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Hell, I don’t even want her scratched.
Slowly, carefully, he climbed out of the window. Grabbed his lifeline—because, yeah, that was how he thought of what was some kind of long drain—and started to descend. Her legs were curled around his waist. Her arms locked around his neck. His right shoulder pulsed with pain, but he ignored it. Down, they went and?—
And he felt the fucking lifeline give way. Heard the screech over the crackle of the flames and knew in that stunned instant that they were both going to fall. He twisted his body, moving so that he’d be beneath her and the ground rushed up to him as?—
Oomph.
He hit. They’d made it halfway down before the fall. The impact shuddered through him because he’d taken the worst of it. She was on top of him, and as he fought to suck in a gulp of air, she rose above him.
“Be okay!” A choked plea from her right before her fingers ran over his face. “Please, please, don’t be broken!”
Too late. He’d been broken for a long time. Ask anyone. His would-be foster parents. The social workers. The mom who’d ditched him long ago when she left him sleeping in a church pew and never looked back. The asshole dad who’d never cared a bit about him. He was no good to anyone. Worthless. Trash. He was?—
“My hero,” she breathed.
He blinked and stared up at the angel above him.
“You’re my hero.”
Sirens wailed in the distance. And, beyond his angel, he saw the flames shoot from the third story window.
Someone was stroking his hand. A soft, gentle touch.
Beau slowly opened his eyes. At first, he wondered where the hell he was. A white room. Antiseptic smell. Bright light trickled through the shades to his left. But then he saw her.
A pretty teen with long, reddish blond hair. She perched in the chair near his…hospital bed? She held his hand, and she sent him the sunniest smile he’d ever seen in his life. Dimples winked in her cheeks.
“You saved my life.”
The hell he had.
Wait…
Oh, yeah, he had.
“You’re a hero.”
Nah. He was a jackass. A car thief. A gang?—
“You’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met.”
His chest began to ache. Beau lifted his right hand to rub it and—shit, his shoulder hurt.
She clutched his left hand all the tighter. “You got burned on that shoulder, but you’re going to heal. You ah…” Her eyes—a truly incredible shade of deep, dark green—drifted down his body. “I’m afraid you broke a lot of bones when we fell. When I…” A rush of her breath. “When I fell on top of you. You’ve got some cracked ribs, too. But I swear, you are going to heal. The doctors say that you will be fine in a few weeks.”
He didn’t look down at his body.
He looked at her hand, holding his.
“My name is Avalon,” she said. “And…what’s your name?”
Avalon. He swallowed. Could have sworn he tasted ash. But Beau made his gaze lift to her face. She looked close to his age. Maybe a little younger. Innocent. Beautiful.
And she…she was staring at him like he was some kind of superhero.
“Beau,” he heard himself mutter.
Her smile came again. A smile that flashed her dimples once more.
