Page 91 of The Pretty Savage

Flames engulfed the entire structure, rising high up in the sky. An ear-piercing sound shattered through the night as a window on the third floor exploded, making the crowd that had gathered in front scream. A blonde girl I knew very well as of late rushed in front of me, and before I could think, I wrapped my hand around her upper arm and yanked her to me.

"Yolanda," I yelled, hoping she would hear me above all the commotion. Her eyes were filled with fear while tears trickled down her face. "Where's Vega?"

"I don't know," she cried. "I wanted to go back for her because I realized she didn't make it out, but they won't let me. She didn't come out, Adrian. She's still in there." And if I thought my heart had fallen out of my chest earlier, it was nothing compared to what I felt right now.

I could hear Dante's and Jax's voices behind me, catching up with Yolanda, but I only had eyes on the front entrance to the building, where Andries stood.

And I ran.

I pushed through the crowd of people gathered around—some of them crying, some looking stoically at the building, while others tried to figure out what had happened, but I didn't have time to listen to their theories. Vega was inside.

Vega was still there, in that burning building, and I knew there was no way she'd be able to run her current state.

I was close, so close, and just as I was about to reach the door, two pairs of arms wrapped around me, pulling me back. "No!" I roared. "She's inside. She's still fucking inside!"

"Calm down, Adrian," Andries said, trying to yank me back, but I fought against him and whoever else it was that held me. "There's nothing we can do. The building is going to collapse."

"No, no, no," I thrashed, trying to get free, but there was no use. "Vega!" I bellowed, my voice breaking, while anguish I had never felt started drowning everything else inside me.

"Get down!" Andries yelled out, pushing me down to the ground just as another explosion shook the grounds and debris fell all over us. "Fuck," Andries cursed, helping me get up, and as my eyes zeroed in on the building I realized the doors no longer stood open. They were engulfed in flames much like the rest of the building.

I had never felt despair like this. Never thought I would want to disappear, but I knew right then there would be no going back for me.

"Adrian." Jax dropped down on the ground next to me with Dante and Yolanda in tow. "Are you okay?"

"She's gone," I mumbled, refusing to believe she wasn't here anymore. But there was no way anyone would be able to survive an explosion like that. Even if she did, she would be dead within minutes from all the smoke billowing out of the building. "They wouldn't let me get to her," I told Jax, turning to him slowly, just as my eyes filled with tears. It was as unfamiliar as the feeling in my chest. "My girl is gone, Jax."

"Fuck," he mumbled, pulling me to him, and as we watched the building burn down, I felt myself drifting away. My body was here but my mind wasn't.

Not anymore.

34

VEGA

Smoke wafted through my nostrils and an alarm rang, waking me up from the deep slumber I fell into shortly after the shower I took while Yolanda made a fresh cup of tea for me. My eyelids still felt heavy as I lifted them, the events of the day slowly catching up with me, reminding me what had happened.

But none of that mattered when I started coughing, slowly understanding why.

My room was filled with smoke. The moonlight illuminating the room through the windows made it possible to see the swirling circles in my room.

I jumped up in my bed, groaning when the pain in my back reared its ugly head, reminding me I was still in no shape to do any sudden moves. It was too fucking quiet, and even without my phone I knew it couldn't have been that late. My head still buzzed with pain, the migraine that knocked me out still throbbing in my head. But I pushed through it and stood up, thankful I didn't feel as dizzy as I was just a couple ago, knowing my strength was slowly coming back.

My eyes landed on Adrian's shirt on the floor and a fresh wave of pain shot straight through my chest, just as my lungs seized, making me cough harder than ever. I tried locating the fire in my apartment, but it wasn't inside, and as I looked toward the door, I saw it then.

The bright light coming from outside of the room, from the hallway, and the smoke billowing through the small crack beneath my door.

"Fuck," I groaned, hurrying and picking up my coat and pushing my feet into my boots. "I didn't survive this long just to be killed by fire," I grumbled, taking my knife from the nightstand.

It was getting harder to breathe in here, and for a second I turned toward the window, wanting to open it, when I remembered all the training I had on fire safety and what not to do. I had no idea what kind of fire we were dealing with, and if there were any chemicals in the air, mixed with O2, it could blow us all up.

Turning toward the door, I pressed the sleeve of my coat to my mouth, hoping that would stop me from inhaling too much smoke, but as I opened it a fresh wave of heat slammed into me, making me stumble backward.

"Holy fuck," I murmured, coughing through the smoke as I saw the scene in front of me.

The walls were bright red, burning, melting down as the fire spread all over the hallway. My eyes filled with tears, while the bitter air filled with smoke bit at me, making it harder to see. The fire was spreading from the floor above me and coming down fast, engulfing the entire building in its embrace.

I stepped out of my room and into the hallway, when the entire place shook and a boom like nothing I had ever heard rocked through the air, making me drop down to my knees. My ears rang in the aftermath, my throbbing head making it almost impossible to get up, but I couldn't fucking stay here.

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