“No!” The thought of it made Griff want to hit something. Or someone. Preferably the smug asshole who broke Autumn’s heart.
“Then go and talk to her. Tell her why you pushed her away. Apologize for it, make some damn amends. And if she still wants nothing to do with you?” Lucas shrugged. “At least you tried.”
Griff exhaled. “Yeah. You’re right.” There was one thing he was sure of, he couldn’t let her go. It hurt too damn much. He needed her like he needed air.
Lucas looked like he was going to say something more, but then his cell rang. Griff recognized the tone – the same one Lucas got whenever the station put out an emergency call to all of its firefighters.
Pulling his phone from his pocket, Lucas glanced at the screen, frowning as his eyes scanned the message. Lucas slowly brought his gaze back to Griff, the expression making the pit of Griff’s stomach churn.
“There’s a fire,” Lucas said, his voice strained. “At the pier.”
And just like that, the bottom fell out of Griff’s world.
28
Autumn was sleeping next to a starfished Lydia when a loud shriek pierced her dream. An overwhelming volume of sirens cut through the silence of the night, making her heart hammer against her ribcage. She sat up and looked around, suppressing a chuckle when she saw her sister’s undisturbed slumber. Blue lights were flashing through the window behind her like a frenzied disco.
Curious, she climbed out of bed and looked through the thick glass at the back of the house, blinking as the fire engines whizzed past. They continued north along the road until they were out of her sight, the high pitched alarms fading into the night.
In her bare feet, she padded out of the bedroom and into the living room, perplexed when she could see an orange glow flickering through the window facing the beach. She licked her dry lips and pulled at the curtain, her feet frozen to the spot as she saw where the color was coming from.
The pier was on fire.
Large flames were licking up against the darkness of the sky, the grey smoke curling and dancing in the night time breeze. She wrenched open the door, and the sound of the blaze hit her. Little pieces of ash were drifting past the cottage.
Without thinking, she began to run, her bare feet pounding against the cool sand. Her breath was short, panicked, and with every stride she completed, the heat of the air increased.
It was every owner’s worst nightmare. The reason insurance was so damn high on the wood-and-iron constructions. In spite of the frothing ocean beneath, pier fires were a dime a dozen. Their materials were combustible, the construction and electrical wiring often out of date, and more than anything, they were hard for firefighters to access, meaning it took longer than usual to douse any flames.
She was panting, her legs flying as she got closer still. Firefighters were pulling hoses from the engines parked at the base of the pier, their movements fast but considered, as they entered the burning edifice.
As she got closer, she could see the fire was consuming Delmonico’s and her office. Everybody had left, hadn’t they? She remembered Pietro saying goodnight before she’d sat down with Ally and Lydia in the office. He’d locked up the restaurant and all his staff were gone.
The fairground rides had been taken down and put back onto the trucks that had driven them away. The stage was still up, but she didn’t care about that. Her eyes darted this way and that as she scanned the pier, her chest screaming from the speed she was running.
Then her gaze landed on the Ocean Explorer. Griff’s boat. He’d left the pier hours ago. Please god, don’t let him have come back for any reason. She blinked, her eyes watering from a combination of the smoke, salty air, and fear.
The smoke was so thick as she reached the end of the pier, choking her lungs as she tried desperately to stop breathing it in. When she reached the boardwalk she slowed, lifting her gaze to the orange flames as tears rolled down her face.
The heat scorched her nose and throat as she hurried along the wide concrete path. A crowd of onlookers had gathered, held back by caution tape the firefighters had placed. A few of them turned to look at her, blinking as she walked toward them. She looked down and remembered she was only wearing a thin tank and a pair of tiny sleep shorts, with nothing on her feet.
With her hair tangled and knotted, she must' look like a crazy woman.
What sounded like thunder rumbled ahead of her, even though there were no clouds in the sky. She looked to see Griff running at twice the speed she had, his face twisted with emotion as he reached her.
“Thank god,” he said. “I thought you might be in there.” He pointed at the burning pier.
She blinked back stinging tears. “I thought you might be, too.”
He looked like he was going to hug her, but then he stepped back, shaking his head to move his hair from his eyes. Standing with the blazing fire reflected in his gaze, he looked every inch a wild man.
“Do you know if there’s anybody stuck on the pier?” she shouted over the noise of the flames and the firefighters, fear clenching her chest in a vice grip. “I know Pietro went home, and everything looked empty when I left tonight, but…” she trailed off as she turned to look at the blaze again. Please God, don’t let anybody get hurt.
“Not that I know of. I came with Lucas and he’s been briefed by the team. They think it was empty.”
“Thank god,” she whimpered, her legs trembling. Her whole body quivered, as though the ground beneath her was vibrating. Her teeth started to chatter. Griff was looking over her shoulder at something, and she followed his gaze.
“Oh Griff, your boat,” she said, clamping her hand over her mouth. It wasn’t simply her pier that the blaze was destroying. Those flames were eating up Griff’s livelihood, and the Delmonico’s, too. Her body shook uncontrollably as she watched the firefighters train