Page 27 of Speeding Hearts

I steeled myself and turned the car around. I could do this. I just had to go back to the motel, get my stuff, and head to the urgent care center. It would probably be best to clean up the wound before going in anyway.

But as I rounded the bend toward the Top Quality Motor Inn, my stomach clenched. The parking lot was crowded with fire trucks and police cars, their lights spinning. Firefighters were walking around with dripping hoses, apparently having just put out a fire, the scars of which spread up the side of the building.

Right where my room was.

As I pulled into the lot, I killed the engine, letting the tears spill over.

Then, like it was a white flag, I pulled out my phone and dialed Dean’s number.

Chapter 9

Dean

Even when I’dtried my hand at racing cars, I didn’t think I’d ever driven with such cutthroat precision as I did when I got that call. I had to force myself not to run every red light and fly past every stop sign on the way to the Top Quality Motor Inn.

Top Quality.

The news on the radio already had the story.Breaking news,the reporters crowed.Local Motel Up in Flames.

Approximately thirty guests had been displaced. So far, there were no reports of fatalities, though several people were being treated for smoke inhalation.

None of it did anything to assuage the sick knot of worry in my guts.

If anything happened to her…

They suspected arson. There had been gang activity at the motel—not locals, they said.

Gang activity.I wanted to throttle myself. I’d had a bad feeling about Stella staying there, but I hadn’t done anything about it. Not a thing.

I’d messed up again. If anythinghadhappened to her, it would have been my fault.

Even though it only took me fifteen minutes to get there, it felt like an hour. When I finally pulled into the lot, it was crowded with first responders and news vans, the late afternoon sun glinting off all the windows. At first, I couldn’t see her.

“Stella!” I cried.

Then, above the murmur of voices and shouts in the background of the firefighters by the now-dampened site of the blaze, I heard the sweetest sound: Stella’s laugh.

I’d recognize it anywhere. On a normal day, it would run through me like something warm and life-giving. Now, it flooded my chest with relief so deep it almost hurt.

I spotted her leaning back against her car, filling out some kind of form on a clipboard, her face streaked with dirt, but a smile quirked on top of it all.

“You know you sound just like that old movie, right?” she said. “Stellllla!”

Her smile wobbled as I strode toward her, my eyes never leaving hers.

I didn’t think—I just gathered Stella Archer up in my arms, pressing her against me.

She was soft and warm and real, and though stiff at first, she quickly melted into me, her shoulders shaking. When I bent my face down to look down in hers, I saw she wasn’t laughing. She was crying, tears running down her dust-stained cheeks.

I’d never seen Stella cry. It was like a knife in my heart.

I cupped her head against my chest. “I’ll kill them,” I whispered.

She turned her forehead into me, taking a shaky breath. Her tears dampened my shirt. I swallowed hard.

“I’m fine,” she whispered. It was only then that I felt the brush of her arm against me. It felt bulkier than it should have, and when I peered around her, I saw she had a shirt wrapped around her arm.

My stomach plunged again. “What happened?” I held her arm out in front of me. “You were hurt!”

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