Page 49 of Open Liner
I headed out of her apartment again, this time with her on my back. When I reached the door, I stopped.
The fire had spread.
The stairwell I’d come up was swallowed in orange-gold flames, increasing by the second.
Fuck.
Looks like my luck had run out.
The roar of the fire was growing, those flames threatening top-speed decimation, and my heart sank.
My biggest regret was never telling August I loved him.
Chapter nineteen
August
Iworked on the watercolor in my stall, watching the vivid colors appear on the page. The sunset from my date with Drake remained in the forefront of my mind. My client load was lighter tonight due to a cancellation. Technically, I could cut out, but I liked taking the time to work in my space around people. Something comforting existed here that I treasured.
My earlier conversation with Drake was unfinished, but considering he was on a twenty-four, chances were he was dealing with business. He got a lot of random calls out, but I’d started to recognize the patterns. If I knew he was on a shift, his silence would be because of work. It was a reassurance compared to other partners where they’d ghost me or leave me on read.
He always managed to message back when he could, offering me a reassurance I hadn’t realized I’d needed.
Everything with Drake was better than I could’ve imagined.
I wanted to keep him so badly.
And this time, I was going to try.
I snagged my phone and shot out a text.Can you meet up anytime soon?
I knew I wasn’t going to get an immediate answer, but butterflies burst in my stomach. I’d tell him. He was worth the attempt.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.” Rory burst into the back from where he’d been manning the front.
“What’s wrong?” I shot up in my seat on instinct from the storm clouds broiling off Rory.
“I just saw a local alert—there’s a bad fire at Turnpoint Apartments.”
My heart stuttered and stilled.
Bad fire.
In the past, it was an abstract thing. The danger was sad but didn’t strike as immediate. Right now, I connected the dots—because it was a local place, and that meant Drake was in the heart of the blaze.
No wonder he wasn’t responding.
Fuck, what sort of bad was this fire? My brain spiraled to worst-case scenarios, and my stomach bottomed out.
“You okay?” Rory asked, concern clear in his eyes. It was obvious why he’d rushed back to tell me the news. “Why don’t you get out of here? You don’t have anything else on the books.”
“Yeah,” I said woodenly, my head bobbing with the nod. “Yeah, I’ll do that.”
Rory rested a hand on my shoulder. “He’s a professional. He’s done this before, and he’ll make it through this too.”
Even though his words were meant to be a comfort, my terror didn’t subside. I hadn’t ever experienced this kind of fear before, someone I’d fallen for in direct danger like this.
And if he made it out, if he wanted to pursue something with me, I’d experience this in the future again.
