The Three Fates of Ryan Love Read Online Free Page B

time.”
    Suddenly cameras swung his way and he heard the inevitable babble coming from the news crews. They were torn between asking questions about his sister Roxanne and the explosions that had destroyed his family’s pub. The officer motioned him through their barriers and over to a group of officials, saving him from the media’s shark-infested waters.
    Woodenly, Ryan told the officers what he knew. He’d smelled gas. He’d called 911, but everything started exploding before he could report the issue. They’d run for their lives.
    â€œWe’ve had reports of gas leakages all over Tempe,” a tired, scruffy civilian with an official-looking badge around his neck told them. Ryan guessed that he worked for the gas and electric company. “All at the same time. Never seen anything like it. We’re lucky that it happened so late. No serious injuries or deaths so far.”
    Lucky.
    Warring emotions gripped Ryan. Thankfulness that no one else had suffered. Relief that there was an explanation for the destruction, which only involved faulty gas lines. And anger, because once again Ryan was left to pick up pieces that he had no hope of ever reassembling. His family had been through so much—too much. He couldn’t see a way out of this.
    His vision blurred and he lowered his head, rubbing his stinging eyes. Hearing Sabelle in his head telling him she’d come to warn him.
    Come from where? How? Why?
    Beside him, Sabelle’s soft touch on his arm tried to offer comfort but only managed to churn his confusion into something worse.
    A polite officer with thin blond hair and a square jaw ushered them to an emergency vehicle where two young female EMTs rinsed their eyes, gave them water and blankets, and treated the worst of their injuries until the officer they’d spoken to earlier appeared again.
    â€œJust a couple of questions, Mr. Love,” he said. “Any chance you made it out with your ID?”
    Ryan had stuffed his wallet in the pack with his money and clothes. Now he carefully pulled it out, knowing that if the officer caught a glimpse of the money stashed in the bottom beneath his clothes, the routine questions wouldn’t be so routine anymore. There was no way he’d be able to explain why he’d run from his bar just in the nick of time, yet managed to grab his money.
    â€œDo you have ID, ma’am?” the polite officer asked.
    The desperate gleam in Sabelle’s eyes spurred Ryan to speak before he thought. “Her purse was upstairs,” he said smoothly. “There wasn’t time to get it.”
    â€œBut you had time to pack?” asked an officer Ryan hadn’t noticed. The man stepped into the light and settled a look on the two of them that he probably practiced in front of a mirror. He had dark curly hair and black eyes. Ryan almost smiled. Reece would have called the pair Starsky and Hutch. Ryan could still hear Reece’s laughter in his head.
    It felt like a lifetime ago.
    â€œWe were packing for a little getaway,” Ryan said to the cop who looked like Starsky. “I brought the backpack down first. Sabelle was still in the loft getting dressed when I smelled the gas.”
    He impressed himself with the smooth cadence of the lie at the same time he wondered at the insanity of telling it. But covering for Sabelle seemed less involved than explaining how he’d found her bare naked in the parking lot a few minutes before she’d warned him he was going to die.
    Starsky focused on Sabelle and her vagabond outfit. “That’s you? You’re Sybil?”
    â€œSabelle,” she corrected with a sweet smile.
    The officer waited for the rest of it. When Sabelle grew silent, he prompted, “Last name?”
    She hid her anxiety well, but all of them caught the desperate glance she gave Ryan.
    Ash still sifted down around them and the cold plumed her breath. Ryan forced himself to stay quiet and let