Page 104 of Crush

“You don't know me half as well as you think you do,” Max said. I found his response interesting as he was right. There were things that neither of us had shared. My thoughts darted to Zander. I didn’t want to speak about him in my bedroom and taint the space.

“What’s wrong? You can talk to me, you know; about him,” Max said, pushing up on his elbows as he watched me. The lamp was still on and his skin was on display. He looked like a bronzed God.

I felt the rawness of those words sear through my skin, branding me and I turned my face away and stared out of the glass of the balcony doors.

You can trust this man, my reflection said.

Since Zander, I'd slept with other people but it had been faceless, emotionless sex. Just a release to deal with my baser urges. What had happened between Max and me was special as there were feelings involved, on my side anyway. The rhythm of his body as he moved inside of mine was like a seductive melody.

I turned and looked down at Max as he lay in my bed, the covers twisted around his waist and I smiled as he peeled a corner back with a nod of his head. "Come on, you must be cold." His words stirred more excitement in my stomach; desire curdling in my pelvis.

I instantly realised that I was the opposite of that. The ice that had been in my heart before had thawed and Max Hunter was the person responsible for that. He was more than an itch I needed to scratch, so much more. I was in love with him. But what was I to him?

It was time he knew about my demons. And the bedroom suddenly seemed the right place to do that, considering that was all I’d had with Zander. The rest had been bullshit.

As I moved to join him something caught my eye outside, a flicker of orange light. Turning my head sharply, I pushed my face closer to the window, narrowing my eyes to see.

A jet of adrenalineburstthrough my chest as I saw what appeared to be a small flame licking up into the sky like a snake's tongue

“Max, I said, alarm threaded through my tone.”

“What, what is it? He questioned, the bed creaking as he swung out to join me. “Is someone there?”

He grabbed his jeans and started to pull them on saying, “Shit.”

My brow was threaded as I blinked, trying to establish what I was looking at. “What do you think it is?”

Max turned the lamp off so we could see outside. “I know what it looks like. What building is that?”

My mouth opened and closed in panic as the scene unfolded before us. “That's the stables.”

“It's on fire Amber, call the fire brigade now. I'll go and alert the staff.”

Fire!

“The horses, Max. The horses are in there,” I cried,lungingfor my robe, and shoving my arms into the sleeves before racing to the door.

“Amber, where are you going? Wait, Amber, damn it to hell,” Max yelled as he stubbed his toe hard against the bed frame.

I heard Max shouting my name as I left him frantically dragging his clothes on, but I couldn’t stop; I didn’t have the time. I secured the belt of my robe over my shortie PJs whilst running, taking the stairs two at a time.

The stables were on fire and the only thought pounding in my head was my horses. My therapist said that staring into a fire could be calming, as I yanked open the door and was faced with one, that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Panic raced through me like a freight train as I ran across the yard towards the bright yellow flames which licked up the back of the building. Smoke wasbillowingup into the black sky and the heat from the blaze intensified the closer I got. My skin prickled as my heart thumped in my chest, adrenaline pumping through me. The worst part of the fire seemed to be at the back, but I could see an obvious glow where it had started to creep across the roof.

Pain shot through my soles, reminding me I was barefooted as I shot over to the large double doors and unclipped the beam that held them closed. I could hear the thudding of hooves and the whinnies from my babies as I leaned all my weight against the doors to shove them open.

It was then that I saw the full extent of the inferno, the entire back corner where we stored the tack was alight. Wood, hay, and straw were rapidly burning in all directions, the perfect tinder to flame.

It didn’t deter me, I dipped low, covering my mouth with my hand and ran towards the back of the building, throwing myself at Shadow’s stall. The fire extinguisher positioned there would be useless as the flames were already out of control. I ignored it and carried on with my task. I needed to get them all out.

“Shit,” I hissed as I burnt my fingers, the metal door bolt which secured the top of the stall door wasscaldinghot. Pulling the sleeve of my robe over my hand to protect it, I freed the bolt and then took my foot to the lower kick bolt. Shadow was panicking, prancing back and forth in her stall and I dragged the door open and lunged towards her, careful of my toes being trampled by her hooves. Grabbing the head collar, I yanked it, side-stepping her body, so I wasn’t crushed against the wall of her enclosure. There was no time to attach a lead as I steered her out of the stall.

We ran regular drills, and I knew it wasn’t the best idea to turn the horses loose in the yard but what could I do? A panicked horse was better than a dead one. And the horses were trained to go to the paddock in times of distress. In theory anyway.

“It’s OK girl, come on. You can do it,” I cooed, attempting to calm her nerves. She came with me and as we cleared her stall, I smacked her on the rump and she fled, galloping towards the exit, and getting clear. As relief kicked in, there was a crash and a wiz of sparks shot up into the air like a firework, but I paid it no notice, I knew what I needed to do. I had four other lives to save.

“Amber,” Max’s voice shouted. “Where thefuckare you?”

“In here,” I yelled, my lungs feeling tight and dry. The smoke was getting thicker, but the air was bright, the darkness lit by that relentless, amber glow. My skin felt like it was burning but I couldn’t leave.

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