Page 98 of When In Doubt

“What’s wrong? Did you breathe in smoke?”

“I’m fine,” Freya grumbles.

“Maybe you should get checked out.”

“Oscar, there’s a burning building behind us. I don’t think I’m the priority here.”

“You’re always the priority.” I say firmly. I glance around and see Mack leaving the apartment block. He gives me a thumbs up and I sigh in relief. It must not be as bad as we thought.

“Hey,” she whispers back. “I’m fine.”

“Humor me.”

“If you insist,” she huffs.

I grin, dropping a peck to the tip of her nose. “I insist.”

She rolls her eyes and scoots forward, going to slide off the tailgate. My hand shoots forward, flattening against her stomach and stopping her from going any further. “You don’t have shoes on.”

“Oh, yeah,” she mumbles sheepishly, “that was kind of a panic move.”

“Running onto asphalt with bare feet?”

“The alarm was going off! I thought the ceiling was about to cave in! I was running for my life, there wasn’t time.”

Even hearing her joke about it has another twist of anxiety blooming. I cup the back of her neck and pull her into my chest.

“Murphy!” I hear a yell from behind me. I let out a growl before releasing Freya. When I turn, I’m faced with Mack’s expectant expression. “All good?”

“Go,” Freya urges. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I coughed one time.” She quirks an eyebrow. “And I didn’t even breathe in any smoke.”

“Most harmful fumes are invisible.”

“Other people need you,” she whispers.

“Do you need me?” If she does, then fuck everyone else.

“No!” She’s laughing at me now, and sure, maybe I’m being a little much, but ten minutes ago I thought she could be dead.

“You’d better not be lying.”

“I am a terrible liar.”

“Okay, okay, fine. We can hold off on the ambulance.”

She looks behind me to where the crew are prepping to go in for cleanup. “Do you think they’ll let us back into the building tonight?”

“I don’t know, but there’s no sense in you waiting. It could be hours.” I pull back, digging through my layers of clothing until I get to my phone. “I’m gonna text my mom, get her to come pick you up.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“Think of it as a favor.”

“For who?”