Page 11 of Unmarked Magic

She shoved the car into gear, heading out of the parking lot. “Didn’t plan this. Got a problem?”

No, I didn’t have a problem, just… I shook my head. “Mind telling me what’s going on here?” More silence, and I wondered if she was acting strange after what she had just seen. “Is this because you saw my dick?”

“What?” She scrunched up her nose. “No!”

“Then what the fuck is going on?” Unease took hold of my stomach, tightening it into a knot.

Why would she not tell me?

“There’s been a fire,” she finally replied, her focus on the road.

“A fire? Where?”

She didn’t answer.

I cursed under my breath as we made our way through the streets of Cutters Cove, peering out the window in silence. Store fronts lined the street, most of them stripped back to their bare bones. Like someone had dulled the saturation of the town down to zero and all that remained was a mood board created to raise the dead. A town painted in decay. Sometimes I wondered if I was the only person in the town that cared. I could only fix one building at a time.

Staring ahead of us, something didn’t look right. I frowned, trying to make out the unusual sunset in the distance. When Red veered the wagon around a corner, dread sank into the pit of my stomach.

The sky wasn’t glowing. It was burning.

As we turned a final corner, I realized we were headed toward it. The dock. My apartment.

Red’s voice pierced my mind. “That is what’s going on.”

The dock was on fire.

Scarlet

I stared through the windshield of Reid’s wagon to an inferno of flames rising in front of us. Salty’s, the local fishing supplies store, was on fire. We watched in silence as a team of firefighters surrounded the complex, trying to stop the blaze from spreading into Reid’s apartment beside it.

My stomach sank at the sight.

Cutters Cove was a town built on cold nights and endless fog. It wasn’t supposed to glow like this. It lit up both the parking lot and sky above like the fourth of July, but the heat… the intensity of it was insane, even through the windshield. I felt its warmth on my skin as one would the sun, but the sun had not graced Cutters Cove with its presence in months.

Reid climbed out of the car, and I shoved my boots back on quickly, then scrambled from the car to meet him in front of the hood.

“Fuck.” He laced his fingers together behind his neck, staring at the apartment I knew he had only upgraded a year ago.

I hated to be the one to show him this, but Wes rang, knowing I was already down at Jinxed, about to meet up with Skye. I’d bowled out the back door of the bar, ignoring Morgan’s warning to find him.

I shook my head, trying to clear the image in my mind. An image I would find hard to forget. Ever.

Having only had half a drink myself, it made sense for me to drive him here. Only now, I didn’t know what to say. No words would make Reid’s circumstances any easier.

“I need to talk to someone,” he said, casting his gaze around the parking lot. He caught the eye of a nearby firefighter who approached, speaking to us through the visor on his helmet.

“You need to stay back. It’s not safe here,” the firefighter warned.

“That’s my apartment,” said Reid.

His disbelieving tone made my heart wrench.

The firefighter took off his helmet, addressing him directly this time. “Don’t mean to be rude, but best you come back tomorrow. See what condition it’s in then.”

Reid paced a few steps closer, his hands landing on his hips. “Let me help,” he said simply. “What can I do?”

The firefighter shook his head. “There’s nothing you can do. We will know more when it’s safe.” A final nod, then he jogged back over to his team.