Rainbow (Ruthless Kings MC Baton Rouge #1) - K.L. Savage Page 0,5

behind the folded-up hoody.

“No, the hell you aren’t! I can’t worry about you and them. Stay right fucking here, Greer.” I hate leaving him behind, but I don’t think my parents have much time before it’s too late. I sprint through the smoke jumping over a rebellious flame that’s lit the grass on the side of the road. The tip of the tree is burning another.

The blaze has officially moved across the street.

When I get to the car, the heat from the fire chokes me. “Dad?” I yell. “Mom?” The metal groans, and the SUV tilts to the left. Something hisses, and I glance down to see the tire melting into the ground. I reach for the handle and hiss as it burns me. “Fuck!”

I rip my shirt off, and my skin recoils from the temperature. I wrap the shirt around my hand and reach for the handle again. I yank on it, but it won’t open. “Dad.” I bang against the glass. “Dad, open the door!” I cough and turn my head away.

I cry out when a burnt piece of the tree drops from the car and onto my wrist. I drop my hand and hold it, kicking the ground as pain rips through my arm.

With my anger in the forefront of my mind, I run toward the SUV and shout, slamming my shoulder against the glass. I can’t take the heat much longer. The fire is getting worse, bigger, brighter, and it’s so fucking hot. “Dad, please!” I beg him, and he finally turns his head my way, blood dripping down his face.

I see Mom move too, holding her arm against her chest.

“Come on! Unlock the door. We have to go. Now. We have to go!” I shout, and Dad tries the door again just as the back of the car catches fire. “No! Dad! Duck your head!” I rear my fist back and hit the glass, but it won’t budge. “No,” I sob, hot tears pouring onto my cheek.

“Nathan.” The roof begins to cave in, and I continue hitting the glass.

Why won’t it break?

“Nathan!” Dad shouts.

He places his hand against the window. “Go. Get your brother and go.”

“I’m not leaving you.” I shake my head and throw my body against the car, hot metal be damned.

Mom begins to cough as the fire becomes hotter and the smoke becomes thicker inside.

“You have to!” Dad shouts. “Leave us. I love you. We love you.”

“No! I won’t.” I continue running my body into the driver’s side. I can’t give up.

“Rainbow!” Mom yells my middle name, and my eyes drift to hers. The fire is licking the back of her seat, and I know she’s in pain. Her skin is turning red. “You’ll always be our rainbow. Go! Go!”

“I don’t want you to see us die.” Dad lets out a painful, agonizing scream as the fire becomes too hot. “Fucking go, damn it!”

I press my hand against the window and drop my head. “I love you.”

“We know.”

I lock eyes with Dad just as the roof caves in, crushing them with redwood tree and fire. I run backward and lift my arm to block my eyes as the bright flames lick the sky.

The screams of my parents burning to death sear into my mind, ripping my heart out of my chest.

They don’t last long—the screams. They fade into the whoosh and crackle of the fire as the flames claim them, along with so many other things.

“We have to go.” I grab Greer by the front of the shirt and drag him toward the tree line that’s just starting to burn.

“What about Mom and Dad?” he asks.

I don’t know how to tell him. How do I tell my brother I couldn’t save them?

Tugging my shirt back on, I yank the hoodie from him and rip it down the middle, giving him the other half. I hold it to my face; while the temporary relief is good, it doesn’t do anything about the damage that’s already been done.

My lungs burn.

I don’t know how much longer I can keep going. The further into the forest we go, the flames lessen, but the heat and smoke are still there.

“We have to go back for Mom and Dad!” He yanks his hand from mine and begins to sprint in the direction we just came from.

I do the only thing I know to do—I tackle him.

We hit the ground with a hard thud, and I turn him over. I yank him up by the collar of his shirt