Eli: Dude, can you text Miles...we just got a call out to Daisy’s shop.
I blink, not fully understanding the message and what it means.
“Miles, there’s a fire at Daisy’s shop,” Owen says, translating it for me.“We have to go.Now.”
“Fuck,” I shout, my heart hammering in my chest as I pull my phone from my pocket and immediately call Daisy.“Fuck, babe, pick up, pick up, pick up,” I say as Owen unlocks his car.
The phone rings as Owen starts the car, and I immediately try again, Owen trying Sloane as his phone connects to Bluetooth.I hear Sloane’s voice cut in, but it’s her voicemail, just as Daisy’s does the same thing.
“Daze isn’t picking up either,” I say, turning to my friend.
Owen’s mouth is set in a firm line, his hands white-knuckling the steering wheel as he flies down the road toward the bakery.I can see his pulse pounding in his neck, and I know he’s just as fucking terrified as I am right now.
As we turn the corner, I see the smoke, the billowing black cloud that all but confirms mine and Owen’s worst fucking nightmare.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter, the lights of the fire truck bright in the dusk of early evening.
“We’re nearly there,” he says, his jaw clenched as he swerves to the side of the road.Our access is blocked by two fire trucks and an ambulance.
There’s a lot of smoke still, and the smell is overpowering as we open the door, but I can’t see any flames.
“DAISY!”I shout, slamming the door behind me, Owen hot on my heels.“DAZE?”
“Sloane?!”Owen calls, the two of us weaving between the fire trucks as we make our way toward the bakery.
Our path is cut off by the sudden appearance of Eli, barely recognizable in his gear, a large black smudge on one of his cheeks.
“Owen,” he says, voice firm as he puts a hand on his cousin’s chest.
“Where?”Owen chokes out.
Eli tips his head toward the ambulance.“She’s good, Owen,” he says quietly, before turning to me.“They’re both good.We got here in time.”
Owen and I both let out twin sighs of relief as we practically run toward the ambulance.As we approach, I can see Daze and Sloane sitting in the back, a paramedic talking to both of them.I want to storm in there and pull her into my arms so I can convince myself that she’s really alive, really okay.But the second she sees me, Daisy hustles out of the van, pushing past the paramedic and jumping to the ground before running into my arms.
“Miles,” she cries, tears streaming down her blackened face as she wraps her arms around me.“Oh my god, the bakery, it’s?—”
The rest of her words are cut off as she bursts into tears, a sob lodging in her throat as she buries her face in my neck.I pull her close, holding her so tight I can’t tell where I end and she begins.My heart is still pounding in my chest, adrenaline coursing through my veins as everything that did and everything that could have happened tonight hits me.
“Fuck, babe, I thought...I thought I lost,” I say, my throat raw, my words hoarse.“I thought I lost you.”
Now it’s me crying, my arms tightening as I pull her even closer.I’d thought losing Daisy that first time was bad, but it’s got nothing on the five minutes Owen and I spent driving here when I thought I might have lost her for good.
I don’t know how long we stand here, sobbing in each other’s arms, but when I eventually lift my head, swiping at my eyes, I can see Owen and Sloane, practically a mirror image of me and Daze.Owen is whispering something I can’t hear in Sloane’s ear as she nods against his chest, her eyes scrunched shut.
“Are you okay?”I ask, turning back to my girl.
She looks up at me, a look of complete and utter devastation on her face as she shakes her head.“It’s gone,” she whispers.“It’s all gone.”
I’m shaking my head before she’s even finished speaking, as I brush my thumb across her cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear.“It’s okay, babe,” I murmur, dropping my forehead to hers.“It can all be replaced.It’s okay.”
“I can’t…” she starts, letting out another sob.“I can’t believe he did this.”
The fire that was coursing through my veins turns to ice at Daisy’s words as I pull back, tilting her face up to mine.“What?”
Daze licks her lips, swallowing hard, her gaze locked with mine as her hands grip the back of my T-shirt, almost like she’s holding me close because she knows exactly what’s going to happen when she says her next words.
“Isaac,” she says, that one word enough to ignite a fucking inferno of rage inside me.
