Page 72 of Chasing You

“I’ll be fine. I just?—”

“Stop!”

Frey did, slamming the car to a halt. The smoke wasn’t too bad, but any closer and it would be. He wouldn’t risk Frey.

“I’m going to walk. Stay put here.” There was a small gust, and some of the smoke cleared. Adele was able to seehis house now, two hundred yards down and engulfed in flames. “Oh my God,” he breathed. His voice cracked. “Oh my God, oh my God.”

He was out of the car before Frey could stop him, running on raw pavement, tearing up the bottoms of his feet, but what did he care when the two loves of his life were there. But they were alive. They had to be. There wasn’t a chance in hell they were gone because that couldn’t happen.

There was no fucking way. There was no way!

“Kash!” he screamed. “Gage!”

Arms grabbed him before he got to his lawn, but he didn’t recognize the face behind the mask until he spoke. “Boss! You can’t go in there like this!”

He shoved at Antonio. “My son is…”

“He’s there.” Antonio bodily spun him, and through the hazy smoke, he realized that both Kash and Gage were on the neighbor’s lawn. Gage was on his back, his head pillowed on Kash’s lap, an oxygen mask over his face.

Adele sobbed loudly as he ran faster than he ever had in his life. He hit the grass and skidded forward until he collided with them both. He couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t see through his tears, and his heart felt like it was trying to break every one of his ribs.

“Hey,” he finally heard over his own terrified noises. Kash was speaking to him, holding him, running fingers through his hair. “Hey. It’s okay. We’re okay.”

Adele forced himself to take several breaths until he felt like he could make words people could understand. “You’re okay? You’re both okay?”

A smaller hand found its way into his. Gage’s. Adele collapsed on the ground beside his son, and when Gage tried to take the mask off, he forced it back on.

“Don’t you fucking dare,” he warned.

Gage scoffed, the sound hollow against the silicone. “Kash saved me.”

Adele looked up at Kash, who was staring across the street at the house, which was still burning. The air was filled with the acrid scent of burning insulation and the mocking scent of falling rain from the hoses. The fire was contained, he could tell that much. But the house was gone.

Nothing would be salvageable.

The world seemed a bit clearer now, and he realized his shock was fading. He was still trembling, holding Gage’s hand and Kash’s thigh. He licked his lips, then brushed hair off Gage’s forehead before looking up at his beloved.

“What happened?”

“Gage was cooking lunch—frying something in the dutch oven,” Kash said, his voice raspy from the smoke. “There was a lip on the lid. He didn’t realize it was full of water, and oil exploded. He flew backward, and the pot tipped over onto the flames. He was knocked out, but I got to him before the fire could reach him,” Kash finished.

If Kash hadn’t been home, Gage would have been killed. That reality hit Adele like a ton of bricks.

“The curtains and the wall beside the table caught before I could get to the fire extinguisher. I managed to drag Gage out, but my legs…” His voice trembled. “It took me too long to alert the neighbors to save the house.”

“Fuck the house,” Adele said. He sounded furious, though he hadn’t meant to. His fear was too real right then. “The only thing in the world that matters to me is right here. And you saved him. And yourself.”

Kash swallowed heavily. “Everything else—Gage’s things…”

“I don’t care,” Gage said quietly. He pulled the mask off, and this time, Adele let him. Turning on his side, he wrapped his arms around Kash’s waist and held him. “Thank you.”

Adele knew this would be too much soon. He was going to fall apart. He was going to fucking shatter. But his family was okay. Everyone was okay. If Gage or Kash were hurt, they’d heal.

And more importantly, they’d live.

It was hours before Adele was allowed to leave the scene. Kash and Gage had been transported to the hospital, with Frey on their heels and Renato already there waiting for them so they wouldn’t be alone.

Bowen managed to make it through the barricade and quickly took Adele inside his house, wiping him clean of paint and scrounging up a shirt and a pair of Crocs so he could save what was left of his feet.

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