Northern Exposure: Compass Brothers, Book 1 (4 page)

The door should be to his right. That’s where he thought he’d last seen the man. He snaked across the mangled surface, debris ripping his hide to shreds, but the drive to aid his friend eradicated every other thought.

“Red!” he screamed, but he couldn’t hear himself, never mind an answer.

A moment later, a scrap of tattered crimson cloth waved ten feet or so away, beyond the enlarged exit. Somehow, Silas crossed the space in a flash.

Red sat in the hallway, his legs at a funny angle in front of him. A serene smile crossed his face when he spotted Silas dragging himself near.

Thank God.

Then Silas noticed specks of blood dotting the man’s face. More and more splatters gathered like obscene freckles. A segment of the railing emerged from Red’s chest, where it had impaled him. His jacket, neck and face grew brighter by the second.

“No!” Silas crumpled with his head on his friend’s thigh. He couldn’t say if blood or tears made the heated tracks down his cheeks.

Red’s fingers closed on Silas’s elbow, encouraging Silas to use the last of his dazed momentum to roll onto his back and meet the dying man’s gaze.

“Go home, Compass.”

Silas still couldn’t hear. He read the man’s trembling, soot-covered lips.

Light faded from Red’s eyes. The man refused to quit, fighting to the end. “Before it’s too…late.”

Silas gasped like a fish out of water, trying to breathe as his friend went limp in his arms. Bright blood seeped from the corner of lips he’d never allowed himself to kiss.

The man’s favorite color.

Iron tang overpowered smoke when Silas levered himself up the railing to press his mouth to the man he held. Who had he been trying to kid?

Red hadn’t been some meaningless fuck. He’d been a friend.

A damn good one at that. Yet, he’d never have the chance to tell the guy so.

What more had he pretended to be oblivious to?

Silas’s life flashed before his eyes, stripping off the illusions he’d crafted. Denial had caused him to forsake all he valued. How much had his family suffered when he severed ties with them despite the infinite love and opportunity they’d lavished on their prodigal firstborn? What had seemed noble for ten years looked selfish as anguish—both physical and mental—seared away his flimsy excuses.

Unforgivable.

The idea of returning home, begging absolution, took root as sparks showered around him and acrid smoke scorched his lungs. Too bad he couldn’t move, would never make it out.

Silas collapsed, recalling the faces of each of his brothers then Lucy and Colby to keep him company in his final moments. A secondary explosion shook the room. He still couldn’t make his body react to his demands.

Move! Run! Crawl!

Anything.

Oh God, anything.

Instead, he lay helpless except for the jarring shockwaves from a chain of miniature bangs. The reserve gas tanks, under pressure in the engine room, must have been giving way—one by one.

Flaming bits and metal shrapnel pelted his back as he curled into a ball, refusing to relinquish his connection to Red. When the main tank went, it’d all be over.

At least the fire seemed contained. It hadn’t penetrated the chemical barrier they’d laid down or he’d already be toast. Red’s sacrifice would not be in vain.

Through moisture not entirely caused by the acrid clouds smothering him, he spotted an open doorway on the level below their landing. His survival instinct stretched, yearning to fly toward the ultra-slim chance, but his muscles had quit taking orders from his brain as his body shut down.

“Go home, Compass.”

Silas knew his friend had already departed, but Red’s demand echoed in the silent realm of chaos surrounding him, driving him to regroup.

“Your place was always on the ranch.” The twins peered over Seth’s shoulder as his brothers tried to grant him the strength to move.

“Yes, come back to us, Si.”

“Lucy?” What was she doing here? On the rig? He had to get her out. Silas scrambled on awkward elbows and his working knee, ignoring the slices he gouged into his joints as he slithered toward the ghost of her in that gauzy sundress he’d been enchanted by as a kid.

“I’ve missed you, Silas.” Colby had one arm around Lucy’s waist and the other extended to him in invitation. Why weren’t they running?

Silas tumbled down the stairs then made one final lunge, trying to shield his loved ones. His arms flailed through the mirage.

Alluring ghosts.

A fantasy.

Grateful for their safety, he recoiled at losing them again.

He attempted a half-hearted pounce for the platform he’d somehow reached. A tertiary explosion had projectiles pinging off surfaces all around him. It took him a few seconds to realize the pain lancing his body meant he’d stopped at least some of the macabre confetti with his flesh.

He started to cover his mouth—the gasses entering when he gulped stung his lungs—but a chunk of metal stuck in his palm. Odd, he couldn’t feel it anymore.

One final reverberation, larger than the ones before, tossed him into the corner like a rag doll. The sick crunch of his ribs guaranteed he’d broken one or two at least.

The fringes of his vision dimmed.

As darkness claimed him, he saw his parents, his brothers, Lucy, Colby and even Buddy—his childhood dog—waiting on Compass Ranch. When they welcomed him with open arms, he accepted that he’d died and gone to heaven.

All he could think was that he didn’t deserve such an honor.

Chapter Three

“Colby! JD!”

Lucy didn’t give a damn if she spooked every animal on the ranch. The screen door to the main house slammed behind her. She screamed for her husband again as she tore along the porch and crossed the yard, past the freshly painted barn.

Ranch hands stared at the unusual display, several jogging after her to offer assistance. None of them would do.

In the distance, she caught a glimpse of the two men she sought astride gorgeous mounts. When she waved her arms but kept running, they spurred the horses to a gallop. It was silly. She couldn’t reach them faster than they could ride back. Still, she didn’t bother to stop herself from ducking between the rails of the fence to reach them a millisecond sooner.

Thank God they hadn’t left for the outer pastures yet.

On any other day she might have taken an instant to admire the two powerful men racing side by side—the owner of Compass Ranch and his foreman—as they barreled down on her. Right now, she needed the arms of her husband as she delivered terrible news.

The stuff of a parent’s nightmares.

Colby started dismounting before his horse had come to a complete stop. He dropped beside her, cupping her shoulders in his broad hands to peer at her tear-stained face.

“What’s the matter, Luce?” His sun-kissed cheeks appeared pale, an impressive feat. “What is it?”

He shook her a bit when the truth strangled her.

JD pried Colby’s fingers from her arm then snuggled her into a paternal embrace. In the six years since her dad had suffered a massive heart attack and died while treating a foal in the middle of the night, JD had taken over as her honorary father. After raising four sons and countless ranchers, he got a mite protective over his little girl.

He smoothed her hair, shooting a glare at Colby after inspecting the red marks lingering on the skin bared by her tank top.

“Shit! Sorry.” Her husband whipped his hat from his head and slapped it on his thigh. “You’re killing me, baby. What’s wrong?”

Lucy gulped, reaching for his hand. He cradled it this time, begging her with those sky blue eyes not to say their worst fear aloud. She couldn’t give him what he hoped for.

“It’s bad.” She smothered another sob. “It’s Si.”

“Oh, Jesus.”

“Is he…” Even tough-as-nails JD Compton couldn’t finish the thought.

“He’s alive, but seriously injured. There was some kind of explosion. He’s been in the hospital for three weeks.” Regret knotted her guts, making it almost impossible to continue. She drew one ragged breath, then another and another. “Twenty-three days. Suffering. Alone. With no one by his side when the doctors weren’t sure he’d pull through.”

Relief chased terror across the faces hovering over her. She could relate. Her heart hadn’t stopped stuttering since she’d taken the call from a concerned nurse who had the good sense to ignore Silas’s idiotic request not to notify his family.

From one caregiver to another, Lucy could understand. Sometimes the patient couldn’t determine the best course of treatment. She owed the woman big time.

“The fool broke his femur, three ribs, sustained countless lacerations, contusions and burns. Plus, he had one hell of a concussion. Internal bleeding and the damage to his lungs caused the most concern, though. He’s had seven surgeries and they say he’ll probably always walk with a limp.”

Anger had replaced the initial horror swamping her as the woman in the Anchorage hospital relayed the extensive list of Silas’s injuries. How dare he keep his family ignorant when he needed them? She’d had enough of his arrogance. What gave him the right to steal other people’s choices?

The girl she’d been might have been bowed beneath his heavy-handed ruling.

The woman she’d grown into certainly would not.

“The oil company is recognizing him as a hero. They say he saved hundreds of lives when their safety equipment failed.” She glanced between JD and Colby.

She’d shared the brief phone conversation she’d had with Silas’s roommate a couple months ago. She hadn’t been able to stand the silence when he’d stopped emailing his brothers for two weeks, cutting off her information pipeline. The guys had tried to reach out to Silas when she pestered them. None of the three had gotten a response.

So she’d broken down and dialed, expecting to hang up on Silas’s terse greeting like usual. Instead, the unfamiliar man on the other end of the line had startled her into making a betraying gasp. She’d begged him not to tell Silas she’d called. After he’d agreed, she couldn’t help prying, just a little.

Silas had picked up extra shifts. No biggie there. She’d wondered if he had finally moved on when the sweet man on the other end of the line appreciated her genuine concern and expressed curiosity about Silas’s history. Lucy had given him enough to help him understand the situation. It had hurt, but she’d hoped Silas could find some measure of happiness. In fact, she hadn’t worried when he dropped off the grid this time because she assumed his obvious lover had kept him too busy for correspondence.

The poor man. “Red Covington died in the blast.”

JD made the sign of the cross.

Colby swept her into his arms, surrounding her with his gentle warmth and reliable shelter. God, how she loved this man. So much, she accepted that she could lose him when Silas came home.

Tomorrow.

After a decade of exile, Prince Silas would return to his kingdom. Colby might still be under his spell. Denying her own infatuation would be pointless, though she wasn’t the one in danger of being captured.

The passionate exchange she’d interrupted between Colby and Silas had fueled her best dreams and worst night terrors for ten long years. Never far from her mind, she remembered it often. How it had boiled her blood and frozen her heart.

The two men she craved wanted each other.

Not her.

Despite her naïve attempts at seduction, both men had kept her at arm’s length. Colby had held her hand, kissed her sweetly and melted her heart but neither had shown her the raw lust she’d discovered they were capable of. At least not then. After Silas left, Colby had gradually warmed. She had no complaints about their love life but neither had he shown her that abandonment to raw obsession again.

Only one person had inspired that in him.

“They’re sending Silas home. I arranged the flight with the hospital. Judy agreed to take over three of my homecare patients to clear time in my daily schedule. They’re releasing him into my care.” She cupped Colby’s jaw with her trembling fingers. Could he read her understanding? His enduring desire for the other man didn’t make her prize him less. No, even more, because he’d remained faithful to her all this time when she couldn’t give him everything he needed, no matter how badly she wished she could. “Our care.”

“Silas is coming home?” Colby sounded like she felt. Dazed. Excited. Terrified.

“Silas is coming home.” JD whooped then hugged them both, a solid arm around each of them. “Things are gonna work out. The way they always should have been. You’ll see.”

Colby watched his wife jog to the house. She’d left Silas’s mom, Victoria, inside. The woman had probably already rung half the state to arrange all they’d need to bring her eldest son home.

Colby distracted himself from worrying about the man he’d called his best friend once by studying Lucy’s fine ass in those snug jeans, the curves highlighted by her soft pink shirt and the wild mass of her untamed hair. He adored those fiery curls, especially when they fanned over his chest each night as they fell asleep together.

She issued a watery smile over her shoulder before ducking inside. The quiet desperation thinning her lips made his stomach do flip-flops.

“What the hell are you going to do now, boy?”

“Don’t have a fucking clue. Go on as usual, I suppose.” Like anything could be normal with Silas at Compass Ranch again.

“Your wife is in love with my son. Has been since she was no higher than my knee.”

“You think that’s news to me, JD?”

“And what about you? Gonna admit you want Silas too?”

Colby spun on the heel of his boot, forcing himself to close his gaping mouth with a snap. He couldn’t say what surprised him more, that JD knew or that he didn’t seem too upset by the idea. No point in pretending things might have changed. What he carried for Silas couldn’t be obliterated by time or distance.

“It don’t matter. I’m married. Happily. I won’t fuck around on Lucy. Si never wanted me anyway. Not with the fire he’d get in his eyes every time he saw Lu.”

“No man’s a good judge of shit that close to his heart. What seems obvious to others gets distorted, like the horizon on a hot day, when you’re twisted up with need and devotion.”