Page 145 of Thaw My Heart

Fire spreads through the barn, flickering through the timber walls. The steel roof above me crackles, threatening to crumble. The attic is ablaze in bright colors.

Another memory.

Gone.

A beam beside me falls, smashing into my side. Almost knocking me over as I stagger away. My arm begins to burn. Before I can inspect the damage, my eyes snap to caramel hair lying on the cement floor. My entire world. The one I can’t breathe without. Her name escapes my lips, and then I’m pulling her into my arms.

Except Blake is on the floor next to her. It’s as if she were trying to pull him to safety and then passed out from the smoke.

Fuck. I can’t carry them both.

If I could bring Sadie out and then come back⁠—

Another beam falls from the roof, followed by a swirl of flames that’s rising too close. I'd have to make a choice. There’s no way I can save them both. Of course, the selfish part of me picks Sadie. She’s the love of my life, and I will not let her die here. This isn’t where her life ends. But fuck, I can’t just leave Blake.

I love them both.

With Sadie balanced over my shoulder, I try to stay upright while dragging Blake to the exit. But goddamn, he’s so heavy. I can barely move him.

“Come on, Blake, wake up!” I shout at him, hoping he’ll just wake up and help me out of this.

Heat pierces through my skin. The smoke burns in my lungs, stinging my eyes, making it difficult to see. Sweat runs down my face like water, pooling across my chest. My head is pounding so hard that it hurts to think.

I’m running out of time.

With one final pull, I tug with everything I have. Pain laces in my arm, running to my shoulder as he moves barely five inches across the cement floor. “Come on! You’ve got to wake up, man.” Tears stain my cheeks. “Please, I can’t⁠—”

“Kit!” A voice calls to me.

A rush of relief drains my face. “I’m here!” I cry out, hoping they can make it to me, hoping they can find me.

Ryker appears out of the fire, like a saving grace, running to my side to grab Blake. He struggles, pulling with all he has, but he can’t move him. “Damn, how’s he so goddamn heavy?”

“Here, take Sadie.” I place her in his arms, and he runs, barreling between the flames.

Blake’s muscular frame is like a boulder, but with the adrenaline flowing through my body, I manage to lift him up and out. Crashing to the frozen ground once we’re out, finally able to breathe again. The air is so cold in comparison that it freezes in my lungs, and I cough trying to clear out the smoke. Cole is there a second later, asking if I’m okay, inspecting a burn on my arm that I don’t even feel. He dabs at it, putting out the embers with his coat sleeve.

Damn, was my arm on fire?

The fire trucks sound in the distance, barreling down the driveway. Thank God.

My head pounds with dizziness as I try to stand, but I have to. I have to make sure she’s okay. Cole helps me to my feet, taking me over to Sadie, where Ryker has his head to her chest, performing chest compressions.

“She’s not breathing,” Ryker’s voice is hoarse, panicked.

He goes to try again, but I shove him away. “Go help, Blake.” He does as I command, and I take his place. Pressing down hard and breathing into her mouth. Begging and praying with every ounce of strength I have left.

I’m not going to fucking lose her.

I can’t lose her.

After a minute of trying to resuscitate her, screaming her name until my voice hurts, my head roars at me for the last time, and everything goes black.

The sound of my heartbeat through the monitor brings me back, beeping a steady rhythm. Muted greens and blues swirl around me as a ray of blue light streams into the pristine room. I’m in a hospital bed, with oxygen streaming through my nose. My gaze follows my tattooed forearm, a lake, an elk, a forest of pine trees, to a hospital wristband wrapped around Sadie’s tiny wrist.

She’s here.

My body relaxes at her presence, fast asleep on the edge of the bed with her hand clutched tightly in mine. Wearing a light blue hospital gown with waves of caramel hair flowing on the bed across my waist, and an oxygen line in her nose.