Her chest tightened painfully all over again.
The message sat beneath several others she’d reread far too many times over the last few days because apparently emotional self-destruction had become her newest nighttime hobby. Blaze’s texts always sounded the same, steady, patient, certain in a way that both comforted and terrified her. Even hurting, he still sounded like a man who believed they could survive this.
Maybe that was the problem. Johanna no longer trusted certainty. Not after loving Blaze once already and spending years rebuilding herself afterward.
She dropped the phone onto the mattress beside her and closed her eyes, but memories crowded her mind anyway. Blaze laughing beside her in Baltimore Harbor while cold windwhipped across the water. Him wrapping his arms around her in bed and kissing the top of her shoulder like he couldn’t believe she was really there with him. Blaze looking at her across crowded rooms like losing her would destroy him.
Loving Blaze had always felt enormous, beautiful, and terrifying all at once. Like handing somebody the power to wreck her life and praying they’d be careful with it.
Tears stung unexpectedly behind her eyes.Dammit. She was emotionally worn down in a way sleep couldn’t fix.
A sharp ringing sound suddenly shattered the silence beside her.
Johanna startled violently before grabbing for the phone. The screen flashedUnknown Number, and dread tightened immediately in her stomach because nobody called at two in the morning with good news.
“Hello?”
Static crackled briefly over the line before a familiar voice answered.
“Johanna?”
It was Ryan, but something about him sounded wrong.
Johanna pushed herself upright so quickly the blankets twisted around her waist. “Ryan?”
Rain battered heavily against the windows while silence stretched between them, and her heartbeat turned uneven before he even spoke again.
“There was a fire.”
Everything inside her went completely still.
“What?”
“A house fire near Bayview.” Ryan’s voice sounded strained. “Blaze was inside when part of the structure collapsed.”
Johanna stopped breathing as the room tilted violently around her.
No. Her hand tightened painfully around the phone. “Is heokay?”
Silence answered first.
Too long.
Oh, God.
Johanna scrambled out of bed so fast the blankets tangled around her legs while terror crashed through her chest hard enough to make her dizzy.
“Ryan, is he okay?”
“We don’t know yet.”
The words ripped straight through her.
Thunder cracked somewhere outside. Johanna pressed one trembling hand against her mouth as fear swallowed her whole.
This couldn’t be happening. Not now. Not while she was still angry, still pulling away from him, and still leaving fear where love should have been. Not while the last look she gave him carried more fear than love.
Ryan’s voice softened slightly. “We’re still trying to rescue him.”
