Page 99 of Fire Fight

It’s stupid. Things were so perfect.

I try to calm myself, but my breathing gets shorter, choppier.

“Yourmother is the one you need to forgive.” A tear slips from my lid, and I catch it with an angry swipe of my wrist. “It’s nothing to do with Mum and me, it never was. You gave me an anxiety disorder because you’re so desperate to blame anybody but the person responsible. I didn't deserve your judgement then, and my mother doesn’t now.”

My breathing is fast, but I’m still not getting enough air. I press a hand to my chest, trying to calm my racing heart but can’t escape the tide of outrage.

“I certainly didn't deserve to be strung up to a batting cage while you made me think I was about to die.” I turn, stumbling away on my heels before I say something more, something I’ll regret.

As I run to the safety of the front door, my body is fraught with conflicting signals.

“Wait—” Drake calls but I’ve already unlocked the door, pushing it open, needing to get away.

The alarm blares. Deafeningly loud in the still night air.

He pushes past me, tapping in the six-digit code. The one nobody has bothered to give me.

When it falls silent, I hear running footsteps and step back as Arnold storms across the lobby, a shotgun in his hand. “Who’s there?”

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

CADENCE

I’m still recoveringfrom the shock of noise when Drake shoulders me roughly aside, striding ahead to face his father, arms raised. “It’s just us. I lost track of time and forgot the alarm would be set.”

“Get inside,” Arnold shouts, jaw clenched, a vein bulging on his forehead. He lowers the shotgun barrel to the floor. “You’re late. I gave you a curfew of midnight and it’s well after one a.m.”

“Sorry,” I say, edging around Drake to face Arnold, wanting to read his expression. On top of the jumpiness from the alarm, him answering the door armed has my stomach in knots. “That was my fault.”

“No, it wasn’t,” Drake interrupts, eyes sending a warning message I can’t interpret beyond shutting my mouth. He turns to his father. “There was a vehicle at the party that caught fire and between calling emergency services and trying to stop the fire spreading, we ended up staying far longer than we intended.”

“Is that true?” Arnold glances to me and I nod, unsure of the undercurrent flowing between them.

“Yes. And it’s my fault for unlocking the door without turning off the alarm. I completely forgot about it.”

“You woke me. I’ve barely had any sleep, and the noise gave me such a fright, I doubt I’ll be getting any more.”

His glare is so hot, I retreat behind the broad safety of Drake’s shoulders. “Sorry. I should have—”

“I was teasing her outside,” Drake explains with another step towards his father. “That’s why Cadence forgot. It’s entirely my fault.”

The events of the night catch up with me, leaving me too tired for another round of blame sharing. I let him take it all, drooping with exhaustion.

Arnold notices. “You get up to bed,” he says in a far more subdued voice. “But next time I give you a curfew, get home on time. If you’re not going to make it, you could easily have called to let me, or your mother know instead of blasting us both awake in the middle of the night.”

I nod, already turning to head to my bedroom. “Thank you,” I belatedly say. “Good night.”

Father and son are still facing each other when I reach the top of the stairs, neither meeting my eye. I slip through my bedroom door and close it, resting against the inside for a couple more minutes, ears peeled.

The only noise is a door closing on the far side of the house. Arnold’s office.

I change into my pyjamas, expecting Drake to return any moment. When ten minutes have passed, I check across the hallway in case I missed him but there’s no answer to my knock. I hear nothing beyond the thump of my heartbeat.

Worry fills me with jagged energy.

His refusal to allocate blame where it belongs irritates me, but I didn’t want to hurt him. I remember the vicious expressionon Arnold’s face when he berated me over the stained blouse and my concern spirals.

I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway, so pull a chair close to the door, sitting sentinel until I hear Drake’s careful footsteps slowly winding up the marble stairs.

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