Page 129 of Wish You Were Mine

He lowered himself onto me, careful enough not to squish me. I closed my eyes and basked in the sensations rioting through my body. There was physical satisfaction, yes, but also a bone deep sense of contentment, as if, despite everything, I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

I was vaguely aware of Asher removing the condom and pulling me into his arms, and then the world faded to black.

Until the smell of smoke woke me.

59

ASHER

A scream rent the air.

“Fire!”

What?

I fought off the remnants of a dream and raised my head, then blinked, barely able to make sense of what I saw. Smoke filled the cabin, and flames licked along one panel of the back wall. Had a spark found its way clear of the fireplace?

I glanced out the window. It was difficult to tell through the smoke, but the snow didn’t seem to be falling as thickly as earlier. The place was silent except for the crackle of the fire, suggesting that the wind had died down.

“Take the blanket and get out,” I said to Summer, who’d already clambered off the bed. “I’ll try to smother the fire.”

This was our only shelter, other than the Ute, and for all we knew, that could have been flattened. We couldn’t afford to let the fire consume the cabin, and we might have a chance at stopping it since the flames were concentrated at the end wall.

“I’ll help,” she said, yanking her shirt over her head.

“No,” I snapped, moving quickly now myself. “If I have to worry about you, it will distract me. I know more about fire management than you do.”

She huffed but nodded.

I lurched toward the counter and grabbed the four liter bottle of water I’d opened to rinse the dishes earlier. It was awkwardly sized, but all the bottles were the same, so it would have to do.

I unscrewed the lid, carried the water to the burning wall, swung the bottle, and tossed a stream of water onto the flames. They flickered but didn’t subside. I tried again and again, until the bottle was empty, but the fire hadn’t retreated at all.

Damn.

Water wasn’t going to fix this. I needed something else. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Summer moving. She’d donned her shoes and was running toward the door, carrying her clothes bundled inside one of the blankets.

The blankets.

I rushed over and snatched up the other blankets we’d been using. I dragged it across the cabin and tossed it over the bench attached to the wall. The flames beneath the blanket whumped out. I lifted it again and tried to hit the wall with the broad side of the fabric, but it was difficult to do so on a vertical surface.

I inhaled a lungful of smoke, and coughed, the smoke burning the inside of my throat. Desperately, I looked around the cabin for something that might work. Surely, there was a fire extinguisher somewhere.

But no, this was an old hunting cabin, not one of the more modern huts managed by the government. There was no fire extinguisher, and nothing else that could be used in case of an emergency.

The flames jumped from the wall, catching onto a sachet of freeze dried potato on the counter. The sachet went up in a puff of smoke, and the fire raced across the surface of the counter, using the food packaging as fuel.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

There was no way to get this fire under control. The best I could do was get to safety. Hopefully the Ute was still standing so we could shelter inside.

Doing my best to keep a clear head, I grabbed the radio and my discarded clothes. I didn’t have time to put them all on, but I yanked on my jeans and jammed my feet into my wet shoes. The fabric was sodden and cold, but in the circumstances, that might not be a bad thing.

I sprinted to the exit and shoved the door open. I had to stop on the threshold for a second so my vision could adjust. It was no longer snowing, and the air was still. Because of that, I had a perfect view of Summer where she stood twenty yards away, facing me, clad in only her shirt, underwear, and shoes.

I also had a perfect view of the man holding a gun to her temple.

60

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