Page 65 of Real Good Love
I’m extra careful in the gravel parking lot as I pull out, not wanting to chip the pristine paint job. It takes all the restraint I have not to do a burn out once I’m on pavement. Knowing that Boone is gonna want to tear up his own tires is the only thing that keeps me from it.
I shift into a lower gear at the sound of sirens up ahead as I close in on downtown. It’s not an uncommon occurrence, given the sheer number of old folks having heart-attack scares. But as I get closer, the wail is louder and louder.
Fuck, I hope it’s not Mrs.—
My thought cuts off when my gaze locks on flames climbing into the darkening sky just beyond the tree line.
My shop.
Banner.
Fuck.
No longer concerned about the tires, I floor it, and the engine roars as the car speeds toward a barricade blocking off the Four Corners intersection ahead. An inferno engulfs the painted cinder-block walls of my shop, leaving nothing visible but evil orange flames and thick black smoke.
Banner.
No!
I can’t fucking lose her.
I remember the day I got the call that my ma was dead. I shed tears because that’s what you do when you lose your last remaining family member. But this is nothing like that, even though it hurt like hell to know Ma killed herself with that needle in her vein.
Pain claws through me.
This is all my fault. I’m the only reason Banner’s here, the reason she’s at my shop. The reason she’s still in Gold Haven. Fuck, I don’t deserve anything as perfect as her in my life, because I can’t keep it that way.
Cars have stopped everywhere, turning the road into a parking lot, and there’s no way I can get through. Fury and rage have me whip the wheel to the left and cut down a side street, determined to get around them.
My heart thunders in my chest, keeping tempo with the rumble of the engine. Sweat coats my palms as I grip the steering wheel tighter.
I offer everything I own—and even things I don’t—to every higher power in existence if there’s some way she can be safe.
Blinding, instinctive fear grips my chest like a vise and crushes the breath from my lungs as I tear into the parking lot behind the pharmacy and the post office, where a crowd is gathered behind.
Up ahead, around the corner of the building, Banner’s rental is parked.
No. Fuck. No.
My body shakes in my seat as I slam on the brakes without a care for the car, and yank open the door to run toward the blaze. To run toward her.
My feet hit the pavement, and I sprint.
“Logan? Oh my God!”
It’s Julianne’s voice, not the one I desperately want to hear. My gaze locks on her—and the woman next to her.
“Banner!”
Chapter 34
Banner
Ibarely have my feet under me before I fly toward him, dodging the outstretched arms of the cop who would keep me away from Logan.
“Logan!”
He charges in my direction. “You’re okay! Sweet fucking Christ. Don’t you ever scare me like that. I thought you—”
