Page 48 of Some Cowboys Brave the Flames

“What do you want me to do?” It was Daniel who asked. “Whatever you need, I’m here.”

She lifted her eyes to him, but before she could answer, Mason’s phone rang.

They all jumped and then stared at the phone when Mason pulled it from his pocket. He answered without hesitation and lifted it to his ear. “This is Mason Keagan.”

21

Ash

Smoke filled the air, thick and unyielding. The mask Ash wore almost felt more suffocating because he could barely see anything around him. His chest heaved. He needed oxygen. It didn’t matter that he was getting what his lungs needed; it was his brain that was playing tricks on him.

He’d been in this position before. He’d fought fires worse than this one.

Except this wasn’t the same.

Something was wrong. The heat was getting to him. His muscles ached. And the man he dragged behind him wasn’t moving. An enormous tree had buckled and come crashing down onto the group of men who were fighting to keep the flames at bay. It had crashed down and knocked two of his fellow smoke jumpers to the ground.

Ash spent too much time trying to move the tree from Marcus. He’d taken the brunt of it. Something deep inside Ash told him he wouldn’t be waking up. Cooper was the one who Ashwas currently dragging toward the scorched clearing where the fire had already ravaged the earth. Marcus was already there, waiting, lifeless.

He’d already sent out his distress call, but with the smoke, he wasn’t sure they’d find him. He couldn’t see any sign of the helicopter that would be picking them up.

His lungs burned with each breath.

Something was wrong.

Ash stumbled, nearly losing his footing altogether, but he kept pushing forward. He wasn’t going to leave either of these men behind. They deserved to be brought back, dead or alive.

Sweat poured from his face. His heart raced painfully. His vision swam. Then the ground rose up to meet him, and everything went dark.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

The darkness continued to swirl around Ash in every direction he looked.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Where was that incessant sound coming from?

Every muscle in his body ached. He couldn’t move. Hushed voices echoed in the darkness, but he couldn’t decipher any of the words that were spoken.

The beeping continued. Something soft and cool brushed against his brow, but he couldn’t open his eyes to see what it was.Footsteps shuffled, moving farther away. The screech of metal against linoleum made him flinch. Where was he?

Then everything came rushing back with a vengeance.

The fire.

Marcus and Cooper.

He groaned, forcing himself to open his eyes despite how much his body protested. The main lights in the room were off. The only light in the room came from a tubular fluorescent bulb overhead. It flickered and buzzed, and he grimaced even though it wasn’t at full brightness. Ash shut his eyes again. This time he was slower in opening them and taking in his surroundings.

The hospital room wasn’t large by any means, but there weren’t any other patients he had to share it with. The obnoxious beeping sound came from the monitor to his left, and he knew if he lifted the blankets covering him, he’d find a cable connected to his body somewhere.

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