Page 270 of Wrong Pucking Player

“Katherine!” Leo and I scream her name.

“I’m… okay, stop screaming. I’m… just… trying to find a way out. There’s so much smoke. It’s hard to see.”

“We’re coming!!”

The car screeches to a stop, making us realize the line of traffic that’s stopping us.

“Run,” Wyatt urges to us.

Without delay, Leo and I are out of the car and racing up the last bit of the hill into the main parking lot, where a crowd is already forming.

“Katherine, listen. We’re coming!” Leo emphasizes as we head to the burning entrance before I scream because a set of arms grab me.

“Oh no, you don’t! This area is blocked!” a man screams.

“Let go! My girlfriend is in there!” Leo screams as two men, who I realize are firefighters, are holding him off.

“Get your hands off me,” I snap at the firefighter, who’s still holding me back. “My cat and best friend are in there, dammit!”

“No one else is going inside there!” he screams to counter me. “We’ve had a player already go inside. No one else is going in! That’s an order, or we’ll have you arrested immediately.”

“You’re not the fucking police,” I hiss.

Oscar must have gone inside. I have to go help him.

“Let them go!!” I’m surprised to hear Mr. Champion’s voice. A glance confirms he’s stomping toward us with Coach Cyrus and Coach Johnson close behind.

“Mr. Champion! Katherine and Muffin are in the building,” I stress. “I don’t know where Oscar went!”

“I saw Oscar rush in there,” Mr. Champion reveals in urgency before glaring at the man holding me. “Your department should be working on putting out the blaze, not stopping civilians who are trying to do your job!”

I’m about to kick this firefighter’s ass when I notice, in my peripheral vision, Maddox emerging from the crowd and looking around.

“Maddox!?” If he’s here and Mikayla isn’t at his side, that means one thing.

Shit. Is Mikayla inside, too?

The idea of Oscar, Katherine, Muffins, and now Mikayla inside the building is sending my emotions on a spiraling course to doom.

There’s only one reason why Mikayla would possibly go into a burning building.

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

“Our prestigious nurse is inside! Get more men in there!” someone from the Vipers team screams.

“We can’t risk it!” The fire 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!”

They’re not going to do anything?

They’re just going to let them all die?

The thought has me looking pleadingly back at Maddox, knowing well he used to be a firefighter.

I go by instinct as I point to the top floor where our suites arise.

“MIKAYLA’S IN THERE!” I scream so loud, everyone flinches. “THE JEWELRY CASE!” That’s the one thing Mikayla would risk her life to retrieve.

Maddox is darting forward before anyone can stop him, igniting cries for him to stop. He’s almost at the entrance when Winchester comes out of nowhere and tackles him.

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