"Buck!" Ghost shouted. His tone hit him instantly, and he knew that Ghost was in danger. Buck turned and sprinted toward the sound as smoke swallowed everything around him. The warehouse felt like hell now, and he wasn’t sure how he was going to get them both out and keep his promise to Wren.But then, he saw Ghost, and his heart nearly stopped. A burning support beam had crashed across the corridor, and Ghost stood trapped on the opposite side. Fire was everywhere between them.
"Shit," Buck shouted.
Ghost looked surprisingly calm. "Hey,” he casually called.
Buck glared back at him. "Don't hey me." Ghost smirked despite the situation.
“You get the girl out?” Ghost asked.
“Yeah, and now, I’m getting you out of here,” Buck insisted. "We need another way around." Ghost nodded just before his expression changed, and all amusement vanished.
"Buck." Something in the way he said it made Buck freeze. Ghost looked toward the ceiling, and Buck followed his gaze. The roof was falling in fast. Cracks raced through support structures overhead, and fire was everywhere. There was too much damage. The entire warehouse was seconds away from coming down, and Ghost saw it too.
Their eyes met through smoke and flames, and suddenly Buck understood exactly what Ghost was thinking. "No,” Buck breathed.
Ghost's jaw tightened. "Buck?—"
"No,” he repeated. The word came out like a growl because absolutely fucking not. Not after finally admitting what they were to each other, and not after Wren.
Ghost laughed softly, and Christ, the sound nearly broke him. "You're gonna make a terrible husband."
Buck actually wanted to punch him. "Ghost."
"Listen,” Ghost shouted.
"No,” Buck said.
"You never let me talk when it matters,” Ghost grumbled. Buck started moving toward the flames and the beam. Hell, he’d move toward whatever insanity would get him to Ghost. Theheat intensified immediately, fire licked up his boots, and smoke choked his lungs, but none of that mattered.
Ghost's eyes widened. “Buck!" Buck grabbed a burning support post and tried to shove it out of the way as the structure shifted slightly, but it wasn’t enough. He shoved at it again, harder this time, and pain exploded through his shoulders. He didn’t stop, though, throwing his weight against the beam over and over again until finally, the beam moved just enough for Buck to crawl through. The flames caught his sleeve, but he ignored it. Ghost met him halfway, and for one brief second, they simply stood there, breathing hard, covered in soot, and he was so fucking thankful that they were both alive.
Ghost grabbed the front of Buck's shirt. "You are the dumbest son of a bitch I've ever met."
Buck grinned, the first genuine grin in days. "Yeah." Ghost stared at him and then shook his head. He pulled him in for a hard, quick kiss, and the ceiling exploded above them.
Reality crashed back instantly. "Move!" Buck shouted. Both men ran as the warehouse collapsed behind them. Steel sounded like it was screaming around them, and the floor shook beneath their feet. Buck could see daylight ahead as they ran for the side doors. It was the exit, and they were almost to safety, and back to Wren when he heard another cry for help hidden beneath the roar of the flames. It sounded like a child crying for help, and they both froze. Both men turned simultaneously as the sound came again from somewhere deeper inside the building. It was definitely a little girl.
Ghost closed his eyes briefly. "Fuck." Buck looked toward the exit and then back toward the sound. He knew that just outside, Wren was waiting for them, hoping that they’d come back safely to her. She was everything that he had ever wanted, and she was just outside the flames. But behind him was a child—alone, terrified, and about to die. Ghost already knew what he wasabout to do. Buck saw it on his face because they were the same—always had been.
"We can't leave her,” Ghost insisted.
"No,” Buck agreed. The roof groaned violently overhead, and the entire building shuddered. Buck knew that they only had seconds if they were going to save the kid and get out of the building alive.
Ghost looked toward the exit one last time. "Wren's gonna kill us." Buck actually laughed, and then they turned together and ran back into the fire.
Ghost
Ghost was definitely going to hell. Not because of the bodies he’d buried or the crimes that he committed. Hell, not even because he'd just kissed Buck in the middle of a burning warehouse. No, he was going to hell because he heard a child crying and immediately followed Buck back into the collapsing inferno—without hesitation or common sense. Without a single intelligent thought.
"She's definitely gonna kill us," Ghost coughed as smoke burned his lungs.
Buck pushed through a curtain of flames ahead of him. "Probably." The fact that Buck sounded pleased about it irritated Ghost. The warehouse groaned violently overhead, and concrete cracked and hissed under their feet. Everything around them screamed that the building was about to collapse, and still they kept moving deeper into the flames.
The cry came again from the right—faint and terrified. Ghost changed direction immediately. "There." Buck heard it too. Together, they reached what looked like a former office section tucked behind the main warehouse floor.
The hallway was partially collapsed, and flames crawled along the ceiling. Smoke filled every inch of available air, andthen Ghost saw her. "Oh, sweetheart." A little girl sat trapped beneath a fallen filing cabinet. She had to be maybe eight years old—nine at most. She was dirty, terrified, and crying, and the sight hit Ghost harder than expected because he remembered being that scared once. It was a lifetime ago, before the Kings and before Buck. It was before he'd learned how cruel the world could be.
The little girl looked up at them through tears. "Please,” she mouthed. Buck was already lifting the cabinet, but Ghost didn’t expect anything else from Buck. The man collected strays like it was a personality trait.
