My head is in a fog as I try to figure out what is happening.
Owen and I were on our way down the stairs. There was one explosion and Owen grabbed my hand and told me to follow him. Then there was a second explosion. That must be how I ended up on the ground.
I realize I’m still holding Owen’s hand. “Owen? Owen! Answer me! Owen!” I start yelling and pushing debris off of me and him. Right now, all I can see is one foot without a shoe, and his hand that I’m refusing to let go. “Damn it, Owen, answer me!” I keep yelling.
I hear a creaking sound above us and I look up. The entire second floor is missing from the house and the only thing holding up the chandelier is one chain attached to a broken beam. It’s swinging back and forth and looks like it could fall any second. Fortunately, it’s not right above us because when that comes crashing down, it’s going to shatter.
The only thing still standing in the entryway is the staircase we were standing on. That’s when I smell the smoke. Fuck! The place is on fire. I’ve got to get us out of here.
I let go of Owen’s hand so that I can get up and move the stuff off of him. I have to make sure he’s still alive. “Help! Help!” I start screaming. Owen said last night that this place has security. Hopefully, no one else is hurt. “Help! Help!”
I’m able to get the drywall and what looks like the remnants of a table off of me. Doing an internal check, minus some bumps, scraps, and what looks like what will be a nasty bruise on my leg, I’m relatively in good shape.
I look over at Owen’s hand that I let go of and it’s not moving. “Owen! Answer me! Owen!” I move more drywall, large pieces of concrete, and try to move a big cabinet off of him. It’s too heavy for me to lift by myself. “Help! Help me, please!” I cry out, but I don’t hear anyone.
I’ve got to get him out from under this cabinet. It’s fucking huge. “Who needs a cabinet this fucking big, Owen? Answer me!” I yell at him angrily as I try to find something to use as a lever to move the thing.
“Come on, Owen. Answer me. You can’t be dead, Owen. It’s not allowed.” I climb over a pile of unstable debris and find a board that’s about two inches thick. It will have to do. I grab it and climb back over the debris, almost losing my balance.
I stick one end of the board under the cabinet and use all my weight to lift and move the cabinet. It moves a half inch.
“Damn it, Owen. I need your help here. Wake up!” I lean again and move the cabinet another inch. The smoke from whatever is on fire is getting thicker and what’s left of the house is creaking and ready to fall at any moment. The smoke is burning my throat, and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe. I keep coughing, so I pull the front of my shirt up enough to cover my mouth. It’s not much help, but I’ve seen it on television. At least it’s something.
I check Owen’s pulse in his wrist and I can’t find one. I panic. “Owen! Answer me right now!” I demand, as I put all my weight on that stupid board. As I do, I twist it just enough to get leverage on it. I’m able to move it so that I propped it up against the bottom stair of what’s left of the staircase. As I do, I see all of Owen.
He’s cut from head to toe from the glass that was on the front of the cabinet. His shoulder is definitely out of its socket if not broken, and he’s out cold. I put my fingers on his neck like they taught us in health class and find a pulse. Thank god!
I rip the curtain that’s flapping in the breeze off the wall and tie it so that it wraps around Owen’s back, under his arms, and then back together; making a loop. Then I step in the loop and start pulling Owen behind me. I have to get us both out of here before the rest of the walls come down on top of us. Not to mention the fire.
I drag him through the front door, at least where it used to be, and down the driveway. I think I hear sirens, but it could still be the ringing in my ears. “You stay with me, Owen. You hear me?” I yell over my shoulder as I get to a grassy area away from the house.
When I turn around, I see the damage. The only part of the house still standing is the part we were just in. If we had gone down to breakfast even thirty seconds earlier, we’d both be dead. I drop to my knees and put Owen’s head in my lap. “Owen. You have to wake up now. We’re safe. Wake up.” I’m slapping at his cheeks, trying anything to wake him up.
“Ma’am. Let me look.” A rescue worker pulls me up as a couple of others work on Owen. “He’s in excellent hands. Let me look at you.” He says again to me.
“I’m okay. Help Owen!” I point to the love of my life lying on the ground. “Help him!”
“There are three people helping him. Let me help you.” The rescue worker says to me and pulls me towards his funny looking ambulance. It looks nothing like the ones back home.
I watch from the back as they put a stretcher next to Owen, lift him up, and wheel him to the ambulance. I move to the farthest part of the unit as to stay out of the way. They’re all talking Spanish really fast and I’m cursing myself for not paying attention more in high school.
I’m finally able to get a good look at Owen with the overhead lights, and he doesn’t look good. He’s bleeding from all of his wounds, which look minor, compared to the giant gash on the side of his head. His clothes are filthy and torn, is arm is all twisted in an unnatural position, and his left eye is swelling up fast.
I can’t believe this is happening.
The back doors close, and the unit starts towards the hospital. “Do you speak any Spanish?” the rescue worker who was helping me asked from the front of the ambulance.
I shake my head, “No.”
“Okay. Well, he’s alive and breathing on his own. That’s a good sign. We should be at the hospital in a few minutes. Do you have someone to call?”
I nod, “Yes.” I have to call his family. I have to tell them that, because of me, they hurt Owen.
~~~
The call to Gabriel was not pleasant. I don’t have his direct number, so I had to call the office. I spoke to a nice lady named Lucy who said she’d get Gabriel on the phone once I told her what happened. He was on the phone almost immediately and I explained everything I knew and where we were.
I then apologized multiple times, but it’s like he was a robot. He asked me what happened again, what I knew about Owen’s condition, and where we were again, like he was testing me. Then he thanked me and hung up. I’m assuming they’re coming, but I had no idea, so I sat back down and waited.
About an hour later, the nurse told me I had a call, and it was Piper. She told me that Gabriel, Matt, and Olivia were on their way to come get us and she was staying with the kids and animals. She reassured me that none of this was my fault. I don’t believe her. She also told me that no one was mad at me.
I don’t believe that, either.
Now, I’m sitting outside Owen’s room because I’m not family, so they won’t let me in. But they do tell me he’s alive. That’s all they’ll tell me. I don’t even know if he’s awake or not. I’ve been patched up and given antibiotics to take to make sure I don’t get an infection. They want me to see a doctor when I get home to make sure my lungs are okay because of all the dust and smoke I inhaled.
I just want to see Owen. I feel so alone right now. The only person who I care about in this world is hurt and in the hospital and I don’t know how he’s doing, I’m in a foreign country without a passport, identification, or money, and I don’t even speak the language so I don’t know what anyone is saying.
I feel the tears start to fall down my face. The stress of everything that has gone on in the last few weeks is catching up to me and I can’t hold it in any longer, so I don’t and let it all out.
I’m sitting in these ugly pea-green plastic chairs all alone as I let it all out. My shoulders are shaking, my face is tear stained, and all I can think of is that I want my mom.
There’s a disturbance at the nurses’ station, and I look up to see Gabriel and Matt talking to an administrator. Everyone’s wearing a suit. Owen’s brothers look like powerful men standing there giving directions to the hospital minions. And the minions are following the directions.
“Hey you. There you are. Are you okay?” Olivia comes up to me from behind me. “Let me take a look.”
“I’m okay, but can you tell me about Owen? They won’t let me see him because I’m not family. All I know is that he’s alive. Is he even awake?” I wipe my tears off of my chest. It’s a relief to see some familiar faces.
“They haven’t told you?” She asks as she’s inspecting my wounds.
“Told me what?” I can hear the fear in my own voice.
“He’s been demanding to see you. Come on. Let’s go find him.” She helps me up off the plastic chair and wraps her arm around me. “We’re going to see Owen. We’ll be right back.” She tells Gabriel and Matt.
“But we haven’t seen him yet.” Matt whines.
“You’ll see him in a minute.” Olivia uses her ‘mom’ voice, then turns to me. “In here.” She says softer. “We’ll be out here when you’re done.” She pushes open a door and I see Owen sitting up in bed.
He turns to see me and the relief on his face is as instant as mine. “Hi, you.”
I break down immediately hearing his voice, sliding down the wall and folding into myself.
He holds his arm out, “Come here, baby. It’s okay. I’m okay.”
I stand up and go to him. He wraps his arm around my shoulders and I sit in the chair next to his bed. He puts my head on his chest and kisses my hair. “Shh. It’s okay. We’re okay.”
I can’t stop the tears from falling. I’m so relieved to see him alive and awake. “Are you okay?”
He nods. “My shoulder was out of socket and I’ve got a concussion, but other than that, I’m good as gold. What about you?”
I nod. “Just a few scrapes and bruises.”
“I hear you dragged me out of the house. Thank you.” He wipes away my tears with his thumb.
“You needed saving, so I saved you.” I tell him. “Nothing you wouldn’t have done for me.”
“You’ve got that right.” He leans up to kiss me and winces instead.
“Don’t do that. Just lie back.” I lean in to kiss him instead. “I’m going to let your brothers in. They’re out in the hall ordering everyone around. Olivia’s holding them back from seeing you so I could see you first.”
“The nurses kept telling me I couldn’t see you because we’re not family. I’ll be fixing that when we get home. We’ll be family sooner rather than later.”
I laugh. “That would be the pain medicine talking.”
I go to the door, but hear him mumble under his breath, “That’s what you think.”
“Come on in.” I hold the door open for Matt, Gabriel, and Olivia. “He’s his usual grumpy self.”
“Well, then he’s fine. Why’d we fly all the way out here?” Gabriel teases.
“A better question is, how are you feeling, Owen?” Olivia asks.
I’m standing in the back of the room when I look up. Owen has his hand out to me. “Come here, baby.”
I walk over and take his hand. “Everyone, I’m fine. I just got knocked around a bit.”
“You got your bell rung, my brother.” Matt says, laughing.
Owen retells what happened, at least what he remembers, and then I fill in the rest. The entire time, he’s holding my hand and his thumb is stroking the back of it. It’s his way of reassuring me and I appreciate it.
“Any word on the staff?”Owen asks.
I watch both Gabriel and Matt look at each other and then at Owen. “They haven’t found anyone yet.” Matt answers and my heart drops. More people dead because of me.
“Do we know what happened?” Owen asks Gabriel.
I watch Gabriel’s eyes turn dark. “It looks like two SAMs.”
“What?!” Owen says while at the same time both Olivia and I ask, “What’s a SAM?”
“Surface to air missile. SAM.” Matt answers us. “Are you okay, Mallory? You’re very pale.”
Olivia turns me to face her and nods. “Sit down.” She pushes me into the chair next to the bed.
“It’s Patrick, isn’t it? He did this.” I ask to no one in particular.
“We’ll get him.” Gabriel says. “I promise you that. He’s mine, now.”
“No. He’s mine. No one fucks with me and my girl. No one.” Owen looks at his brother in the eye. “No one.”
Softly, I squeeze Owen’s hand and then let it go. “No. No one’s going to get him. I’m going to go to the FBI and let them put me in protective custody. It’s something I should have done from the beginning. That way, you are all out of danger.”
I stand and start for the door, but Owen calls after me, “Mallory, wait.”
I turn and smile. “I’m sorry I’ve brought all of this to your doorstep. I really am.”
Gabriel walks over to me and places his hand on the door, preventing me from opening it. “You’re going nowhere, Mallory. You’re family. And in this family, we stick together. This is in no way your fault. It’s all on Fusco and he’ll pay for what he’s done.” He puts his hand on my shoulder. “Now, if you think you’re gonna walk away, why don’t you ask Olivia how that worked out for her? Or Piper. The Hughes men don’t walk away and we don’t let the ones we love walk away, either. We will come up with a plan and find a way to keep you and everyone else in this family safe. Understood?” He walks me back to the chair and sits me down.
“He can be a bit of an ass, but he’s right. You’re family. Family sticks together.” Olivia says.
“I’m not an ass.” Gabriel defends himself.
“You’re an ass.” Matt agrees with Olivia.
I look up at Owen and he’s looking at his older brother with pride. He looks at me and takes my hand again. “Told you. You’re stuck with us, now.”
“What did I ever do to deserve you and your family?”
“You mean ‘your’ family?” He smiles at me and my heart almost bursts out of my chest.