Page 41 of Evergreen Desires
I didn’t wait for acknowledgment. I also didn’t hang up; I just sat my phone down on the workbench and raced to the irrigation system controls to quickly activate them. Then, I ran towards the area of the fire to grab the closest hose to start working on the fire. The smoke, as well as the smells,was overwhelming. As I fought the flames with the hose, the heat intensified, and the crackling of burning plants filled the air. The smoke thickened, making it difficult to see. The acrid smell of burning plastic and cannabis filled my nostrils, adding to the overwhelming chaos.
Crack.Fuck—the ceiling. Looking up, I saw the metal roof supportsbuckling under the intense heat. Panic surged through me as I knew what was about to happen.
Suddenly, a familiar smell hit me. Something that I could pick out over everything else. Warm milk and honey with some fear, and… blood. That last part overpowered my emotions. Within a second, I was in full Squatch mode, turning to follow my nose. Greenhouse be damned if Jake was in need.
It wasn’t long before I found Jake unconscious and tied up. He was shoved under one of the plantings table a little way down one of the rows. The fire hadn’t reached him yet, but it was close.
Jake was my singular focus. I bent down, reaching for him under the table, and pulled him towards me. I held him in my arms to listen for breathing. He was still unconscious, but was moaning in pain. He was alive.
I untied him before scooping him into my arms, standing, and rushing down the row. I needed to get him out of here.
I saw Will running in the side door as I rounded the corner. “Beau! Beau!” he screamed.
“Right here!”
From above—pop.I looked up just as the metal roof supports failed. They came down on me, hard. The metal beam hit me on the head with a bone-jarring impact. Pain shot through my skull, and I felt a warm, sticky liquid trickle down my forehead. The weight of the collapsed roof pressed down on me, making it hard to breathe. But my instinct to protect Jake prevailed, and I managed to half-toss, half-roll him forward, just in time to avoid the full brunt of the collapse.
Will grabbed a fire extinguisher on the wall as he raced towards me.
“No!” I yelled. “Get Jake!”
As I lay there on the ground, everything became a blur. The smoke, the heat, the pain—all of it swirled around me. I tried to stay conscious, to keep fighting, but my body felt heavy and weak. The world began to fade, and I could only hope that help would arrive soon, not for me but for Jake.
CHAPTER 35
JAKE
His hand was lifeless in my hand, but he was warm. The beeping from the monitor told me he was still alive. Just not awake. Yet.
The doctors and nurses kept coming to check on him. They had him positioned facedown so they had access to his wounds. More than one gave me a sympathetic look while asking if they could bring me anything. One nurse, while checking the burn bandages. kept saying to me that she was so sorry. It sounded a bit more like condolences than anything else.
They didn’t know Beau like I did. He was strong—stronger than anyone I’d ever met—and he’d pull through. He’d told me once, almost offhandedly, that Sasquatches couldn’t get sick. No colds, no flu, no infections. I remembered how casually he’d said it, like it was just a weird genetic quirk. Like it wasn’t a big deal.
So when the doctors warned me about possible infection from the burns, I nodded politely, but I didn’t let it stick. I knew better.Hewouldn’t get an infection—not Beau.
But I also remembered what else he’d told me, the night he shared about his mom. That Sasquatches didn’t usually die from illness… they died from accidents. From trauma. From things like this.
I glanced at the monitors, the IV lines, the bandages. They had him on so many painkillers, he might as well have been unconscious from sedation alone. But still—he hadn’t moved. Not even a twitch.
I just needed something—anything—to know he was still fighting.
A flutter of fingers. A shift of breath.
Just a sign that he was still in there.
“Hey,” Will said from the doorway.
I lifted my head from where it had been resting on the edge of the bed. Mateo stood just behind him, both of them looking more serious than I was used to seeing.
“How is he?” Will asked, his voice low.
“We’re waiting on a bed upstairs in the burn unit,” I replied. “They have given him a lot of painkillers as they don’t want him to wake up. Before they move him, they’re going to take him and debride the burns.”
Will stepped farther into the room, pulling Mateo in with a huff. “He’s not going to need that.”
Clearly, he picked up on my look of confusion. “I have seen Beau severely burned on a campfire. Thought for sure that was going to need the whole thing: debriding, skingrafts, everything.” He swung his arms wildly. “His father, however, was not worried. He bandaged him up, and the next day, he basically washed away the charred skin and there was new skin underneath. It was pink, like a mild sunburn. And that faded within a day or so.”
I stared at Will. Running this over in my mind, I was glad that my first instincts were correct. “How are we going to explain going from 3rd-degree burns to sunburn overnight?”
