Page 34 of Gentleman Wanted
Chapter Thirteen
Gent
Some son of a bitch had set fire to my shop. There was no way it was an accident. The smell of the accelerant was strong even after the fire department had doused the flames.
Someone had purposely set fire to my livelihood. The business I had spent years growing. All those memories were gone. And it was my only source of legit income. Income I needed to support my family.
Gemma and Bobby were my family. She would be worried about me. I had told her that I would check in as soon as I knew what was going on. With everything going on, I hadn’t managed to text her.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I frowned down at the screen.
She hadn’t replied to any of my earlier messages. She hadn’t even opened them.
A niggling unease settled in the pit of my stomach. There was no reason for it, but I couldn’t deny it.
“You have insurance, don’t you?” Truth had obviously misunderstood the look on my face.
“Yeah, of course.”
“Then why do you suddenly look constipated?” As usual, nothing much got past Truth. Maybe it was all his years in the forces, or maybe he was just perceptive as fuck.
“This isn’t my constipated look.” I tried to joke, but it came out flat. I couldn’t shake the feeling of impending danger that was twisting my gut into knots. “This is my worried look. Someone did this on purpose.” I glanced at the still smoking shell that was my shop and frowned.
The loud sound of a siren pierced the early morning air, and my head turned back towards the road just in time to see two fire trucks fly down the street.
It was a busy night for the fire brigade.
“Is that really it?”
“No,” I admitted. “No, I’m worried about Gem and Bobby. I don’t know why but I am.” I watched as the fire truck turned off the main strip and down a side road. The lights on top lighting up the sky in streaks of blue.
“I get that. Wanna get out of here and go and see them?”
I opened my mouth to say yes and shut it again with a snap as I caught sight of Wicked. He was talking on the phone, his face twisted and tense as he looked between me and the corner the fire truck had just disappeared around.
“No.” I shook my head, my feet already moving towards my bike. Wicked didn’t need to say anything. He didn’t need to explain. I already knew what was on fire.
***
I was off my bike before it had even come fully to a stop. I let it clatter to the road, not caring at all as it hit the concrete.
Gem’s building was on fire. Smoke billowed out of the upstairs windows. Her windows.
It was like I was in that burning building. I couldn’t breathe. It felt like my lungs were on fire.
Sprinting forward, I barrelled past a fireman who shouted after me. “Hey, wait, you can’t go in there.”
I felt the heavily muscled arm of Wicked curl around my waist, lifting me off my feet. I fought against his grip, snarling like a wild animal.
What the hell was wrong with him? My family was inside. If it had been Chelsea or Truth, he would have been in there without a second thought. So what made Gem and Bobby any different for me?
“Get the fuck off me.” I turned violently, trying to throw my fist into his face. “The fuck off.” I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe.
Gemma and Bobby were in there.
My whole life.
Was Gemma scared, trapped somewhere? Or had the smoke already overcome them?
