Page 55 of Sebastian

I shuffled my way over, stepping carefully.

The building groaned around me, and the fire raged even harder. The skin along my arm blistered from the heat. I tucked Newt closer to protect him from the flames, but there was no escaping the smoke that choked us both with every breath.

I reached the window, grateful to find that the glass had already shattered so I wouldn’t have to break it. There were no stairs or fire escape on this part of the building. Only a two story drop between me and the hard concrete below.

More floorboards collapsed, dangerously close to my feet. The whole apartment would soon cave in. I could hear the wood and metal crying out as the flames devoured the room.

I had no choice.

Taking a strong hold on Newt and bracing one foot on the windowsill, I jumped.

CHAPTER 16

Newt

I awoke to the sound of endless beeping. I was so tired, all I wanted to do was go back to sleep, but the beeping wouldn’t stop. It was driving me mad. Although my eyelids felt like they each weighed twenty pounds, I eventually opened them just to see what was making that sound and how I could shut it up.

The sight that greeted me was a familiar one. White walls and white bed sheets draped over a small bed with railings on either side. It’d seen so many hospital rooms over the course of my career, but never from this side of things. I was no longer the paramedic bringing someone in on a gurney, or the nurse standing bedside. This time, I was the patient.

What the hell happened?

I didn’t normally curse, but those words ricocheted around my skull so hard I visibly flinched.

In the seat next to my bed, Frankie jolted out of the doze he seemed to have fallen into.

Maybe my question hadn’t stayed contained inside my head like I thought. I didn’t remember using my vocal cords, but either I’d spoken out loud or Frankie had coincidentally woken up at that exact same moment.

“Newt. You’re awake.” Frankie practically fell out of the chair he was sitting in when he rushed to my side. “How do you feel?”

“Tired. Dizzy.” I coughed and pain shot through my lungs. “My chest hurts. Frankie, what happened? Why am I here?”

He fussed, tutting as he carefully used his hands to smooth out the thin blanket covering me. “What do you remember?”

I shooed his hands away and pushed the blanket down in order to sit up properly. “Sebastian and I were alone. We...” I recalled our moment in the shower, and the several moments we shared afterward. My face burned hot and my headache throbbed.

Frankie didn’t need to hear about any of that.

“We were alone in the apartment. Sebastian heard someone and called out to them, but they didn’t answer. Then he grabbed me off the bed and...”

I remembered hitting the floor and feeling annoyed when I smacked my head. Then there was nothing. My memory just went black.

“Sebastian heard someone in the apartment?”

I looked up, startled by the unexpected voice, and found Damien standing in the doorway staring at me with the most serious expression I’d ever seen.

I nodded, but quickly stopped when the room spun. “Um, yeah. He thought it was one of you guys, but when he called out to them, they left. Then he opened the door and...”

The smell of smoke assaulted my nose, and I looked around expecting to see something on fire. “I don’t know what happened.”

Damien looked like he was about to say something, but at that moment a doctor and several nurses bustled into the room.

I recognized them. I’d worked with all of them in the past. They were good people, but at that moment I didn’t have any patience for them as they took my vitals, asked how I was feeling, and told me information I already knew.

I had a concussion. That was no surprise.

A deep cut on my head needed stitches. Even more obvious than the concussion.

My lungs had smoke damage. This was a little odd, but not unexpected. I could tell there was something wrong with my lungs every time I took a breath.

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