Chapter 8

It takes more love to share the saddle than it does to share the bed.

-Biker Truth

Payton

“Payton.” Max whined from the bedroom.

 

Max was running a one hundred and one fever, and he was the world’s worst patient. At the moment, he was lying in bed watching old episodes of X-Files, and I was at my wits end.

 

I’d taken care of him for a day and a half now, and I needed a damn break. Slipping my feet into my tennis shoes, I stood up and grabbed him another Gatorade from the fridge. Not the purple, but the red, since he’d whined about the purple leaving a funny taste in his mouth. I also grabbed the bottle of Ibuprofen and headed into the bedroom.

 

He was lying on the bed in all his naked, pitiful glory. He’d complained earlier about his skin hurting, so he shed his clothes and was now laying on the Jersey Knit sheets with nothing on except his dog tags. His arms were thrown up over his head, and tissues were scattered all around his body, as well as all over the floor. His penis was lying against the side of his leg. At the moment, sexy he was not.

 

“You’re leaving me?” He asked nasally.

 

“I need clothes, and I’m tired of wearing yours. I’ll be thirty minutes tops.” I explained before grabbing my purse and keys off the dresser.

 

“Don’t leave me.” He whispered.

 

I rolled my eyes. Men were the biggest babies when it came to the common cold, and Max seemed to be more pitiful than most.

 

“You were the one who said, ‘If you don’t ride in the rain, you don’t ride.’”

 

He sighed, and rolled over, showing off his nice beautiful butt. I wanted to bend over and bite it, but I refrained, and, instead, blew him a kiss.

 

“Let’s go, Alpha.” I called walking out his front door.

 

I was blasted by the freezing wind, and practically ran to my car and threw myself in. Alpha came in right behind me, jumping over my lap to settle on the passenger seat. I used my gate opener to open the front gate, and headed to my apartment.

 

My apartment complex was pretty freakin rank. Kilgore was a college town, and when I was looking for a place of my own, I had to settle for the apartments that were closest to the college. They were awful. They looked like they needed a face-lift at least a decade ago. The stairs were metal and rickety, and I feared for my life every time I went up them with an arm full of groceries.

 

Unfortunately, when I was in nursing school I couldn’t afford much more than this and I haven’t had my current position at the hospital long enough to look for another place.

 

The night was positively frigid for Texas, and it was darker than sin because the streetlight that lit up my side of the complexes parking lot was out, yet again.

 

“Let’s go, Alpha.” I said to him before opening the door.

 

I used the flashlight on my phone and climbed the stairs carefully. I so did not want to get a tetanus shot today; if I fell that is exactly what I would have to do. I used my keys to let myself in the front door, unlocking four locks and then locking three back, once I was inside. Alpha paced the apartment, doing his usual routine of checking out all of the rooms before settling back at my side.

 

My apartment was completely dark, and the little lamp that I used for light when I got home late wasn’t turning on; I felt along the wall for the light switch. I moaned when I flipped the switch and that light didn’t turn on either. It must be an outage for the whole right side of the complex since the lights were off outside as well.

 

A little shiver of fear went through me, but I squashed it down. Sighing in exasperation with myself, I walked into my bedroom with the light of my phone. Once I got in there, I texted Max to tell him I would be late due to the power outage, and then grabbed some clothes out of my dresser and tossed them on the bed. The gym bag I normally used for hauling laundry was in the deepest corner of hell, otherwise known as the very back of my closet, under tons of junk. I got down on my hands and knees and went digging, only to freeze when I heard a scraping noise.

 

The noise didn’t repeat itself, but it certainly alerted Alpha who was now growling quietly. Backing up, he shoved me deeper into the closet. Heart pounding, I dialed Max.

 

He answered on the fourth ring with a wretched croak.

 

“Hey.”

 

My voice trembled as I said, “Max. Something’s wrong.”

 

His voice came through much more alert when he heard my reply. “What’s happening?”

 

“Alpha is growling. He keeps urging me into the closet. I heard a scraping sound, and the lights were out when I got here.” I explained as quietly as possible.

 

“Stay on the line, I’ll be right there; don’t fucking move. Let Alpha do what he’s trained to do.” He demanded fiercely.

 

Alpha now had me in the closet; it was pitch black, no light could be seen anywhere. Even my phone was dark. Alpha’s growl was so quiet; you could barely even tell that he was making any noise. I counted to ten in my head trying to control my thundering heart, and growing panic attack.

 

Alpha’s growl suddenly went murderous, and he was gone. Loud thumps, accompanied by a screech of pain followed his exit from the closet. A loud crunch, the slam of a door, and then all was quiet again.

 

I knew that crunching sound though. That was the sound of bone breaking, and, most likely, it was something major since the piercing scream shut off so fast. Alpha made his way back into the closet leaning his body up against my knees, his body vibrated with readiness.

 

The smell is what hit me first. It was unmistakable, and I knew it would bring the whole shitty building down. Gasoline.

 

I started to get up, unequivocally terrified that I would be left in here to burn alive, but Alpha kept me seated. The sound of cursing reminded me that I was still connected with Max. Bringing the phone back up to my ear, I listened to him give orders, but I also heard the rumble of his bike.

 

Sirens broke through the silence of the night just as an unmistakable whoosh, followed by the sound of breaking glass from the living room as the gasoline caught fire. Alpha bolted from the closet, and I was close on his heels when I felt the unmistakable form of a body. I didn’t stop to check on the person though; most likely he was dead, and I didn’t have the time to deal with him right now.

 

Fear was practically pouring out of me, and I was trembling so hard that I could barely crawl. Smoke was now billowing into the room from the crack underneath the door, and I knew I had to find a way to block it.

 

Taking the comforter off the bed, I dragged it over to the door and shoved it underneath the crack as best as I could. I made my way to the bedroom window, stopping first beside the bed to grab a blanket that never left the underside of my pillow. Wrapping the blanket around my face, I stood to drag the window open, but knew I would have nowhere to go unless I wanted to jump.

 

To my total dismay, I realized that the bedroom windows had the safety bars that prevented any burglars from entering, as the living room windows did. This completely baffled me, though, seeing as there was no balcony on this side for them to stand on to even get into the windows.

 

I would definitely have to complain to management as soon as I got finished here. This was so beyond safe that it was borderline suicidal. What they were thinking when they put these windows in was beyond me. There was too much smoke barreling out the opening behind me to get any real oxygen, so I laid myself down on the floor in hopes of getting better air quality.

 

Sirens could now be heard right outside my window, but I suddenly no longer had the strength to do much of anything. Alpha laid his head down next to my face, and I wrapped my arms and legs around him, holding him; hoping that, somehow, I got out of this alive. If I did, it would be a miracle.

***

Max

Seeing a burning building is life changing. You don’t understand the ferociousness of a fire until you’ve experienced it firsthand. Fires have a mind of their own. They are intelligent. They are beautiful. They are merciless.

 

Realizing that the love of your life was in that very same building does something to a man. Especially when he has no way to fix it. I didn’t have the knowledge of fires, nor the know how to do anything in this situation but sit back and pray for the best.

 

I pulled up next to a fire engine that had a large number three painted in bright gold on the side. Firefighters were running around pulling hoses off the truck, hooking them up, and unrolling them. Drew Dillon was standing at the back of the rig; I ran up to him in a panic to get information on what they were doing, and whom they’d gotten out so far.

 

“Dillon!” I said urgently.

 

Drew’s black eyes swung to mine, and I saw the worry on his face before he even told me.

 

“Hey man, I’m kind of busy right now, but I’ll get with you as soon as we have this under control.” He gestured with a nod of his head towards the fire.

 

Drew was an absolute mountain of a man, and with his bunker gear on, he looked all the bigger.

 

“My fiancé, Payton, is in the second floor apartment.” I said pointing towards her window. “She just called me not even eight minutes ago saying she was inside, and I can’t get her to answer anymore.”

The panic in my voice couldn’t be hidden. He knew immediately that she was important to me, and knew that I would go in there myself if he didn’t get her out on his own. I didn’t give a flying fuck if I had no clue what I was doing, as long as I got her out of there alive, I didn’t care if I burned.

 

“Captain! There’s no sign of movement. The people on the first floor said the woman in 2B hasn’t been home in a few days, and they don’t think she’s there.” A young firefighter came up to the both of us and said.

 

“No! She’s in there! She just called me!” I pleaded.

 

“Bowe, this is Max. He says there’s a woman in there. Let’s go get her.” Drew ordered.

 

Bowe took off at a sprint to the truck, informed the man that was working the controls on the truck, and then pulled his mask from the truck. Drew did the same beside me, and started walking determinedly towards the front door as Bowe caught up to him with the rammer. The rammer was a tool used to get doors open more expediently. This one looked just like most I’ve seen, with the exception of ‘Open Up’ written in bright green letters on the side.

 

Just as the two of them, in all their bunkered out glory, made it to the front door and into position, a series of barks came from a different area of the apartment.

 

“Stop!” I yelled.

 

Both men froze. It was evident they didn’t hear the barking, but I did, and I knew that Alpha would lead them straight towards her. I ran up the rickety steps, and was assaulted with the most intense heat I’d ever felt in my life. It was even more intense than the helicopter crash, and I was only three quarters of the way up the steps.

 

“Alpha is a trained protection dog. He’ll have taken her to the safest place he could, and he won’t leave her until she’s found, even if it kills him. His barking is coming from the west side of the building. That’s the master bedroom.” I explained quickly.

 

They nodded in understanding, and then Bowe ran back to the truck while Drew went around to the master bedroom window. I followed closely on his heels, and was able to hear Alpha’s bark much more clearly now. The smoke was billowing out the open window, but security bars were in place securely over the window.

 

The next few minutes were a flurry of activity. Bowe brought a ladder from the truck and placed it underneath the open window. A halligan bar was used to remove the bars, and, shortly after, a limp Payton was pulled out the opening by Drew. Bowe went in for the dog, but I couldn’t spare Alpha a glance. All of my attention was focused on Payton’s limp body. She was covered in soot; there wasn’t a single clean spot on her.

Her hair was still in the ponytail she left with it in, yet it was sliding down and to the side, hair falling in disarray around her face. She wasn’t moving; I wasn’t even sure she was breathing. The last thing I’d heard her say was a whispered I love you before the phone went dead a minute before I arrived.

 

Drew ran full force with her cradled in his arms like a baby. He laid her down gently on the gurney, and then I couldn’t see her anymore. There was yelling, shouting, and suddenly the sound of the apartment collapsing behind me. Not once did I divert my attention from the group of firefighters that worked on her.

 

They loaded her up into the ambulance, and then were gone seconds after that. A series of whimpers pulled me from my daze. I looked to my left to see Bowe laying an oxygen mask down over Alpha’s face. Alpha was staring longingly at the departing ambulance, and I knew we were both feeling the same thing. Helplessness. Failure. Sadness.

 

I don’t know how many minutes passed while I watched the empty road where the ambulance hadn’t been in quite some time. Seconds? Minutes? What I do know is that I needed to stop moping around, call Payton’s parents, and get myself to that emergency room. Fast.

 

I looked around the scene, but didn’t register at the time, the woman in the corner of the lot with a smirk at the corner of her mouth. I didn’t notice the exhausted firefighters putting out the last few flames. What I did notice was Alpha standing up, shaking off the oxygen mask, and padding over to me. He leaned against my leg; I ran my hands down through his wiry fur.

 

We leaned on each other, both taking comfort in what the other was offering. I took a long slow breath, blew it out, and then made the hardest phone call I’ve ever had to make. I made a statement to the officer that asked me what happened, and he gave me a ride to the hospital since I knew that Alpha didn’t have the ability to ride on my bike.

 

One thing I was sure of, and that was that she was alive. She was a fighter, and I wouldn’t accept anything different.

***

Payton’s parents were sitting in the corner of the ER with solemn faces. I was completely unsure what to do. I didn’t want to upset them. Seeing me might remind them that I didn’t watch over their daughter as I’d promised, just a few short days ago, when I came to see them on my own.

 

They took the choice out of my hands, however, when they both got up out of their seats and charged toward us. Alpha leaned into my leg, letting his entire body weight lean against me, and we watched them approach. I readied myself for the inevitable right hook to the face, but one never came.

 

Instead, arms circled around my midsection, and I was pulled into their embrace. It’d been years since I was hugged like this. My body stayed stiff, my mind told me that I didn’t deserve a damn thing from these people. I’d let their daughter go out by herself, and she’d nearly been killed.

 

“Oh, Max. Come sit down with us, you look about ready to keel over. The doctor came out a little while ago and told us she was stable and awake.” Jessie said.

 

When I’d gone to visit them for the first time, Payton’s mom answered the door. She gave me the once over, and immediately decreed that I would call her Jessie. Payton’s dad had been a harder sale, but after an hour of assuring him that I would watch over his daughter at the cost of my life, he finally relented, agreed that I could marry his baby, and told me to call him Tony.

 

Tony sat on one side of me, Jessie on the other, Alpha at our feet, and we waited. Over the next hour, Ember and Gabe came in, followed by Sam and Cheyenne. James, Jack, and Elliott were next. Blaine stayed to watch the brood of kids that were now so much a part of all of my friends and loved one’s lives. I was grateful that they were here; I just didn’t have anything left to spare them. I was running on empty.

 

“Payton Alvarez?” A young doctor called from the front of the waiting room.

 

My eyes snapped open, and I was on my feet instantly in front of him. Smith, M.D. was monogrammed on his shirt. Payton’s parents flanked my sides, and we all waited to hear what he had to say.

 

“Are you the husband that she keeps asking for?” Dr. Smith asked.

 

“Yes.” I said without hesitation.

 

“Good, you can come with me, as well as her parents. She was fully awake when she arrived at the ER. The firefighter who was on scene reported no injuries besides a mild case of smoke inhalation, and we concurred. She’s on a small amount of oxygen as of right now, and we’ll probably want to keep her overnight just for observation, but she’s looking good. She was extremely lucky.” Dr. Smith told us as he led us through the hallways to room five that had only a curtain surrounding it.

 

Payton was curled into a ball in the middle of the bed. Her nose had a nasal cannula in it, allowing her lungs the oxygen they needed. Alpha slipped in between my legs, and jumped up to curl his body beside hers.

 

“That dog can’t be up there!” A nurse said as she entered the room.

 

“If you try to take my dog, I’ll beat you like the bitch you are.” Payton rasped.

 

Everyone laughed, relieved that we still had Payton here to give us those witty remarks.

 

“So you decided to burn your apartment down, PP?” Bennett asked, as he entered the room.

 

She raised up on her arm, and glared at the newest addition to the room.

 

“Did you know that Max thinks he’s going to call me Pet when we get married?”

 

Accusing eyes turned to me and I held up my hands in capitulation.

 

“Those will be her initials!”

 

Laughter filled the room, and I felt something ease inside my chest. Something gave way, and I felt emotion hit me full force. I hadn’t realized I was holding it all in until this moment. When I’m in an interrogation room with someone, I can’t afford to show emotion, or feel sympathy for someone. That’s the quickest way to lose ground. When they see that something they’ve said has affected you, they don’t have that same basal fear anymore.

 

That’s what I’d been doing since Payton’s phone call, suppressing everything, making myself function the same as I normally would. Now that I knew she was going to be all right, I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

 

I dropped down to my knees beside her bed and buried my head into the soft flesh of her stomach. I took deep breaths to keep the tears at bay. I haven’t cried since the night I found out my parents died, but, in this instant, I was close to totally losing it.

 

“It’ll be okay, Max. I’ll never leave you either.” She whispered.