“Do you have anyone to call?”
Tommy nodded. His landlord, for one. Let him know what was going on. Then he needed to figure out where he was going to stay tonight. Hell, more than tonight. It would take him a while to find a place to live. So he’d have to impose on someone for more than a few nights. Even if he found a place, he didn’t have a bed or a couch…or even a spoon. Man, the only clothes he had were what he was wearing.
The enormity of what had happened hit him, leaving him as dazed as he’d felt after he’d regained consciousness from Ricky Moon’s knee to the face during the championship fight.
He’d lost everything then, too.
Thankfully, this time insurance would replace everything that had just burned to a crisp— except for the few things that actually meant anything.
Since nothing would ever replace the contents of that box, there was only one other thing he needed. Or rather, who he needed.
He needed his best friend.
…
Julie Rogers turned her Prius onto Tommy’s road, passing the lines of ranch-style houses in the modest neighborhood on the outskirts of downtown Atlanta. When Tommy’s house came into view, her mouth dropped open on a stunned gasp. Good lord.
The front was charred beyond recognition. On the sides, the windows were shattered and blackened. The beige vinyl siding that remained was covered in black soot and the roof had huge, gaping holes. When Tommy had called her twenty minutes ago, his detached, emotionless tone had worried her. He’d simply said, “My house just went up in flames. I need you.” Then he’d hung up. A part of her had hoped he’d been exaggerating. He hadn’t been.
Where was he? She scanned the area. When she finally spotted him sitting between the back doors of an ambulance, a blanket wrapped around his broad shoulders, holding an oxygen mask to his mouth, his other arm draped around Warrior as he stared at the ruins, her heart climbed into her throat. After throwing the car into park, she shot out and raced toward him, her black heels clacking hard on the pavement. “Tommy!”
His head snapped in her direction and relief shone bright in his green eyes. When she reached his side, she grabbed his face between her hands, gaze frantically traveling over his soot-covered skin. “My God, are you okay?”
Other than the grime and the holes in his clothes and on the black beanie on his blond head, nothing seemed injured. He lowered the mask. “Yeah. They want me to do this for a few more minutes as a precaution, and then I can go. I wasn’t in there long enough.”
She stared at him a moment. Then she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.
When his lips immediately grazed the side of her head, an action he’d done since they were teens, and he whispered, “I’m okay, Julie,” tears burned the backs of her eyes.
This man meant the world to her. More than he would ever know.
She pulled back to look at him. The pensive expression twisting his handsome face made her heart clench. He’d been through so much lately. Yeah, some of it was his own doing, but this…this wasn’t. She wanted to cry at the lost look in his eyes.
Tommy always acted like nothing fazed him, as if he didn’t have a care in the world, which she found both admirable and infuriating. But this moment of vulnerability he was displaying threatened to bring forth the emotions she kept under lock and key. So, as she’d done for the past twenty-three years, she pretended they didn’t exist and went to him as his best friend.
“What happened? Were you asleep?” God, what if the smoke had gotten to him before he’d woken up? The thought had her hugging him tightly again. “Did Warrior wake you?”
“No, we were out for a run.”
Confused, she jerked back and stared at him again. Yes, he definitely looked like he’d just emerged from a burning building. “Then why—”
“I ran in to get something.”
She gasped. “You did what?” Then she slapped him on the arm. Once wasn’t enough. She smacked him again. “Are you insane? You could’ve died! I could be standing here sobbing because I lost my best friend for being an idiot!” She shoved his shoulder, then walked a couple of feet away, rubbing her forehead. “Jesus, Tommy. What the hell was so important you would risk your life over it?”
“It doesn’t matter now. It’s gone.”
“What’s gone?”
He glared at her. “I need you, Julie. Not a lecture. Drop it.”
He was right. This wasn’t the time. All that mattered was he was safe, even if he had made a reckless decision, which wasn’t surprising anymore. Over the last year, Tommy had made many of those. “What happened?”
“They think it started in the kitchen. It was that damn switch. I’d been after the landlord for weeks to change it.”
Julie glanced back at the charred house. All that remained of the garage was a few scorched beams, half a wall, and the blackened skeleton of Tommy’s cherry-red Corvette. She grimaced.
“Oh, Tommy. Your car.”