Page 121 of Roses in Summer

“Ciern,” I choke out, and her eyes flick to mine, relief and tears and fear mingling together in her dark-brown gaze. I fight the urge to toss the medic aside to pick her up and hold her and assure myself she’s real and safe. Instead, I let him finish while I stare at her, cataloging every bruise and scratch on her body.

Rafe stands beside me, a sentry, while I look my girl over, making sure that despite the surface-level injuries, she’s not hurt. With a final squeeze of ointment and instructions to keep the scratch on her face clean, the medic dismisses Seraphina and reaches out a hand to help her down from the ledge. I clear my throat, forcing him to look over his shoulder at me. “I got it.”

With a nod, he cleans up his supplies and walks to the front of the ambulance. The moment I’m able to, I stride to Seraphina and lightly cup her jaw, making sure that I’m not putting any pressure on the gauze bandage. “You’re determined to give me a heart attack, aren’t you?” I joke in an attempt to chase the shadows from her eyes.

I fail. Miserably.

Tears begin to pool in the corner of her eyes, and I catch them as they spill, my heart breaking at her pain. “Fuck, ciern.” I drop her jaw and pull her in gently, cradling her head against my chest as I rock back and forth. “Are you okay, baby?”

She nods against me, sniffling into the fabric of my T-shirt. “I’m fine. B and I fell when someone pushed her from behind, though I think someone probably just tripped into her on the way down the stairs. She fell into me, but other than that, I’m fine.”

I hold her tighter, refusing to let go. Rafe clears his throat behind me before stepping closer to us. I watch him look at us for a moment, a hint of jealousy in his eyes. I know it’s not Seraphina or me he’s jealous of—that’d be weird as fuck—but I have a feeling he wishes he were holding Sera’s tall roommate the way I’m holding Sera.

He looks away before quickly returning my gaze, whatever I saw replaced by a hardness that belies his anger. “It’s too soon for the CFIs to assess the cause of the fire, but I doubt this was an accident.”

“CFIs?” Sera mumbles, turning her head to stare up at her twin while she burrows against me.

“Certified Fire Investigators,” Rafe explains, nodding toward the building. “I don’t believe in coincidences, and with everything happening around the three of you, I don’t for a fucking second trust that there’s not some overlap.”

I hum my agreement. The moment I saw the police barricade, my gut told me this had something to do with Seraphina. My mind wanders back to minutes before I saw the slowdown a block from her apartment to the four-way intersection and the familiar black car.

“Fuck,” I mutter. “Rafe, there was a blacked-out Mustang that almost hit me when I was driving here. It looked familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I had seen it before until now. It almost hit Seraphina’s car in the library parking lot last week.”

Rafe’s jaw goes steel. “I’ll have someone check the traffic cameras in the area.” With a final look at his sister, he turns to leave.

“Rafe?” Sera calls out, stopping his leave. “Have you spoken to Liv? I didn’t grab my phone, and I don’t know if she knows yet.”

I see his hand flex at his side. “I asked one of the off-duty officers to stop by Legends and wait until I got there. If she doesn’t know now, she will soon.”

Seraphina nods, though Rafe isn’t able to see it. “Tell her I’m sorry I wasn’t able to grab any of her things.”

“You don’t know what the state of the apartment is. Your things may be untouched.”

“Regardless, tell her I’m sorry.”

Rafe nods and disappears between police vehicles, leaving Seraphina and me alone amongst the chaos surrounding us.

“Have you spoken to your parents yet?”

She pulls back, allowing her to look into my face. “Rafe called them when he spoke to me, B, and Ava. They’re at a conference in Toledo and are flying back tomorrow morning. Speaking of my sisters, they were with Grey before I got escorted to the ambulance. Have you seen them?”

“I saw Bianca but not Grey and Ava. We’ll look for them in a minute, but right now, I need to hold you.” I bring her back in, inhaling the scent of citrus that the strands of her hair emit. It’s calming, though it doesn’t fully assuage the panic that hit me.

“Ma’am, sir, you’re going to need to move to another location. We have other people to treat.” The medic interrupts us, shattering the moment of peace.

With a sigh, I drop my hands from Seraphina’s body and step back, holding out a hand to help her down from her spot on the edge. She slides down gracefully, clutching the robe to her body to conceal her skin from the humid evening air.

“Come on, let’s find your sisters and Grey, and then I’ll take you to my apartment.”

She nods, tightening her grip on my hand as I lead her in the direction I last saw Bianca. I spot Grey’s tall, blond head in the crowd and call out his name. At the sound of my voice, he turns and meets my gaze with a nod.

I lead Seraphina over to him, not surprised when Ava and Bianca launch themselves at her and disconnect our hands.

“I’m never coming to your apartment again,” Ava remarks, a sob breaking out at the last word. “First horror movies, and now this. I swear to God, it’s cursed.”

“Vixen,” Grey murmurs, drawing Ava away from Seraphina and into his arms. I ache to do the same thing to Seraphina, to pull her back into my body, but I don’t interfere in her embrace with her younger sister.

“I’ve had enough near-death experiences to last until I’m at least fifty.”

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