Page 115 of Playing With Love

My heels found purchase on the edge of the step. I used all the leg strength I had and got my ass up to the next step. Then up another and another. On my ass, using my thighs to hold Tucker, I basically crab-crawled up the stairs while Allyson used Tucker’s legs to push him forward.

One more step to go.

One.

But the fire had engulfed the kitchen.

“There’s a back door. Did you see it when you came in?” I asked as I pulled Tucker out of the doorway so Allyson could climb over his feet.

“Yeah.”

“Can you find it in the smoke?”

“I hope Tate Archer gets the electric chair.”

That was the most violent thing I’d ever heard Allyson say.

Who knew Sweet Ally could be so vicious.

“Ally! Can you find the door?” I yelled over the fire.

Something I learned in Chelsea’s barn—fires are loud. When you’re in the middle of one they don’t snap, crackle, and pop. They roar and sizzle and make really scary fucking sounds.

“Yeah.”

Ally coughed and got on her belly.

I held Tucker.

Then I did something I’d been too afraid to do.

I put my lips to his ear and whispered.

“We’re getting out of this, honey.” I brushed my lips over his temple, uncaring I tasted his blood when I added, “I love you.”

No sound.

No movement.

The next thing I knew the floor under me shook and flames shot out of the basement door.

I rolled over on top of Tucker and closed my eyes.

“Love you, Tucker,” I repeated.

Then everything went dark.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

I woke up on my stomach. The first thing I felt was slashes of pain. The next was a wave of nausea. The next was fear.

“Tucker—”

“Shh, Liza. He’s in the other ambulance.”

Allyson.

I closed my eyes against the bright lights.