Sound warps into a low, distorted hum, and I’m marginally aware my ears are ringing. People are shouting. Someone is screaming Colt’s name, and radios erupt with overlapping shouts for personnel checks.
“MAYDAY, MAYDAY—”
“Tower’s down!”
I hear Chief Rhodes’s voice cut through the chaos over command. “All crews sound off. Accountability check now.”
But all I can do is stare at the spot where the roof used to be.
Gone.
And Colt Lawson along with it.
Chapter twenty-six
Love so raw it’s still bleeding
Penny
Light presses against my eyelids before anything else does. Bright and sterile and wrong. There’s a sound somewhere nearby. A steady, rhythmic beep.
My throat feels like I swallowed ash, every breath dragging sharp and shallow, and when I try to move, there’s a tug at my hand, something taped to my skin.
I force my eyes open, and the ceiling swims for a second before it steadies. There’s something under my nose, and it’s feeding cool oxygen down the back of my throat, making my lungs sting.
Memories start flashing, but they’re broken and in pieces. I groan at the pain of thinking too hard, but the waves of images start swimming into view.
Stacey’s face. Remi.Elle.
Then heat and smoke and rope biting into my wrists. The sound of something cracking overhead.
Evan shouting my name.
My heart lurches so hard the monitor starts beeping quickly and urgently, and I try to sit up, reaching out for the tape on my arm. Pain tears through my ribs hard enough to force a broken sound out of me as the room tilts sideways, and hands are suddenly there, guiding me back against the bed.
“Whoa, hey—easy.” Evan’s voice swims into my ears. “Take it easy, Pen.”
I turn my head, and he’s right there, hair damp like he’s showered in a hurry, and a faint shadow along his jaw. Close enough that his knee is pressed against the bed rail.
His eyes are bloodshot, shadows bruised deep beneath them. His hands flex once on the edge of my bed rail, and I catch the split skin across his knuckles.
Relief hits me so hard my eyes sting unexpectedly.
The nurse says something softly beside us before slipping out of the room, but neither of us respond to her.
“Hey, baby,” he says roughly. He looks over me quickly, eyes catching on the oxygen tubing, the monitor beside the bed, my bandaged wrists. “You okay?”
The question would almost be funny if he didn’t look so fucking wrecked, but my throat tightens anyway at the sound of his voice. My vision blurs suddenly, and I don’t even realize I’m crying until Evan’s hand reaches out.
“Hey,” he says softly, thumb brushing beneath one eye.
I catch his wrist before he can pull his hand away again, holding onto him harder than I mean to. For a second, neither of us moves, and his eyes lock on mine, bloodshot and glassy. He exhales shakily, then leans forward like the distance between us has finally become too much.
The kiss lands soft and unsteady against my mouth, and his hand slides carefully against the side of my face. I can feel the slight tremor in his fingers as he kisses me again, forehead falling briefly against mine afterward to breathe me in.
“Fuck, Penny,” he breathes, pulling back.
“Elle?” I swallow against the burn in my throat. “Is she—Remi had her—”
