He drove several blocks away, struggling to get control of his erratic breathing.When he was calmer he parked along the curb on a quiet street, tugged the balaclava onto his head and got out, shrugging into his backpack.
The rage eased as he strode purposely back toward her house, replaced by a dizzying sense of euphoria.She had no idea what was coming.No idea that she was down to her last few minutes on this earth.
Her street was nearly silent.The occasional bark of a dog in a yard he passed was the only sound, along with the gusts of wind in the trees and his footsteps along the sidewalk.The weather was perfect, no moon to illuminate him.The wind would help accelerate the flames.
He tugged his hood up, kept his head down as he neared her house.It was dark, all the lights off.She probably had security cameras around, but he didn’t care.He’d already scoped out where the motion-activated lights were on the exterior of her house.
He tugged the balaclava down over his face and crept silently across the yard through the shadows.Moving fast, he unzipped the backpack and took out the accelerant.
He squirted it across the front doorway, over the wooden shingles on either side of it, and across the wooden windowsills.Keeping his back to the edge of the house, he made his way to the rear and did the same at the back door and rest of the lower floor windows.Blocking all her exit points.Trapping her upstairs where the smoke would quickly suffocate her.
A laugh bubbled up in his throat, his head spinning from the whiskey and the accelerant fumes.He smothered the sound, snuck back around to the front while avoiding tripping the security lights, and allowed himself to pause a few seconds to savor his moment of anticipation.
The hair on his arms stood up.His dick hardened, shoving against the front of his pants as he imagined Cassie’s terror when the smoke alarm went off.Her and the asshole she was fucking both racing to find a way out through the thickening smoke and realizing they were trapped upstairs.
Part of him wished the flames would get them before the smoke.But just in case they were able to make it out via the upper floor, he’d come prepared.
His hand trembled slightly from the heady rush of power as he withdrew the Zippo from his pocket.He flicked it open.Stared at the bright flame for a heartbeat before tossing it toward the soaked front door.
A whoosh filled the air as the powerful accelerant ignited.Flames raced up the doorway and along the front of the house, spreading quickly along the windowsills.The gusting wind fanned them, pushed them up the wooden shingles.
He wished he could stand here and watch, but it was too risky.
Rob turned and raced across the yard to the bushes dividing her property from the neighbor’s and crouched there.Drawing his weapon, he watched the flames spreading up the front and along the side of the house.In another minute or two, the entire lower exterior would be alight.
And waited.Ready to kill two birds with one stone.
Or a bullet.
****
Cassie shot uprightin bed beside Tristan when the smoke alarm went off.He rolled away from her.
“Stay here,” he said, already yanking his jeans on.
She scrambled to pull her clothes on and grabbed her phone to disable the alarm as Tristan went to her bedroom door.Hopefully just a false alarm.She didn’t smell any smoke.
He paused at the door, testing its temperature with the back of his hand, then opened it and stepped out into the hall.
A few seconds after he disappeared from view, she saw an ominous, flickering light on the hallway wall from somewhere down below.
She rushed for the door.
Thick, black smoke greeted her from the top of the stairs, already rising up the stairwell.She coughed, threw an arm across her face as she moved to the landing.“Tristan!”What the hell was happening?
“Right here.”He charged back upstairs, pulled his arm away from his face to continue.“Fire’s too widespread down there, and it’s moving up this side of the house.We have to get out through a window on the other side before the smoke gets us.”
Oh, shit...She quickly dialed 911.
The guestroom was on the opposite side of the landing from her bedroom.She grabbed Tristan’s hand, dropped to her hands and knees to try and avoid the worst of the smoke as it gathered along the ceiling.In as few words as possible, she gave the operator her address and explained it was a house fire.
“The fire department has been notified.Stay on the line with me—”
“Can’t.We’re going to evacuate from the second floor.”She left the call open and shoved her phone into her back pocket so the operator could hear what was happening.
Together, she and Tristan crawled down the hall and across the upstairs landing to the guestroom.Smoke stung her eyes, burned her throat and lungs.She moved straight through the open door, past the bed to the window beside it.
But when she tried to shove it open, it was locked.
