Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
“HEY! UP HERE!” Shea screamed, waving at the firefighters down below.
One of them pointed at him making them all spring into action. They grabbed a ladder, setting it up right under the window; one guy held it in place at the bottom while another started climbing.
“Are you fucking crazy, man?” The firefighter snapped at him when he made it to the top. “You could have been killed!”
“There are a three-month old baby girl and a twenty-nine year old man in this room,” Shea said, ignoring what the guy said.
“Jesus Christ…hand me the baby first,” he said.
Shea ducked back into the room and grabbed Skylar. His stomach rolled at how limp her body was. Shea handed her out to the firefighter then went back for Christian. Shea blinked away tears, not sure if they were from the smoke or the emotions roiling through him. He pulled Christian up into a sitting position so that he could hook him under his arms and drag him over to the window. He had just tugged Christian off the bed when a couple of firefighters came through the window. One of them came over and hoisted Christian’s slack body up over his shoulder.
“Get the hell out of here!” he said, his voice muffled by his oxygen mask and shoved Shea toward the window.
Shea nodded, coughing hard as he started toward the window. The smoke was really starting to get to him, and he was actually becoming lightheaded. The other fireman was standing by the window, and helped Shea out of the window and onto the ladder. Shea stepped off the latter and fell to his hands and knees from a horrendous coughing fit that racked him; he coughed so hard that he swore his lungs were going to come up his throat. He watched through blurry eyes as the firefighter carried Christian down the ladder. Christian just hung over the guy’s shoulder, arms dangling limply. That was the last thing he saw because he passed the hell out, face first on the front lawn.
“Sebastian! Sebastian, come here!” Raelynn called from the kitchen. Sebastian frowned at the franticness in her voice.
He got up from the couch and walked into the kitchen. He found Raelynn leaning in close to the police scanner she had on the counter, her face screwed up in concern.
“What’s going on, sweet cheeks?” Sebastian asked, going to stand next to her.
“I think…I think Christian’s house is on fire,” Raelynn said warily.
“What?” Sebastian squawked.
They listened for a moment. Sebastian couldn’t understand a word of it, but he knew Raelynn understood. After a moment, Raelynn gasped and straightened up. When she looked up at him, Sebastian’s stomach dropped at the grim look on her face.
“What? What did it say?” Sebastian asked frantically.
“It’s Christian’s house. One adult male ran into the burning home before the firemen. One infant female and one adult male were found unconscious in bed.”
“Jesus fucking Christ!” Sebastian cried and ran for the front door.
He glanced at the clock on the cable box and saw that it was midnight. Henry and Quinn were probably sleeping, but he had to call them. Sebastian shoved his bare feet into his sneakers, grabbed his keys then raced out the door without even saying goodbye to Raelynn.
While speeding toward Christian’s house – which was only ten minutes from his own – he called Henry. Henry in turn called Quinn. Sebastian pulled onto Christian’s block behind Shea’s truck, which was parked in the middle of the street. He got out and ran toward the horrific scene in front of him. Sebastian hasn’t felt this kind of fear since they thought Henry died in that plane crash. As Sebastian got closer, he saw that Shea was laying face first on the front lawn and a fireman had Christian over his shoulder as he carried him down the ladder from the second floor window. Christian was dangling lifelessly over the guy’s shoulder in nothing but his black boxer/briefs. Sebastian rushed forward only to be stopped by a police officer just before he stepped onto the property.
“Hold on there, pal, we already had one maniac run into the house, we don’t need another one,” the officer said.
“I’m not running into the house, but that’s my brother they are carrying out,” Sebastian said as calmly as possible.
The officer glanced over his shoulder then looked back at Sebastian and gave him a tight nod before moving aside. Sebastian thanked him and ran for the fireman who was carrying Christian toward the EMT with a gurney that was running to meet him. Sebastian made it to him just as the fireman placed Christian on the gurney. Christian was out cold and looking a bit blue.
“Oh, Jesus.” Sebastian breathed, frozen in place as he watched the EMT rush Christian toward the ambulance.
Sebastian heard one of them yell that he needed to be intubated. Sebastian turned to look at Shea. Two EMTs had rushed over with a backboard and gurney and were rolling him onto the backboard and putting a neck brace on him. They strapped him in then lifted him onto the gurney and started for a second ambulance.