Fire (Beautiful Ashes Series, Book 2)(5)

Lacey completely lost it once it was just her and E. He held onto his wife, trying to be the strength she needed, but E couldn’t deny how scared he was for Keeley. She’d beaten the odds so many times, what were the chances she would again? Sooner or later your number came up. Something inside him questioned if hers was. Worse, what if she pulled through but was irreversibly damaged—a vegetable. Could Lacey handle that? God, no. It wasn’t a matter of love; it was quality of life. And E knew how hard it was to be trapped inside a body that didn’t want to cooperate. What happened when the opposite was true? When the mind wouldn’t cooperate in a fully functioning body? No. No. No. He wouldn’t let himself go there. His beautiful wife needed him to be the rock right now, not a fearful pussy.

Mitch cleared his throat as he entered the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I think you both need to come with me and see this for yourselves.”

Heavy with worry, E and Lacey followed him out and stood stunned at what met their eyes. The entire team was lining the hallways along with Nik, Aimee, Alex, Sofie, and Ari. E shook his head. “Apparently,” he held Lacey tight against him, “we aren’t the only ones pulling for Keeley.”

Lacey buried her head into the crook of E’s neck and cried. Tears of concern, tears of love, tears of awe. How had her dear sister missed all of this? So many cared for her and wanted what was best for her. As the Strand family met them and embraced, Lacey glanced up. Standing by himself at the far end of the hall was Tar. She gasped, “Oh my God.”

E’s gaze lit on the man he thought he’d never see again. “The fuck,” he muttered as more people realized what caused the disturbance.

Tar was surprised to see that many people he knew hanging around. Mitch approached him. “Glad to have you back, man.”

He gave one sharp nod and inquired, “Why is the team here?”

Mitch slightly shrugged. “Keeley means a lot to us.”

“I need to talk to her. Which room?”

E was within hearing distance as he answered, “Why don’t you take a walk with me?”

Tar knew that did not sound good as they stepped outside together. E might be furious at the whole fucked up situation. But a part of him understood where this man was coming from. Truth was, if he’d been in Tar’s shoes that night, Braxton would be a dead man. And Lacey, hell, he’d need some space to get his shit together. Those thoughts rattling around in E’s head didn’t change the fact that Tar deserved to be brought up to speed.

Tar stood there too shocked to move.

Nik had just enough time to catch the big man as he tumbled to the ground.

“Shit!” E exclaimed helping his brother.

“What’re you bitchin’ about? I’m the one holding his heavy ass,” Nik grunted, laying Tar down on the ground.

“Thank God you came out here when you did,” E affirmed as he tried to revive Tar. “Hey, man, wake up.” He tapped his face. Nothing.

“Let me go get some help,” Nik declared, promptly leaving.



Mitch knelt beside the mountain of a man. “What knocked him out?”

“Terror. Shock.” E raked his hand through his hair. “Worry. Anger. Pain. Damn, take your pick.”

“Roger that. He should come to in about…”

“Where?” Tar bellowed as he sat up.

E shook his head. “Hell, do you ever not know what’s going on?”

That inquiry earned him an angled look. “Does happen,” Tar confirmed.

Mitch filled in, “Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you want to go about it, our training along with outright experience in high octane situations sorta demands all pistons are firing.”

“Makes sense.” E offered his hand to help Tar off the ground.

“Thanks. Now, where is Keeley?”

“Come on,” E asserted. “We’ll all head on up to the waiting room outside the OR.”





“Keeley made it through surgery with no complications,” the surgeon explained, “however, the next twenty-four hours are critical.”

Lacey followed him out to go see her sister. Once again, she was only given five minutes. E joined her, taking in the familiar sight of tubes and machines all around the bed in ICU. Most troublesome was seeing Keeley’s head wrapped up like a mummy. She was so pale and utterly lifeless. If it hadn’t been for the monitor tracking her heartbeat, he’d have thought she were dead. He stroked Keeley’s arm above where Lacey was holding her hand. “Keep fighting, Sis.”

Tears fell on Keeley as Lacey leaned forward and declared, “I love you. I’ll be right here waiting for you.”