Page 2 of Lines Drawn
“They hit the clinic first.”
My knees almost collapse when I hear Hollis’s voice, even if I can’t see him.Fuck this smoke.
I make it through a thick section of the smoke and stumble at the sight in front of me. Tennant is cradling Roman, while Jude and Hollis are hovering over them, with Leandro not far behind.
Roman…my friend, is covered in soot and blood, making him almost unrecognizable. What the fuck happened to them? And who the hell do I need to kill first? Because someone needs to pay for this.
Given Master’s stiff posture, I’ll need to get in line. He marches over to Cristian, who is laying on the ground, with Carter leaning over him.
“Where the fuck is Doc? I heard he would be here?” Master demands, not stopping until he reaches them.
Carter coughs, shaking his head. “Almost here.”
I hear sirens and breathe a sigh of relief, only to choke as I inhale smoke. Almost immediately, Benjamin is right beside me, shoving a piece of wet cloth into my hand. I give him a nod of thanks and trudge on to start helping Master gather the Amatos.
We need to get home.Now. And it looks like, this time, it’ll be the Amatos coming with us. Fuck knows Sarah is going to be busy.She’d better pull off a miracle…
Istare up at Il Padrone as he barks orders and tries to get the scene under his control. Under normal circumstances, having another Boss take over in my territory would piss me off, and have me reaching for my gun, but in this case, I’m grateful someone is stepping up to the plate.
Allesandro squats down next to me and reaches for my face, turning my head around to him. I try to smile, but the fucking smoke inhalation forces me to cough instead. Carter helps me sit up a little until the spell passes, and then I collapse back onto the ground.
“Thank you, Amico Mio,” I say hoarsely. “Thank you for coming.”
“Do not thank me,” Allesandro says harshly. “You’d do the same for me. Non avevo intenzione di lasciare che ti portassero via da me, Dolce Cuore.”
Before I can respond to that, Doc’s voice can be heard over the fray. “One fucking evening,” he bitches. “I leave for one evening and you fuckers can’t keep yourselves together in that time.”
I’d laugh if it wasn’t for another cough making my entire body shake. We need to move. The sirens we’ve been hearing seem right on top of us now, and some of my tension eases knowing the fire will hopefully be out soon.
Allesandro moves to the side, and Soren kneels beside me. He checks me over for burns before getting Carter to sit me up again. “We have no fucking supplies on us,” he growls, as he sets one hand on my chest, the other reaching for my wrist.
“Roman?” I ask.
“Doc’s looking him over now.”
The fire trucks pulling into the driveway drown out his words, and I almost curse at them for their shitty timing.
Allesandro leaves my side to talk to the firefighters, and I crack a smile at my friend…my heart, while my soul holds my hand and comforts me as Soren continues his assessment.
Allesandro strides back over. “We need to move. Now. Some of my people will stay behind to supplement yours, but they’re going to try to transfer you to a hospital, and?—”
“No,” Soren and I both protest.
We get a nod and a small smile to that, as Allesandro agrees, “I’d rather not have our doctors go toe-to-toe again so soon. Let’s move.”
Carter and Allesandro carefully help me up, but I stumble. A coughing attack has me leaning over, and I brace myself against my husband for a moment while I catch my breath.
“Fucking smoke,” I croak out.
I’m guided over to the ridiculous Martelli vehicle, but as we walk, I stop beside Doc as he's directing James and Ignacio on how to move Roman. Tennant stands close, with Jude and Hollisat his side, and I meet my friend’s icy eyes, giving a small shake of my head at the way he’s frowning at the man who is helping Doc with my son.
“How is he?”
“Better than he should be,” Doc says carefully. “I suspect multiple fractures. There’s a lot of cuts and glass everywhere, and who knows what the fuck else. I wish I had one of my ambulances, but we’ll deal with it. There’s enough room in our car for me to lay him out and work on him.”
I shudder, relief and fear running through me at the same time. With some gentle prodding, I’m escorted to the Martelli car, even though we still have quite a few working ones of our own—reason number one being that the garage was detached from the house, despite everyone’s bitching.
Allesandro, Lio, Carter, Marcus, Soren, and I all get into the car. Allesandro looks at Lio, and the boy squirms. “Benjamin is going to ride with Leandro and Jude, while Tennant, Hollis, and Ignacio go with Doc and Roman.”
