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I hurried over to the door and pressed my hands to it. It wasn’t hot. Neither was the handle.

“Oh God,” Shay breathed. “I have to go upstairs. Mom and Dad are asleep. I have to get Myah out too!”

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

I clenched my jaw and tried the door, opening it a couple inches.

“Everybody out! This is not a drill. There’s a fire downstairs, follow the lines on the floor to the nearest emergency exit! I repeat, fire downstairs! Move out! Follow the lines on the floor to the nearest emergency exit!”

That was Greer.

Before I could poke my head out to see if the coast was clear, Shay came up behind me and ripped the door open.

“Out of my way—I have to get upstairs!” The panic in his voice told me everything I needed to know. He wasn’t here anymore. “I have to warn Mom and Dad!”

“Get out right this fucking second! This is not a drill! Everybody move out!” At the sound of Reese’s voice, I was catapulted into action, and I managed to loop an arm around Shay’s middle to hold him back.

“Shay, stay with me,” I gritted out. “You’re not with your parents, Shay. Your brothers are safe. You’re at Mclean.”

“No, let me go!” he cried. “I have to get them out!”

Greer and Reese kept shouting for people to evacuate, and it took me a moment to see my brother appear from the smoke. Smoke that was rising fast and growing thicker by the second.

The moment Reese laid eyes on me, horror escaped from his expression, and he hurried over to us, becoming the very picture of the contractor he’d once been. All business—but with a side of something new. He was Shay’s Daddy Dom now. The protectiveness radiated off him, extending to both Shay and me.

“He’s stuck in a flashback,” I grunted, hauling Shay back from the doorway.

“Let me go!” the boy shouted. Fuck me, he was too strong. “Mom! Dad! Get out! Myah!”

Reese reached us in the nick of time, and he pushed us both inside the room and closed the door. “We have a few seconds.” With that said, he backed Shay up against a wall, trapping him there, and cupped Shay’s face in his hands. “Shay, listen to me.”

“He’s gone,” I bit out. “We gotta drag him out.”

Shay wouldn’t stop struggling against Reese—or stop crying out for his parents and sister.

Reese saw what I saw. We couldn’t bring him back at this point. Not here. We had to get him away from the fire, from those smells.

I coughed as I inhaled some smoke. Motherfucker, it was only gonna get worse.

“Give me two seconds.” Reese let go of Shay and stalked out of the room.

Shay didn’t waste a second. He aimed for the door with panic in his eyes, and I had to catch him again.

“I’ll give you one!” I yelled. I wasn’t the goddamn fighter of the two of us. Shay could defeat me in battle in two fucking minutes.

Reese yelled back, only it wasn’t for me. “Second floor clear! Greer!”

“Halfway done!” Greer shouted back. And just then, the sprinklers turned on above us. “Get River and Shay out—Corey and I will take the fire escape up here!”

I screwed my eyes shut, pulling Shay back for all I was worth. At the same time, the smoke thickened and invaded the playroom, sending Shay into a coughing fit.

“Roger!” Reese confirmed. “The smoke is too thick down here now!”

Had it not been for the smoke weakening me too, I would’ve found reprieve in it. Shay’s strength was fading fast, giving way to despair and panic that crippled him. He convulsed and gagged in my arms⁠—

“Let’s go,” Reese said urgently, reappearing. “I’ll grab him. You take the lead.”

“Fuck that, I’ll follow in case he breaks free,” I told him, then coughed again. Fucking hell. The air was becoming hotter, and every inhale felt like a stab in the throat.