Page 111 of Fight or Flight
Shane touches his temple and offers Paxton a weak smile. “It’s nothing. I tripped over something when I was trying to get out. I’m fine. It’s just a bruise.”
“Did you get knocked out?” I ask, ignoring everyone around us.
He swings his gaze back to me. “No.”
“Have you ever had a concussion?”
“I played hockey for five years,” he says, a ghost of a smile on his full lips. “I’m no stranger to head injuries. It’s just a bruise.”
“Are you sure you don’t need to see someone?” Felix asks. “You breathed in a lot of smoke.”
“I’m fine,” he repeats and takes a big gulp of the water. “I inhale more smoke than that on a typical Friday. I just needed to get into the fresh air. It’s not a big deal.”
He’s putting on a good show of being okay, but I can tell by how tightly he’s gripping the bottle and the faint tremor in his hand that he isn’t.
The sirens are louder now, and Shane swings his gaze back to mine as everyone looks toward the gate and the firetrucks rapidly approaching it.
The corner of his mouth tips up in a barely there smile, and he gives me a little nod of thanks.
I nod back, but can’t keep from checking out the bruise on his temple again when he shifts his attention to the campus firefighters as they jump down from their trucks and hurry to get their equipment ready.
“Is anyone still inside?” An older guy in a white helmet and full gear asks loudly as he makes his way through the crowd.
Several of the guys tell him no, and he pulls out a walkie and starts talking into it.
“Fire’s out,” I say as I stand. “Or at least it was a few minutes ago.”
The firefighter, who’s a chief by his insignia, lowers his walkie. “Were you the last one in there?”
“Yup.” I push my hair back from where it’s fallen into my eyes.
“I’m going to need everyone who was in the room before, and after, to come with me,” the chief says loudly and points to the far end of the quad.
“What happened?” Jordan demands, coming up to the group with Nico and Axel right behind him.
Shane gets to his feet as the chief turns to Jordan, and I lean in so my lips are next to his ear.
“Get behind me and Jax, and we’ll get you out of here,” I say just loud enough for him to hear me over the din of voices surrounding us.
He shoots me a surprised look.
“Unless you’d rather stay and answer a million questions,” I add.
He looks around, then quickly slips behind us.
We move closer together so our arms are touching and we’re mostly shielding Shane. Killian notices what we’re doing, and he casually steps in front of us, then pulls Felix into his arms to help give us more cover.
Everyone around us is so focused on the leaders squaring off with the fire chief that no one pays us any attention as Jax and I move off to the side with Shane behind us as we skirt along the building and slip around the corner so we’re out of view.
“Over there.” I point to the window closest to the side entrance.
Shane follows us, and we have to step behind a large ornamental bush to get to the window, giving us extra cover in case someone comes looking for us.
“What are you doing?” he whispers when I pull a switchblade out of my pocket and release the blade with a press of the button.
“Opening the window,” I tell him and fit the tip of my knife under the seam of the window and jiggle it to search out the lock.
“What about the door?” he asks.
