The impending storm had sent me packing from finishing the Edwards’ cabin to my workshop, the beginnings of fear and nausea less than usual since I had Charley and Jill to focus on. It all came back with a rush at her call.
“Charley!” I hollered again when he didn’t answer, Jill’s second scream muffled as though she’d dropped the phone.
Rain bit at my face as I sprinted toward my truck, and the sound of crunching metal and sudden silence over the line seized my heart.
“No! Oh, fuck, no. No!” I slammed my door behind me, my shaking hand barely able to shove the damn key in the ignition. Lightning lit the sky, and I cringed, the boom of thunder two seconds later, twisting my goddamn stomach tight into an inescapable knot.
My truck skid and slid on the dirt driveway as I tore down the mountain, and I couldn’t calm my racing heart or the pain radiating across my chest as I fought for breath. Adrenaline kept my lungs moving, even as anxiety tried to shut the fucking things down. I didn’t even check both ways before swerving onto the main road. Three minutes away … three too many.
Tension rode my entire body, stringing me tight, and I had to mentally pry my hand from the steering wheel to grab my cell off the passenger seat. My fingers shook too fucking much to dial 911, and cursing, I threw my cell back.
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
Another flash, another flinch, more roiling nausea in my gut.
My hands went clammy on the steering wheel as I raced south.
Flashing memories of Alana’s car and all the heartache slammed into me with the weight of a fucking freight train. I swallowed against the tightness in my throat, damn tears welling and hindering my view out the windshield as much as the pounding rain and flicking wipers, fighting to do their job.
Pleadings tumbled through my head, a few escaping my mouth as I took a left and raced up the mountain toward Jumper’s Ridge. Another cutoff landed me less than a mile from where Charley had said they were, and I stomped on the gas, desperate and scared as hell to reach the top.
I’d given him what I’d fought to ignore for years. Gave Jill what was left of my heart. Allowing myself to love again...
Swallowing back a sob, I drove through the rain, fear over losing them both like I’d lost Alana and Nat crippling my mind. Not many dared the road leading to Jumper’s Ridge in full daylight, and especially not during a storm.
Jill’s scream.
Crunching metal.
Silence.
Every locked muscle in my body let loose with a shudder, and I took my foot off the gas as I neared the ridge. The guard rail along the pulloff laid torn in half, a gaping hole at its center.
“No … oh, fuck.”
I managed to stop my truck and slammed it into park, fumbling with the handle to let me out into the rain.
“Charley! Jill!” I screamed into the wind, racing on shaking legs toward the edge. My heart pounded in my chest, and breaths bursting in and out of my lungs.
I peered over the edge—a mangled pile of black metal and tires lit far below as lightning flashed overhead—no sign of Jill’s blue car. Jerking around, I scanned the road in both directions, rain slashing at my face, the wind howling in my ears.
“Charley! Jill!” I screamed and turned in circles, my crippling emotions gaining control over my body.
Help me, Alana. Fucking God, help me...
A sob ripped from my gasping lungs, tears pouring down my face, my legs stilling to face me northward.
Go.
I blinked, my racing mind slowing, my ears ringing, shutting off the sounds of the rain pounding the pebbled ground beneath me. Thunder rumbled but muffled as though I swam beneath eight feet of water.
There.
The bend to my right beckoned—or was Alana’s voice whispering in my mind?
Sudden energy sprang my legs forward without thought, and the muffled silence faded, reality crashing back into my ears with the next crack of thunder. My feet slapped the road, my arms pumping in time with my heart.
I rounded the bend.
Jill’s car sat down in the opposite ditch, the roof crunched in as though it had rolled, flames licking at the back end. Unable to voice their names screaming in my head, I slid down the bank, my gaze flitting from the flames to the shattered driver’s window.
Just like Alana, blood poured down Charley’s face—but he didn’t blink at me or smile like she’d done.
Stomach heaving, I threw myself at his bent door.
Eyes closed, he sat unmoving other than the pulse thumping in his neck.
Unconscious … alive.
Jill sat, staring out the windshield.
“Jill!” My holler caused a shiver to ripple over her. No blood that I could see. “Can you get out?” I yanked on the driver’s door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Fuck! Jill!” I climbed around the car and pulled her door open. The second I grasped her arm, she jerked away, her eyes wide and blinking, unfocused on my face. “It’s me, baby. Kane.” I managed to lower my voice. “I need to get you out of here, okay? You’re alright … you’re going to be okay.”
“Kane?” she whispered.
I leaned in and unhooked her belt, glancing over at Charley. A nasty gash lined his forehead, and he still hadn’t moved.
“Come on, baby.” I pulled Jill’s limp body into mine, dragging her from the car.
An engine sounded from the road above us as I dragged her far from the flames. A car door slammed, but I couldn’t be bothered to look up.
“Stay right here. Don’t move,” I told Jill, my voice fucking unhinged. “I have to get Charley out.”
“Are you okay?” a woman called from above, but I didn’t have time to answer for Jill.
My stomach heaved as I raced back toward the car, and I swallowed down the bile.
The fucking steering wheel pressed against Charley’s chest, but not in a crushing death grip like Alana’s had done to her. I climbed in through the passenger door, unhooking his seatbelt.
“Talk to me, Charley, come on, man.”
He groaned, his eyelashes fluttering.
“Fucking Jumper’s Ridge. What the fuck were you thinking?” I muttered, yanking on the goddamn seatbelt to get it out from under his arm. “I got you. Come on.” I yanked and tugged, his groan twisting my insides up tight. “Got you, Charley. Never letting you go.”
The second his feet cleared the car, a sob tore loose from me. I dragged him by his armpits back toward Jill, losing my footing twice and stumbling, slamming his body atop mine. Rain continued to pour, sizzling the fire down to nothing.
I settled on the ground beside Jill, Charley in my arms.
The woman had a cell phone to her ear and hunkered on the other side of Jill, her free hand on her upper arm. Jill stared at the car, arms wrapped around her knees.
Reaching out, I wrapped my arm around her waist and tugged until she released her hold on herself and curled up against my side.
Eyes closing, I tilted my head toward the sky and held my lovers close as the rain washed my tears away, the thunder fading in the distance.
It’s going to be okay. They’re okay.
“Ambulance and cops are on their way,” the woman murmured, and I breathed my thanks to the voice in the wind—whether Alana’s or not. Taking her direction toward her brother and Jill as her blessing of us being together, I vowed to myself, I would care for both of them until I breathed my last.
The thought of loss, the fear of losing both had made me realize one thing for certain. I loved them—dearly, desperately. Allowing vulnerability, it seemed, turned out to be worth the risk.