Page 56 of Prohibited

It was Ryan.

She wailed with relief. “Oh my god, I thought– I thought–”

He looked like a god, blue eyes blazing.

“The building is on fire,” he said. “I don’t know if there’s a way out, but we’ve got to go. Now.”

He grabbed her by the collar of her shirt. Didn’t bother to restrain her. Hell, he didn’t need to. She went with him, step for step, though this meant she practically had to run to keep up with his long, swift strides as they crossed into the cluttered large basement of the building. Here, the smoke was thicker and starting to settle in the air visibly around the lamps.

“What caused it?” she said. “Where is it coming from?”

“Above,” he said, not looking at her. His big hand closed around her wrist and he pulled her along with him.

The door to the stairs opened and Alex appeared, letting more smoke billow into the basement. They all raised their arms to their mouths and coughed.

“I can’t find Lindsay,” Alex said, his voice sharp with anger and alarm.

Evie’s stomach clenched. “What do you mean you can’t find him?” she asked, coughing.

“Get below the smoke,” Ryan barked at both of them. “Goddammit, Alex, you should have left the building.”

“I’m not going to leave you behind,” Alex said, voice hard.

A look passed between them that she didn’t understand. Her curiosity would have been more piqued if she wasn’t full of primal, animal terror with the way the smoke just kept creeping in around them.

“Come on, we don’t have time to fuck around,” Ryan said. He proceeded to go to his hands and knees to lead the way up the stairs. Though normally she might have found the sight of this big, beautiful man crawling upstairs amusing, there was nothing amusing about it now.

“After you, Dolly,” Alex said, gesturing her on. Evie went to her hands and knees, crawling up behind Ryan as fast she possibly could. The glow of the fire touched the mouth of the stairs, causing her to hesitate. Alex’s hand came up and pushed at her feet.

“Go, go, go,” he said. She emerged after Ryan and nearly stumbled back from the force of the heat. It stole the breath from her lungs. The building was a blazing inferno that was so disorienting, she didn’t know which way was up.

A large hand took hold of hers and pulled her.

Behind her, she could hear Alex shouting, “LINDSAY. LINDSAY!”

Her heart cramped painfully and she looked behind her at Alex, who was turning and calling. A beam collapsed a couple of paces away from him, forcing him to jump back. Then he turned toward them and ran.

Ryan led her to a door and though there were flames licking at the glass on the outside, it seemed like their only chance. Ryan lifted his foot and kicked the door open with one enormous effort. It collapsed forward and flames leapt at them. He lunged through them, pulling her with him as he went. The smell of singed hair suddenly filled her nose. Behind them, Alex was shouting. Lightheaded and coughing as she stumbled away from the smoke, she turned to look back at him. Flames were licking across one of his arms. Ryan was standing beside him, beating his arm as he shouted, until the fire was gone.

Then Alex shoved him aside and began to walk around the building, hands cupped around his mouth, shouting.

“LINDSAY!”

“I’m here!” A voice said from a way off. They all turned and Alex ran toward it, stopping short.

A dark silhouette appeared on the outside of the light cast by the fire.

“Pony!” Alex shouted at the silhouette and then ran toward him. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“What’s happening?” Lindsay shouted back. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Where were you?” Alex demanded.

“I went for a walk!”

Beside her, Ryan was capturing her wrist and opening his mouth to say something else when a voice from the other side of the building stopped him.

“They’re over here!” Someone shouted from behind them. She and Ryan were both starting to turn when a series of low pops ripped through the night.

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