Page 244 of Wrong Pucking Jersey

“Maddox?!” I only turn my head because that voice belongs to Mack. She’s being held back by a firefighter while Wyatt and even Mr. Champion are yelling at the Chief of the Fire Department.

“There’s still someone in there!” Wyatt yells, his expression furious.

“Our prestigious nurse is inside! Get more men in there!”

“We can’t risk it!” The chief snarls. “Our men did the best they could. We got as many individuals as we could out of there. Going in now is suicide! They’re setting up the life net, but that’s all we can do!”

That voice is too familiar.

The same man in charge.

The one who never fights to save one of their own’s life.

Not at the risk of his own reputation.

My attention is back on Mack, her eyes flowing with tears as she points directly to the blaze before us.

“MIKAYLA’S IN THERE!” she screams so loudly, everyone flinches. I know she’s directing her words to me. She’s desperate to emphasize her next point as her pleading eyes that flicker with fear bore into mine. “THE JEWELRY CASE!”

My eyes widen at her words, realizing why my Baby Girl dared to go inside, knowing she could potentially not escape the scorching blaze.

Why…

Why…

Why would she put her life at risk over that?

Before any of them can stop me, I’m running for the entrance.

People are screaming, shouting, demanding I stop before I get too close, but it’s the tackle into my side that takes the breath out of me.

“FUCK!” I curse when I hit the ground, my body already fighting the weight on top of me and rolling us so they’re now beneath me. “GET OUT OF MY FUCKING WAY!”

My angered eyes see nothing but orange and red, yet those striking greenish-blue eyes can’t be ignored.

Jayce.

A tiny part of me wants to acknowledge he means well.

That he wants me alive.

Then there’s the 99% that quakes with so much anger, my whole body is shaking. The anger I haven’t tapped into since that tragedy years ago as I stared my chief in the eyes after he told me I was the outcast of the department with my foolish ideologies of wanting “teamwork” in situations like these.

Life and death situations.

That cost my friend and colleague his life.

“Are you stupid?!” Jayce exclaims. “This building is on fucking fire! You’ll di—”

One blink is all it takes.

To go from staring at the man beneath me, who’s wasting valuable time, to my fist retracting to punch his fucking face.The wave of shock can’t settle into my mind, body, or soul because I’m up and screaming at the top of my lungs.

“GET IN MY FUCKING WAY AGAIN, AND I’LL KILL YOU!”

So much anger.

Levels of rage that were buried with other emotions.

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