BreakMeIn (23 page)

His legs gave out, his muscles overworked and limp.

He brought her down with him so they became a tangled pile
of sweaty, satisfied limbs. Even though his lungs burned from lack of oxygen as
he struggled for breath he already wanted to be inside her again.

And again.

And again until they were both sated and so overwhelmed with
desire they couldn’t think coherently. He had a sinking feeling, despite the
intense connection they’d just made, the moment would never come. He knew she
was still holding something back from him, but he didn’t know what he needed to
poke to get her to admit as much.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, he pressed a kiss to her
hipbone, feeling her pulse beating rapidly against her skin. “Can I hold you?”

“Aftercare is supposed to be the other way around.” Her
fingers brushed through his sweat-soaked hair as he lifted his face to look at
her. Pure, unadulterated satisfaction greeted him. Her cheeks were tinted pink,
her lips flushed red and her eyes were bright as the released endorphins
continued to course through her system.

Damn, he loved that look on her.

On his Mistress.

He couldn’t wait to see her look this way again.

“I know. I just…need to hold you in my arms for a few
minutes.”

His arms closed around her body, pulling her tightly against
him as he pressed another kiss to her hip. Content more than ever before in his
life, he slid up her body and fit her head under his chin. He smiled in the
dark as she pressed her lips to his collarbone.

“Hold me for as long as you like, Alexander.”

Alex woke just as a blast ripped through the night.

He had a second to remember where he was before he was
lifted into the air by the powerful force. The stars overhead spun, adding to
his confusion as to why he wasn’t lying in bed beside Elena. He landed with a
jarring thud, the fierce impact stealing his breath and making his lungs burn.

He hauled in a breath.

Another.

A third as he fought the panic weighing his chest.

As oxygen finally filtered through his lungs he realized
there was a heavy plank of wood resting against his body, which made it even
more difficult to breathe. Sirens filled the cold night air as he pushed a pile
of debris away. Pieces of lighter debris floated on the air, slowly raining
down like a ticker-tape parade. While he didn’t know what the hell was going
on, he knew there wasn’t cause for celebration. He swiped at his watering eyes,
willing them to clear so he could see as he stood.

The sirens drew closer, but the knowledge help was on the
way did nothing to loosen the knot of dread in his chest. Something terrible
has just happened and he had no idea what the hell it was.

As he stepped forward, he slipped on something, his bare
foot connecting with asphalt. The street. He was in the middle of the street.
Pieces of wood littered the area around him.

It was like a war zone.

Holy shit, what the hell had happened?

He remembered closing the shop, being frustrated and so
tired all he wanted to do was fall asleep as soon as he managed to get near a
bed. He remembered fighting with Vivian.

Taking a bath with…

Oh my god.

Where Sanctuary had once stood was now a gaping hole. The
buildings on either side of the large warehouse were on fire. The blaze lit the
winter-night sky, highlighting the remains of the beloved structure.

All he could think of was Elena.

Where in the hell was she? A quick scan of his surroundings
showed nothing but destruction.

Shit.

“Elena!” Alex sprinted forward, barely registering the cuts
and bruises as he ran barefoot through the wreckage.

“Sir!”

He ignored the voices barking through the darkness at him.
There was only one voice he wanted to hear. “Elena! Answer me.” He hefted a
pile of wood, scowling when he found nothing but blackened concrete underneath.

“Sir! I need you to come with me. You’re bleeding.”

“I don’t care.” He tried to shake off the hand against his
shoulder. “I have to find her.” He turned, ready to unleash his fury on
whomever was keeping him from his task. An EMT stood beside him, the lines of
concern on his face highlighted by the orange glow piercing the night.

“Sir. Let us do our job. The faster you cooperate, the
faster we can focus on finding other survivors.”

Survivors. If there even were any. No. He couldn’t think
that way. Wouldn’t. He hadn’t worked so hard to make amends with his loved ones
only to have them stolen from him so viciously.

He’d survived.

So would they.

“Focus on the building, damn it. I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding and you’re not wearing any clothes.”

“I don’t care.” He jerked his arm away, roaring at the man.
“Find Elena and find her
now
.”

“At least take a blanket.” Convinced the man wouldn’t go do
his job until he complied, Alex snatched it away from the EMT’s hand, throwing
it over his shoulder. “Was there anyone else in the building?”

A sudden, sick thought stilled him. No. No, this couldn’t be
happening to him. “Patrick.”

The EMT grabbed his arm. “Was there someone else?”

He needed to think clearly. Answer calmly and rationally.
Panic had no place here even though he desperately wanted to give in to the
sensation. “Sorry. My brother and his wife live on the second floor. She’s
pregnant. I don’t…I don’t know if they were here. They weren’t supposed to be
but…I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Patrick had mentioned something about
staying at the house Allison had purchased when she’d moved to town. It seemed
better suited to set up a nursery there than in the loft over the warehouse.

“We’ll find them.”

Though he was confident in the competency and skill of
Gatlin Falls’ emergency workers he couldn’t just stand there. As he wrapped the
blanket around his hips he surveyed the devastation.

Everything was in ruins.

The place that had stood as absolution for him was nothing
more than a pile of rubble. Emotion clogged his throat and he finally couldn’t
take the overwhelming sense of helplessness clenching around his heart. He
didn’t care if he wasn’t supposed to get in the rescue workers’ way—he had to
help. Additional crews were arriving by the second, but soon Gatlin Falls’
emergency personnel would be strained.

An extra pair of hands couldn’t hurt.

Striding forward he arrowed in on one area where there was
no emergency personnel. A tall pile of twisted metal reached up into the
fire-lit night sky. He faltered as he reached the rubble, a slender, pale foot
peeking through the wreckage.

He dove for the pile. The weight seemed to taunt him,
laughing in the face of his rising panic.

You can’t have her.

With a loud shout, he pulled hard, listening to the loud
cracking and groaning as the pile shifted. Screaming for help, he tried not to
pay attention to the words playing over and over in his head. The ones trying
to convince him these efforts were futile because all he would find under the
metal was Elena’s dead body.

A fireman appeared at his side with a saw and he backed out
of the way as sparks started to fly. He wanted nothing more than to rip the
tool out of the man’s hand and do the work himself, but he knew he needed to
exercise patience.

More workers appeared, helping him support the beams so they
wouldn’t shift further as everyone worked to remove the heavy pile. A sense of
triumph surged through him as the metal finally gave way with a loud groan.

The triumph quickly faded as his gaze landed on Elena’s limp
form. He started to step forward to pull her into his arms to make it all
better, but a strong pair of familiar arms wrapped around his back and pulled
him out of the way.

He rounded on the person, ready to unleash his fury.

Patrick.

Rescue workers began shouting orders between one another,
yelling for medical supplies and a stretcher. He resisted as Patrick tried to
pull him away from the scene.

“No.”

“Let them help her, Alex. There’s nothing you can do for her
right now.”

“She needs to know I’m here. I need to be there for her.”

“You are.”

Hot tears streaked down his face as he realized his brother
was right. As much as he wanted to force his way through the crowd of medical
personnel helping her, he would just be in the way. He didn’t know the first
thing about attending to an injured person. He felt so helpless and alone. Now
he knew how Elena had felt watching him spiral down into the depths of his
alcoholism. Why she’d given him the ultimatum she had. Why she’d paid for his
rehab.

He allowed Patrick to pull him to safety, his gaze never
leaving the tight knot of people attending to the woman he loved. Allison
wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down into a warm, loving embrace.

As she held him close, he watched the workers lift the
stretcher, Elena’s still form lying so peaceful and serene, as though she was
merely asleep.

A worker, the same one who’d given him the blanket, nodded
as he glanced his way. “She’s breathing. Shallow, but it’s something. We’re
taking her to the university hospital.”

Alex stared at the lights of the ambulance as it sped away,
his heart hammering as they faded then disappeared. He needed to get some
clothes. Find a car. Most of all he needed to be with Elena to make sure she
was going to be okay.

For some reason, however, he was rooted to the spot.

Shock, maybe?

He was still trying to process the events of the night. And
he couldn’t forget the sickening sensation of flying through the air. Of seeing
Sanctuary in ruins. Of experiencing the gut-wrenching sensation Elena was dead.

That she would no longer be a part of his life.

He didn’t want to go through the rest of his life without
her. He needed her there, at his side. And for more than just sex and
companionship. But something nagged at his thoughts, working to convince him
she didn’t share his feelings.

“Mr. Conners, someone would like to speak to you for a
moment.”

He blinked, focusing on the town sheriff standing a few feet
away. “Who is it?”

“Your ex-wife.” Sherriff Batty hesitated, clearing his
throat before continuing. “She just confessed to setting the fire.”

The knowledge Vivian was responsible for the explosion hit
him like an out-of-control freight train, stealing the last ounce of energy he
had left. He’d always suspected the determined woman would go to great lengths
to get what she wanted, but he never expected anything of this magnitude.

This was the act of a desperate woman. A woman, he realized
only now, who had been toxic for him. Now her toxicity had touched his loved
ones. Had nearly stolen those loved ones away from him.

After a long minute he turned, coming face-to-face the woman
who had once again tried to shoulder her way into his life by any means
necessary. He’d been stupid enough to allow it to happen once.

He refused to let it happen again.

The emotion of the entire night finally got the best of him
and he held nothing back as his gaze met Vivian’s. “I have nothing to say to
this psychopathic bitch. Get her out of my fucking sight.”

* * * * *

Three days.

Three days and Elena was already damn tired of all the
beeping machines. Not to mention she was ready to throttle the next nurse who
came through the door and interrupted her rest just to take her temperature.

Stupid hospitals.

Stupid injuries.

And stupid, stupid ex-wives who went all freaky psychotic.

She’d dealt with a few upset spouses who’d learned their
significant others had joined the club and were troubled by the fact. Most had
simply been looking for a way to help along a stagnant relationship. It had
always turned out fine in the end, but this kind of fuckery was new.

She’d promised herself she wouldn’t think about what had
happened and instead focus on her recovery. Getting well was the main goal now.
Well, besides getting out of this damn over-sterilized building.

The burns under the layer of goop and gauze the nurse had
applied to her leg an hour ago were starting to itch. Not to mention the ones
on her arms and face. According to the doctor she should heal with relatively
minor scarring in those areas.

She’d never been vain her entire life, but she’d made the
mistake of glancing in the bathroom mirror a few hours ago. Freddy Krueger had
looked better. Not as though she had anyone to impress right now. Though she
had a suspicion his bladed glove would be a perfect complement to her mood.

She knew exactly who she would use it on too.

A soft cough caught her attention.

Alex stood in the doorway, a small box tucked under his arm.
Dark smudges under his eyes showed he hadn’t slept well recently. Hopefully he
wasn’t suffering from the same kind of nightmares that kept waking her. The
medication they kept forcing into her system knocked her out so she couldn’t
help but dream. No dreams of electric sheep for her. Instead she had the
pleasure of reliving the horror of the explosion.

The images would haunt her forever.

Much like the green Jell-O they’d tried to pass off as
lunch. Did anyone actually like the stuff? She was already looking forward to
the moment she broke free of this place and could dig in to some real food.
Like a thick, juicy steak and a baked potato topped with butter and sour cream.

Her heart leaped as her gaze met with Alex’s again,
reminding her he’d come for a visit. A thick pad of gauze covered most of his
right forearm and a line of dark bruises started at his hairline, traveled
across his forehead and down the side of his nose before disappearing under the
collar of his shirt. A few minor cuts scored his cheek, giving him a rakish air
she would never have thought possible for him.

“Seems as though we both were lucky.”

“Some more than others. Doctors say you’re doing well.
Better than they could have hoped for.”

A surge of emotion flared bright. He’d been checking up on
her. She swallowed it back, forcing the flow down deep. She didn’t have the
presence of mind to deal with the kind of raw emotion she’d exposed before the
warehouse had exploded around them. They’d both been so exhausted afterward
they’d barely made it to the bed. Lucky for them both they had since the
monstrous frame she’d insisted on having ended up saving her life.

“Is that all the damage?” She gestured to the bandage on his
arm.

“Yeah. A few bruises along my back where I landed out on the
street. But no worse for wear.” He reached out, carefully brushing his knuckle
against the back of her hand—one of the few spots on her body that hadn’t been
injured. Heat flared where he touched. “Embarrassed mostly. Knowing I’m
responsible for this.”

“You’re not.”

“Not directly. But close enough.”

“You look like you’ve lost your best friend.”

“In some ways I think I have.” He swallowed, setting the box
gently on the rolling desk beside her bed. “This belongs to you.”

“Alex?”

He nudged the table closer, stepping away from the bed. The
harsh floodlights illuminating the front of the hospital added sharp lines to
his face through the window. It reminded her of how he’d looked when he’d sunk
into the depths of his addiction.