Page 240 of Ruin My Life
I don’t have time to wonder who. I don’tcarewho.
Because I knowshe’sin there.
I feel her. Not just in my gut. In every splinter of my soul. And if she dies in that fire—
Connor better pray the flames finish him first.
Because if they don’t?
I will.
My foot slams the gas until the SUV rockets onto the dirt drive. Tires spin, fight for purchase on packed snow. I barely hold it straight as it fishtails, skids sideways, then snarls to a stop right in front of the inferno. I’m just in time to seeflames burst through the front windows. Glass explodes outward like a shotgun blast.
The fire roars—wild, frantic, starving. The front entry’s gone, choked in flame.
I need another way—
“Help!”
A hoarse, desperate scream cuts through the crackle. “Somebody help!”
My head snaps toward the sound.
I spot brown hair. A heartbeat of hope.Brie—
No.
Her hair’s too straight. Skin too peachy. No freckles under the soot. And those wide, terrified hazel eyes—
Not enough green.
Not hers.
She stumbles toward me, blood streaked through her hair, smeared across her temple. Her breath catches as she claws at my arm. “Please, you have to help!”
I grab her by the shoulders, steadying her. “Is anyone else inside? A brunette—wavy hair. Or a bald guy built like a tank?”
She nods, gasping. “Yes! Brie. She’s trapped. I tried—I couldn’t get her out—”
Brie.
Her name cleaves straight through me.
“Where did you get out?” I demand, scanning the house, my mind already racing.
“Around the back—living room window. It’s broken—”
I’m gone before she finishes.
“Fire department’s coming!” I yell over my shoulder. “Stay by the cars. Don’t move!”
I sprint around the side, boots punching through snow, skidding over patches of ice. I round the corner too fast and my knee gives, slams into frozen ground. Pain spikes up my thigh, but I plant my palm in the snow, shove myself back up, keep moving.
Smoke curls from the busted window like claws. Like the fire itself is an animal trying to break free of its cage.
“Brie!” I shout, hauling myself through jagged glass, my boots crunching over shards that have imbedded into the thick carpet.
The heat hits me like a wall. Air thick with lighter fluid, blood, ash.
