Page 65 of Love Fire

I silently agree. I don’t wait a “few” minutes though. I counted to 30n seconds and peek around the stack of barrels.

The SWAT team are the only men left standing in the building. They took the handcuffed men and left the bodies everywhere. It looks like they're going to wait for forensics to do their job.

I bite my lip, eager to find those two idiots. The intrusive thoughts are killing me. I’m trying to replace them with positive outcomes but they go back to morbid ones. I smack the barrel, deciding what I’m going to do.

“I need to go find Brent. Nate should be with him,” I say, standing up from a crouching position.

I look back at my sister. “I’ll meet you back here. Don’t move under any circumstances.”

Leanne stands up, scoffing. “Fuck that. I’m going with you.”

“Why can’t you listen to me without putting up a fight?”

She shrugs. “It’s not fun that way.”

“Brat,” I say playfully.

We emerge from the barrel forte. The area’s safe enough for us to walk around but not yet to leave our rifles behind. The SWAT trucks are still parked outside and hallways inside the warehouse. They tore down a whole wall to get in here.

They started to load up other trucks with some barrels. A few men are still searching the area. The bomb squad’s here. I think Brent’s the one that released a whole unit.

God I hope he’s alive. How many times have I thought this? Hoping for his safety and being separated thanks to my father. The saying goes, third time’s the charm.

If this can count as the third time. This should be the last time it happens. My intrusive thoughts tell me it’ll be the last time because he’s dead. I have to hit myself in the head to snap out of it.

Leanne and I round a corner, the “back” of the warehouse. More like heading to the basement. There’s a chance it could also be tunnels.

“Please be alive,” I whisper.

We stop on our tracks. There’s whispering around the corner. I grab Leanne and pull her back to the wall. We have our guns ready, preparing to confront our father’s leftover men.

On the count of three, we jump the corner. We point our guns at the men’s heads. They turn around with wide eyes. They reach for their own guns.

“Nate. Brent!”

I drop my gun and run towards Brent. He takes me into his muscular arms and hugs me tightly. He kisses my whole face with desperation. He kisses my lips lastly, lingering for a good ten seconds before letting me go.

“I thought you were dead,” he says softly.

I don’t know how else to respond but to cry. My lips quiver and the tears already run down my cheeks. The stress of the entire ordeal take over my body.

Brent tenderly wipes away my tears. “Are you okay? They drugged you…”

He looks down. “Torres said—”

“You spoke to our father?” Leanne says shocked.

Nate interjects. “Leanne, you’re alive?”

53

BRENT

We’re finally out of our shitty situation.

For now, we’re staying in Leanne’s house up in the mountains. Erin and I have been attached to the hip since we left the warehouse. I don’t want to let her out of my sight. Even when she needs the restroom.

I sit on the edge of the bed, waiting for Erin to finish her patchwork. Her slender fingers travel across my back, gently putting in bandages. Her fingers linger on each cut. With each bruise, she places a soft kiss.

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