Her 2 Protectors

Something tugs at my conscience, though. The fear I’ve been living with since the fire. There won’t be any contentment until the man who killed Penny’s father and wants to do the same to her is handled. If that means killing him, so be it. I would do anything to keep my girl safe. The thing is…so would Zeke. Something needs to be done before this motherfucker comes after what’s ours.

Resolved to speak with Zeke after we finish for the night, I go back to working the hose. Twenty minutes pass before another fireman comes to take over and I return to the truck for a drink of water.

That’s when all hell breaks loose. Surround sound ringing of cell phones, fire department pagers going off. Dispatch comes in over the truck radio and I grab it up, listening over the mayhem on the street. And what I hear makes my blood run cold. It’s the code for a fire in progress and it’s…no…

“No. No that can’t be the right address,” I shout into the radio. “Repeat.”

Terror snakes through my blood when the dispatcher says the same numbers, her voice crackling in my ear. I drop the radio and jump off the truck, a shout waiting in my throat, but an ashen Zeke is already running toward the truck, cell phone in hand, along with several other firemen.

“Penny,” he rasps, battling his way into the truck and strapping into the passenger seat. “Please, God, no…”

I block out everything as I climb into the driver’s seat and start the engine. Waiting for our full squad to get in the truck almost kills me, but in reality it only takes twenty or so seconds and then we’re speeding toward Zeke’s apartment building, the siren screaming in my head.

She can’t be hurt. She can’t be gone.

If something happened to Penny, I’ll throw myself into the flames along with her. All I can see is her sweet face as she tells us she loves us from the couch, her green eyes catching the light. She’s the light. She’s everything good. Oh fuck, I can barely drive the truck, the pain in my chest is so severe. At the same time, though, I would kill someone for trying to take the wheel from me. We have to get there. Have to save her. The universe wouldn’t do this to me when life just became worth living.

“It’s the fucking Russian,” Zeke shouts from the passenger seat. “I knew they wouldn’t leave her alone when they didn’t get her the first time.”

Shock hits me square in the stomach. “How do you know the man who killed Penny’s father is Russian?”

Zeke’s brows slash together. “How do you know he’s a man?”

“I spoke to a cop friend.” Concentrating on the conversation is almost impossible when Penny is in danger, but I force myself to focus through the mounting anguish. “Boris Volkov. He has several known locations where he’s been known to lay low, but he moves. Between his multiple properties in Florida, his siblings all over the state, his club up north—a place called Tatiana. But I’ve had no luck yet.”

“Tatiana.” Zeke’s eyes close slowly. “Penny’s aunt mentioned that name to me, but I thought it referred to a woman. I didn’t know what the hell it meant, let alone that it was a location.”

“I would have known if you’d told me. I would have known if you hadn’t gone to see Penny’s aunt without me, goddammit.”

“Same way you went to the cop without me?” Zeke bares his teeth. “Tatiana. That’s the most recent place he’s been. That’s where we’ll find him.”

“Jesus,” I breathe, excruciating pain lancing my solar plexus. “If she’s hurt or worse, it’s because we killed her. This is on us. We both wanted to save her and we did the opposite, both wanting to be the fucking hero. One conversation and we could have found him before now. Before…”

“No.” Zeke pounds the dashboard with his fist, looking as if he’s considering launching himself through the windshield. “Fuck.”

I’ve been telling myself that the importance of sharing Penny with Zeke is about making her happy. About keeping her. It’s about more than that, though. It’s about trust. Not just between Penny and me. Or Penny and Zeke. No, from the beginning Penny has been begging us to understand that all three of us needed a ring of trust that nothing can compromise. No secrets or vitriol or competition between us. Just love. And now the worst thing has happened, because we failed to see why that trust was so necessary.

We’ve endangered the life of the girl we love beyond reason.

It seems like centuries pass before we reach the building and I don’t think, don’t follow procedure, I simply throw myself out of the truck and take the stairs, three at a time. Zeke is right behind me, shouting her name, his voice raw and panicked. It echoes my own.