Mandy shook her head. “That’s not pot.”
“And she would know,” Ally teased. “We smoked it by the pound in high school.”
Mandy moved to Emma’s apartment door, touching it worriedly. “Shut up.”
“Okay, not pounds,” Ally conceded. “We smoked a lot of it, though.”
Mandy pressed her eye to the peephole, swiveling around with a panicked look on her face. “The building is on fire.”
Emma sobered instantly. “What?”
“The building is on fire,” Mandy repeated. “The door is hot, and I can see flames outside.”
Ally jumped to her feet. “What do we do?”
Sophie was already at the window. “We have to go down the fire escape.”
Ally raced to her side, helping her try to hoist the window open.
“It won’t work,” Emma said. “It’s painted shut. It has been since I moved in.”
“Well, that’s just great,” Sophie huffed. “No offense, Emma, but you need to move to a better building.”
“I don’t think she’s going to have much of a choice after this,” Mandy said, striding to the kitchen. She opened a few drawers, searching.
Smoke was billowing into the apartment from under the door now, causing everyone to cough and rub their eyes.
“Aha!” Mandy pulled a hammer out of the drawer and headed toward the window. “Back up.”
Ally and Sophie sheltered their faces as Mandy smashed the hammer into the window. The glass shattered, cascading to the floor.
“Everyone put your shoes on,” Mandy ordered. “We have to get out of here. Now.”
Sophie was the first one to test the strength of the fire escape. It seemed to hold her weight.
“Go,” Mandy ordered. “I think we should try and spread out so we’re not all at the same spot at the same time. This thing looks like it could give at any second.”
Sophie nodded, descending quickly.
“Ally, you’re next.”
Ally wordlessly followed Sophie out the window.
Mandy turned to Emma expectantly. “Let’s go.”
Emma glanced around the small apartment, the air thick with smoke.
“Now,” Mandy yelled.
“I’m coming.”
Mandy was halfway out the window herself, a glimpse of Sophie safely on the ground below serving as emotional reinforcement, when something caught her eye and she darted back inside the apartment.
Flames engulfed the door, black smoke smothering the entire room, and the electrical system blinking out, before she could find her way back to the window. All that was left was darkness.
Twelve
James slammed his Explorer into park, yanking the keys out as his eyes took in the inferno in front of him. Ally had called panicking from the scene. She’d said something about a fire and to hurry. Then the call had blinked out.
Grady and Finn were right behind him, their poker game abandoned and long forgotten.
“Where?” Finn asked worriedly.
James glanced around the scene. Three fire trucks were working to extinguish the blaze, but it was clear the building was a lost cause. A group of people, many dressed in bathrobes and pajamas, were congregated by a group of police cars off to the right. That’s the direction James pointed. “There.”
The three brothers rushed that way. The air was thick with smoke, casting a haze across the entire area. James searched the crowd for a familiar face.
Grady found Sophie first, rushing to her and pulling her into his arms. “Are you okay? What happened?”
“We were just sitting around drinking and talking,” Sophie said. “Mandy noticed the smoke smell first. We broke out the window and went down the fire escape. Mandy used a hammer.”
Grady ran his hands up and down Sophie’s arms, pressing his lips to her cheek. “You’re okay, right? You’re not burned or anything?”
“No, I’ve already been checked out,” Sophie said. “They sent me over here to wait.”
“Where is everyone else?” Finn asked.
“I think they’re still being evaluated,” Sophie replied. “They wouldn’t let me stay over there. The city manager is going to be hearing from me Monday, I can promise you that.”
“Give them hell,” James growled. “I’m going over there. I don’t care what they say.”
“I’m coming with you,” Finn said.
“Me, too,” Sophie piped in. “I want to make sure everyone is okay. I was the first one down the fire escape. It all happened really quickly after that.”
Grady wrapped his arm around Sophie’s shoulders, snuggling her into his side. “Stay close to me, okay? Don’t let anyone separate us.”