Chapter 34
Banner
I barely have my feet under me before I fly toward him, dodging the outstretched arms of the cop who would keep me away from Logan.
“Logan!”
He charges in my direction. “You’re okay! Sweet fucking Christ. Don’t you ever scare me like that. I thought you—”
My body slams into his, and Logan’s arms wrap around me. “I thought you were inside. Oh my God. Julianne told me you were inside. I thought you were gone.” Tears spill from my eyes onto his shirt, soaking the cotton fabric.
“No. Jesus Christ, I thought you were in there. Scared the shit out of me.” He squeezes me so tight, I can barely breathe, and it’s the best feeling in the world.
“Thank God you’re okay.”
Julianne and Emmy come toward us, but I don’t care about anything except for the fact that Logan is alive and holding me.
He lifts his head and looks over my shoulder, presumably at Cody. “What the fuck happened?”
I turn sideways to see the cop’s face as he answers.
“I have no clue. But you need to stay back until they get this put out. Where the hell were you? Julianne said you were inside.”
“Rick forgot his wallet, so I took it over to Pints and Pins.”
Julianne punches Logan in the shoulder. “I didn’t see you leave, you dumbass. I thought you were in there! I told Banner you were!”
Logan grips me even tighter when another sob escapes my lips. “Well, I wasn’t.”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re okay. We all thought—” Emmy’s voice breaks off.
Logan steps us around the edge of the post office so we can see what’s left of the building, and the others follow. Foam covers the walls that remain standing as the firemen continue to fight the blaze.
It’s a lost cause. No one has to announce that there will be nothing left, because it’s perfectly clear.
“What the hell happened?” he asks again, and this time, someone answers.
“Trying to figure that out right now. I got the call and came down. Fully involved structure fire. Chemical hazards.” Cody pauses. “I hate to have to ask you this, but you weren’t cooking meth inside, were you? Or one of your guys?”
“Hell no.” Logan spits out the words. “Fuck no,” he adds for extra emphasis.
“No cigarettes left burning? Any kind of torch?”
Logan shakes his head. “No one smokes in the shop. The torches were off. It doesn’t make any fucking sense.”
“Buildings don’t just blow up, Logan. I don’t have to tell you that.”
“No shit. But I don’t have a clue how it happened.”
“It’s lucky you weren’t inside. How long ago did you leave?” the cop asks.
“I don’t know, maybe fifteen, twenty minutes ago?”
“It’s also pretty damn convenient that the car you just restored wasn’t inside.”
There’s something in Cody’s tone that I don’t like, and apparently Logan doesn’t either.
“What the fuck are you trying to say? That somehow I made this happen?” Logan’s voice drops to a rough whisper. “Because there’s no fucking way I had a goddamned thing to do with this. That shop is my business. My future.”
“I’m just doing my job, and my training says money is always the best motive. And in this case, your insurance money.”
“I didn’t fucking have anything to do with it. I had two customers’ cars inside, and shit I’ll never be able to replace.”
“But you know you’re gonna have money coming in from insurance to cover it all for you.”
Logan drops his arm from around my shoulders. “I can’t fucking believe you’d bring that up right now. I didn’t have a damned thing to do with this.”
The fire chief breaks away from the men fighting the fire and strides toward us.
“Jesus fucking Christ, man. They told me you were inside.”
Logan releases me to hug the other man. “Fuck, Granger. I don’t know if today is my lucky day or the unluckiest day I’ve ever had.”
“You’re breathing and not a charred corpse, so there’s that. I gotta get back up there, but fuck, it’s good to see you.” Granger steps back and replaces his headgear, but before I can speak, Emmy chimes in.
“I’m so glad you’re okay. I think my heart about stopped when I thought . . . well, never mind that now. I’m gonna get back to the restaurant and try to calm people down again. Granger, if any of you need coffee or water, it’s on the house. I’ll start brewing some now.”
“Appreciate it, Emmy.” Granger walks backward. “We got all hands on deck to put this one out.”
“Me too,” Cody says before striding away. Over his shoulder, he adds, “Logan, I don’t need to tell you this, but don’t go anywhere anytime soon. We’re gonna have a bunch of questions for you.”
“Jesus, what a clusterfuck,” Julianne whispers.
“My fucking shop is gone.”
“I’m sorry, babe. So sorry. But I’m so glad you’re okay.” I sniffle and tears fall again. “Don’t you ever make me think you’re dead again. I will seriously kill you myself.”
Logan crushes me to his chest. “You scared the shit out of me too. I thought you could’ve been inside. Jesus. What a disaster.”
I look at the car standing a few feet away, still running. “It’s a miracle you weren’t.”
“Thank Rick’s forgetfulness.”
“You better believe I will. I’m going to give every woman he dates a vibrator. It’s the least I can do.”
“I’ll leave you two alone,” Julianne says. “I gotta go track down some plywood for my front window. Blast shattered it.”
Logan looks from me to her. “Call the lumberyard and tell them to put it on my account. Explain what happened, and that you need it delivered tonight so you can actually leave your shop.”
She nods and pulls out her phone before walking away to make the call.
I look up at Logan. “Cody said you can’t go anywhere, but you gotta get the car to Nashville tomorrow.”
“And I will. We will. You’re coming with me. This world could be headed straight for hell, but I wouldn’t let it stop me from delivering that car on time. Especially not after I talked to Boone tonight and told him it’s ready to go.”
“But what about Cody?”
Logan thinks for a few moments before responding. “Whatever questions they have aren’t going to change the fact that I have a job to do. They’ll get to the bottom of it, and I’ll clean up the mess. But my business isn’t gonna be worth much if I can’t deliver on my word to Boone Thrasher.”
“This timing sucks.”
“Sure does, but there’s not a damn thing we can do about it.”
I lay my head on his chest, the acrid scent of smoke now clinging to both of us. “I’m sorry.”
He presses a kiss to my forehead. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. You and I are both okay, and at the end of the day, that’s all that matters. Everything else can be replaced with money. There’s no way in hell I could ever replace you, Banner.” He pauses. “I’ve never felt fear as blinding as I did when I saw those flames from over the post office. In my gut, I knew it was coming from my shop, and I thought my worst nightmare was coming true.”
I don’t have to ask what his worst nightmare is because I already know. Losing me.
“I thought I was going to die when Julianne told me you were inside.”
He brings me close to his chest again. “Like I’d ever leave you without a fight. Never.”
“What are we going to do now?” I ask.
“For now, we wait. Tomorrow, we’re driving to Nashville to deliver this car before anything else can happen.”