My body sagged. Only slightly. As much as I trusted Lance not to lie to me about such things, as much as I knew that Eliza would not let harm come to my son, I couldn’t physically relax or breathe properly until he was in my arms, until he was in front of me.
“I need to see him,” I croaked.
“You need a hospital,” Lance countered.
All the grit and smoke that had previously obscured my vision of the situation around us, or maybe that was at least a little mental because my mind was trying to protect me from seeing the home I’d made for my son reduced to ash. Whatever it was, it cleared. It did that so I could sufficiently glare at Lance.
“Take. Me. To. My. Son.”
It was then, right then, amidst desperation, fear and severe smoke inhalation that I found what it took to out badass Lance.
Chapter Seventeen
Nathan was mercifully fine, having been checked out by the paramedics. The paramedics who I refused to even have look at me until they’d completely cleared my pale, confused and brave son.
The cut on my foot wasn’t that deep and didn’t require stitches, it just required me to keep most of my weight off it for the next few days, something that was another kick in the ovaries, since my job consisted of doing nothing but being on my feet. It was something I’d figure out tomorrow.
I’d figure out once I’d processed this, nowhere near a sterile and expensive hospital.
Hence the confrontation with his hard, clear and cold voice. My own was raspy, uneven and little more than a whisper. But I made sure it was strong.
Not just because there was no way I was leaving my son, nor was I scaring him even more and having him watch his mother be put in a hospital.
There was also the fact that there was no way I was going to pay for a night in the hospital and the ambulance ride there. I wouldn’t have hesitated if this was something serious that had the possibility of taking Nathan’s mother away from him. But the paramedics had told me it was more a precaution than anything.
“You’re going to the fucking hospital,” Lance hissed at me after we’d been discussing the matter for a couple of minutes.
I glared at him. “I’m not going anywhere, you saying it in that tone and adding cussing to the mix isn’t going to make it so,” I hissed, resisting the urge to clutch my raw throat as I did so.
It was about then that numerous SUVs screeched up to the street, interrupting the confrontation and distracting Lance enough for me to win. Though the pure fury on his face told me it wasn’t over.
We weren’t over.
“We’ll be back tomorrow,” Rosie promised, leaning in to kiss my cheek. I was sure that I’d have a lipstick mark on that cheek since she was wearing lipstick.
At almost four-thirty in the morning.
She’d arrived an hour ago.
Wearing full makeup.
And six-inch heels.
Messy bun but the kind that would take any other about an hour of fussing to make the perfect thrown together look.
Frickin’ leather pants.
On my best day, I wouldn’t look that good.
Granted, this wasn’t my best day, I was wearing some oversized sweats of Karen’s and Lance’s jacket. The one that managed to still smell like him despite the fact everything else reeked of acrid smoke.
I tried to subtly smell it the entire night.
I did not want to know what my hair looked like. I didn’t know how much of it I had left.
Rosie smelled like expensive perfume, it stayed in the air after she leaned back from the kiss.
“I’ll bring the essentials,” she continued. “Foundation, concealer, lipstick, setting powder, contour, of course, mascara, highlighter, setting spray. And clothes.” She was listing things off on her red-tipped fingers. “Starting from the bottom, La Perla.” Her kohl-rimmed eyes went to my chest area, which was covered by Lance’s jacket. “I’m thinking a 36D?”
I blinked at her. Did she just guess my bra size over top of a man’s jacket at four in the morning?
“And panties, of course. I’ll bring you a variety… you know, just in case.” She winked and her eyes went behind me. My eyes did not follow her gaze because I knew exactly who she was looking at, the fact she even knew to look at him while talking about panties made my neck heat. And nothing to do with the minor burns I was suffering from all over my body.
“I’m thinking you and me are almost the same size, but I’ll go shopping anyway,” she added on a grin.
My stomach dipped at the thought of her going out and spending money on me. By the look of everything she wore, I would not be able to afford to pay her back if she went shopping for me. Not for one pair of underwear. Plus, she’d already driven all the way out here, along with her husband and sleeping child, and almost all of the Greenstone Security crew. They arrived as the paramedics and fire trucks were leaving. The men were standing around my front lawn, in some kind of badass circle, talking about whatever men like that talked about at four in the morning. Waterboarding. How to disarm bombs. Whatever.