20. Garret

20

Garret

I lay in my bed with Felix's warm body peacefully sleeping beside me, enamored by him and grateful to have him to keep me company. His presence was physically and mentally comforting and helped me sustain my peace of mind.

My emotions were hanging on by a thread, but I was doing my best to remain positive. Felix was more optimistic that we would be able to attain a reasonable solution to the mile-long problems we were facing.

I exhaled slowly, trying to relax both my mind and my body. I rolled over on my side, facing away from Felix and closed my eyes. I forced my mind to shut off until I saw nothing but dark, blank, empty space.

I knew I was going to have to comply with Felix's grandiose suggestion to sell the club and build a new one, but I just wasn't quite there yet. I would sleep on it and make the final decision in the morning.

I was drifting off to sleep but not all the way unconscious when I smelled smoke. At first, I thought the burning smell was part of an early dream I might be having. When it grew more prominent, weaving through my nostrils, I sat up sharply. I knew there was a problem.

Panic began to swell through my body. I couldn't explain the plunge into hysteria, but I could sense that there was a real fire and that this wasn't something dreamed up by my imagination.

I glanced over at Felix. He was sound asleep, dead to the world, in an out cold kind of sleep.

"Felix," I whispered and gently began to shake his shoulders, trying to quickly rouse him.

He groaned and smacked his lips, stirring slightly but he mumbled something and tried to pull the covers up to his neck.

"Felix," I said, louder this time. "Wake up. I think there's a fire downstairs."

Felix rolled over, blinked at me in a groggy manner and frowned. "How can that be? The fire alarms aren't going off."

I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that I couldn't explain. "I know, but I smell smoke. Don't you? Something is wrong…"

I trailed off. My throat felt swollen with crippling anxiety.

"Okay." Felix nodded.

He sat there for a moment like he needed to prepare himself and wake up all the way. He tossed the sheets off his torso. He was naked, and so was I. "Let's go and check it out."

He sounded like a father trying to reassure his son that there were no monsters under his bed. The monsters might not have been under our bed, but they definitely existed.

We quickly pulled on shirts and shorts and walked to the door. Felix pressed his hand to it and didn't open it. He rapidly yanked it away.

"Ouch!" He cried and stared at the knob with disoriented perplexity.

"What is it?" It felt like my heart was pounding in my throat.

"The knob…" he said with a gasp and gave it a disturbing glance again. "It's… hot."

"It's hot?" I asked shrilly.

We both knew the first rules of fire safety. Never open a door when the knob is hot, because nine times out of ten, it meant that an inferno was probably blazing just outside.

Knowing this rule didn't stop me from swiftly pulling the door open. A giant cloud of black smoke entered my lungs at once, burning my nostrils and throat. I began to cough and retch, doubling over as I attempted to breathe. I waved the smoke away with my hand, but my efforts were in vain. My eyes watered. Felix choked beside me.

"We need to get downstairs," I coughed, waving more smoke away but it was filtering in quickly.

Felix slammed the door shut immediately. "Are you crazy?" His eyes were enormous. "We have to call 9-1-1. We cannot go out there, Garret."

"We can call 9-1-1, after we get out of this building," I said. "We can't stay in here. We're on the second floor, Felix. We'll die. We need to get out while we still can."

Felix nodded. His eyes were wide with fear. He was like a deer caught in headlights, paralyzed by fright and uncertain what to do. I guided him gently to his knees.

We heard the sound of sirens wailing in the distance. Apparently, someone else had beat us to the chase and called for emergency services. It was time to get out while we still had a chance. The odds were stacked against us.

"Come with me," I said as we crouched down on the stairs and crawled down them one at a time, as cautiously as we could.

I waved away more smoke that plumed into my eyes. I didn't see any flames from the fire yet, but I knew it was down there somewhere. I did my best to guide Felix, steering us down the stairs until we made it to the bottom.

When I turned around, he wasn't there. My heart froze in my chest. I could hardly breathe. The smoke was so ferocious. I felt like it was wrapping invisible hands around my throat and suffocating me slowly.

I couldn't even call out to Felix. I was being strangled by the smoke. I fumbled through the dense darkness with my arms stretched out in front of me, desperately trying to feel for Felix. How the hell could he have strayed so far away from me in such a short amount of time? He was directly behind me the whole way down the stairs.

"Felix?" I managed to croak out before spiraling into another intense coughing fit.

I covered my mouth and nose with my shirt. It helped somewhat. I crawled on the ground in the direction of the exit. Luckily, the green glow of the sign was prominent enough that I could maneuver myself on the ground, snaking across it in an attempt to reach the doors.

I could only hope that Felix would meet me on the other side. I passed a steady stream of flames that licked at the ceilings and walls, glowing with an intimidatingly vibrant orange color.

Something bumped into me from the side. Blinking through the thick clouds of smoke I saw the shadowy figure of Felix next to me. I grabbed his hand and clutched onto him for dear life. I had never been more relieved to see another human.

We maneuvered our way to the exit, crawling on our bellies. We reached the door and burst through it, coughing and hacking, covered in smoke, dust, and soot.

"I hear the firetrucks," Felix said. His voice was panicked. "They're coming… they're almost here…" he trailed off, speaking as if he couldn't believe what was happening.

It felt like a nightmare. We held onto each other. Felix was shaking and I tried my best to comfort him.

"We made it out alive," I stammered. "We're still breathing. The things inside the club, they are just things that can be replaced." I kissed the top of his forehead. "I can't replace you."

We both stared in baffled awe at the flames that began curling out of the windows, dancing toward the sky. Felix and I clung to each other until the fire department arrived.

"At least they were faster this time," Felix mentioned.

I was still in shock. A stream of red and blue lights began to filter into the area, casting flashing, electrifying colors against the surrounding buildings.

The police arrived with the fire department, along with an ambulance. We were checked out and cleared by paramedics. We were given blankets to keep us warm and an oxygen treatment to make sure we didn't have any residue of black smoke in our lungs.

After we were thankfully given a clean bill of health, the police officers on scene took our statements. We went through a play by play of everything that had happened, starting with the time that I had initially smelled the smoke from upstairs in my apartment.

Felix and I were substantially shaken and clearly in for a long night. One thing we could agree on was the fact that we were lucky as hell to have made it out of there alive.

"This can't be a fluke," Harry, one of the lead firefighters with the department kept trying to explain to the police officers. "Two fires in the same business complex within a week of each other is far too suspicious to be a coincidence."

The main police officer cleared his throat, shifted his weight, and squared his burly shoulders, trying to appear in control of the situation. He was all but ignoring Harry's claims about the fishy fire.

"The odds of this happening again are slim to none," Harry continued. He was clearly perplexed. His breathing was rapid. He was fired up and excited, waving his hands animatedly as he attempted to get the officer's attention. The fire had been contained, but the damage had already been done.

Clearly frustrated and steaming, Harry stomped over to me and Felix, still swaddled together in a single blanket on the side of the curb.

"Can I talk to you guys alone for a second?" he asked.

I exchanged a glance with Felix to make sure it was okay. "Sure."

Harry seemed pleased with our willingness. "I think I can help you guys out."

"You… can?" I asked.

He nodded fervently. His eyes sparkled enthusiastically. "I have some contacts outside the city. I think I need to call them for outside help in dealing with this fire. I don't believe it was an accident."

I nodded. "I don't think it was an accident either. I think I was deliberately targeted."

Harry seemed to agree with me, almost as if he was personally offended by the alleged arsonist, who still needed to be outed.

Harry leaned in and made intense eye contact with me and Felix. "Believe me, I'm going to get to the bottom of this so that whoever is responsible for this atrocious crime can be brought to justice."

I didn't know why Harry was so hellbent on helping me. Maybe he just hated criminals and bullies as much as I did. Either way, I was grateful to have someone with city authority on my side.

"Thank you," I said. "I, of course, will be appreciative of anything you can do, or any strings you can pull. I've been running around in circles, basically getting nowhere."

I was overwhelmed and exhausted and had reached my breaking point. I didn't know how much more I could take.

"I just need some help to try and discern who is corrupt and who isn't." Harry frowned and scratched the top of his head.

At least he was willing to try, unlike these officers on the scene. I secretly wondered if they had been paid off by the mayor too, and that might have been the reason for their uncooperativeness.

"We should ask for copies of the statement," Felix said, "just to make sure that they wrote down everything we actually said, authentically."

"Good idea," I said. I appreciated his cleverness.

"I'm furious with Nelson," Felix grumbled.

"I'm just glad we escaped with our lives still intact," I said.

Felix's face was pale. "Do you really think he intended to kill us?"

"Judging by what we now know about him? I wouldn't put it past him," I said.

Felix looked disgusted.

"Do you guys have a safe place to stay tonight while we contain the rest of the fire and do our investigation?" Harry asked.

I nodded and pointed to Felix. "Yes, we can stay at his place tonight, thank you."

By now there was a sizable crowd of bystanders who had streamed out of their houses in droves to witness the spectacle firsthand and to see what was causing all the commotion. Some people even had their phones out and were recording the events. It made me feel trapped and on display.

Nelson had infiltrated himself into my life and taken over. It was finally time for me to come to the conclusion that Nelson had more power over the situation, and that I had very little control on my own.

After the crowd began to clear, I looked at Felix. "I don't think that standing up to Nelson is worth endangering our lives anymore," I said. "I realized that me being stubborn about the situation is putting someone I love at risk. If anything happened to you on account of my inability to be reasonable, I would never be able to forgive myself."

Felix cast me an empathetic smile. "I appreciate you saying that. I just want you to be happy. I'll support you no matter what, but I think you're making the right decision here."

I took a deep breath and moved us over to the sidewalk, pulling out my phone.

"What are you doing?" Felix looked worried.

"I'm going to call Nelson," I informed.

He cocked his head and shot me a cynical glance. "Right… now?"

"Yes." I was determined to get this uncomfortable conversation out of the way.

"But… it's the middle of the night," Felix countered.

I looked at him as I dialed the number and pressed the phone to my ear. "That doesn't matter. He's probably watching from around the corner."

"True." Felix scowled.

Nelson answered on the first ring. He didn't sound like he had been sleeping. I wasn't surprised. In fact, he sounded like he was expecting me to call him.

I skipped the small talk and cut straight to the formalities. "I'm ready to negotiate terms," I said. I didn't mention the fire. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was the direct cause, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

"Is that so?" Nelson sounded irritatingly smug.

I glanced at Felix who gave me a coaxing nod. If anything, Felix was going to help me keep my pride in check, at least until I cut a deal with Nelson.

"Your offer from before was too low. If you can raise it back up to what it was originally, I'll agree."

There was nothing else I could do. It was looking more and more like the club was going to be a total loss anyway because of the fire. I could work with Harry on investigating it further, but until then, I needed to keep Nelson right where I could see him. I had to make it seem like he was winning, but I would still be trying to prove his guilt from behind the scenes.

"I suppose that can be arranged," Nelson said. "I'll have my assistant email over the paperwork for you."

"Fine," I said.

"I'll be in touch," Nelson chimed pleasantly.

I hung up on him before he had a chance to screw me over any further than he already had.

Felix looped his arms around my waist. "You made the right choice, even if it doesn't feel that way right now."

I kept my eyes locked on him. I couldn't bear to look at my club in its charred condition. I sighed with resignation. "I really hope you're right."

"Let's go home, to my house, and celebrate the fact that we're still alive," Felix said as he took my hand.

"I couldn't think of a better plan myself," I said and gave him a smile.

I was mentally drained, but Felix was there to sweep me off my feet and save the day like he always did.