Play Me to Infinity (The Broken Men Chronicles Book 3) (16 page)

Nicole’s lack of contact was a direct hit to the solar plexus.

One thing was for sure, I needed help, and I needed it bad.

But first, I had to talk to my sister.

Before I could connect the call, my phone rang in my hand.

I answered before looking at the call display, “Nic…” and put the car in drive.

“No, it’s your sister.”

“Dani, I didn’t let her in, I swear.”  My voice cracked.

“I think I know that now.”  She sighed.  “Are you sure there’s-”

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” I growled.  “She’s gone now, thanks to Nicole.”

“What?”

I chuckled at the memory of the spitfire nymph scene.  “Yeah, Nicole came roaring in like a lioness and made Tracey leave.”

“She didn’t!” Danica guffawed.  “I knew she was on a mission with the way she stormed in without giving Jake and I a second glance.”

“She did.” I sighed.  “Sis, I need your help.  I don’t know what went on when you two were with Tracey, and Nicole left before I could ask her what happened.  She said she needed space and ran out like her hair was on fire.  She could barely look at me, let alone stand my touch.”

I heard Danica release a loud breath.  “You called her?”

“Yeah, and she won’t pick up.  She hasn’t even answered my text.  What the hell happened earlier?  I’m losing my mind here and I have nothing to go on!”

“We went over to your place.  Nicole had it in her mind to surprise you with a quick text telling you that there was a change of plans and that you guys would be staying at your place tonight.  So much for romance, because when we got there, Tracey was making herself at home.”

“What did Tracey tell Nicole for her to leave me?  I know Nicole didn’t believe I let her move in. So
what else was there?”

“I’m sorry, but I fell for her whole moving-in scheme,” Danica started.  “There wasn’t anything else but…”

“What?” I pushed.

“She said something about how things shouldn’t be that hard before she left.”  Danica sighed.  “I called you right after that.”

“Dani, do you know where Nicole is?  I checked her house, the place where her shop used to be… I don’t know where else to look.”

“I got a text from her about fifteen minutes ago.”  Danica’s voice shook.

“Where is she?”

“Mike…”

“Please tell me she didn’t…”

“She’s at
Dean’s,” she affirmed.  “Well, at least that’s where she was when I got her text, and then I called her to bitch about her brainless move.”

“Where does the bastard live?  I swear, if he’s touched her, I’ll rip his arms from his body and feed them to him for breakfast.”

“I don’t know.  Listen, when I spoke to her, I tried to convince her to talk to you.  She refused.  So I tried to convince her that she needed to go home, that she was about to do something stupid and ruin something great she had finally found with you if she stayed there.”

“What did she say?”

“She said that it was already ruined.”  My breath caught at my sister’s words.  “There’s one more thing though. I got the sense that she wasn’t over at Dean’s for the same old thing.”

“What makes you say that?”

“She sounded different.  Pissed.  Almost like a woman on a mission.”

Yeah, that seemed to be the theme to her personality tonight.

“Where are you?” Danica asked.  “Are you okay?”

I rubbed a hand down my face, pinching the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath, released it.  “No, I’m not okay.  I’m just about to turn up her street. Hold on.”  I pulled the phone away from my ear as I rounded the corner, using both hands on the steering wheel to park by the curb.

Nicole’s rental was in her driveway and I caught sight of her walking up the walkway to her front door.  That’s when I noticed smoke coming from her roof, towards the back of the house.  “Holy fuck, Dani!  Call 9-1-1!  Get in your car, bring Jake.  Get to Nicole’s as fast as you can!  I’ve got to go.”

“Wait!”

I ended the call before Danica could say anything more.  I threw my phone on the passenger seat, jumped out of the car and ran toward Nicole.

“Nicole, no!”

The woman turned to face
me, but it was too late.  One second I felt the ground beneath my feet shake and the next, the shattering of glass could be heard before the big bang made my ears ring.  A massive wave of heat knocked me onto my ass and Nicole went flying dozens of feet onto her front lawn.

“No!”

Nicole lay in a heap, unmoving as I rushed to her, collapsing to my knees.

A blond woman stood across the street, watching the whole thing and I repeated the same order I had given Danica.

“Call 9-1-1!”

I knelt at Nicole’s side and paused.  I didn’t know if I should move her, but surely, leaving her on her stomach couldn’t be good for her breathing if she was having issues from the shock of the blast.

Careful not to jostle her too much, I flipped her onto her back.  Her color was ashen, her nose was bleeding, and she had a gash on her forehead.  I felt for a pulse, finding one that was weak and thready, but it was there, and that was enough to quelch my ever-growing fear.

In the distance, I could hear the sirens getting closer.  When I turned to see if the blond woman was still there, she had disappeared.

Helpless and alone, I began to pray, holding Nicole’s hand in mine as we waited for help.

Please, honey, please be okay.

With a distraught Danica and Jake standing behind me, the paramedics worked on bringing Nicole around.  They tried for a while before finally giving in, securing her to a stretcher and proceeded to load her up in the back of the ambulance.

Firefighters were busy running around, trying to control the blaze, but I paid them no heed, too consumed with worry for the woman I loved.

“Sir, we’re leaving now, if you’d like to jump on in,” the female attendant said.

I didn’t hesitate.

Throwing my car keys to Jake, I jumped in to sit beside Nicole who remained unconscious.

I spent the rest of the night at the hospital, my ass perched in an uncomfortable chair, listening to the beeps and hums of monitoring devices.

Every so often, a mechanical voice interrupted the rhythmic pattern over the PA system.

The police had been and gone, taking my statement.  I’d given them as much as I could remember, what with my mind wanting to shut down from the exhaustion and stress of the day.

Nicole had come to a few times, but only to fade back into slumber.

Danica and Jake headed home, with much reluctance on my sister’s part, after Nicole had been examined and admitted.  I had to promise to call them if there were any important changes in her condition.

Nurses woke Nicole at regular intervals throughout the night due to a moderate concussion, but she was so out of it that she never noticed my presence at her bedside.  The doctor assured me that it was nothing to worry about, and his additional medical jargon did nothing to assuage my overwhelming worry.  I knew that nothing short of Nicole waking and seeing the look of recognition on her face when her eyes met mine would make me feel better.

Sitting vigil, I struggled to keep my eyes open, despite the discomfort in my ass, back and neck.  It seemed that the medical professionals had a keen sense for sleep disruption and it didn’t apply strictly to patients.  Without fail, I would begin to nod off and a nurse or doctor would walk in, interrupting the few moments of rest I managed to find.

Morning came and I hadn’t slept more than a wink.

I was standing by the room’s window, watching as the outside world came to life for yet another
day, when I heard Nicole stir with a moan.

I rushed to her bedside and grabbed a hold of her hand.  “Good morning, beautiful.”  Tears burned my eyes, and I forced them back.

“Hi.”  Her voice croaked.  “What happened?”

“You don’t remember?”  She tried to shake her head but winced.  “Don’t move, you
have a concussion.  What’s the last thing you remember?”

“I left your place confused and wandered around for a while.  I remember getting a call from your sister… I came home.”  She swallowed hard and her brows furrowed.  “You were there.”

I nodded and managed a sad smile.  “That’s right.”

“You yelled at
me.”

“I came over because we needed to talk,” I started. “I saw smoke coming out from your house and I came after you.  There was an explosion.”

“My house!”  Her eyes teared up.

I shook my head, hating myself for being the bearer of bad news.  “I’m so sorry, honey, it’s gone.”

Her body began to shake with silent sobs and I couldn’t take it.  I buried my head in her pillow, the sides of our faces touching as I whispered consoling words in her ear and ran my fingers through her hair.

Nicole’s arms came around my shoulders and she buried her face in my neck, and that was my undoing.

“I was terrified,” I told her, my body beginning to shake. “I
thought I’d lost you for good.”

“I’m here.”  She pulled me closer. “I’m
fine.”  Her hands came up to cup my face and pulled me back.  Her eyes bore into mine.  “And I’m yours, if you’ll still have me.  I know I don’t deserve it with the way I ran off
instead of sticking around and talking things out like you asked.  I know I’m a wreck.  I’m scared of anything that has to do with settling down and-”

“On one condition,”
I said with determination.  “If you ever have doubts about us, you come to me first.  No more running.  I don’t know how long we’ll be together, but I do know how great things can be, and after last night, I know that I can’t live without you, Nic.” I took a deep breath and continued.  “I have no clue if forever is in the cards, but it’s what I want when I think of us.  Last night, not being able to know how you felt, what you were thinking… I hated that.”

“Me too, and it’s my fault.”

I cupped her chin in my hand.  “It’s both our faults.  You could have stayed just like I should have stopped you from walking out my door.”

“I love you, Michael, but you’re killing me right now.”  I arched my brow in question.  “Kiss me?”

I didn’t hesitate.

The moment our lips met, she pulled me down on top of her.  I pulled away and combed my fingers through her hair.

“I love you too.  Now let’s get the doctor in here so he can send you home.”

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for work?”

“I’m not leaving you, honey, but I do have a question for you.”  Her brows arched.  “Have you thought about where you’ll be staying when you leave here?”

She grinned.  “Is this where you convince me to live with you?”  She feathered her fingers through the hair at the back of my head.

“Perhaps.” I nuzzled her nose.  “Do I really need to ask?”

“Hmm.”  She gave me a chaste kiss.  “Not really.”

I chuckled.  “It’s settled then. You’re moving in with me.”

“I like the sound of that.”

Me too, maybe too much.

It took the better part of the morning before the doctor came to release Nicole.  By then, all the woman had was a bad headache, aching muscles, and her stomach rumbled with hunger because the hospital’s food selections proved to be less than stellar.

Armed with the physician’s advice on what to watch for that would indicate worsening of Nicole’s condition, he signed her release and handed her a prescription for pain killers.

Sporting hospital scrubs, my girlfriend looked down at herself with a scowl when she exited the bathroom in her new duds.  “I look frumpy.”

“You look
beautiful.”
Alive.

“Are you blind?”

I grinned.  “Only to everyone else out there.”

Her annoyed expression melted and she stopped in front of me, smiling.  “I love that silver tongue of yours.”

“It’s the truth.”
I wrapped my arms around her.  “Let’s get out of here.”

“I need to do something about clothes and my ID.  My God!  The insurance-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”  I kissed her temple.  “We’ll get to that soon enough, honey.
Right now, let’s just get you home and settled.  I wouldn’t mind a nap.”

Her fingers played with the hair at my temple before cradling my cheek.  “You didn’t sleep last night did you?”  I shook my head.  “Can I ask you for a small favor?”

“As long as it’s within reason.”  I kissed the inside of her wrist.

“Can you drive by the house on your way home?”

I contemplated her request.  “Are you sure?”

She nodded.  “I need to see it.”

“Okay.”

Turning the corner where last night horror had greeted me, this time, it was Nicole’s nightmare that awaited us.

Her property was surrounded with yellow caution tape, twirled onto pegs surrounding the perimeter of her property.  The only thing left was the charred framework of her house, nothing else.

With the car parked, Nicole let herself out.

“I can’t believe this,” she said after a long moment of silence.  “How am I supposed to move on from this?”

I came to a stop behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist.  “We’ll figure it out.”
I kissed the back of her head.  “I’ll help.”  She leaned her head back onto my shoulder.  “We’ll make some calls, see what your options are.”

She turned to face me and I caught her solemn expression.  “I don’t think this was an accident, Mike.”

“Honey, let’s see what the authorities have to say about it first, okay?”  I closed my eyes and breathed to stave off the rage that was building up inside.  I didn’t have the guts to say it out loud, but I doubted an investigation was needed to let us know that she was right.

“Who would do this?”

“I don’t know.” I sighed,
but I have my suspicions.
  Some of those ponderings made sense, others, not so much.  “Let’s get going.”