Page 41 of Dark Truth

I couldn’t get up, and I didn’t know how much longer I could stay awake. I had to get out of the building. I couldn’t stay here. It was on fire. Even down here on the floor, the space was starting to fill with smoke. I tried to crawl, I tried to call out for help again, but my parched throat wouldn’t make a sound beyond an awful noise that wasn’t words at all. Every move I made ended up with my head swimming, and soon, the need to stop to breathe became my only thought as smoke bloomed over and over again.

I’d wait for Dylan, I told myself. Dylan would find me. He wouldn’t leave me in here to die, I knew he won’t. I cradled my hands around my stomach and spoke to the baby there.

“Your daddy will save us, sweetheart. If he can find us, he’ll save us.”

19

Emily

Emily

The night was supposed to be peaceful, relaxed, and maybe sensual. I’d brought her here to celebrate the fact that we’d made it through our first week as resort operators, as puppy parents, and as a couple with a baby on the way. The flashing lights of firetrucks and police cars, the screams and mayhem, the smoke, and the fire hadn’t been what I expected to be stuck in.

Yet there I was, without Emily. I’d tried to push my way back in when a stampede of people pushed me out of the bar, but a group of people held me back. When the firetrucks showed up, I slipped back inside. Most of the people were out by then, and the air had started to clear.

I knew the first firemen inside had pulled out several people, but none of them had been Emily. I’d checked every single one to make sure. I hunkered down to the floor, the air was much better down there. Now that the firemen had put some of the fire out, the air had started to clear. I still found it hard to see, and sound was strange in the midst of the noise that still prevailed.

“Emily? Roxie? Are you in here?” I called out, hoping I’d hear at least one of them call back to me. Neither one responded, though, and I kept moving.

I slid along the wall, knocked over a few potted plants that had once lined both sides of the walls, and turned when I thought I was near the bar. I’d slid along the right side of the wall going into the bar, but then I wondered if she’d have been on the right. I looked behind me, but the area was hazy again. I turned around and hoped against hope that she was still in Roxie’s dressing room.

I pushed away from the wall and made my way to the room. The power was off, so I used my phone’s flashlight app to look around. “Emily? Roxie? Anybody? Is there anybody in here?”

I looked around as I left the room and tried to figure out where she might have gone. I tried to retrace her steps and figured out that if she’d been swarmed by that horde of people that had flooded out of the rooms and the dance club, then she’d have probably ended up by the bar, then against that wall there. What had been on my left was now my right, and I fumbled along that area.

I even went back to look behind the bar, but she wasn’t there either.

“Hey, you need to go outside, partner. Can’t have people running around in here. The exit’s this way.” A woman in a protective suit came up to me, and I thanked the firefighter, but I told her I was looking for someone.

“That might be, but everyone who was in this area has been cleared out. We’ve almost got the fire under control in the back there, and I’d really appreciate it if you let me get on with my job and leave, sir.” Her face was hot and damp behind her facemask, and I could see she wasn’t about to budge, even if she barely came up to my chin.

“Fine. Everyone from this section was taken out you said?” I turned to follow her out, and she nodded that giant helmet that must have weighed a ton.

“Yep, if they were incapacitated, we took them to the ambulances over behind the firetrucks. You can ask about them over there.”

“Thanks.” I walked away, the world suddenly very dark, and not just because the moon had hidden behind some clouds. What if something had happened to her, and I hadn’t protected her.

“Dylan, is that you?” A man’s voice stopped me, and I turned to find Trent behind me. “Where the fuck is Emily if you’re here?”

“You fucking bastard, you caused this, didn’t you?” I rushed up to deck him, but he deflected the punch.

“What the fuck, Dylan? Where’s Emily?”

“As if you didn’t know. You did this, didn’t you? You caused the fire to break Emily and I up, didn’t you?” It sounded insane, even to me, but I couldn’t stop the words that streamed out of my mouth. It made sense in the moment, and I didn’t care who heard it.

“Look, Dylan, I mean this as politely as I can, but you’re fucking insane. Why would you say that out loud while people are busy investigating what just happened? Emily told Jessi about the place and talked me into bringing her here tonight. I didn’t even know you two would be here. Which leaves me with one final question, you utter dolt. Where the fuck is Emily?” Trent had stepped closer to me with each step, and his voice had dropped lower; the threat was definite. I could see it in his eyes but didn’t back down.

“I apologize, but you can back the fuck off, Trent. I’m not threatened by you.”

“If we don’t find my sister alive, then you might want to rethink that,” he growled but stepped away.

“If you two morons are done checking your dick size, I might be able to help you.” I turned and gaped at Trent’s wife, Jessi.

“What? Do you know where she is?” Trent turned around, his countenance completely different when he spotted his wife. It was like watching a dog’s heckles suddenly flatten out.

I had been on the verge of telling Trent that if Emily wasn’t found, or something had happened to her, he wouldn’t have to do a damn thing to me. I’d have taken care of that all on my own.

Jessi made a motion to us, and we followed her. I didn’t notice the blood red dress she had on, or how stunning she looked, all I could do was look for Emily in the faces of the crowd, until I spotted her at last. She was on a gurney, waiting on an empty ambulance to come back and take her to the hospital.