Page 157 of When In Doubt

“Yeah,” I reply, but it comes out slurred. How long has he been calling me? I look around to see a few of the crew staring, frowning as they take in the image of me losing my shit.

“Hey!” Ryan moves back into my eyeline. “You need to get back!” He’s pushing on my chest, forcing me to stumble back a few steps. What the fuck is going on? I’m closer to the barn, just a few dozen feet away and the heat from the flames is scorching the skin on my face.

I turn, starting to walk on my own, but he doesn’t let go of the hold he has on me, like he thinks I’m gonna spin and run into the fire.

“Get in the truck!” he shouts as we near the perimeter, the one Jenna must have moved back when the roof started coming down.

“I’m good.”

“Go!” He opens the door and practically shoves me inside.

I sit in the seat, my whole body shaking. I watch with unseeing eyes as Jenna takes charge, getting the second tank hooked up to hoses and coordinating the crew to keep attacking the flames.

What the fuck just happened? It’s like I was totally outside my own body, completely out of control.

Fuck, I think I would have run straight into that barn if Ryan hadn’t stopped me.

I looked down at my hands like they’re someone else’s. I can feel the burn in my lungs from the smoke I must have inhaled, but it’s distant.

Holy shit.

I could have died.

Chapter Fifty-Two

FREYA

“Iswear I’m good at this,” Luci says through a mouthful of popcorn. She goes to toss another piece into her mouth. It misses by about a foot and tumbles onto the floor, joining the graveyard of other kernels that litter the carpet around her feet.

“I can tell,” I tease. “You’d better clean that up.”

She huffs, stretching her foot across the couch to give me a kick. All she manages to do is to press her toes against my thigh. “Jesus!” I yelp. “How are you that cold! We’re under a blanket!”

“They match my cold heart,” she says with an evil cackle.

“God, you’re so mean.” I pull my knees away and shove the blanket down between us so she can’t get me again.

“You love me, really.”

“Only occasionally.”

She mimes a knife to the heart, dropping her head back dramatically. “You wound me.”

“You’ll get over it.”

There’s a knock at the door and I stand, grabbing my phone to give the pizza guy our order code. But when I open the door, it’s not who I was expecting.

“Oscar?” His hair’s sticking up on one side, like he’s been pulling at it, and he’s looking down at the ground distractedly. I say his name again, my chest tightening. He finally looks up, blinking himself out of whatever daze he’s in.

“Hey, sorry I’m late.”

I reach out for him, panic rushing through every fiber of my body. “Are you okay?”

I usher him inside. He stands in the hallway, unmoving for a second before he slides out of his boots. Christ, he’s acting like he’s concussed or something.

“Did you drive here?” I ask.

“Uh, yeah.” He looks behind him, like he needs to check, but I’ve already closed the door.