Page 257

“Kody!” Kayla shouts in a panic.

“Dylan, turn that fucking music off so I can hear my sister,” he orders.

“Kody, what are you doing up there?” Kayla yells, fear laced in her voice.

“What are you doing down there?” he shouts back, sounding just as confused.

“Kody! Get out of there!” She starts running toward the mill, only for Milo to release my hand and grab her by the arm.

“Kayla, call 911! Get the fire department over here, now! I’ll go get the others.”

But Kayla is too distraught to register a word he’s saying, her eyes fixed on her twin brother, still trapped on the roof with the others.

Milo grabs her by the shoulders, giving her a firm shake. “Kayla! Did you hear me?”

She blinks at him, seemingly snapping out of her daze, before fumbling for the phone in her pocket.

Milo turns to me and presses a hurried kiss to my lips.

“Stay here.”

“No. I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not. Stay here with Kayla. I won’t be more than a few minutes. I promise.”

“Milo, no. Where you go, I go. Remember?”

“Not this time, sweetheart.”

Before I can argue, he’s already running toward the burning building.

For a moment, I stand there frozen, watching him move closer to the thickening smoke. Then I glance at the Reds, still gathered a few feet away, cracking jokes and laughing as though this were just another Friday night to them.

Fuck this. There’s no way in hell I’m letting Milo go in there alone.

“Milo!” I scream, taking off after him.

He turns at the sound of my voice, his eyes already red and watering from the smoke.

“No! Max, stay there!”

“Not happening!” I shout back, reaching for him.

He takes a step toward me, his face torn between fear and desperation, before finally reaching out. I seize his hand with both of mine, holding on as if my life depended on it.

“MAX!”

I turn at the sound of my name and catch sight of Sienna running toward us, her face twisted in horror.

It’s the last thing I see before a deafening blast tears through the air, its force lifting me clean off my feet. I feel a violent shove, my fingers grasping for his hand as I’m hurled backward, the ground rushing up to meet me.

I hit the grass so hard that every last breath is knocked from my lungs.

And then comes the heat.

Jesus Christ, the heat!

It washes over me in a scorching wave, so intense that for one terrifying second, I can’t even comprehend what’s happening. Then the pain hits, and suddenly I understand.