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I’m already moving as he talks.
The door swings wide, but I stop in my tracks at the sight.
Immediately before me is Gus, our head of security, face down on the floor, and I can see blood in his short blond hair and more pooling on the carpet by his thigh. There are a few girls passed out in front of the makeup mirrors and one on the floor by her locker. I spot Jay a few feet away and make my way to him quickly, kneeling when I reach him.
“Jay. Jay, I need you to wake up.” My thoughts are racing, and my pulse is thrumming like a hummingbird. There’s blood at his mouth, and a bruise is already forming on his face.
Sage is at my side a moment later, and her hand at the back of my neck helps my panic subside.
“We need to get them out of here,” she says.
I nod hollowly and bend down to try hauling Jay up. As I shift him, I see it. The red soaking through his black dress shirt.
A gunshot wound.
Griffin appears in the doorway, and his eyes go wide.
“Can you get Gus?” I cry out, gesturing towards the man with my chin. Tears are coming faster.
“Shit. Yeah, I got him.”
Dragging Jay out of the building is taxing, but when I get him outside and far enough away from the building, I lay him down gently. I don’t want to leave him, but I also can’t leave the others to handle getting everyone else out. The blood seems to have slowed. So I rip myself away, tears coming relentlessly, and force myself back into the building.
The smoke is getting worse. It seems to be coming from the kitchen, which backs up to both the dressing rooms and studio.
Explains how the gas leaked in. This was deliberate.
I run into Ember with Rosie in their arms, and Cy has one of my girls in a fireman’s hold. They don’t even pause as they pass me.
“There’s two more in the studio. We’ll be back,” Ember calls out.
My whole world is upside down and it feels like everything is spinning out of control, but I don’t have time to fall apart. My feet take me back to the dressing room, and I can feel the temperature rising as I get closer.
Upon swinging the door open, flames surge along the back wall. There are only two more girls left, but the flames are moving fast. I spot Stacey closest to the flames and go to grab her next. My eyes sting with all the smoke, and my lungs struggle to take in air.
Deciding it’s best to get everyone out of the dressing room, I leave Stacey in the hallway and go back for the next girl. Moments later, Griffin is right behind me, and we grab both girls.
The smoke is thick, and I can’t see more than a foot in front of me. I’m desperate for air, but I hold back my breath so I don’t inhale any more.
Once outside, I immediately start searching for everyone. Jay is on the ground where I left him. Sage is standing over Jay, checking on him. Ember is moving one of the girls, Rosie, farther away from the building while Cy is wrapping Gus’s leg wound with what appears to be the bottom of his shirt.
I run to check on Jay, but a loud pop draws my attention back to the building. I turn and see a burst of flames that forces the upper windows to shatter. I wince at the explosion and the glass scattering everywhere. All I can do is wait and watch as my second home, my sanctuary, burns.
It feels like forever before any help arrives.
Finally, I hear sirens in the distance. When the fire trucks pull into the parking lot, I let out the sob I’ve been holding back and lower myself to the ground by Jay.
Griffin is already moving to talk to the responders. I see him gesture towards me, and the man he’s speaking with moves before me.
“You’re the owner?” the fireman asks.
I nod.
”Is there anyone else left inside?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so?” My voice mirrors the tremors in my hands. “Shit. We didn’t check the kitchen.”
The man turns away as he talks into his comms gear.
