Page 49 of Tempting Fire

Chapter Thirteen

The waiting room was filled with grim faced men and women covered in soot. Some still had parts of their uniforms still on.

As soon as Chloe came into the room flanked by Drake and Evie a blonde bearded man stood up and made his way over to her.

“You’re Chloe, aren’t you?”

“Zarek. What do you know about Zarek? They wouldn’t tell me anything downstairs.”

She was barely keeping it together.

“They’re doing a CT scan. He conscious.”

She saw a young woman holding a toddler.

“And the others? How are they doing?”

“Juan is in surgery. His leg got caught under one of the beams, it’s a mess. They’re putting in hardware. It was Zarek who carried him out.”

Chloe tried to smile, but just didn’t have it in her.

“Gus said three people were injured?” Drake asked. “What’s the status of the third person?”

“Kylie Powers pulled out the last worker. The man was out of control with fear, knocked Kylie’s face gear off. She ended up inhaling a lot of smoke, but she got both of them out of there. Damn it, almost all of us wanted to kick that guy’s ass. Here she was trying to save him, and he could have ended up getting them both killed.”

“When are we going to hear about Zarek?” Chloe asked.

“They said it would be about an hour,” Luke said. “He’ll be fine. He has a hard head.”

“Come sit down.” Evie guided Chloe to an empty chair.

Chloe did her best to keep calm, but she knew the fact that Zarek had been conscious, and then had passed out was a bad sign. Every bad outcome she had ever read about in school came rushing back to her.

“Honey, you’re whimpering,” Drake said as he put his arm around her.

She looked up at her big brother with tear filled eyes.

“You know it’s bad too.”

“I’m used to this shit happening far from hospitals. I’m doing a fucking happy dance that he’s at one of the nation’s premier trauma centers, instead of in the middle of some God forsaken desert.” She searched Drake’s face and realized that he was serious. For the first time it became abundantly clear just what being a SEAL meant.

Chloe launched herself into his arms.

“Hey, Shortstuff, he’s going to be fine.”

“No, that’s not it,” she said wetly.

Drake patted her back. “What’s going on Chloe?”

“She’s just realizing how dangerous your job is,” Evie answered.

“Why do I love men who could be killed?” Chloe couldn’t stop the flood of tears.

Drake didn’t answer, he just rocked her in his strong arms as she cried.

***

Zarek woke up and his head was killing him. The light burned bright into his brain. He groaned.