Page 156 of Burning For You

They had barely made it two steps toward the door when the smell hit. Sharp, unmistakable.

Smoke. The alarm shrieked overhead.

They ran to the top of the stairs and the floor below was already an inferno.

Flames roared up the walls, racing fast and wild, like gasoline had been poured and lit without hesitation.

The smell was unmistakable.

She knew that smell, that sound, that sight.

It was happening again.

“We’re trapped!” Sara screamed. “What do we do?”

“Stay calm,” Skye said, even as her pulse thundered. She pulled out her phone and dialed.

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“There’s a fire. We’re trapped on the second floor. The address is—” She shoved the phone toward Sara, who shouted it through her panic. “Please. Send help now!”

She ended the call and swallowed hard.

She wanted to call Ash. Needed to.

But first, they had to survive.

The past clawed its way forward. Memories of smoke-filled hallways, of screaming into the dark for parents who never came.

No one had saved her then. No one was going to save her now.

She forced the panic down and turned to Sara, who was shaking so hard she could barely stand.

“Listen to me,” Skye said, gripping her shoulders. “I’ve been through this before.”

Sara’s eyes filled with terror. “What do you mean before?”

Meaning Sean kept that part of the story out.

“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “What matters is that you do exactly what I say.”

Because this time, she wasn’t just saving herself.

She was saving them both.

39

KNEW THAT FEAR

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. Not yet. Not that way.”

The second he pulled in and saw Skye’s car in the driveway, dread slammed into him. Cold and immediate. Telling him she knew. Somehow, she’d put it together. Even after he’d talked to Ash and Tate.

Even after he thought he was in the clear feeding them things to cover his ass.

Stupid. So stupid to leave the phones in the house when Sara had been hovering, clinging, accusing him of cheating. As if he even had time for that. Every hour he worked, everything he did, was to keep her satisfied. And still, he was given no room to breathe. No space for something that was his.

He deserved that. He’d been happy. He’d been his old self coming out of hiding. His little secret.