Branded(73)

His right hand jerks off of the steering wheel and his fist slams into the side of my head. The force of the blow knocks me roughly into the window and I see stars before everything goes black.





“I cannot BELIEVE you shot my fucking tires!” I shout at Dax as I jump down from my truck and he holsters his weapon.

He shrugs his reply as a whole caravan of cop cars with lights and sirens blazing come flying up the street, blocking the driveway, pulling up onto the lawn and stopping wherever the hell they find a space. It looks like every law enforcement official from the entire city has shown up, and Dax immediately starts explaining the situation and issuing orders.

I walk across the lawn, wondering how much trouble I would get into if I stole a cop car. Standing right next to one idling by the curb, I hear Dax shout my name.

“Don’t even think about it, asshole. Do you really want Phina to have to visit you behind bars when we get her home?”

I roll my eyes and look away from him. He said “when,” not “if.” That’s got to be a good sign. I want to be positive, I know I have to be positive for her sake, but I’m dying inside right now. I don’t know where she is, what she’s thinking or if she’s hurt. Instead of focusing on all the horrible things she could be going through, I think about something good, instead. I think about her smile and her laugh, about how amazing she is with my nieces and nephews, how she stretches her entire body when she first wakes up in the morning, groaning “strrrreeeaaaaaach” while she does it. I think about the scent of her shampoo and how my pillows always smell like it. I think about how much it turns me on to fight with her and how fucking fantastic sex is after a good screaming match.

I rest my palms on the roof of the running cruiser and let my head drop down to rest my chin on my chest. I think about how she trusted me with the hardest part of her past and let me kiss those painful memories away, even if I couldn’t erase the faded, old scars from her body.

Faded old scars…faded old scars.

Goddammit! Goddammit all to hell! I’m a fucking paramedic, how did I not put this together until right now? My head jerks up and I slam my fist onto the top of the car.

“Hey, that’s taxpayers money. Don’t break it, or you buy it,” Dax warns me as he comes to stand next to me.

“Tell me there’s a fucking plan! We need to get her back right the fuck now,” I tell him as I start pacing back and forth.

“We’re working on it. I have men checking out the properties that are on file and we should know something soon,” he tells me.

Those fucking burn marks on her hip…some of them looked exactly like the ones on her back, but most of them were angry, red and fresh.

“I fucking hate the sick, fucked up bastard who did this to you.”

“Funny, I hate that person, too.”

My hands grab onto handfuls of my hair and I tug as hard as I can as I continue to pace.

I told her I saw her. I told her I saw everything and that I loved it all, but I missed the most obvious fucking thing. I run through the things she said when she was in a daze when I first got here earlier, the cigarette in her mouth and the lighter in her fucking hand. It all comes together in one horrible, messy picture in my mind as I remember the look in her eyes, begging me to see that final piece of the puzzle and still keep my promise to love her no matter what.

One of the cops comes up to Dax, gives me a nervous look and then leans in to whisper something in his ear. When he’s finished, Dax gives him a nod and the cop scurries back to the rest of the group on the lawn.

“What’s going on? Did they find her?”

Dax pulls his keys out of his pocket. “A report of a house fire was just called in. The property is registered to Anthony Giordano.”

I can’t lose her. I can’t fucking lose her now when I have so many things I need to say to her.

“I’m fucking going with you,” I tell Dax.

He nods. “I figured as much, but if you get in the way of police procedure I’ll-”

“Toss my ass in jail,” I finish for him. “You already covered that a few times tonight.”

Dax shakes his head in irritation at me, but doesn’t say another word as we jog across the yard and hop into his car.





I blink my eyes rapidly as I open them, the bright light making the pounding in my head a thousand times worse. I groan and shut them again when a sharp, stabbing pain rockets through my skull.

“Ahhhh, you’re awake.”

A voice close to my ear makes my skin crawl, but I slowly open my eyes anyway. I find Jackson squatting down in front of me with a huge smile on his face. I try to lunge towards him to smack the smile right off of his face, but my body jerks to a halt and it feels like I pulled every fucking muscle in both of my arms. Looking above me, I realize my arms are tied over my head, the rope completely wrapped around a refrigerator. Ignoring the pain in my shoulders and arms, I start tugging frantically against my bindings.