Page 40 of Burned By Love

Sal had set the shop on fire.He’d hurt Jonathan when they were together.He’d probably been planning on hurting him again.There was only one outcome to this fight, and West and Sal both knew what that outcome was.

When Sal swung the chair to hit West, West caught it and pulled it out of his grasp.He threw it against the wall, enjoying the way Sal’s eyes widened just a bit when it crashed.Sal hadn’t thought this through, had he?He’d been so focused on hurting Jonathan that he hadn’t realized that West would be in his element here.This was what he did every day.

Minus the physical fighting, of course.

He cocked his fist and punched Sal in the nose.Sal screamed, but West smiled at the satisfying crunch of the man’s nose breaking.He hoped the punch would be enough to get Sal to stop, but he should’ve known better.

Sal wasn’t planning on losing.He dropped his hand, giving West a few seconds to see blood dripping from his nose.When he started shifting, West knew he had to stop him.There was no space for a dragon here, which meant that if Sal shifted, he’d destroy the shop.Everyone outside would see him, and it wasn’t something West and Austin—or any other dragon shifter—could afford.

Sal’s face elongated and grew.His nails became claws, and his tail grew.

West punched him again.

He didn’t care about hurting Sal or even killing him.He just cared about Sal stopping this madness, and he put his entire strength into the punch.Sal was a dragon shifter, so he’d probably be fine, and if he wasn’t, oh, well.West wouldn’t think twice about it or feel guilty.

Sal reeled back and hit the wall.His head bounced off it, making West wince because that had to hurt.

Sal tipped forward.West didn’t pause to check on him.He punched him again, needing the asshole to be unconscious so he could focus on Jonathan.

Sal finally dropped to the floor.His body stopped shifting and returned back to its human form, leaving Sal a bloody, unconscious mess.For a moment, West could only stare.This was the man who’d made Jonathan’s life hell.No one would care if West left him behind, right?

Austin rushed forward.“Come on.We can’t leave him here.”

West needed to reassure himself first.He looked back, relieved when he saw that Jonathan was standing and seemed to be fine.He appeared terrified, and West desperately wanted to fix this for him.

“Everything okay?”he asked Jonathan.

Jonathan swallowed heavily and nodded.“We have to stop meeting like this.”

West blinked.“Like what?”

“This is the second time you visited the shop in a professional capacity and the second time we’re stuck in a fire together.”

West smiled.Jonathan felt good enough to joke.That had to mean that he’d be fine, right?

West grabbed his mask and pressed it against Jonathan’s face.The room was steadily filling with smoke, and even though West trusted the rest of his team to deal with the fire, he didn’t want Jonathan to have to inhale any more smoke than he already had.He also took off his turnout coat and draped it over Jonathan’s shoulders.It wouldn’t do miracles, but it would shield Jonathan from the worst of the fire.

“The asshole is heavy,” Austin complained.

When West turned, it was to find Austin standing next to him.He’d thrown Sal over his shoulder, and the man hung down like a ragdoll.Austin would complain about having to carry Sal on his own for weeks, but West was grateful because it meant he could focus on getting Jonathan out of there.

“Let’s go,” he ordered.

He could hear the others talking through their radio, but he didn’t pay them any attention.Austin confirmed that both he and West were making their way out and that they had two survivors, so it wasn’t like West needed to do anything except keep his attention on Jonathan.

He didn’t know what would happen after that.He didn’t know if the authorities would finally do something about Sal, but there was no way they could ignore what he’d done this time.It was too big and too dangerous.He hadn’t only been stalking Jonathan.He’d set the shop on fire and destroyed it, and he should pay for that.

West couldn’t wait to see it.

West and Jonathan went ahead, with Austin and Sal behind them.West did everything he could to shield Jonathan from the fire, but his team had come through.From the looks of it, the waiting area was almost fire-free.Still, West guided Jonathan to the back door, pushing them out into the fresh air and guiding Jonathan away from the shop as soon as they were out.Jonathan didn’t try to take off the mask.He didn’t say anything, either.He was probably in shock, and West had to resist the urge to go back to where the paramedics were already working on Sal and punch him again.

He grabbed Jonathan by the shoulders and turned him so they faced each other.“You’re okay?”

Jonathan finally reached for the mask.West helped him take it off, but he left his turnout coat on Jonathan’s shoulders for a while longer.It felt good to see Jonathan wrapped in his clothes, especially when they were designed to protect him.

“I’m fine,” Jonathan promised.

West could see in his eyes that he wasn’t, but that would take time.Sal reappearing in Jonathan’s life had opened old wounds that Jonathan had thought were healed, and he would need to deal with all of them.

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