Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
“Hey, where are you taking them?” Sebastian asked as they walked by.
“Aria Hospital,” one answered.
“And the baby?” Sebastian asked.
“The baby is going to CHOP.”
Sebastian nodded. “Thanks.”
The fireman who carried Christian out stopped next to him. “Are you family?” he asked.
“Yeah, you just carried my brother out,” Sebastian said.
“Who is the other guy to you?” he fireman asked curiously.
“He’s my brother’s boyfriend,” Sebastian answered.
The fireman shook his head. “That crazy motherfucker just saved your brother’s life, and the baby’s, too. We would not have made it in time,” the fireman said, awed and saddened at the same time.
Sebastian gaped at fireman as he walked away still shaking his head. Sebastian slowly made his way back to his truck. He called Henry back and told him to go right to Children’s hospital. Sebastian was going to head to Aria. Henry agreed and said he would tell Quinn to go to Aria, too. Sebastian got in his truck; his heart was pounding furiously, and Christian’s face with its blue tint was permanently burned into his brain. His little brother could possibly die and so could his niece. How long had they been in that smoke and fire? Sebastian raced toward the hospital, hoping like hell that Christian and Skylar were going to be alright.
Shea dragged open his eyes and groaned. His throat was killing him, and he felt like he had an elephant sitting on his chest. What the fuck happened? Someone touched his arm. He turned his head to see Sebastian’s grimly set face looking at him. Shea frowned at him.
“Sebastian?” he croaked.
“Hey, buddy,” Sebastian said. “Doing okay?”
“Wha…” Shea started, not understanding what was going on at first but stopped when everything that happened came rushing back.
Moments of what happened flashed through his mind - seeing his house of fire, finding Skylar and Christian unconscious in bed, how limp Skylar’s body was when he picked her up, the way Christian’s arms dangled over his head as the firefighter carried him down the ladder. Shea sat up in a panic and looked around frantically. Oh shit! He was in a hospital room!
“Christian and Skylar!” Shea cried frantically and tore off his blankets.
He had no idea if they were alive or not. He had to get to them! Sebastian stood from the chair he had been sitting in and grabbed his face.
“Shea! Shea, calm down, they’re okay,” Sebastian assured him, sitting down on the bed next to him.
“Where?” he asked hoarsely, grabbing Sebastian’s shirt with both hands.
“Christian is in a room down the hall and Skylar is at CHOP. Henry, Claire, and my parents are with her; Quinn is with Christian.”
A ragged sob escaped Shea as a wave of relief hit him so fucking hard. He squeezed his eyes shut and sagged forward against Sebastian, his forehead dropping to his shoulder. Sebastian wrapped his arms around him.
“What you did, Shea, was so fucking stupid, but if you hadn’t run in there like you did, my brother and niece would be dead. A fireman and the doctor said five more minutes and they wouldn’t have made it. The firefighters would have taken too long to get to them,” Sebastian whispered.
Shea almost passed the hell out. He almost lost his family again! Sebastian said only minutes separated them from life and death. He came so close to losing the two loves of his life. He would not have been able to survive it if they had perished. He knew without a doubt that he would take his own life before living in this world without Christian and Skylar.
Sebastian silently held him and waited patiently for him to pull himself back together. Sebastian might be the jokester of the family, but he could be stone cold serious when the moment called for it. Shea pulled back, Sebastian grabbed the box of tissues from the side table, and handed it to Shea. Shea yanked out a couple, blew his nose, and dried his face.
“Did…” Shea started but had to stop to clear his throat. The smoke he inhaled had done some damage, that was for sure. “…Did they say how it started?” he asked, his voice rough.
Sebastian sat back down in the chair next to the bed. “I was told that the fire started in the dryer; Christian must have turned it on before he went to bed,” he said with a frown.
Shea stared at him for a moment. “Have you not talked to Christian?” he asked in confusion.
Sebastian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “They have Christian in a medically induced coma because they had to intubate him. His throat had swelled shut from all of the smoke and soot that he had inhaled,” Sebastian said sadly.
Shea flinched as if slapped. Oh God! “What about Skylar?” he whispered.
“She had to be intubated at first, too, but she was able to be taken off of it a couple of hours ago. She just has the tubes up her nose now,” Sebastian said.