Rainbow (Ruthless Kings MC Baton Rouge #1) - K.L. Savage Page 0,18

and I stretch my arm down and grab Taylor with both hands. “Come on, buddy.” I throw him over my shoulders, carrying him in the typical fireman’s hold, and run.

I gasp for breath and jump over fallen beams.

The smoke is black. It’s almost too hard to see, so I bend down and use my hand to flip on the helmet light. “We’re getting out of here, Taylor.” I see a familiar cash register, where there’s a random eggplant on the conveyor belt and slide sideways through the aisle so we can fit.

My muscles burn, my entire body aches, and my skin feels like it’s about to fall off the bone, but I can’t give up.

I can’t leave anyone behind.

The front doors are in sight, and another explosion causes the rest of the roof to collapse. I step through the doors just in time. But, not a second after I do, the air gets sucked inside with a massive backdraft, and the flames expand. The force propels me out the doors, and I hit the concrete ground, which jostles Taylor from my shoulders. Kincaid drags me a safe distance away from the building while Lock does the same to Taylor. I stand to shuck my helmet off and take a deep, ragged breath.

“Is he breathing?” No one answers me. “Is he alive?”

Ryan kneels on the ground and checks for a pulse. He nods. “It’s weak, but it’s there.”

My knees crumble like the roof in the grocery store, and I hit the ground, struggling to catch my breath. I fall to my hands next and hang my head, sweat dripping from my hair to the hot pavement.

That was close.

“Let me examine you.” Ryan’s fingers tilt my chin up, and someone mindlessly works off my jacket. He places a new oxygen mask around my nose and mouth, but I’m too tired to breathe.

He’s talking to me, but I can’t hear him. I’m not focused enough.

Fires do that to me. They rearrange my brain, suck the oxygen from my lungs, and tease death over my head every time I run into danger.

No matter how many times I sprint into a building, I always come out.

My life has to have a clock. At this point, how much time is left?

Cheating death has to have its consequences.

I just haven’t figured them out yet.

Rain.

Of course, it takes this moment to pour. The firefighters spent hours trying to put out that blaze only for it to rain in sheets now. No one seems to care—or at least, no one is paying attention to it. Everyone is in the waiting room. Kincaid, Lock, and Baldwin are still in their gear, ridden with soot as we all wait for word on Rainbow—I mean Kennedy—Taylor, and Saint.

The door opens, and I gulp when I see the Ruthless Kings Baton Rouge chapter waltz through the doors. Their boots are loud as they pound against the floor. A few of them have chains hanging from their pockets, and they rattle with each step they take. Front and center is their Prez, Jokester, and next to him is a guy that looks similar to Rainbow, damn it! I mean Kennedy. He’s my co-worker, and I can’t get comfortable calling him Rainbow.

Too late.

The one that must be related to Kennedy stares me down as he walks by. He doesn’t look angry; he seems devastated. His eyes are red and puffy, and as he drags them away from me, I swear his cheeks are wet, but that has to be from the rain. I’ve never met a biker who cries.

“This is Nathan Kennedy’s emergency contact and healthcare proxy, Greer Kennedy.” Jokester points to the guy that I knew had to be related to Rain—oh fuck it, I’m just going to call him Rainbow. “Are there any updates?” he asks the nurse behind the counter.

“They haven’t given us any updates,” the Captain chimes in and Jokester swings his gaze toward the man. And, I swear, at that moment, the room drops a hundred degrees and is suddenly chilly. My skin pebbles and I tremble under my jacket.

“I don’t think they’d tell you anything. You aren’t family like we are. You’ll do well to remember that, Cap.”

“We aren’t enemies here, Jokester. We’re all here for Kennedy. A few of your guys are firefighters, cops, S.W.A.T., yet you don’t hate any of their Captains.”

“Oh, you know why I hate you,” Jokester sneers, standing toe-to-toe with the Captain.

“Oh shit,” Sunday grips my arm and watches the scene in front of