Do Rely on Your Protector (Jewel Family Romance Book 4) Page 7

  “Sis, you won’t believe it.” He looked to Seth. “Can I tell her?”

  “Sure.” Seth released her and folded his arms across his chest. Breeze stared at the way his biceps bulged and had to force herself to focus back on her brother.

  “Seth said if I can stay clean for a month, he’ll hire me. I can work off the twenty grand and if he likes my work, he’ll keep me on.”

  Breeze couldn’t swallow down the sudden thickness in her throat. Ridge would stop using like she’d begged every day since he started messing around with alcohol and pot at sixteen? He’d stay clean? Seth would hire him? Her little brother was going to take responsibility for the debt they owed Seth? She’d always had to step up and take care of everything.

  “Th-that’s amazing, Ridge,” she got out in a choked-up voice. “I’m so proud of you. And he’d be lucky to have you.”

  Ridge grinned shyly and ducked his head, looking like the little boy she’d raised. Even through all the crap he’d put her through the past few years, she still loved him so much it hurt.

  “Thanks, sis. I’m going to find Caleb.” He hurried out the doors.

  Breeze turned to Seth. “Thank you. I can’t tell you what this means … thank you.” She felt so relieved. Ridge would be clean, productive, and around great people. The obstacle of her owing Seth would be lifted if Ridge could work it off and her self-respect felt like it’d been restored. The only thing that hurt was Ridge would go and be with Seth and she’d be left alone.

  Seth simply nodded. “He’s good with a wrench.”

  She half-laughed. “He was born to tinker on motors that’s for sure.”

  “Come on you two, we’re waiting on you to pray,” Rachel called through the open doors. “Pais wants her happy meal.”

  “It’s not a happy meal, it’s a kid’s meal,” Paisley sassed her.

  “Oh, excuse me,” Rachel shot back.

  Seth laughed and put his hand on Breeze’s lower back. She let him escort her outside and to his family dinner. It felt right being here, but soon she’d be back home, waitressing every night and working on her degree during the day. With no Ridge. With no Seth. She wasn’t ready for that ugly reality to sneak in.

  Chapter Seven

  Breeze mostly observed, and laughed, as the family talked, joked, and teased each other throughout the meal. She really enjoyed the food, especially the spicy Pad Thai and the mango curry that had her upper lip sweating but tasted so good that she just kept eating more and downing more ice water.

  It was a beautiful summer’s eve but as soon as the sun dipped behind the mountains it grew cool and she shivered slightly in the thin outfit Rachel had lent her. Back home it would stay pretty warm in the summertime, even after the sun went down but Jackson was definitely a colder environment with the higher elevation and massive mountain peaks surrounding them. She had mountains behind her trailer back home, but they weren’t as tall and rugged as these.

  Luke and Isaac started the patio heaters, and Caleb turned on the fake fire. Breeze was warm again and mesmerized by the fireplace, with its flames coming out of clear glass rocks set in a huge rectangle case that looked like it was made out of real gray stone.

  Paisley was just as enthralled. “Marshmallows,” she begged her mom.

  Madeline beat Eve to answering, “Of course, love. I’ll go get all the stuff. We’ll do s’mores okay?”

  “Yes!” Paisley punched her little fist into the air and danced around. “Meza loves Some-mores.”

  “I’ll help you,” Rachel said. “I think I know where the roasting sticks are in the garage storage.”

  “Thank you. They’re kind of buried in that mess.”

  “No worries.” Rachel smiled. “I’m good at digging.”

  “You boys clean up,” Peter instructed.

  “Yes, sir,” Caleb quipped.

  All the boys stood quickly and compiled the leftovers into containers and hauled everything else to an outdoor garbage can. Breeze stood and tried to help.

  “No, ma’am,” Seth pushed at her hands. “The girls cook the boys clean up.”

  Breeze laughed. “I didn’t see any of us cooking.” But she liked that rule and noticed that Ridge helped carry the garbage and observed these tough gentlemen insisting on cleaning up. Back in Idaho, he usually gave a half-butt effort to help out at home, when he was around. After cooking and cleaning up nonstop for the past few days, this felt like heaven.

  Caleb shrugged. “It’s the rules and my brother and I are ‘rule followers’.” He made quote signs with his hands and winked at Seth while everyone else laughed. “We heard people saying that about us all the time growing up.” He made his voice falsetto, “‘Those Jewel twins are just rule-followers’. You just sit your pretty self on down so us innocent twins don’t get in trouble for something we didn’t do, like usual,” he added under his breath.

  Everyone was laughing harder now.

  “I thought you wanted to show Breeze the fort you and Caleb made,” Eve said quietly to Seth. Everyone perked up and exchanged looks and quiet comments.

  “Are you up for a short walk?” Seth asked.

  “Yes, please.” Her stomach lifted in anticipation and her palms started sweating. Walk? Fort? Was this code for taking her someplace quiet and kissing her? She certainly hoped so. She knew this dream day would have to end but she was going to enjoy every second with Seth.

  “Aw, mints,” Caleb declared, picking up some red and white pre-packaged mints that came with the dinner. “Look how thoughtful someone was.”

  Breeze grinned. He was such a smart aleck.

  “Would you like one, my almost-as-handsome-as-me twin?” Caleb asked.

  “Yes, please.” Seth imitated her earlier response and grinned at Breeze.

  There was a lot more laughter and Jade groaned. “Real subtle, Caleb.”

  Caleb pumped his eyebrows at Jade and tossed Seth a couple of mints. Seth snatched them out of the air and handed her one. Breeze slid hers out of the wrapper and popped it in, blushing furiously as everyone seemed to know what they were planning to do, sneaking off to the treehouse with mints to freshen their breath. All the women but Rachel and Madeline were watching them with knowing gazes, and even though the men were still cleaning up, they were laughing and obviously in on the joke. Even Seth’s dad. How embarrassing. Yet as she sucked on the spicy peppermint, Seth took her hand, and she decided to take the embarrassment for a chance to be alone with him.

  Mar gave her a secretive smile and a thumbs up and Breeze instantly felt better. Mar seemed to approve of her, or at least approve of her sneaking away to kiss Seth. Did any of these people have a clue where she’d come from and what she was going back to? The situation with Flint had been awful and not typical of her life, but she was still poor, bottom of any class, living in a trailer, working her tail off to make ends meet, and no real hope of ever doing much in life. The most she could hope for was to someday become a teacher and, if the good Lord willed it, make a difference in a child’s life and help them feel loved like she hadn’t.

  These downer thoughts assaulted her as Seth took her hand. They walked away from his chattering family toward the darkness of the tree line. Seth didn’t say anything but as he looked down at her with an alluring smile, his eyes widened. “What’s wrong?”

  Breeze blew out a breath and muttered, “I just keep getting reminded that I don’t belong here.”

  They walked into the trees. It was even darker than dusk with the thick foliage around them, but she could clearly see Seth’s eyes as they flashed. They kept walking, but he said in a gravelly tone, “I wish you could see that you fit perfectly with my family … and with me.”

  Breeze tripped over something. She stumbled but didn’t go down.

  Seth wrapped his arm around her and tugged her against his side. “You okay?”

  Breeze breathed heavily, but it wasn’t from nearly falling on her face. It was from his words and his touch. “You can’t mean that.”
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  Seth turned her to face him. Wrapping his hands around her lower back, he stared down at her. His blue eyes were full of a beseeching light. “I do mean it, everyone loves you, is impressed by you, and is begging me to keep you around. I can’t get enough of being close to you. Can’t you see that?”

  Breeze licked her lips and spoke up, wishing she would just let him say these beautiful things and not point out the obvious, “But you should be dating a businesswoman, supermodel, or actress, someone famous and perfect who fits your famous, perfect self. I’m sure that’s what your parents would want for you.”

  Seth shook his head. “You don’t know my parents. They don’t want some spoiled diva who lives to post another picture of us fake-kissing on Instagram.” He said that as if it had happened, and she felt a roll of jealousy tighten her stomach. “They would much rather have someone non-famous who is kind, resilient, hard-working, and naturally beautiful. Someone just like you.”

  Breeze’s breath caught as he stared down at her. His blue eyes were filled with admiration for her. She couldn’t force enough oxygen into her lungs as his hands pulled her in tight against him. He slowly bent his head toward hers, and she knew she was going to be kissed by this handsome, perfect, and famous man who was also kind, thoughtful, and into her. It was surreal, as if she were watching it on a movie, not actually living it. Yet, the way his body pressed against her made her feel warm and tingly, and she knew this was all too real and wonderful.

  She arched up toward him, and his lips brushed hers in a tender and pure kiss. It was beautiful, perfect, and she wanted more, a lot more. Throwing her arms around his neck, she kissed him with reckless abandon. Seth lifted her off her feet and returned the kiss and then some. Light and sound exploded around them. Breeze was dazed and in awe. Had their kiss really created fireworks? Why were people shouting and screaming or was that just in her head?

  Seth pulled back slightly and grinned. “Caleb,” he murmured. He glanced past her, back at the house where the explosion had occurred and cursed. “No!”

  Breeze whirled to look. A fireball rose above their house and smoke poured from it. Their house was on fire? No! What she’d thought were shouts heralding in their incredible kiss were screams of horror.

  She and Seth dashed through the trees and raced for the back of the house. The women were congregated on the back lawn away from the house. The smoke was rising from the front of the house, and fire seemed to be crawling over the top of the garage.

  Seth’s gaze darted around. He hurried to his mom, who was holding Paisley. “Is everybody okay?”

  “Rachel,” his mom sobbed.

  Seth sprinted toward the house. His mom let him go, clinging to her granddaughter. Before Seth could dodge in one of the rear patio doors, there was a shout from around by the garage. Isaac and Joshua appeared. Isaac carried a body wrapped in a blanket. Rachel’s dark hair streamed down one of his arms.

  “Get everybody out,” Joshua yelled to Seth.

  He looked at his limp sister with horror but nodded and raced into the house. Breeze prayed he wouldn’t get too close to the fire. Ridge! Had he gone in with the rest of the men? Was he okay?

  Madeline handed Paisley to Eve and ran to Isaac. “My baby girl,” she cried over and over.

  “Don’t touch her,” Isaac cautioned. He knelt on the ground and set his sister carefully on the grass. The blanket slid down, revealing the side of her face and neck. The skin was blackened and looked waxy and fake.

  “Rachel!” Madeline screamed.

  Joshua picked his mother up and lifted her away, cradling her face to his chest so she couldn’t see. “She’s alive, Mom. She’s alive. She’ll be okay.” But his voice didn’t sound like he believed it.

  Paisley was crying loudly for her aunt, and the rest of the women were crying quietly, looking unsure of what to do, just like Breeze felt. Breeze heard sirens faintly in the distance and prayed they’d get here quick — prayed they could save Rachel. The house was putting out a lot of heat, while the fire crackled and roared as it grew in strength. Breeze moved closer to Rachel as if she could shield her from the heat. Sweat raced down her back. It wasn’t a lot of help, but she didn’t know what else to do.

  She saw movement at the back of the house, and the men started streaming out. Fire licked the side of the garage and crawled over the roof. Ridge and Seth both emerged from the patio doors and rushed to her. Breeze released the breath that she didn’t know she’d been holding and put up a prayer of gratitude that they were safe. She prayed for Rachel again. Isaac was watching over her, but all he did was lay a clean cloth over the wound. He didn’t seem to know what else to do. Maybe there was nothing to do until the ambulance got there.

  Seth wrapped his arm around Breeze, and Ridge pressed into her other side. The family stood by helplessly as Madeline sobbed for her daughter. Joshua still held her, but Peter had crowded in close as well and was murmuring comforting words to her.

  Finally, the sirens grew louder and flashing red lights penetrated the forest around them. Luke and Caleb sprinted around the house and returned seconds later with two EMTs. Breeze could hear the shouts of firefighters out front and watched as the EMTs checked Rachel’s vitals, cut her shirt away from the burns, removed her earrings, and wrapped her in some kind of blanket that looked like a big, white gauze sheet. They loaded her onto a stretcher and hauled her around the side of the house.

  The family surged after her. Seth hurried to keep up. He cast one glance back at Breeze. She waved him on and then turned to Ridge. Her brother had tears streaming down his face. She knew he liked this family, but he wasn’t an emotional kid. “Ridge?”

  “This is all my fault,” he rasped, pushing a fist against his mouth.

  “What? What did you do?” she demanded, fearing the worst. No, she wouldn’t believe it. Her brother had gotten into a lot of trouble, caused her a lot of grief over the years but he had a good heart and had never been any kind of bully. He had never, and would never, hurt anyone intentionally.

  “Flint,” he grunted. “Seth thrashed Flint this morning. Made him look like the loser he is in front of his worshippers. Didn’t you notice at the house how they all idolized and cowered from Flint, but they all naturally respect Seth more cause he’s a star? A hero? Seth just reinforced that this morning. Flint despises anyone being better than him, at anything. He hates Seth. This is Flint’s payback.” He swallowed hard and muttered, “I brought this on this family. I did this.” He pulled away from her.

  Breeze’s stomach twisted as she felt the oppressive heat from the fire and looked at the gorgeous home going up in flames and smoke. The Jewels had raised their family here and now it was gone. She was watching the demise of their safe haven. Even though she wasn’t part of them, it hurt.

  Flint? Could he have blown up the Jewel’s home to retaliate against Seth? If that was true, Rachel’s injury was on her as well as Ridge. She couldn’t breathe. She felt she would suffocate. “Come on,” she yelled at Ridge, grabbing his hand and dragging him toward the forest.

  “Where?” Ridge stared at her.

  “If this is Flint, he’s going to answer for it.”

  Ridge nodded and kept pace as she sprinted for the trees. She could find that horrible cabin through these trees. She could find out the truth. If this was Flint, he deserved to be arrested, or worse. Maybe those despicable men in the cabin would try to stand up for him, but, thinking how they’d cheered for Seth this morning, she doubted they were loyal enough to Flint to take the fall for arson and attempted murder. If the family hadn’t been outside, there could have been multiple deaths.

  She’d been afraid of Flint when she was under his control at that awful house, but she wasn’t afraid anymore, she was livid. He couldn’t get away with this. Flint was going to pay for hurting Rachel and destroying this family’s home.

  Chapter Eight

  Seth watched helplessly as the EMTs loaded up Rachel and his mom into the ambulance. His stomach rolled
with anger and fear. What if his little sis didn’t survive? If she did, what would her life be like after? She was so confident, beautiful, and ready to take on the world. Would this destroy her future, or could she rise above it?

  Luckily, there were a couple of their sport utility vehicles not parked in the garage. Caleb, Luke, Mar, Cosette, and Isaac climbed into one while their father and the rest of the family piled into the other. Isaac motioned to Seth. “Let’s go!”

  “I can’t leave Breeze.” Where had she gone?

  Caleb nodded. The ambulance roared away as the firefighters continued to drench the house with water and cut holes in the roof to relieve the pressure. It was loud and crazy but, somehow, not chaotic as the firefighters worked together. Seth was pretty sure the house was destroyed. That would be another blow to his family, but nothing was as important as Rachel.

  He sprinted around the back of the house, searching for Breeze and calling for her and Ridge. Where could they have gone?

  The fire seemed to roar behind him like a furious, sizzling beast. He glanced at the house, and the horror of losing it stabbed him. All those memories. Rachel was all that mattered, but it would still gut his mom to lose this house.

  Seth asked a couple of firefighters who were around back if they’d seen a blonde woman and boy. Finally, a tough-looking guy with slightly graying hair told him, “I saw a girl and boy run for the trees a bit ago. Didn’t have time to go after them.”

  Seth stared into the trees as if they held the answers. Why would Breeze and Ridge take off? Caleb ran around the side of the house. “Seth! Let’s go!”

  He was torn. He wanted to chase after Breeze and see what was going on, but he had to go to the hospital. Even though he could literally do nothing but be moral support to his parents and Rachel, he had to go. He hopped into the SUV.