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Biting her bottom lip, she nodded and got into the passenger side. Vox sped away as I jogged back to my bike and got on. The garage wasn’t that far away. I just had to pray that I made it before it was too late.
Chapter 33
Alex
Reaver had been gonefor a while now, yet I couldn’t seem to move my feet. Horrification had set in, and my earlier thoughts of Reaver being a killer were superseded by my own realization that I was, too. I had pulled the trigger. I had killed Maddox. I should feel some sort of guilt that he was gone, but all I found was a numb sort of calmness hiding in the recesses of my mind at the thought that his reign of terror might actually be over.
I couldn’t stay here, though. In this room. In this apartment. In this building. I had to leave, but I wasn’t leaving without a lifeline. I moved toward Maddox’s body. The scent of death was already clinging to him—that along with blood and bowels. Gagging, I shoved my hand into his tight pants pocket, but my fingers couldn’t get in deep enough. I dug a little deeper, pressing my trembling lips together when his body twitched involuntarily. I suppressed a scream, reminding myself it was just the last of his nerve endings firing. Readjusting the angle of my hand, my index and ring fingers scraped against the unmistakable shape of a phone. Shifting one last time, I got enough traction to pull it from Maddox’s pocket. The screen had shattered, but it still lit up when I hit the button.
Clutching the small lifeline to my chest, I sent up a prayer to whichever god was listening and drew in a deep breath as I moved toward my apartment door. My thoughts of salvation were short-lived, obliterated by the thick, noxious smell of gasoline hanging heavily in the air.
That was when I realized what Reaver had done.
He hadn’t saved my life.
Not really.
He just hadn’t put a bullet between my eyes.
Sick bastard.
There was an audiblewhooshas flame met fuel, and I forced myself to act, running toward the stairs and taking them down two at a time. When I hit the ground level, I was forced to throw my arm over my face. Flames were already spewing from the opened door connecting the office to the workshop. It was burning hot and fierce, the staccato rhythm of wood cracking and splintering. Affrettando flames.
I retreated deeper into the workshop, looking for the fire extinguisher and fire blanket that had been untouched for years. I found them both secured to the wall. Yanking the extinguisher from the wall, I approached the fire.
The heat from the flames was making me slick with sweat even though I’d only been standing here for mere seconds. Depressing the lever, I took aim, the retardant liquid inside doing nothing to quell the ferocity of the inferno. There was a clang like the workshop door had been slammed then the chattering sound of metal links being pulled into position. With a frustrated grunt, I threw the extinguisher to the ground, rushing back for the fire blanket, quickly realizing it too wasn’t meant for fires this size.
Heat at my back had me spinning around. Another fire had started on the workshop floor—only feet away from my flammable supplies. Above my head, the timber beams began tocreak and splinter as the fire licked at them, compromising their integrity. Smoke and embers filled the air, expanding out at an alarming rate. A hacking cough worked its way up my throat, forcing me to cover my nose with the blanket still in my hands. Ducking low, ran toward the smaller door within the roller door, trying to force it open, but it wouldn’t budge.
Another round of coughing choked my breathing, my lungs burning and my throat feeling like I was gulping down acid instead of air. I shoved against the door harder, using my shoulder for extra leverage. Through the din of my growing panic, the rattle of a steel chain banging against the metal door registered somewhere in my consciousness.
Reaver had locked all my exits, with me inside.
I shoved and shoved until I could barely stand anymore. Exhausted, defeated, I slid to the floor and huddled into a ball.
Desperate, I took out the phone once more and looked at the lit-up screen before calling up Nick’s number. The pad of my thumb hovered over the button to dial him. If I was going to die tonight, I had to at least tell him how I really felt about him.
Breathing deeply, I sank into the cadence of the inferno around me. The dull roar. The sharp pops and crackles. The guttural, feral rumble sounded like a caged beast tired of its confinement of orange and red.
The call connected…
The phone rang…
Chapter 34
Nick
The smellof smoke was heavy in the air as my stealth approach to the garage was shattered by my phone ringing. With a tight jaw, I dug my hand into my pocket and silenced the call without looking at the screen. It was only when I caught a flash of the name as I went to put it back that made me pause.
“Baby?” I answered, trying not to squeeze the phone so hard that it shattered. “Where are you? Are you okay?” My heart squeezed. Up ahead, I could see the sky glowing, while black smoke billowed into the night sky, blotting out the stars.
“Nick?” she replied, her voice scratchy. “I don’t have—” She coughed loudly. “—much time.”
“Are you still at the garage? I’m almost there. I’m coming to you.”
“Yes.” Another rattling cough filled the line—hearing it tore something inside me, confirming the softness that had developed for her and only her. I wasn’t about to pretend it was love. I wasn’t even sure I could love a woman like her in the way she deserved, but I did know that I would die protecting her. I would keep her safe, look out for her, and worship her for as long as she’d let me. And even after that—after she found a man who was deserving of her—I would still protect her.
“Alex, keep talking to me, baby.”
