In the Fire (20 page)

“Claire let me go home earlier, but I forgot my wallet. When I went back everything was locked up but all the lights were still on. Then I thought I smelled smoke. The door around back was locked and no one answered when I banged on it. So I broke the glass in the front door to get it open.”

He said something else and I pressed the phone harder to my ear.

“I’m sorry, Tyler, I didn’t catch what you just said. What happened?”

“There was a fire.”

Ice filled my veins as Tyler’s words sunk in and I ran my hand through my hair as fear filled my body. Please, no.
Not Claire.

“Fuck, Tyler. Is she...?”

“They’re checking her out right now in the ER. I didn’t know who else to call.”

I shoved my feet in my chucks and grabbed my wallet and keys off the top of the dresser.

“You did good, Tyler. Which hospital?”

“Harborview.”

I disconnected and shoved my phone in my pocket, then ran like hell for my car.

* * *

Twenty long minutes later, I skidded the car into a visitor’s spot in front of the ER, slammed the door and took off running. If anyone had enough of a hard-on for stealing my old beater they could have it.

When I ran into the ER there was a line of people standing at the admissions desk. I shoved past all of them, not giving two shits when I heard complaints from behind me.

“I’m here for Claire Martin. I’m her brother.”

An older lady who sported a scowl better than I could pointed to the back of the line. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to get back in line and wait your turn.”

I waved her off. “Fuck that. My sister’s here and I need to know if she’s okay.”

“Sir, I’ll ask you again nicely to please wait your turn. If you can’t, I’ll have to call security.”

“Goddammit. Just tell me where she is and I’ll gladly get out of your way.”

“Chef!”

I whipped my head around as Tyler rushed toward me. With the most polite tone I could muster I turned back to the Admin nurse. “Thanks for all your help.”

I pulled Tyler off to the far side of the waiting room, my body vibrating with dread.

“What the fuck happened? Are you okay? Where’s Claire?”

Tyler’s face was ashen and he looked more like a lost little boy than the man he was. When he spoke, his words were rushed, regret infused in every syllable.

“I’m okay. My throat is a little sore from the smoke but I’ve already been checked out. God, Chef. I’m so fucking sorry. Claire said she had some inventory to do before she left so she told me and Craig to go. It was a slow night and she cut everyone loose so they could go home early for once. I told her I’d stay and help her but you know how Chef Martin is. I asked Craig if he wanted to walk out with me but he said he had some things to talk to Claire about, so I left. By the time I got to the bus stop, I realized I had left my wallet in my locker and I went back.”

His eyes pleaded with me not to be angry. About what, I still didn’t have a clue.

“The fire, Tyler? What happened with the fire?”

He dropped into the closest chair, his body closing in on itself.

“I don’t know when it started, but I smelled smoke when I got to the restaurant. I freaked, Chef. I didn’t know what else to do besides break the door to get in. The dining room was filling with smoke and I called out for Chef Martin, but when I didn’t find her I ran to the kitchen.”

Tyler paused and wiped at his tear-filled eyes. “She was on the floor at the doorway of the pantry. I called out to Craig, but he didn’t answer either. I checked the office, but he must have left. Shit, Ethan. Claire...she wasn’t moving and there was smoke everywhere. I wouldn’t have even known anything was wrong if I hadn’t gone back for my wallet. I didn’t even think.” His voice shook harder the more he talked. “I found Claire and dragged her out of there as fast as I could. I was almost too late.”

He buried his face in his hands. I sat down next to him, laying my hand on his shoulder.

“You got her out. That’s all I care about. Did anyone find Craig?”

“I don’t have Craig’s number. I’ve been worried sick all night.”

I quickly took out my phone and pulled up Craig’s contact information. My dread ratcheted up a notch when it went straight to voice mail. “Craig, this is Chef Martin. I need you to call me as soon as you get this message.” I ended the call and looked at Tyler. “Shit. No answer and I don’t have any other contact information for him with me.”

Tyler was about to speak when my phone chimed. A text message had just come through.

Didn’t get to the phone in time. Do you need me to work an extra shift?

Exhaling in relief, I shot off a quick reply.

We’ll talk soon. Just glad you’re okay.

“He’s fine and obviously left before there was any trouble at the restaurant.” I was about to put my phone away again, but stopped when a new, more upsetting thought entered my mind. “Did anyone call Cal? Does he even know what happened?”

A small nod was all I could get out of Tyler until he pulled himself together. He swiped at his face with the back of his sleeve, his eyes ringed with red.

“I called. And he said he was going straight to the restaurant. I just can’t... What if I hadn’t forgotten my wallet?”

My phone chirped again. Not in the mood to play texting tag with anyone right now, I almost didn’t check it. But a quick swipe of my thumb brought up a message from Cal’s wife, Vivian.

At Harborview. Cal’s been admitted for chest pains. Will let you know what we find out. How are Tyler and Claire?

My heart sank into my stomach as I quickly typed up a reply, my shaking hands making it much harder than it should have been.

In ER now. Text me as soon as you find out anything about Cal. No news on Claire yet. Tyler’s a fucking hero.

If I had been in anywhere but here with my sister safe at home where she should have been, Viv’s reply would have made me laugh.

One day I’ll find another adjective for your vocab. Give them both our love. Will text you when we know more.

I stared at the screen. My entire world was falling apart. I sagged against the back of the chair as the weight of what could have happened finally hit.

Claire. Cal. Tyler. The restaurant. In one fell swoop, everything I cared about had almost been destroyed. Claire was the only family I had left in the world. Cal was my mentor and de facto father figure whom I’d looked up to. The restaurant where I’d been working my ass off for eight years was on fire. Tyler had risked life and limb to save Claire.

With my head in my hands and my mind on overdrive, I almost didn’t feel Tyler’s tap on my shoulder.

“Chef. The Admin nurse is calling for us.”

I darted up from my chair and raced over to the desk. Within minutes, I was taken back to the patient area. After navigating a maze of twisting hallways we finally got to Claire’s room. The back of her head had a large white bandage on it and she was hooked up to at least three different machines. She looked small in the hospital bed. I’d almost lost her. She turned toward us as we entered the room, where a perky blonde nurse was taking her vitals. A tired smile spread across her face when she saw me. Claire rolled her eyes in the nurse’s direction before waving me into the room.

“I keep telling them I’m fine and I feel well enough to go home. Think you can spring me from here, E?”

Pulling a chair up close to her bed, I wrapped my hand around hers, my eyes drawn to the IV in the arm the nurse was messing with. A bandage was tightly wrapped around her upper arm, but otherwise, she looked intact. Safe, but small and shaken.

“No go, little sis. The nurse who brought us back said you need to stay overnight because of the nasty bump on the back of your head and the smoke inhalation. I’d spring you if I could, but honestly, even I want you to stay to make sure nothing else is wrong.”

Her fingers tightened around mine, her smile gone. “I didn’t even see what happened. I stayed to catch up on our latest inventory numbers and had my earbuds in. All of a sudden I felt pain in my head, then nothing. Next thing I knew I woke up to a wicked headache while an EMT probed my head. And the smell. There was smoke everywhere. Shit. The restaurant? What happened after we left? Does Cal know?”

I nodded, schooling my expression. There would be time to tell her about Cal’s chest pains when we found out more details. Right now, Claire had enough to worry about.

“I’ll check in with him and Viv later. Right now, let’s just get you well and out of here.”

The nurse hovering around Claire placed the call button on her bed and smiled. “The police will be by soon to take her statement, and we’ll need to wake you every two hours to make sure you don’t have a concussion, but you should try to rest now while you can. There is pain medication in your IV, so press the button if the pain worsens. If everything checks out, you should be out of here tomorrow.”

Claire nodded as the nurse left, letting out a deep breath as she closed her eyes and settled against the pillows.

“I’m fine, E. Stop worrying.”

“I don’t know what I would have done—”

“We’re not going there. I refuse to play the what-if game with you. I got out, and if we still have jobs Tyler needs a raise. Just saying. We’ll deal with everything else later.”

She paused, her light green eyes searching mine. “Can you stay for a little while? I don’t want to be alone.”

I tightened my fingers around hers and nodded. “Let me go make a call real fast, then I’m parking my ass in this chair. They’ll have to call security to get me out of here.”

Claire snorted and closed her eyes. “Thanks, E.”

After squeezing her hand one last time, I slipped out of the room. As the adrenaline rush I’d been riding since I got Tyler’s call slowly ebbed, leaving me exhausted and overwhelmed, I pulled up my contacts list and swiped my thumb over the number for the one person I wanted to talk to almost more than Claire.

After five rings, an anxious and sleep-roughened voice answered.

“Ethan? Is everything okay?”

I closed my eyes and cleared my throat, trying to steady my voice. “No. It’s not, but I didn’t know who else to call. Can you come to Harborview?”

Without missing a beat, Jamie’s voice came through the line, strong and steady. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Jamie

As soon as I entered the hospital, I scanned the lobby for Ethan. The wall-mounted TV was the only noise in the otherwise quiet room. I pulled out my phone and shot off a quick text.

Finally here. Where are you?

I stared at the screen, willing it to ping with a reply.

My startled yelp disturbed the quiet of the lobby when I felt a hand grasp my shoulder. I turned and saw fear and exhaustion in Ethan’s beautiful green eyes.

“Ethan. I was on my way to bribe the front desk to find out where the hell you were. What’s going on? I’ve been worried crazy about you since we hung up.”

He raked his hand through his hair, his body vibrating with stress and nervous energy.

“There was a fire. Claire and Tyler were there.”

Time slowed down as I narrowed my focus on just Ethan, blocking out everything else around us as my mind tried to wrap around what he’d just told me. “What? What fire?”

When he didn’t answer me right away, I put my hands on his shoulders and locked my eyes on his. “Ethan? Where’s Claire?”

His body seemed to fold in on itself. He looked more like a lost little boy than a badass chef, and it broke my heart. I slipped my hands around the back of his shoulders and pulled him against my chest. A shiver ran through his body and I held him tighter, my hand rubbing circles between his shoulder blades. With a shaky breath, Ethan pulled back enough to look at me.

“Claire doesn’t remember much, just getting hit from behind on the back of the head. Tyler went back because he’d left his wallet inside. He smelled smoke from outside the building. He had to break the window just to get inside, but he found Claire in the back and carried her out.”

My hands curled against his back as my overactive imagination supplied a never-ending reel of horrific images starring Claire trapped in a burning building.

“Oh my god, Ethan. Is Claire okay?”

He nodded, his eyes still tight with worry.

“The police are in there now with her to take her statement even though she’s exhausted. They’re keeping her overnight, but she and Tyler were lucky. The fire had already begun to spread, but was mostly contained to Cal’s office. Tyler said it had to have just happened. She suffered smoke inhalation and her arm got cut by the broken glass in the front door when Tyler carried her out, but she’s okay. Tyler’s riding a guilt trip right now since Claire got hurt while he was carrying her out of a burning building. As if he didn’t save her ass by running into said burning building to go find her. If I survive this night, I’m going to kick both their asses.”

My body sagged in relief and I finally released my hold on him, pulling him over to some empty chairs at the far end of the lobby.

“Everything can be replaced. Restaurants can be rebuilt. The important thing is everyone’s okay.”

He lifted his eyes to mine, the haunted look still there, his voice uncertain.

“Cal’s here too.”

Without even thinking, I reached over and laid my hand over his.

“Good. He should be here. He loves you and Claire like you’re his own.”

Ethan’s hand curled into fist beneath mine. “No, Jamie. He’s here. He heard about the fire, went to the restaurant, and then started having chest pains.”

My stunned gasp summed it all up as Ethan just nodded and looked down at our hands. I ran my thumb over his knuckles, at a total loss for once in my life as to what to say.

“I don’t even know what’s going on since I haven’t heard back from Viv, and I’m not family so the hospital staff won’t tell me shit.” His voice sounded small and scared.

He lifted his eyes to mine, pain radiating from them. Nothing I had could make this situation better. No amount of money, no connections, nothing could take Ethan’s pain away. I wanted to scream at how helpless I felt, but now wasn’t the time for any pity party of my own. I needed to be strong for Ethan, letting him know I was here for as long as he needed me to be.

“This is the best place for him. He’s in good hands.”

Ethan nodded, but the pain in his eyes told me he wouldn’t believe anything until he got an update from Vivian.

“Thanks for coming. I...I didn’t want to do this alone.”

I smiled and tugged on his hand to pull him against my side, kissing the side of his head when he sagged against me.

“There’s nowhere else I want to be.”

We sat like that for a few more minutes, his body leaning into mine. Ethan’s head popped back up, his expression still pained, but more relaxed than he’d been when I’d first seen him.

“I need to get back to Claire’s room. The police should be done by now and hopefully she’s resting, but I promised I wouldn’t leave.”

Taking a risk, I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him toward me. He closed his eyes just before my lips brushed over his.

“Go. I’ll be here. I’ll be fine out here. Hell, maybe I’ll even bribe my way back to her room. But you go on back. She needs you right now.”

His look told me he wanted to say more, but instead he nodded and got up from the chair. “You should head back to the hotel and sleep. I’ll be good. No punching any surly nurses or annoying staff until after Claire is released.”

I smiled. “I haven’t had the pleasure of tasting hospital cafeteria food in quite some time. Give Claire a hug for me. I’ll be here when you need me.”

A shy, small smile spread across his face. “Thanks, J.”

He turned and walked away.
Anything for you
,
E.
Once he was out of sight, I pulled out my phone and brought up my email. If I was going to be here for a while, I might as well get some work done.

* * *

The door opened behind me. It had been a long night of waiting, but at six in the morning, the staff had finally let Ethan bring me back to Claire’s room. Neither of them had slept much but by six-thirty, both had finally passed out, Ethan’s lean body slung over his chair. I wanted to think it was because I was finally back there with them, but really they had both hit a wall and were exhausted.

I turned to the now-open door, expecting to see a nurse, and smiled despite the long night when my eyes found Trevor’s. He tilted his head in the siblings’ direction, a silent question in his expression. I whispered so as not to wake them.

“She’s fine. No concussion. Just a nasty bump on the back of her head with a gash they had to stitch up. The nurse said they’ll probably release her once the doctor makes his rounds this morning.”

“And Cal? Any word?”

The long night was finally catching up with me. I stifled a yawn and nodded.

“Viv texted Ethan a few hours ago. It wasn’t a heart attack, but they’re running tests to see if there’s a blockage somewhere.”

Trevor rested his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. “You never gave me an answer before, but you still love him, don’t you?”

When I couldn’t stand his sad defeated look any longer, I turned back to Ethan. His body moved restlessly as if he knew we were talking about him. I nodded, not wanting to hurt him but owing it to both Trevor and myself to tell the truth.

“Yes.”

That one word sealed my fate. I knew no matter what happened between us, I was still in love with Ethan. I had never stopped loving him, regardless of how much pain we had caused each other. And if we decided this didn’t work, that our lives were better apart than together, he would continue to hold a place in my heart no one else would occupy.

Trevor lifted his hand off my shoulder and placed a large manila envelope onto my lap. Not wanting to disturb Ethan and Claire, I stood and gestured to the hallway. Leaning up against the wall, I scanned the paperwork, my eyebrows lifting when I read over the information Trevor had somehow gotten his hands on. “How much does my father know about all this?”

Trevor leaned against the wall next to me, plucking out one of the documents and tapping it with his finger. “This is the only link there is to your father. I couldn’t find anything indicating he orchestrated any of it.”

The door to Claire’s room opened. I looked up from the paperwork into Ethan’s bloodshot eyes. Once he spotted Trevor, his body went rigid. Knowing a scene in the hospital hallway was the last thing we needed, I held up the envelope.

“Before you say anything, there are some things you need to know. Some things I had Trevor look into last week.”

Ethan shot a nasty glance at Trevor, but held out his hand for the envelope. His expression morphed from surprise to anger the more he read. With a shaking hand, he clutched the paperwork tighter in his fist.

“Reed Jackson? All the shit that’s been happening is because of Reed Jackson? I haven’t seen him since he dropped out of school. Why would he be doing this shit now?”

Trevor cleared his throat, causing Ethan’s angry glare to shift from the papers in his hand to Trevor’s face. I held back a frustrated curse, wondering how long it would be until they could stand in the same room without wanting to kill each other. We all needed to focus on what was happening now, instead of trying to rip each other apart for past wrongs.

Trevor cleared his throat again. “Reed hasn’t only been targeting you and Cal.”

Ethan’s glare intensified when Trevor spoke. “Look, I know I’m not your favorite person, but I’m trying to help here.”

A loud snort interrupted Trevor, but instead of allowing himself to be baited, he continued as if everything was normal, even though nothing about any of this was.

“Jamie told me about what’s been happening at the restaurant.”

Ethan’s glare turned to me. I put a hand on his arm.

“Claire told me everything. She didn’t know what else to do and was only asking for help, so don’t be pissed.”

Ethan made a sound of protest, but I pointed to the papers he was holding. He glanced at Trevor, confirming I had nothing to do with the paper trail, then back at me, still silent.

“Okay. Be pissed. Hell, I’ll even be your personal whipping boy if you want to scream at me, but we needed to know this. All of it. And I, for one, don’t give a shit how I found out. I’m just glad I did because if Claire hadn’t told me about it, we wouldn’t have the paper trail we have now.”

Ethan scrubbed his hand over his face. “And you can prove all this? Everything? The plumbing? The damned coolers? The inspections that have been plaguing my ass for two solid months?”

Trevor plucked out the single blue sheet among the pile and pointed to it, ignoring Ethan’s defensive posture.

“These are the other businesses I’ve contacted who’ve had the same things happen. All of them, every single one, were asked by Lassiter Corp to sell. When they didn’t immediately sell, each one began having problems with their inspections. Reed oversaw every deal. I also found that the inspector who has been plaguing your restaurant with failure notices was one of your classmates at the Institute, but in the business program instead of the culinary one. Tom Montag. Jamie said he was an asshole to him during his second year, but he never seemed to have a beef with you. We think Reed has been greasing his palms to put pressure on certain businesses, finding nitpicky things to fail them on, things that would have normally sailed through inspection. Now, I have no idea why you guys had so many malfunctions, but my guess is someone on the inside is sabotaging things.”

Ethan immediately bristled, his jaw tight with his anger. “None of my staff would do something like this. No one.”

I laid my hand on his shoulder, tightening my grasp when he tried to shake me off. When he finally turned his green eyes to mine, all the frustration he’d felt for the past two months radiated from him.

“I know your staff is loyal. I was in awe of how cohesive everything was when I was there last time, but I need you to think about anyone who might not be on the up and up. Anyone who might be pissed off at you or Cal for some reason?”

He glared at me. The lack of sleep and all this stress were making him even more defensive than usual.

“What? Claire’s an angel. She has to be to put up with your surly ass.”

His scowl wavered slightly, the tension in his body slowly fading, but the snark still present. “Love you too, Golden Boy.”

My breath caught at Ethan’s seemingly innocent comment. His eyes locked onto mine when he heard me, his pupils dilating. Eight years ago he’d had no problems with telling me how he felt, but with our take-it-slow plan everything was new again. Trevor’s cough broke the moment, but I’d be replaying those words in my head, regardless of how he’d meant them. Once we found out whoever was helping Reed and had nailed his ass to the wall, Ethan and I were going to sort out whatever was happening between us. The moment, whatever it was that Ethan and I had just silently shared, was broken when Ethan snapped his focus back to Trevor.

“I know you don’t want to suspect anyone at the restaurant, I get that. But the problem still remains that someone from the inside had to have been helping Reed. Just look at all the technical problems you’ve been having. It screams inside job.”

Ethan’s eyes shuttered closed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. All of a sudden his eyes snapped open. “Craig. The new busser Cal hired a few months ago. He was the last one to leave the restaurant before the fire broke out.”

Trevor pulled the paperwork back from Ethan and flipped through the pages until he found the one he was looking for.

“Craig Stewart. Age, twenty-four. Hired on January twenty-first of this year. Previous jobs range from busboy to bagger to night-crew cleanup.”

Ethan’s eyes grew wide as Trevor recited the list of information he’d compiled on Ethan’s employee.

Trevor just smirked, looking more in his element than he had in a long time. “I’m good at what I do, Martin. My job is to keep Jamie safe. That means background checks on everyone who even thinks they might want a piece of him. This information on Craig Stewart? It’s nothing compared to what I could put together if I’d had more time.”

My heart clenched after hearing Trevor’s words. When I’d first started out, we’d done a lot of this kind of stuff together. As my career became more involved and hectic, Trevor took over everything without batting an eye. It was times like these that I was reminded just how much he had taken care of not only my career, but me. I looked over at him, really seeing him for the first time in weeks. He was tall, handsome and wickedly smart. He would be a catch for someone one day, just not this someone.