Oxygen Deprived (Kilgore Fire Book 3) (23 page)

Booth and Tai fell into step beside me as PD and Bowe emerged from the ambulance they backed to the end of my driveway, under the car port.

We were nearly neck and neck when a shot rang out from Aspen’s house, having my every nerve ending spark to life.

My legs started carrying me towards the door to Aspen’s house before I’d consciously told myself I should.

Instinct kicked in, and I was running blindly towards the door when I was tackled from behind.

“Stop,” Booth hissed when I went to push up.

I froze at the pure authority that leached out of his voice, and reason came back to me in a snap.

“Okay,” I licked my lips. “Okay.”

Booth got off me almost as quickly as he got there, and I pushed up onto my hands and knees, scrambling to the window next to the rest of the men.

“What’s going on?” I whispered frantically.

“Young kid with a gun and a can of gas. He’s pouring it all over the living room. The couch. Walking back to a bedroom now.”

“Motherfucker,” I hissed, duck walking away from the living room window, thankful as fuck that Aspen had left it open like she always did.

Once I reached the garage, I rounded the side of her house and made it into her backyard.

We didn’t go out there much. The only thing you could really do was walk around the edge of the house due to the hill that doubled as her backyard.

Although it was big, and fenced, it really wasn’t something anyone could ever find as functional.

“That door right there leads to the garage, which’ll then lead up into the side of the kitchen,” I directed PD and Tai.

Tai and PD nodded, disappearing inside.

“I called for backup,” Booth spoke from my back.

I’d heard, which was why I hadn’t bothered to tell him how to do his job.

He knew it almost better than the rest of us.

I was in the Army for four years, right out of high school, and
it just wasn’t for me.

Once I had my schooling done, I’d gotten out, then immediately started training to be a firefighter.

Although I did have tactical experience since I’d joined the SWAT team, I wasn’t Booth, who had nearly a decade under his belt filled with experience.

So when Booth wanted to take the lead, I let him.

Not because I wanted to, but because I was smart.

My daughter, and the woman that I knew would be sharing my bed for the rest of my days, were in that house with a fucking psycho.

I sure as hell wasn’t going to put them into any more danger if I could help it.

“We go in, I want you to get your daughter. She’ll trust you more than she’ll trust me,” he said. “I’ll get Aspen.”

But it turns out, that Aspen could damn well save herself, which she did, not even twenty seconds after we’d breached the door.

One second we were hurrying through the kitchen, and the next we were stopping in awe as Aspen took some of the chains off the swing she’d been sent to try and review, and had launched them at the boy’s face.

The chains hit Ellison’s nose with a sickening thump, blood spraying out in an arc as Ellison’s head was whipped to the side due to the force of the blow.

Horrified at what she’d done, Aspen immediately threw her hands out as if to catch Ellison, but stopped before she could touch him and let his body fall to the ground.

The gun that’d been in his right hand clattered to the floor beside him, and Aspen immediately dove down and captured it, backing away while she looked over her shoulder at what I could now see was Mace and my daughter.

“Jesus Christ on a cracker,” Booth muttered. “That could have made one fuck of a YouTube video.”

Aspen’s head whipped around, and then her face broke as she started running towards me.

“What are you doing here?” She wailed loudly.

“Obviously not saving you.” I muttered under my breath. “I came over to talk to you. And get my coat,” I plucked the jacket that was covering her small frame with my fingers. “And found this.”

She hiccupped, and I wrapped my arms around her when I realized she was going to be a while.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, patting her back lightly.

She cried brokenly into my neck, and I looked over to see Attie doing much the same to the kid.
Mace.

He gave me a nod, and I returned it before I started for the front door, Aspen still in my arms.

“Your brother’s going to be here soon,” I told her, starting to reach for the front door, which burst open before I could capture the handle with my fingers.

Downy rushed through, a look of pure panic etched across his features.

“You okay?” He questioned, pulling Aspen from my body and crushing her into his arms.

“Yes!” She wailed

The room filled up, then.

Police. Firefighters.

They filled Aspen’s living room, and chaos ensued.

“Guess it’s good that we got an ambulance here since this badass took care of the problem,” Tai said teasingly a few minutes later.

I gave him a look.

“I’m not thinking the fucker needs a ride in the ambulance,” Downy growled. “I’m thinking he’s well enough to go straight to the station.”

Aspen giggled and Downy’s eyes warmed slightly.

His body, though, was still extremely tense.

Wary.

Waiting.

I almost smiled, knowing for a fact that if that kid got in the car with Downy, he’d likely come back a couple of broken bones worse for wear.

Something which Luke, as well as Nico, knew as well.

“I’ll take him,” Nico offered at the same time Luke said, “You’re not taking him, Downy.”

Downy snorted and said, “You can try to stop me, but it’s going to happen.”

Then Luke pulled rank.

“You’ll keep your shit together,” Luke grumbled, walking to the boy that was now sitting in a kitchen chair with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Without another word, he took the boy by the elbow, who had sense enough not to fight the big man, and walked out with him.

“Cleaners are here to get the gas cleaned up,” someone said from the front door.

Booth.

I nodded at him and let Aspen go.

“Go talk to your brother,” I gestured. “I have to go talk to my girl.”

“Aspen!” A woman’s voice called. “Where are you?”

Aspen sighed.

“My mom’s here.”

I wanted to smile, but didn’t dare.

“Go take care of Downy and your mom.”

She nodded. “Save me in a few minutes, okay?”

I winked.

“I can do that.”

“Who is in charge here?” A man’s voice boomed.

That must be the father.

“That’s my dad,” she confirmed, before she kissed me on the cheek and slipped away to circumvent her parents coming inside.

I waited until she was out of sight, then went to find my daughter.

Where the fuck are my cookies?

-Text from Aspen to Drew

Aspen

“Where’s your brother?” My mom asked thirty minutes later. “And when do I get to meet your new man?”

I pointed at Drew.

“He’s talking to our neighbor,” I gestured to the two men.

My mom smiled.

“He’s handsome,” she said. “Older, but handsome.”

I nodded.

Drew was beautiful.

Even now, his hair a mess and his eyes wild, he was a handsome devil.

“Did that man next to him get hurt today, too?” My mother questioned.

I looked back at Raphael, his arm now exposed to me, and I shook my head.

“I don’t know how he got hurt,” I told her truthfully, and likely never would. “But I will be sure to ask in a minute.”

Raphael was like a wraith, and I wasn’t really sure what his role was in anything that was related to me.

He was there, though, and I found that I liked it…even if he was quiet and reserved.

“And your brother?” Mom persisted. “What’s he so mad about?”

Brows furrowing, I followed my mother’s gaze to find Downy barreling towards us, gathering the attention of everyone he passed, even Drew.

“I can’t begin to tell you,” I informed her. “He wasn’t that mad when I sent him after my clothes.”

He hadn’t been, either.

In fact, he’d been almost…
nice
.

Which for him was incredibly impressive.

Then I got a good look of what was in Downy’s hand, and my stomach dropped.

Downy, eyes wide, came out of the house, a packet of papers in his hand, and his face white as if all color had leached out that he’d been able to get back once he’d found out I was alright.

“You…your…what the fuck is going on? What does this mean?” He asked, my mom and me looked at him.

My mom looked confused.

I, on the other hand, started to freak out.

“Downy,” I said, holding my hand up. “Sto…”

He turned and glared at my father.

“Get away from me,” he said.

My father’s eyes narrowed.

“You can’t tell me that.
I’m her father. I deserve…” Downy interrupted him.

“You’re not her father now, are you?” He challenged.

My father’s mouth thinned, and he turned accusing eyes to my mom.

My mom, who’d already been pale, became even paler.

“Attie,” I whispered softly. “Why don’t you go over there and check on Mace?”

Attie’s eyes, which had been avidly watching both me and Downy, turned without another word as she hurried in Mace’s direction.

Once she’d reached him safely, I turned back to my mom, brother, and father.

“Guys,” I started. “This isn’t the time, nor place, for this.”

Downy shot me a furious glare.

“Shut it,” he said.

I sighed and held up my hands, knowing better than to mess with my brother when he was angry.

And boy was he angry!

In fact,
he wasn’t just angry. Oh no, he was livid.

All of
those emotions swirled together to create the mask of fuming fury on my brother’s face.

My eyes narrowed at my brother, and I opened my mouth to rip him a new one when his wife came running up out of nowhere, her arms going around Downy’s chest.

What was this? A fucking family reunion?

“Don’t think we won’t talk about this,” Downy said through clenched teeth, his eyes going down to his wife’s hands that were wrapped around his chest, then back up to my mother.

My mother nodded very slowly, her eyes wide and wary as she looked back to her husband.

“I think that’s best,” she whispered.

Something inside me loosened, and I backed away.

“I’m going to talk to Drew,” I squeaked.

Not one of them acknowledged me, their eyes still locked in a strange sort of intense stare down that I
was ready to move away from.

Which I did seconds later, turning and hurrying in the direction of Drew and Raphael.

The two of them were standing loosely, but the moment Drew saw me coming he opened up his
arms, holding his hand out to me as
he continued to speak.

“Wasn’t about me at all, but about Attie,” Drew was saying to Raphael. “That would’ve been helpful to know.”

I bit my lip and looked over to where Attie and Mace were currently laughing in the back of the ambulance.

His arm was in a sling, and he had a huge black mark over the left side of his face that was quickly becoming a bruise
which would be even larger and more vividly colored tomorrow for sure.

“What happened to you?” I asked Raphael.

Raphael’s eyes turned to me, and his mouth smiled.

His eyes, however, didn’t.

They showed pain, exhaustion and anger.

“Got on the wrong side of my boss,” he said softly. “Nothing to worry about, darlin’.”

I blinked.

Drew’s squeeze on my shoulder told me that I really shouldn’t continue to pursue the topic, so I just nodded and turned my face into Drew’s chest.

“Are you off for the day?” I asked him
. “Is that why you’re here?”

He dropped a kiss down onto the top of my head, and shook his head.

“No. Power’s out at the station, the generator’s frozen solid with no hope of getting it running, and they told us we could move home base within five miles of the station, which happened to be my house. We were coming this way because we were cold.
How fuckin’ ironic that we walk in on that little shithead starting a fire.” Drew shook his head.

“That’s why I called you earlier,” Raphael said, bringing my attention back to him. “Saw the kid in his yard when you left. Watched him until I was called to report in on the status on my case.” Raphael shook his head. “Think he watched your place for over an hour before I had to leave. He didn’t move once.”

Shivers raced down my spine at remembering how cold and methodical Ellison had looked as he’d poured gas throughout the house.

“He was going to burn us all alive,” I whispered, my eyes narrowing as I remembered what he’d said and done just after seeing him point that gun in my face.

My thoughts turned south, and I wondered what would’ve happened had I not been able to think as quickly as I had.

“I’ll check in with you later,” Drew’s voice jolted me out of my thoughts.

I blinked quickly as Raphael nodded once and turned to head back inside his own house, but Drew didn’t move until he was well out of range.

Then he hugged me, and that one act said more than enough to me. More than any words ever could.

“You mean the fucking world to me, Baby,” Drew whispered gruffly. “When I arrived and saw that gun pointed at your head…” his body shook. “I seriously wanted to cry. Scream. I almost barreled through the front door, but Booth stopped me.”

My eyes followed to the other firefighters.

They’d
set up a grill
on Drew’s front
lawn and had started barbequing.

Tables and chairs surrounded the grill that served two purposes—keeping them warm
while cooking their food,
and feeding them at the same time.

Tai and Booth were on either side of the ambulance doors, talking to the two kids that were sitting in the open doors with their feet dangling.