Page 12 of Heart of Glass

Smoke wafted from the kitchen, and the crackle of flames echoed throughout his apartment. “Fuck!” Bills had gone unpaid, meals had been missed, and appointments had been forgotten, but never had Lachlan dove so far into a story as to actually put himself in danger.

Jumping up from his desk chair, he tried to run to the kitchen, forgetting his body no longer had the ability to move that quickly. His right leg gave out, sending him crumpling to the floor just behind the sofa. Pain ricocheted through his bones, coursing along his right side from his shoulder to his ankle. After several attempts to regain his feet, he finally had to admit defeat and began crawling, dragging himself across the carpet toward the intercom.

The smoke alarms sounded—a significant delay in his opinion—blaring so loudly it made his ears ring. The flames had already engulfed the stove and licked up the back wall before spreading to dance merrily along the countertops. Within seconds, the fire had devoured the kitchen and had begun to spread to the dining and living rooms.

Just when Lachlan began to contemplate skipping the intercom and just crawling out of his apartment, the front door burst open, and like a hero in one of his books, Xeno came running into the room. “Lachlan? Lachlan!”

“I’m here.” He curled over into a violent coughing fit as the thick, acrid smoke burned his throat and chest.

“C’mon, Lachlan, we need to get out of here.” Xeno offered his hand, but Lachlan didn’t take it.

“I can’t walk.”

“Okay, it’s going to be okay.” Crouching down beside him, Xeno wrapped one arm around Lachlan’s waist and encouraged him to hold on to his neck. “Ready?”

His body still hurt like the ten shades of hell, but Lachlan supported as much of his weight as he could with Xeno’s support. They’d made it to the still-opened front door, when he stopped and looked over his shoulder. “My laptop. I have to get my laptop.”

“Lachlan, we have to get out of here. You can buy a new one.”

“Can I buy back all the words I wrote today? You go. I have to get it.”

Growling in obvious frustration, Xeno dragged him out of the burning apartment and propped him up against the wall on the other side of the hallway. “Wait here.” Then he went running back into the inferno, returning several seconds later with Lachlan’s laptop tucked under his arm. “Any kittens you want me to save while we’re at it?”

“No.” Despite the seriousness of the situation, Lachlan grabbed the front of Xeno’s singed shirt and pulled him in for a deep, passionate kiss. “Thank you.”

Xeno looked a little dazed, but he shook it off quickly and wrapped his arm around Lachlan’s waist again. “You’re welcome, but we have to get out of here. Hold on to me.”

The elevators had been shut down when the fire alarms sounded, and navigating four flights of stairs with a bum leg produced a slew of imaginative curses. Even with Xeno’s help, each step was more excruciating than the last, but they eventually reached the fire exit that led into the alley behind the building.

“How did you get inside?” Lachlan asked as they rounded the corner.

“You didn’t show up at the café, so I came to find out what had happened. I just followed some guy in when he used his passcode.” Xeno lifted a hand over his head and waved down one of the paramedics on the scene. “Hey, over here!”

“I’m fine,” Lachlan lied.

“No, you’re not, and I won’t argue with you. What the hell happened anyway?”

“I’d rather not say.” Honestly, he’d like to just pretend the whole incident had never happened. Considering he’d need to find a new apartment and replace everything he owned, he didn’t think he’d be forgetting the fire any time soon, though.

“You know you’ll have to tell the cops, right?” Xeno ducked out of the way when the paramedics reached them but kept pace with them all the way to the waiting ambulance.

Lachlan sighed but bobbed his head in acknowledgement. “I know.” Somehow, confessing to the police that he’d set an accidental kitchen fire because he’d been playing with his imaginary friends seemed less humiliating than telling Xeno.

Chapter five

Xeno’s watch read wellafter midnight by the time Lachlan received his discharge papers from the nurse. He’d been treated for minor smoke inhalation and a bruised hip, but he hadn’t complained once as the staff poked and prodded at him multiple times. The doctor prescribed a month’s supply of painkillers and plenty of rest for the next two weeks, but he assured them both that Lachlan would suffer no lasting damage.

“All ready,” Lachlan announced as he hobbled out of the triage on a pair of crutches. “They’re not as cool as my cane, but they’ll do until I can get something more manageable.” For someone who had almost been burned alive, he appeared in high spirits.

Xeno, however, hadn’t stopped shaking since they’d escaped the blaze. He’d lived through wars, famines, and plagues, but he’d never known true fear until he’d smelled the smoke seepingthrough the cracks around Lachlan’s door. Listening while the author explained the circumstances of the fire to the police had both terrified and angered him, and Xeno had come to an important decision.

Lachlan needed a keeper.

Clearing his throat, he offered a wobbly smile and dipped his head to press a kiss to Lachlan’s temple. “Grady’s waiting for us out front. You’ll stay with us until you find a new place.”

“Thank you, Xeno. For everything. If you don’t mind giving up your sofa for the night, I’ll be able to pull some money from the bank in the morning.”

“You’ll need your ID to do that.”

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