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"We never got a chance to bring it in. Here, you can wear this."
Easton tossed a pair of basketball shorts and a shirt in my direction. I attempted to catch them but the shirt went in one direction while the shorts in another. I scrambled around in the dark to grab both. The moonlight shining in through the window only gave me so much to work with.
"What happened?" I needed to know what I was walking into.
"There was a small fire at your house."
I stopped with one leg inside the shorts and snapped my head up to find Easton's concerned gaze. "Come again? A fire?" I tried to shove the other leg inside the shorts but only managed to get twisted up. I pitched forward as I lost my balance but was stopped by Easton's strong arms around my waist before I could hit the bed frame.
"Slow down. No one was hurt. They got the fire out before it could spread, but you're going to need a new front door. Take a second and get dressed before you hurt yourself. It won't do Lucien any good if you end up in the hospital."
Easton was right. I was normally much better under pressure. I was a nurse in an ER, for Christ's sake. But those times never involved my son and the fact that my house could've burned down while I was here with Easton. Shivers raced down my spine.
Yeah, I think it’s safe to say I’m not handling this well.
I managed to get both legs inside the shorts and pulled up without further incident, and rolled them several times to make sure they would stay put. Easton and I were nowhere near the same size. Then I yanked the shirt over my head, which was about three sizes too big. I'm sure I looked like a hot mess but I didn't care. All that mattered was we got to my house sooner rather than later.
Thankfully Easton anticipated my eagerness to leave. As soon as I slipped my feet into my wedge sandals from the night before, he grabbed my hand and we ran out of the apartment. We were on the way to the house within minutes of getting the phone call.
"What was that first screeching noise I heard?" I asked.
I doubted that was Easton's ringer. If it was, the man was a heavy sleeper and needed something unbelievably annoying to wake him up. I couldn't imagine that being the case, but stranger things had happened in life.
"That was the alarm for your house. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail at your front porch. It triggered one of the sensors."
"Did a similar noise go off at my house?"
"Yup," Easton said, turning the corner onto my street. "Sorry, but I'm pretty sure it woke up your neighbors."
Shit, shit, shit. This was not the classy walk of shame I had planned for returning home.
Holy hell, the entire block was lit up. Red and white lights flashed from the four fire trucks parked haphazardly across the street. Blue and red lights were mixed in where two police cars sat among the chaos, and several of my neighbors’ front porch lights only further added to the scene. It looked like the middle of the day rather than the early morning that it was.
I shrugged it off because really, the damage was already done. I hopped out as soon as the SUV came to a stop and weaved through people, not caring if I needed to push them out of the way to get to my son. I found Lucien and Lyla sitting in the back of an ambulance. Both were wrapped in a blanket and Nolen was watching guard.
"Lucien!"
When I was ten feet away from the ambulance, my son launched himself into my open arms. The tears I hadn't realized were there raced down my cheeks. I hadn't noticed until that moment how much taller my son was than me. It was more him holding me than the other way around.
"Please tell me you're okay?" The question came out muffled, with my face buried into his shoulder.
"I'm fine, Mom. We got it out before it could spread into the house."
"What do you mean you got it out?"
It was Nolen who stepped up to answer. "It's a good thing you had two fire extinguishers in the house. Lucien and Lyla were quick to grab them. You'll need a new door but these two saved the day."
I pulled away and looked up at my son. Somehow he looked older at that moment. Two black streaks covered his one cheek and I could smell smoke clinging to his clothes as well as another scent I couldn't identify. Maybe the stuff from the fire extinguisher? I had never been in the vicinity of one going off, so I couldn't be sure.
I reached for my best friend's hand and pulled her into our little family huddle. For the longest time, it was just the three of us.
"I'm so glad you both are okay."
"We're fine." Lyla coughed. "I could've done without that loud squeal jarring me from my sleep but it gave us the warning we needed. Once Nolen yelled that there was a fire on the porch, I grabbed the fire extinguisher from the kitchen and Lucien was right behind me getting the one from the closet. Our boy showed how well he handles himself in an emergency. You would've been so proud of him."
My best friend's voice was hoarse. I'm assuming it was from either the smoke she inhaled or the fumes of the fire extinguisher. I had heard those things left a nasty taste in your mouth if you had the unfortunate chance to inhale it.
"I'm glad they were useful. Pretty sure you laughed at me when I purchased the second one for the closet. Something about being paranoid."
