Mason…
I’m less than half a block away when the building explodes, fire shooting out the warehouse’s three front windows, sending searing heat and shattering glass like bullets.
Digging in my heels, I run faster.
“Mason!” Kai shouts, “Stop! It’s gone!”
She’s not gone.
There’s a guard standing next to one of the warehouse work trucks, keys lax in his hand as he stares at the flames in horror. I rip the keys out of his hand and get in the truck.
Dad’s hand slams down on the handle. “Son, you have to stop, it’s…” Tears are glistening in his eyes. Maybe it’s from the smoke.
“Get your hand off the door, Dad.” I start the truck and he just gets his hand free before I hit the accelerator. The double wooden doors loom up in front of me and I brace my hands against the steering wheel.
The doors explode open and the flames reach toward me with greedy fingers. I stop the truck in the middle of the space, wrapping my jacket over my head.
“AFTON! AFTON!”
Heat sears along my bare arms as I run through the smoke. “Afton!”
“Here… we’re over-” Coughing breaks up her words but I see her, huddling over in the corner where the fire hasn’t spread yet.
Back in the truck, I pray it’s not hot enough to explode the gas tank. I skid to a stop, ripping open the door and racing for her. Afton’s face is covered with soot, she has a suit jacket over her face, the man slumping next to her has blood streaming down his face and his shirt is smoking.
“You’re here,” she sobs, “that’s good.” When I try to pull her away, she stubbornly tightens her hold on the man. “No! He comes with us.”
My bloody haze is dancing in the flames, cackling.
Take him. I can take such a long time torturing him.
Growling, I loop one of his arms over my shoulder and grab her around the waist. The fire has found us and a beam falls, blocking the truck. Afton’s on her knees, coughing uncontrollably.
“Get your ass up, Afton! We are leaving!” I roar, hauling her up. Getting around the burning beam takes precious seconds, but I get them both into the truck as Afton frantically slaps out the fire scorching the man’s shirt. “Baby, hang on.” She nods, gripping the man with one hand and the dashboard with the other.
There’s another set of doors, not far from us but we’ll have to go through the flames to get there. Muttering a prayer to a god I don’t believe in, I hit the gas, the smoking tires catch on the concrete and we pick up speed.
I chance a quick look at Afton and she’s smiling at me. “I love you,” she croaks, “I should have told you sooner.”
For one, horrifying moment I don’t think the doors will give. The initial impact sends the man into the windshield, groaning. I slam my arm across Afton, hitting the gas pedal again and the doors grind open. Michael and Logan are pulling on one door, Kai and Uncle Cameron on the other.
The truck’s tires are flat and melting and they pull the warehouse doors open wider, then haul us out of the truck, stumbling and coughing across the concrete to a safe distance.
“They’re safe!” Ethan’s shouting into a walkie talkie. “Uncle Lachlan, get the fuck down, they’re alive!”
“Ah, god,” I wheeze between coughs. “He’s on the roof.”
“Aye,” Ethan said, “there’s a hatch up there, he thought maybe he could pull ye out that way.”
The walkie talkie crackles as I pull Afton into my arms. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here sooner,” I say, kissing her. She’s coughing again, tears making clean streaks through the soot on her face.
“You were busy. You got here just in time, though. I love you, Mason. I love you I love you I love-” Her declaration breaks off as she coughs and wheezes.
Wrapping my arms around her so tight that she squeaks, I bury my face in her neck. Even under the stench of the fire, she still smells sweet, like lavender and vanilla.
“That’s what this is.” I kiss her temple, her cheek. “I must love you, too. That’s what this is.” My heart tearing loose from my chest when I thought the fire took her. Terrified I may not get her out. Knowing I will die because the most important part of me was ripped away.
“Yeah,” she croaks. “That’s what this is, husband.”
