“Our houses just exploded. Jacks is with Nox, right?”
“Good.”
Once we got far enough away, I stopped. Bent over, hands on my knees, I coughed the tar of the soot out of my lungs, or at least tried too. I listened to Austyn’s side of the conversation and was relieved to know Emery wasn’t inside.
“Fuck. I don’t know. It’s bad, Emery.” Austyn’s hand went through her hair. “Gotta get help.”
“Okay. Bye.”
Austyn hung up and dialed another number. “Our house just blew the fuck up!” she yelled into it. My guess was she was talking to Ryker and she was pissed, but it came out a bit jaded as she coughed her way through the conversation.
I watched as the two homes went up in a blaze of glory, not having the first clue how to stop the raging inferno. Really there was nothing Austyn or I could do at this point but watch everything she and Ryker had worked for go up in flames.
Fuck, I hated this shit. Not being able to fix something. It would take a fuck of a lot of water to douse these flames and a damn garden hose, even if I knew where one was, wouldn’t touch this place. There was nothing. My hands were tied. All I could do was listen to her talk with her husband.
“Micah’s here with me.”
“Shut it.”
“Okay. Okay.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“Love you.” Her voice cracked on that phrase, and I felt it in my gut. Austyn was a tough cookie, but this would shake the toughest of people. It appeared it did her.
“Let’s go to the clubhouse. Everyone’s meeting there.” She coughed through the words.
“Got it.” I grabbed her hand once again, not wanting anything else to happen to the woman, and we ran to the other side of the pond where my SUV was parked. We got in and peeled off, not looking back at the ball of smoke and flames we’d left behind.
“Call Ensley. Make sure she and Remy got to the clubhouse, and tell her you’re okay.”
Austyn followed my direction for probably the first time in her life. And probably the last.
Air. We needed air. I rolled down the windows hoping it would cleanse my insides that burned.
My shirt was covered in dirt, but I tugged it on feeling some pains in my body as I did.
The ride to the clubhouse was fast. Pedal down was the only way to go in this situation. Sirens were heard in the distance, but even if the firetrucks got there, they wouldn’t be able to save much at either place. They’d just have a ton of questions that we wouldn’t have answers to. I was sure the Ravage men would be on their way there, and they were the ones to answer anything that came up.
Austyn jumped out of the SUV before I came to a complete stop in the clubhouse parking lot, running into Ryker’s arms who was waiting for her. After fully parking I jumped out too, but my destination was Remy and Ensley’s whose eyes were on me.
Remy’s eyes were red, but her tears had dried up a bit. The streaks down her cheeks had not. I kneeled to her level, my body crying out. “Hey, kiddo, you doin’ okay?” Even clearing my throat didn’t help the hoarse way my voice came out. I knew I looked like shit. Even trying to brush the ash and soot off of me, it was still there. It wouldn’t disappear until I showered. I hated she saw me like this, but on the other hand I just wanted to know she was okay.
“Houssss goes Boom!” she yelled, throwing her arms out wide to show how big she thought the sound was. Her face was in surprise with eyes wide and mouth in the shape of an oval. Fucking hated my little girl had to see that shit.
“Yeah, that was a big boom, but you, your mom, and Austyn are safe.”
Her little head nodded as she leaned into her mom’s leg.
“You don’t need to be scared, okay.” I wanted to tell her that no booms would go on here, but I also didn’t want to lie to my kid. At this point anything could happen, but this was the safest place for the both of them.
Her head nodded again, and I rose to meet Ensley’s penetrating gaze. “You okay?” I asked her, reaching out and touching her arm, just needing to feel her and make sure she was safe.
“No. What the hell was that? Who bombs someone’s home? Let alone two homes. What’s going on?” Ensley’s fear and panic were written all over her face and in the tone of her words. She lifted Remy into her arms and held her close to her body.
If she didn’t calm down, she was going to lose her shit, and I needed her to hang in there. I needed her to be strong, so I didn’t have to worry about her or Remy.
“Don’t know, babe, but I’ll figure it out.”
“You?” she asked, stunned, terror in the back of her eyes.
“I’ll help the guys any way I can. You’re safe here, and I need you to stay. Do not leave these gates.”
Just then the bikes roared to life as the guys headed out the gate. Ryker lifted a finger to me and pointed to the gate, giving me the sign to get my ass moving. “I’ve gotta go back to Austyn’s. You stay here. Call Katie and have her pack you and Remy a bag for a few days. You’re moving in the clubhouse or with me until we can sort out what this was.”
She began to speak, but I was gone, hopping back in the SUV and making my way back to Austyn’s house, hoping she’d listen. This was too important.
Whoever did this could’ve hurt people I cared about, and it was unacceptable.
The brothers were already at Austyn and Emery’s along with firefighters, police, and EMT’s. Cars, trucks, bikes and emergency vehicles scattered around the large expanse of a yard as I pulled up. Parking off to the side where the bikes were, the flames were still burning bright even as the fire department doused water on it. Stepping out of my SUV, my dad came right over to me along with Cruz. Ryker was talking to the cops closer to the fire.
My dad was the first to arrive, and he pulled me in his arms and slapped me on the back. “You okay son.”
“Yeah.”
“Clothes. You have extra?” Dad asked as I looked down at myself. Anyone would be able to tell I’d been inside that fire.
“Yeah.” I raced to my duffle in the back seat and pulled off my shirt, replacing it with a black one. My hands, arms, and face were covered too according to my reflection in the window.
Luckily, I had a small cooler built in to my SUV. I reached in grabbed a bottle of water and a rag and began to wash myself up quickly. I wouldn’t be able to get it all off, nor the smell, but everyone here would have the stench of fire on them before they left.
Coming back up, my dad asked, “What did you see?” GT, Deke and Cooper joined us. Cruz eyed me, waiting for my explanation.
“That’s the thing. Nothin’ out of the ordinary. Austyn’s car was parked at the house, and nothing was at Emery’s. I was over there”—I pointed to the tall tree by the playhouse on the other side of the pond—“with Ensley and Remy. One minute we’re playing tag, and I’m chasing Remy, and the next, four huge explosions that were only off sync by maybe a second or two lit up the sky and shook the ground.” Being in the Marine’s, I knew bombs. Probably more than I ever wanted to know about them in my life. “Since they were off of one another, my first assumption would be that someone manually hit the button to blow them. If they would’ve been in sync, then I’d say they were on a timer. Given the way they hit in succession, I think detonation was remotely.” Just that fraction of a second was all it took for that small clue.