Page 89 of Her Braun
She had no idea how Chuck was going to take her words. She didn't think her tears would work, not that she could command when they fell, but she was hovering on the verge of it at that moment and had been since she'd seen Charles on the floor.
"Let me help him, please."
"You're supposed to be with me! Get it? Me!"
He yanked at her again and she panicked when he pulled her into his awkward embrace.
It was startlingly clear that Chuck wasn't going to let her help his dad. Whether it was because he didn't care, or he didn't understand she didn't know.
She had a feeling that things were only going to get worse, she just couldn't try to reason with him any longer.
The next few moments were all she really had to work with.
She had to do something.
What? She didn't really know.
Looking around the room as he ran his hands restlessly over her body, Kay tried to look for a light in the darkness that was surrounding her. She needed a way out.
That's when she saw it.
A few words in white against a bright red background that gave her the tiniest sliver of hope.
She shifted against Chuck and as soon as she had a little room, she lifted her knee and made a solid hit between his legs.
He dropped to the ground, almost bringing her down under him, but she pushed at him and turned, praying that her legs would hold her up as she ran for the wall.
She got there a moment later and reached out her hand, pulling the handle down on the FIRE ALARM.
A moment later, an ear-splitting flare of sound rent the air three times.
"The fire alarm?" Chuck yelled at her. "You bitch!"
She was by the door, and she could leave, but her gaze fell on Charles.
They were just finishing the overhaul on the house fire when Jake Rafferty showed up with another detective, Walker Ashley in tow.
"Braun!"
Gibson turned around and took off his helmet, dragging the back of his hand over his forehead. "Jake. Walker." He saw the way the men walked directly toward him, their expressions tight.
This wasn't a social call.
He took a few steps closer and met them at the sidewalk.
Gibson turned his free hand over, showing them his palm. "Sorry, I can't shake..."
Jacob held up his hands. "I get it. You keep all that dirt and soot to yourself."
Gibson nodded.
Walker lifted his chin in greeting. "Any word on the fire? Cause? Victims?"
Gibson nodded. He heard something in Walker's words. Something that sounded flat in his last word. He didn't like the thought of someone dead in the fire. It was something that they both shared. As a firefighter, and as a human, Gibson hated to find bodies in fires.
When they did find them, he hoped that they passed peacefully before the fire engulfed them.
There was nothing good about dying in a fire.
