“Hmm?” Adam’s ears pricked as his mind had been absent. “Oh, yeah. Not interested.”
“I hate to say it, but you know…you might not be able to get her back,” Carlos said, matter of fact, not taking his eyes away from the book.
Adam glared at Carlos before catching himself and brushing his hands over his face as if he could wipe away the annoyance and the voice in his head that somehow knew Carlos may be right.
Paul, though, he looked over to Carlos and smirked, as if they shared a secret. “And why not? She doesn’t love Dorian Blake.”
“Well, she doesn’t love him either, does she?” Carlos said, gesturing toward Adam.
“I don’t want her back,” Adam snapped. He couldn’t have this conversation right now. “I just…I’m not interested. We’ve got work to do. I can’t afford to be distracted.”
“Yeah, alright, sure,” Paul replied, his cheeks tightening.
Adam needed that particular train of thought to end. Fast. He couldn’t afford to believe it. There was no scenario in his head where any of this would be a success if he couldn’t prove to her what she meant to him, especially if she could never love him again.
Leaving Ridge City felt like the right choice at the time. But... maybe he’d chosen wrong. Maybe he should’ve come back sooner. Or better yet, never left. Ugh.
She didn’t understand he wasn’t off living the high life, if anything he’d felt dead. Rotting like a corpse in the ground. Adam hadn’t felt alive in years. He would’ve given anything to feel the way he did five years ago. And that meant–
Carlos snapped his fingers in front of Adam’s face, bringing him back to earth. “Do you want to look at this, or are you just going to keep daydreaming?”
* * *
AUGUST 1986
“I need to sleep,” Dan whined.
“You can sleep when you’re dead,” Adam said. Though he wasn’t quite sure if he was joking anymore.
They were all so exhausted that even Paul’s sharp warning glance was weary. With Dan, Carlos, and Paul in the back seat of the SUV, himself in the passenger seat, and Mercedes driving next to him, he only huffed a laugh when he caught Paul’s half-hearted stare in the side mirror.
“Not funny,” Paul said with droopy eyes.
“I’m sick off fending off his attacks, I just need to get home to rest,” Carlos agreed, sliding about like he was struggling to get comfortable in the middle back seat.
“We’re almost home.” Mercedes rolled her eyes, like an annoyed parent trying to control her children. Which in many ways, she was.
It was nearly the darkest time of night, but the closer they drove toward their trailer lot, their home, the brighter the sky seemed to get.
Adam checked the time. Yep, nearing midnight, so what the fuck...
Then, he smelled the smoke.
He sharpened to attention, his focus like a laser, mounted on the flickering orange flames that seemed to be gathering in the distance.
The guys in the back hadn’t noticed, but Mercedes slid him a side eye, the smoke growing thick and swirling in the headlights.
Farther and farther, closer and closer, and only more smoke, more bright flame, and then scorching heat.
“Why is it so... bright?” Dan said.
“Oh God,” Paul said.
Mercedes stopped the car suddenly. They bolted from their seats out onto the road. Displaced residents were gathering in the streets, sirens sounding in the distance as help beckoned, but it would be too late.
It already was too late.
The trailer park, their home, everything they held dear, gone up in flames.
