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“Let me go. You don’t understand. Damon won’t listen to anyone except me. He’s hardheaded.”
“So are you, Sophia.” Lizzy took hold of my wrists. “Breathe. I need you to breathe.”
As if on cue, paramedics neared, covered us in a blanket, and surrounded us. They blocked my view, and no matter how hard I tried, they were determined to keep me from escaping the questions and screenings.
The EMT placed an oxygen mask on my face, which I kept batting away until Lizzy held it against me. “You’ll keep this on, or I’ll tape it to your head.”
My attention snapped to her. “I can’t lose him. Don’t you see? We’re finally figuring things out.”
“It is going to be fine.” Her words barely left her lips as an explosion burst through the roof in front of us.
Then, at the door, I saw Clark carrying a woman in his hands, but no one else came out behind him.
Oh, God. No. This wasn’t happening. No. This wasn’t fucking happening.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Damon
I opened my eyes as searing pain shot through the back of my head and radiated more down my leg. I tried to sit up but dropped back down when I realized something lay across my lower body, keeping me from moving. Shifting my arms, I dislodged whatever debris sat on my upper body. My arms hurt like a motherfucker, but at least I hadn’t broken them.
Now, my foot, who knew? Or maybe it was my leg. At this point, with whatever fell through the ceiling and nearly crushed me, I was lucky to be alive.
But how the fuck had I gotten here? None of it made sense.
Slowly, images popped forward.
The fire. Sophia.
Panic settled in my chest. No, I remember her getting out.
I winched. My head hurt as if needles pierced into my ears.
The moment I tried to take a deep breath, I choked on the smoke and coughed uncontrollably.
Fuck me. Where the fuck was my mask?
I know I had one on my face. Clark gave me one.
I saw flashes of running into the building with Clark and searching for a woman crying out for help. We found a server who fell during the evacuation and got caught under falling debris.
As if it were a tidal wave, my memory cleared.
Clark and I barely managed to pull the server free when a small explosion started.
The fucking bar stockroom. The source of the detonation. It had to be.
They were only a few rooms away from us. The initially small burst sounded more like champagne bottles uncorking.
I guessed the fire decided to have a drink or three and couldn’t hold its liquor.
It still didn’t make sense why I was here and not outside. After pulling the server free, everything seemed fuzzy. I remembered telling Ventana to go and that I’d follow. Now I was here.
Was there something else that blew up?
“Ventana, are you in here?” I shouted and immediately regretted it as I broke out into another wave of uncontrollable coughing, and the pounding in my head intensified into the equivalent of knives jabbing into my skull.
Closing my eyes, I covered my face with my hands and willed the pain to ease.
