Fuck the rules, I thought to myself as I shrugged my jeans back over my hips. Rules were made to be broken, as far as this situation was concerned. I understood the need for them, I knew that Solid Ground had put much thought and planning into their procedures and I respected that.

I even knew how dangerous a man like Sullivan could be.

But, well, there wasn’t anything I could see that I would allow to get in the way of me and Daisy getting together.

I’d thought long and hard about it.

I had some choices to make.

I don’t know where she’s headed yet, but I’d bet a dollar to a donut that whatever city she sets up house in, there’s gotta be a hospital nearby. I wasn’t hell bent on staying in Oregon. I was flexible about my future.

Especially if it meant I got to be with Daisy after a while.

Or whatever her new name would be…

As of now, everything was still unknown.

Where she’d live, who’d she be, what her future would look like.

I just knew I was going to be in the picture, for as long as she’d let me. Her sweet goodness had soaked into me, her beauty took my breath away each time I laid my eyes on her. My heart pounded like the hooves of a herd of wild horses stampeding across the dessert when I made love to her.

I’d been terrified the first time. I went slow, letting her lead the way, knowing instinctively that she needed to be the one calling the shots. And she had. Together, we’d found some kind of magic last night and once you felt something like that, you’d be a fool to let it go.

No matter what the obstacles were…

I strolled back to the clubhouse with Daisy’s hand firmly clasped in mine, with not an ounce of fear in my heart. We were meant to be together, and a little time apart wouldn’t change that.

“Cherry’s been so helpful, I feel like I’ve been taking advantage of her kindness.”

“Are you kidding?” I said, smiling down at her. She was glowing, her eyes bright and shining up at me. “Cherry lives for this kind of thing. The loving attention of a doting child is her life-blood.”

She laughed and my heart swelled at the sound. Twinkling, lilting, delightfully musical.

“Do you smell that?” She sniffed, wrinkling her nose.

I sniffed the air and my blood went cold.

“Fire,” I said, grabbing her hand and pulling her faster down the trail. “Come on.”

“Oh, no,” she said, panic rising in her voice. “Alex…”

“He’s fine,” I said. “It’s probably just a campfire or something. Don’t worry.”

My voice betrayed my words and she flashed me a look that told me she’d heard it. The smell hung heavy in the air, drifting through the trees on the breeze. She began jogging down the trail, and I felt the tension rolling off of her. Finally, we broke through the trees and made our way to the clubhouse.

Ryder, Grace and Cherry, Alex in hand, were standing on the porch, sniffing the air.

“What’s going on?” I called as we approached.

“Not sure,” Ryder grunted, walking out onto the gravel driveway and looking up into the sky surrounding the cabin on all sides. The sun had begun setting half an hour ago, draping the sky in an orange glow. “I can smell it but I can’t see it.”

The cry of sirens sounded faintly in the distance.

“Shit,” I muttered. “Let’s do a quick walk around. You guys stay here,” I said to Daisy. She was holding Alex in her arms, a look of worry on her face.

Ryder and I wandered around to the back of the compound, peering into the quickly darkening forest for any signs of a fire. When we didn’t see anything, we wandered down towards Ryder’s cabin, past the one Daisy was staying in. At first, everything looked perfectly normal, their charming yard surrounding their cabin, everything calm and peaceful.

“I’ll look down this trail,” I said.

“I’m going around back,” he replied. I ventured down the trail that Daisy and I had wandered down yesterday, a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. I didn’t see any flames, but the smoke was growing thicker around me. I turned around and met a frantic-eyed Ryder coming around from the back of his house.

“The fire’s back there, it’s moving fast!”

“Shit!” I shouted. “How big is it? Can we push it back with the hoses?”

“We can try,” he said, shaking his head. “But I don’t know, man, it’s eating up a large chunk of the forest back there.”

I ran back to look for myself, hoping it wasn’t anything a giant flooding from a powerful water hose couldn’t extinguish.

The wall of flames I encountered told me right away how wrong I was.

I ran back around the house, shouting for Ryder.

“It’s too big, we need to evacuate now!”

“I just called 911 to report it.” Sirens approached, growing louder by the second. “They already knew about it.”

“Good,” I said. “I’m sure they’ll get a handle on it before it reaches your place, man, don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried, I just want to get everyone out.”

We ran back to the clubhouse together, the smoke billowing thickly out of the trees behind us.

“We gotta go,” Ryder said to the small crowd forming on the porch.

“It’s close?” Grace asked. “How close?”

“Too close,” Ryder barked.

“Slade, Riot, and Wreck,” I said, my lips moving as fast as I could assess the situation. My training kicked in quickly and I knew the most important thing was getting everyone out to safety. We were essentially surrounded by a timber box and it could explode at any time. “Take Lacey, Frankie and Cherry and get on your bikes and get out of here. Grace and Ryder will be right behind you.” I turned to Daisy, peering into her eyes. “Put Alex in the carseat and get in my truck.”

“I need to grab his things from the house,” she protested. “Diapers and formula and clothes…”

“You’ve got thirty seconds,” I said, taking Alex from her arms. “Run!”

She took off and the rest of them stood staring at me.

“What are y’all waiting for? Move!” I said. “Get to the highway and wait for us. We’ll figure it out from there. If you see the firefighters, tell them the flames are east of Ryder’s cabin.”

They snapped into action, no doubt a little confused.

I ran to my truck and buckled Alex into his carseat. He smiled and grabbed my beard.

“Hey buddy,” I said. “We’re going to go for a little ride, okay?”

He clapped his hands together and yelped with joy. I ignored the pounding in my chest and quickly kissed him on the forehead before closing the door. Daisy came running up, her arms full of clothes and Alex’s diaper bag bulging and flung over her arm.

“Get in,” I said. I waited for her to slide in and then slid behind the wheel just as the four Gods, women sitting on the back of their bikes, rumbled down the dirt road, their thick tires kicking up dust that mixed with the heavy smoke in the air.

We followed close behind.

“The fire was that bad?” Daisy asked, her voice shaking.

“You see all this smoke?” I said.

“Is it going to burn down the cabins?”

“I hope to hell not,” I said, flashing her a quick look. She was disheveled, her wild red curls bouncing around her face in a tangled, frizzy mess, her forehead lined with worry, but she’d never been more beautiful to me.

“I can’t believe this,” she said. “What do you think started it?”

“Could be anything this time of year,” I replied. “Everything’s so dry and people are so careless.”

“Yeah,” she muttered, looking out the window. “That sucks. It’s so beautiful here.”

“I know,” I replied, reaching over for her hand.

“Where will we go now?”

“Not sure yet,” I said. “Once we talk to the fire chief, we’ll know more. It might just be a quick fix for them and we can head home soon.”

“I hope so,” she said.

My headlights lit up the clouds of dust that the bikes kicked up behind them, and if it hadn’t been for their tail lights signaling they were stopping at the gate, I would have run into them. The gate opened slowly, and we rolled through. Once we reached the intersection of the freeway, I leaned my head out of the window.

“Which way?” I asked. Ryder looked to the right and then the left, nodding as he pointed down the road. “I see flashing lights. Let’s go ask them what’s going on.”

“After you!” I called. He roared off down the street, Grace holding onto his waist. We followed after him and as we drove closer to the lights, I saw three firetrucks blocking the road. Ryder drove up and talked to one of them for a few minutes while we waited and watched.

“The road’s closed?” Daisy asked.

“Looks like it,” I replied. I put the truck in gear and turned off my engine. “I’ll be right back.”

Walking up to Ryder and the fire chief, they turned to greet me.

“What are we looking at here?”

“Fire broke out this afternoon. We’ve been fighting it for hours, but it’s spreading. One of about a hundred in the entire state. We can’t keep up.”

“What started it?”

“This one? Well, we’ve heard reports of a couple of high schoolers playing with fireworks up on the Elk Mountain trail, but nothing’s confirmed yet.”

“How big is it?”

“Grown to fifty acres and spreading fast. There’s another one a few miles up the road, started by a damned cigarette butt, if you can believe that. You fellas live in the compound with the cabins down the dirt road with the gate?”

“Yes, sir,” Ryder said.

“Well, your property is in the fire line, but we’ll do our best to save your structures. I can’t say you won’t have any damage, but maybe you’ll get lucky. Good thing you evacuated. Did everyone get out? I can send a few of my men in.”

“We’re all out,” I said.

“When can we go back?” Ryder asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine. Depends on the wind, honestly.”

Ryder turned to me questioningly.

“We’ve got a place in Portland we can all stay at in the meantime,” he said. “We can be there in an hour or so.”

“Not this way, you won’t,” the Chief said. “Road’s closed behind me, and just a few miles up the other way toward the coast, it’s closed there, too. Couple of trees fell on the road and the fire’s gone right up to the side of the damned freeway.”

“We’re blocked in?” I asked.

“Pretty much,” he shrugged. “At least till those trees can get cleared. Once that happens, you can head towards the coast and go around the long way to get back to Portland.”

“What are we going to do?” I asked Ryder, at a complete loss.

“We’ve got a staging area up the way,” the Chief said. “At the Roadhouse, that little saloon that opened a little motel last summer out back? All the wildfire crews have pretty much taken the place over completely, but I bet we can spare a few rooms for a little while.”

“That would be great,” I said. “We’ve got a baby with us.”

“Absolutely,” he said, smiling and patting us on the back. “Y’all head on up there and tell ‘em Roy sent ya! Now, what are y’alls names, just so I can keep a headcount?”

“I’m Dr. Jason Boones,” I said, putting out a hand to shake his. He took it and smiled.

“A doctor, eh? Good to know! Now, hold on, let me write this all down.”

He pulled out a small notebook and we rattled off everyone’s names as he wrote them down.

“Alright, then. Shouldn’t be too long. Y’all head on over and get some rest. We’ll see you in the morning. The street crews should be here by then and have the roads cleared.”

“Thank you,” we said, heading back to the bikes and my truck.

“This kinda sucks,” Ryder said. “I’m not a fan of sleeping in strange beds.”

I laughed and patted him on the back,

“I remember all the stories my old man used to tell me about you. Said you used to be one of the wildest Gods there was back then. I’d imagine you’ve slept in a lot of strange beds in your time.”

He laughed and shook his head.

“Guess I’m just not as wild in my old age,” he quipped. “I’d rather be holed up with Grace and watching reruns of The Office these days.”

“I guess even the wildest streaks have to end sometime,” I said.

“That’s not a bad thing, brother,” he replied. I smiled and nodded, receiving his message loud and clear.

“So, I guess I’ll meet you at the Roadhouse.”

“God, I fucking hate that place,” he said, laughing as he climbed back on his bike. “Strange beds!”

I was still laughing when I slid back behind the wheel of my truck.

“What’s so funny?” Daisy asked.

“Getting old, I guess,” I replied.

“Getting old is funny to you?” She asked, lifting a brow.

I leaned over and kissed her quickly before starting the truck back up.

“It’s actually not bad,” I shrugged. “So, do you like shady motels? Because have I got a place for you…”