SINGE
is the first book in an ALL NEW smokin-hot standalone series by Aly Martinez
NOW AVAILABLE!
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/2kfNgXh
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/2kfyRdL
Nook: http://bit.ly/2kQyB5S
Kobo: http://bit.ly/2kC4kru
Blurb
She
was my nightmare. Every time I closed my eyes, I watched her fall into that
inferno. Over and over, I failed to save her.
I
hadn’t been able to reach her, and the guilt only burned hotter over time. Four
years later, I was the unreachable one.
Heroes
aren’t always saints. Sometimes, we’re nothing more than jaded sinners driven
by sleepless nights and hearts full of darkness.
And
then I met her. She was a dreamer who managed to soothe my scars and heal my
wounds.
But,
as the flames closed in around us, I feared I wasn’t the right man to save her.
That is until I realized she was the one woman I’d burn the world down to
protect.
My Review
Chapter One
Jude
“Tomorrow, it’s on
me,” I said, standing up off the barstool.
Behind the bar, Carmen
waggled her eyebrows, seductively calling out, “Funny, I could be on you
tonight if you stayed awhile longer.”
I laughed at her
innuendo and tossed her a wink. “I gotta get home, babe. Seven a.m. comes way
too early.”
“Well, offer’s on the
table,” she purred.
It always was with
her. And, if I wasn’t careful, I’d eventually take her up on it.
Not that sleeping with
Carmen wouldn’t have been good. But, when you find a cheap bar only five
minutes from your house, you don’t fuck that up by dipping your cock into the
bartender.
“Later, Carmen,” I
called, pushing the door open and heading to my car.
I wasn’t out of the
parking lot before I heard, “Officer Levitt? We’ve got an alarm going off in
Park Hill. You mind taking a look on your way home?”
Banging my head back
against the headrest, I groaned to myself. Park Hill was about as “on my way
home” as swinging past California on the way to Maine.
Switching my radio to
my other hand, I complained, “I’m off the clock, Jocelyn.” I had been for several
hours, even if I hadn’t made it home yet.
She laughed. “I’m sorry, but you’re the only
one remotely close. I had to send two cars out to the Laslows’ to break up
another argument between Cam and his old man.”
“They at it again?” I
asked.
“Apparently, Cam told
Lindsey he didn’t want the baby. Lindsey told his dad. Old Man Laslow lost his
mind.”
I chuckled, putting my
blinker on and then doing a U-turn in the middle of the empty road. “Christ. I
bet he did. I know the man’s seventy-five, but I sure as hell wouldn’t want to
go toe-to-toe with him.”
“I’m with you on that.
So…you gonna head out to Park Hill?” she asked in a sugary-sweet tone.
I grumbled deep in my
chest. “You’re gonna owe me some of that banana bread for this. I missed it the
other day when you brought it up to the station.”
“I don’t owe you
anything.” She giggled. “However, as a personal thank-you from the state of
Illinois, Park County, and the owners of Park Hill, I’ll bring you in a loaf on
Friday. Deal?”
“Deal. I’m en route
now.”
“Stay safe, and radio
in with your report.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I
replied, knowing exactly how much thirty-year-old Jocelyn loved being called
ma’am by a twenty-five-year-old man.
“Don’t you—”
“Gotta go.” I turned
the volume down to mute her, grinning to myself as I flipped my lights and
siren on.
I’d been a cop for two
years. And, in that time, I’d been out to the privately owned Park Hill estate
at least a dozen times. It wasn’t unusual for the alarm on the mansion to get
triggered. It never amounted to anything. The expansive estate was on the very
edge of the county, and trouble didn’t usually travel that far out. More often
than not, a bird at a window or a bumbling new member of the grounds crew would
accidentally trip the alarm. Truth was, no one actually lived in Park Hill. The
owners visited sporadically. But, for the majority of the time, it remained
empty.
Some minutes later, I
cut my siren as I pulled up to the entrance. The cold air assaulted me as I
stepped out of my patrol car with my flashlight in hand and aimed at the keypad
on the massive security gate that blocked the driveway off. That damn thing
alone had to have cost more than I’d make in a lifetime. Forget about the house
inside.
The smell of wood
burning in a fireplace wafted through the night air. I guessed someone was home
for a visit.
I typed in the
emergency code on the gate panel and then climbed back in my car and made my
way down the tree-lined driveway. I’d spent the day on patrol, and, with the
exception of some minor vandalism across town, it had been a slow one.
Though, in the blink
of an eye, that would change.
Along with my entire
life.
“Oh fuck,” I breathed
as the main house came into view on the top of the hill.
After throwing my car
in park, I jumped on the radio at my shoulder. I could barely get the words out
as I slung my door open and took off at a dead sprint.
“This is Officer
Levitt! I need fire support at Park Hill immediately!”
And then I froze as a
wave of adrenaline crashed into me like a tsunami.
An inferno roared in the
night sky, but it was the small silhouette of a woman perched outside a
third-floor window, smoke pouring out all around her, that knocked the breath
out of me. My heart stopped, but my feet continued to pound against the
pavement.
Jocelyn’s voice caught
me. “What’s going on?”
“I need medical too!”
I barked as I got closer. “The whole damn place is in flames and there’s a
woman trapped!”
The woman’s long,
black hair blew out behind her like a battered flag whipping in a storm. I
couldn’t make out her face or her skin color or even guess at her age for the
black soot covering her, but her fear was unmistakable.
And unforgettable.
“Hang on!” I yelled up
to her.
“Oh my God!” she
screamed before it turned into a fit of coughing. “Help me!”
“Hang on! Don’t let
go!”
Frantically, I
searched the perimeter for a way in, but it wasn’t only her house that was on
fire. Flames were encompassing her. The yard and all the surrounding
flowerbeds. Top to bottom. The first and second floors were completely
engulfed, and if the sound of shattering windows was any indication, it was
quickly making its way up to the third floor—to her.
“No! Don’t leave me!”
she screamed, panic thick in her garbled voice, as I started around the side of
the house.
A wall of heat stopped
me in my tracks. Throwing an arm up, I did my best to block my face while
scanning the building for any possible entry—or, in her case, exit.
But there wasn’t a
surface of that house that wasn’t ablaze.
Except the roof.
Son of a bitch.
I spoke into the
radio. “I need an ETA on fire.”
Jocelyn replied,
“They’re on their way. Five minutes out.”
I didn’t have one
minute, much less five.
Fuck.
My pulse quickened,
sending blood thundering in my ears. I was a cop. I’d trained for chaos. I
should have been able to come up with a solution for a situation like this, but
they didn’t teach you how to conquer the impossible at the Academy.
And, as I took
inventory of the flames dancing beneath her, I knew that was exactly what I was
up against.
My gut wrenched as I
helplessly sped back around the house. She appeared almost childlike, hovering
barefoot on that narrow brick ledge, but her long-sleeve top and her
loose-fitting pants clung to the body of a woman.
Jesus Christ! Where
was that fucking fire truck?
“Is anyone else in the
house?” I yelled up to her.
Not that I could have
helped them, either. Short of running into a burning building, on what would surely
be a suicide mission, there was not one thing I could do. And didn’t that
little reality feel like a wrecking ball to the chest.
“No!” she cried, a
loud sob lodging in her throat. It turned into more coughing, her body shaking
violently with every heave.
I fisted my hands at
my sides as my anxiety spiraled higher.
“Please. Do
something!” she begged.
I ground my teeth
together and once again glanced around as if a water hose and a ladder were
going to suddenly appear out of nowhere. “Hang tight, okay? Fire trucks are on
their way.”
“I can’t hold on much
longer!” she cried.
“Yes, you can,” I
demanded.
“I…I think I need to
jump,” she coughed out.
I assessed the massive
fire below her. I’d never be able to reach her before it swallowed her. But
there was no way I’d be able to stand by and watch her burn.
No. If she jumped off
that ledge, she was going to get us both killed.
“Don’t you dare,” I
barked. “Don’t even think about it. Two minutes. They’ll be here.”
“I…I can’t.”
“Two minutes,” I
repeated. “Hold—”
Suddenly, a window to
her left exploded, shooting glass and flames in all directions.
I covered my face as
she screamed in a paralyzing mixture of fear and agony. It cut me so deep that
I knew I’d bear the scars for the rest of my life, and that had nothing to do
with the glass and everything to do with the heavy weight of my failure already
lingering in the smoke-filled air.
When I opened my eyes
again, I caught a glimpse of orange flickering in the window behind her. Panic
built in my chest.
“You need to move!” I
yelled.
She shook her head and
continued to cough and cry.
But it wasn’t an
option. I couldn’t help her. Though I damn sure refused to watch her die.
“Please. Just listen
to me.” I swallowed hard. “You can’t stay there.” I looked to the roof.
Sending her higher
seemed wrong and went against everything I’d learned in my limited fire
training. But fuck, my options were having her jump into a conflagration or
scale up the side of a building in hopes of buying us the precious minutes
needed for the fire department to arrive.
Drawing in a
smoke-filled breath, I made a decision that would haunt me for the rest of my
life. “You need to climb up to the roof.”
“I can’t!” she
shrieked.
My stomach twisted,
but I gentled my voice. “Look, I know you’re scared. But I’m right here. I’ll
help guide you up, but, sweetheart, it’s bearing down on you. You gotta move,
and I mean now.”
She choked on a
mouthful of smoke as she attempted to look over her shoulder.
“You’re going to be
fine. I swear to you,” I lied. “But you have to move.”
“I’m not going to make
it!” She had to have yelled it in order for me to hear her, but I felt her
defeat slither over my skin like a whispered goodbye.
I took a long step
forward, too focused on her to feel the heat singeing my skin. “Yes, you are!”
I declared. “Move your ass up to the roof and we’ll both be out of here in time
for breakfast.”
Her gaze landed on
mine, tears forging paths down her soot-covered cheeks, her disbelief obvious
even from yards away. “Are you sure?”
It was a ridiculous
question. It wasn’t like I could make any guarantees. It was fire, for God’s
sake. But that didn’t stop me from covering my heart with my palm and vowing,
“I swear on my life you’re going to make it through this.”
Her hesitation was
evident, but with one last sob, she inched her small body farther out onto the
narrow ledge, reaching the tips of her shaking fingers out for the windowsill
above her.
“Good girl,” I
praised, a fraction of relief washing over me.
And then I sucked in a
sharp breath as one of her shaking legs slipped out from under her.
“No!” I yelled.
On instinct, I rushed
toward the flames, my arms stretched out in the air as though I could catch
her.
A scalding heat
blistered my face and forced me to stop, but the real pain was in my chest. I
watched in horror for what felt like a lifetime as she fought to right herself,
her dainty arms flailing like a wounded butterfly frantically trying to catch
the wind.
But there was none to
be found.
My heart lurched into
my throat, and my breath seized in my lungs.
And then a deep,
guttural sound tore through me, shredding me from the inside out, as I watched
her fall.
I woke up in a cold sweat. It wasn’t exactly
something new. I’d been dreaming of Butterfly for over four years. She always
flew directly into the flames, screaming as I stood helpless to save her.
Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I
cradled my head in my hands and tried to pretend I was okay. That wasn’t
exactly something new, either. I could still feel the heat on the back of my
neck. My lungs were still thick with smoke. The pressure in my chest never left
me.
The distance while I was living in LA had
helped. But, in the week since I’d been back in Illinois, I’d woken up every
morning at that blazing house. I didn’t even have to be asleep for the memories
to assault me.
I should have gone back to sleep. It was my
first day at my new job, and the last thing I needed was to show up haggard and
sleep-deprived. But, as I’d learned over the years, another fiery butterfly
awaited me on the other side of REM. No way I was volunteering for that.
I pushed myself off the bed and tugged a
T-shirt on, preparing to head down to the hotel gym with hopes that I could
outrun the mental fog that had been hovering over me since I’d returned. There
was a reason I’d thrown all of my shit in my car and driven as far as I could
all those years ago.
Yet, somehow, I’d come full circle.
But I’d come back a different man.
At least that’s what I’d told myself as the
deafening roar of doubt had overwhelmed me the moment I’d driven across the
state line.
Regardless, it had been time to go home.
I’d been gone too long.
Or, as I’d decided as I’d passed the exit to
Park County, not nearly long enough.
About the Author
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
0 comments:
Post a Comment