“Not a good idea,” said one of them.
“She can ride up front,” said another who took my hand and led me to the passenger door.
I prayed the entire way to the emergency room and prayed more when they wheeled Smoke inside.
“Do you know if Jimmy is okay?” I asked the man who’d been driving the ambulance and who was walking me inside the hospital.
“I don’t,” he answered.
“Are they bringing him here?”
“I don’t know.” He led me over to a desk. “They’ll need some information from you,” he said before walking away.
“Do you know the man who was just brought in?” the woman sitting at the desk asked.
“I do.”
“Name?”
“His or mine?”
“Both.”
In the midst of answering her questions, it dawned on me that I remembered—everything. I remembered everything. Every memory I hadn’t been able to pull to the front of my brain, was suddenly back.
“Age?” she asked.
“Thirty-eight. He’ll be thirty-nine at the end of this month.”
“What about family?”
“He doesn’t have any.” I pulled my phone from my pocket only to find it had been crushed, probably when Smoke landed on top of me.
“Do you know if he was conscious when they brought him in?”
“He was. Um, is there a phone somewhere I could use?”
“Let me get through these questions, and then I’ll see what I can do.”
A man dressed in scrubs approached from behind the woman. “Are you Siren?”
“I am.”
“He’s asking for you.”
“Are we finished?” I asked, standing to follow when the man motioned for me to.
“I know where to find you if I have more questions.”
“I’m Leo, one of Mr. Torcher’s nurses,” the man who led me into the room where Smoke lay on his stomach with his eyes closed said. “They gave him something for the pain. I think it knocked him out cold.”
“Nothing knocks me out cold,” Smoke muttered, opening one eye.
I pulled a chair up beside him. “Seems our positions have reversed. Thanks for saving my life, Smoke. For the second time, it seems.”
“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop putting yourself in danger, so I didn’t have to.”
“What are you doing in Ireland?”
“Looking for you.”
“Why?”
“You left without saying goodbye.”
“I didn’t think you’d care.”
The door opened, and two other people walked in. “I’m Dr. O’Keefe, and this is Dr. Flynn. We’re from the burn unit.” The man who’d just introduced himself turned to me. “Young lady, we’ll need you to step outside.”
I stood, leaned down, and kissed Smoke’s cheek. “I’m not going far.” Once the door closed behind me, I leaned up against the wall and put my head in my hands. I still had adrenaline coursing through my body, and when it wore off, I knew the crash was going to be a hard one.
“Miss?”
I looked up to see the nurse from the check-in desk. “More questions?”
“No,” she said, handing me a phone. “I forgot you asked to use one.”
“Thanks.”
I rang one of the few numbers I knew by heart.
“Hughes,” I said when he picked up.
“Siren. What can I do for you?”
“I need to get in touch with Decker Ashford, and, um, I don’t have my mobile.”
“What happened to it?”
“It was crushed when I was trapped inside a burning building.”
“What did you say?”
“You heard me, Rory. Got Deck’s number?”
“Where are you?”
“I’ve no idea. Hang on.” I put one hand over the phone’s mic. “Excuse me,” I said to someone walking past dressed in scrubs. “What is the name of this hospital?”
“Kinsale Community.”
“I heard,” said Hughes when I brought the phone back to my ear. “I’m on my way.”
“Wait. What about Decker?”
“He’s about to call you.”
I heard the chimes of the call ending at the same time another call came in.
“Siren, what’s happened?”
I told him about my running into the antique shop to look for the man I knew was still inside, Smoke coming in after me, and that he’d been burned when smoldering rafters fell on us both.
“How is he?”
“The doctors are with him now.”
“Call me back when you know more. In the meantime, I’ll see what kind of help I can get to you and how fast.”
“Hughes is on his way.”
“Like he’d be any help,” Deck muttered before ending the call.
“Dammit!” I said after he rang off, wishing I’d told him the phone he’d called me on wasn’t mine.
I walked in the direction of the entrance to the emergency room. “Sorry, I had another call come in. Um, they might try to ring me back,” I said to the woman who’d brought me the mobile.
“It’s fine. It’s my personal. Hang onto it as long as you need. I’m on shift another seven hours.”
“You’re sure?”
When she waved her hand and nodded, I went back to where the doctors were with Smoke.
“How is he?” I asked when they came out of the room.
“Not as bad as it looks. He suffered some second-degree burning but minimally. We’ll keep our eye on him for a couple of hours, and then he can go home.”
Home? Second-degree burns? I pushed open the door and sat down in the chair where I’d been earlier. “Hey,” I said when he opened his eyes.
“Hey.”
“Feeling no pain, are you?” I said when he smiled.
“I don’t know why you kept saying no to this stuff.”
When he turned his hand over, I rested my palm on his.
“Smoke, I—”
“You’re mad at me.”
“Mad? It’s a bit more complicated than that.”
“It always has been between us. Siren, I—”
I interrupted him like he had me. “There will be plenty of time to talk later. Now you should rest.”
He closed his eyes for a few moments and then opened them again. “I’m afraid that when I wake up, you’ll be gone.”
“I’m not going anywhere, and if I do, it’ll only be for a few minutes.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.” When Smoke closed his eyes again, mine filled with tears. Given my memory was back, for the most part at least, I could say with some certainty that I’d never seen Smoke as vulnerable as he was just now.
I thought back to when it
