Lying Hearts (Small Town Lies 1)

The fire.

Ethan!

“Fuck!” I yelled, jolting up, and the rustle of my body had me crying out in pain. My arm was on fire, and there was nothing I could do since it was in a cast. The heart rate monitor started going ballistic. I needed to find Ethan.

The floor caved. We fell. It was hot.

That was all I knew.

“Stay back,” a voice ordered, and when I lifted my eyes to the door, I saw my family standing there. My mom was crying as she watched me writhe in pain. I was only trying to get out of bed, but I couldn’t. My entire body was sore. A doctor wearing a white coat over his green scrubs hurried to my side. “My name is Doctor Titan. You’re at the hospital. You’ve already woken up once. We’ve done this already.” He smirked.

“Have we?” I asked through clenched teeth as another wave of pain hit. “That’s news to me. “Ethan,” I grouched out, lifting my lip in a threatening curl. “Where’s my brother?”

“You need to calm down, Mr. Moore. Your body is in a stage of—”

I gripped him by the scrubs and yanked him to me until I could smell the sweat on his skin. My arm with the bandage was on fire, and the pain had me biting back a scream, but the need to make sure my brother was okay was more important than pain. “If you don’t tell me about Ethan, it’s going to be your body in a hospital bed.”

“Easton Patrick Moore! I raised you better than that!” My mom’s voice had me letting go of the white coat and plopping back onto the bed when she rushed toward me and took my hand, careful not to grip too hard. “Ethan is alive, thanks to you. You scared us, baby. You scared us so much.” My mom started to weep, placing her forehead on my hand.

“I’m sorry,” I told my mom and then looked at the doctor, telling him with my eyes that the apology was for him as well. “He’s okay?”

“He’s in a medically induced coma. I’m afraid his injuries were more severe, but he will be okay,” The doctor informed me.

I blinked back the emotion stinging my eyes. No, he couldn’t be in a coma. I blocked him from the brunt of the debris. What happened? Only the fire knew.

I remembered the resting face of the old lady that always called us to get her cat down since that was the reason why Ethan ran in the house, to begin with, to save her. “Ms. Williams? The lady that lived at the house? Is she okay?”

“I’m sorry. She was declared dead at the scene. She was long gone before your brother got to her. Smoke killed her already damaged lungs. She just fell asleep and never woke up. She wasn’t in pain.” The doctor tried to make it sound reassuring, but it only left me sad and angry.

She didn’t deserve that. She was a kind woman with a heart of gold. I bet that damn cat was dead too. Poor fucking cat got burned alive. I hated when animals died. It was a weak spot that I had.

“Glad to see you alive, son,” my dad said, resting his aged hand on my mom’s shoulder as she cried still.

My dad’s voice yanked me out of my sad thoughts, and I held onto mom’s hand to try to get her calmed down. “Mom, I’m okay. I’ll be okay and so will Ethan.”

“I know,” she sniffled. “I know, baby, but you’re my boys. My indestructible boys. This was a parent’s worst nightmare.”

“I love you, and I’m sorry,” I told her again, and her eyes lit up like fireworks painting the Camden night sky.

“I love you too,” she said right as Evan, Zeke, and Ezra made their way through the door. All three of them look relieved.

“You gave us a hell of a scare,” Ezra said, leaning over me to give me a hug. It was tight, but it didn’t hurt. “Don’t do that again.”

I snorted. “I’ll try not to.”

“You crazy bastard,” Zeke said. “You just had to go in after him.”

“I couldn’t leave one of us behind,” I uttered, staring into each of their eyes when another wave of pain hit me. I gritted my teeth and breathed through it. I felt the flames licking my arm as if the hot, fleshing scorching villain was still there. “Doc, give me something, please. My arm is on fire.”

Evan chuckled. “Sorry, it was a good pun. Not a funny moment, sorry,” he gruffed. Evan might be reserved and serious, but the man laughed at the most awkward, inappropriate times. It was one of the many reasons why I enjoyed him so much. Especially when we went out to Rocky’s and all the town sluts tried to hit on him.

He always laughed in their faces. It was brutal.

“Sorry, you’re tapped out for another hour,” the doctor said.

“What good are you?” I mumbled underneath my breath, wishing I had some sort of pain relief.

I closed my eyes as everyone got to talking around me, and then a warmth entered the room. It wasn’t hot, but soothing, and my body sunk into the bed as if the mattress were a cloud, which it wasn’t. It was a brick, but at the moment, it was the best thing I had ever felt. Everyone stopped talking, and when I opened my eyes to see what was wrong, everything had been right.