When Lights Collide Chapter 5

Cara’s eyes widened with fear as a vision of her bathroom and the candles she had left burning flashed through her mind’s eye.

She gasped sharply, 

“My bathroom!” was all she said before she turned and ran back into the house.

Daniel knew that now would be a great opportunity to run the other way and out of her life, but his Grams was yelling in his head 

“Go help her!” quickly followed by “this is part your fault too!”

Daniel rolled his eyes as he ran after Cara, in the front door, to the right and down the hall and straight into the bathroom.

He caught up to her just in time to see that a stack of towels had tipped over and landed around the candle, which had started the blaze, and now Cara was waving a towel at it, making it worse.

“STOP!!” he yelled at Cara, at the same time his Grams was yelling at him in his head 

“WATER!”

Daniel grabbed Cara and moved her away from the fire, much to her frustrations and angst.  He grabbed the removable shower attachment from the tub and turned on the water, hosing down the flames.

Cara wanted to smack him, how dare he push her out of the way, she could have put the fire out herself, she pouted.

Her Guardians were kind enough to replay the scene of her waving a towel at the flames, encouraging their growth….’great, now you show up’ she commented mentally….

Cara stood where the stranger had placed her, next to the door, away from the flames, away from the water that was now being sprayed across her new bathroom….

“Great!, there goes the bathroom reno..!” she murmured to herself as she buried her face in her hands, in complete disbelief that her beautiful day was ending up in flames, literally.

The stranger stood, staring at her in frustrated disbelief ….he seemed to be in disbelief himself…

”uuumm, you do know you could have been burned…or even killed…right?”

Cara glared at him from the doorway, “Are you freakin’ kidding me?! she yelled, “had you not been playing ‘johnny uninvited peepshow’ I would not have left the damned candle burning in the first place!”

Cara wanted to smack him, hard.  Instead, she took a deep breath and marched down the hall.  She had no idea where she was going or what she would do when she got there, but she knew if she stood next to him one second longer, she was going to lose it, big time!

Daniel stood and watched her march away….he debated on yelling at her as she went, but something told him he better just stop talking for a moment.

He wasn’t sure if he should be pissed off that he had just got yelled at for saving her house from going up in flames, or go after her and see if she was ok… when suddenly something inside him finally clicked on… 

‘Other’ was now taunting him,  “you were sent here on a mission, not to play fireman for the pretty lady”, now rolled through his mind.

Daniel stood bolt upright now, as all reality came crashing back around him, the club, his mission of checking her out, the fact that not only had Cara seen his face, she also had his name…

He cringed, well, at least an old nickname, one that nobody was allowed to use anymore….

“Great, now I gotta fix this…” Daniel muttered to himself…. “but how?”

He debated on climbing back out the window in the office, he was certain it was still open….then he heard sirens in the distance….

“What the f–” he started to say as Cara walked along the hallway toward him.

She stopped, she saw the look on his face, and felt a sliver of fear slide down her spine.

The sirens grew louder, red and white lights reflected from the front window and doorway and bounced around the house….

“Did you call the fire department?” Daniel asked, shocked that she would do something so dumb….then caught himself, of course, she was within her rights, a stranger had broken into her home, there had been a fire….

“What?- No-I–” Cara tried to speak, but with the look on his face and the sliver of fear still sliding down her spine, she froze, and her words remained stuck in her throat, unwilling to leave.

Daniel stood, staring at Cara in disbelief, “Now what am I going to do?”, “the guys are gonna love this one.” rolling through his mind as Cara began removing her housecoat.

“uuuummm, what are you doing?” Daniel snapped atCara, shocked that she would choose now to shed her clothing.

Finally Cara’s words decided to make an appearance….  “I did not call anyone, but I do have nosey neighbors, who may have called if they saw the smoke rolling out the back window….”

“Right, Damn, neighbors” Daniel muttered as he was watching intently as Cara removed her housecoat and stood before him in only a towel…. 

“aaahhh, what ARE you doing?” Daniel asked again.

Cara knew she was meant to help this man, whatever his name was, and she knew she would not be able to help him from prison….she took a deep breath as the fire trucks, ambulance and police all came to a screeching halt outside her home…yup, nosey neighbors…..

“You do what you have to do,” Cara nodded toward Daniel, “and I’ll do what I have to do,” Cara stated as she turned and headed  toward the front door, loosening her towel as she walked away.

To keep reading, CLICK HERE for chapter 6