The Road to Us

✨ Chapter Three | Arson

— Colton —

I stood frozen in place, staring at the smoldering ruins of Phoenix Cycles. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't look away.

The acrid smell of smoke hung in the air, stinging my throat and eyes, but the heaviness in my chest had nothing to do with the fire. It was the weight of everything I'd lost, pressing down on me like I was being crushed under the wreckage.

Chuck stood a few feet away, talking with the officials about next steps, their voices blending into a dull hum against the roaring in my ears. I was grateful he was here to handle the logistics because I sure as hell wasn't in the headspace to deal with it.

The charred remains of my shop loomed before me... a haunting skeleton of what had once been my pride and joy. Every blackened beam and broken window was a painful reminder of the dreams I'd poured into this place.

And it wasn't just my shop.

Next door, my dad's repair shop had taken a hit, too. The façade was scorched, the windows shattered, and the damage seemed to mock me as if to say, You failed here, too.

The sound of a door slamming pulled me out of my thoughts. My dad, Jerry, stormed out of the wreckage, his face a mask of fury.

"Colton, what the fuck?!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the air like a whip. "This is what happens when you don't have your head in the game!"

His words hit me like a gut punch. "Dad, it was an accident," I shot back, my voice rising. "I didn't plan for this to happen! I don't even know how it started!"

But his words had already planted seeds of doubt in my mind.

Had I forgotten something when I closed the shop? Did I leave something running? What if this was my fault?

The thought sent a sick churn through my stomach.

Jerry stormed closer, his eyes blazing. "An accident? We're already hanging on by a thread, Colton, and now this? We're behind on bills as it is, and this fire just made it ten times worse!"

"I know we're struggling!" I snapped, my fists clenching at my sides. "But blaming me isn't going to fix this!"

Jerry threw his hands in the air. "You've been distracted, Colton. Don't act like you don't know it. You're off doing who-knows-what half the time, and now we're paying the damn price for it!"

"Distracted?" My voice cracked under the strain of anger and guilt. "I've been working my ass off—"

"Working hard isn't enough!" Jerry cut me off, his face red with frustration. "We need more than hard work now. We need solutions, and we need them fast. Until we rebuild, you're going to have to pick up another part-time job. We can't afford to fall any further behind."

His words landed like a sucker punch, leaving me momentarily speechless. "Another job?" I finally managed, my head spinning. "I'm already maxed out, Dad. I can't take on more... it'll kill me."

His expression softened slightly, but his voice didn't lose its edge. "We don't have a choice, Colton. We do what we have to. No more distractions. No more excuses. We have to focus if we're going to pull through this."

I looked back at the remains of Phoenix Cycles, the fire's glow still flickering faintly in the wreckage. The shop had been my whole world, and now it was gone.

And then, there was Hudson.

I thought of him... his quiet encouragement, the way he'd made me feel like I could still hold onto something good. Spending time with him had been the first thing in a long time that made me feel...alive. And now I was staring at the very real possibility of letting that go, too.