Christ, and I even did him a favor. Nolan’s barn was so badly wired a single spark would have burned the son of a bitch to the ground. I thought I fixed it.
Instead, I got the front-row seat.
And so did Josie.
Something muffled her screams. I clawed toward the sound, praying it was her and not a figment of my imagination, a hallucination from the smoke and head trauma.
The fire moved too fast, and I shuffled by inches, not feet. Where the hell was she? Why couldn’t she move?
My hand struck her bare foot. She kicked, and the muffled cry wavered.
I got her.
And she was alive.
But not for long. We were surrounded by too much smoke, too much heat, and the hungry flames that licked the floor. I reached for her, ripping the tape from her mouth.
“Just go!” Josie struggled against the ropes that bound her to the support beam. “I can’t get out. Save yourself.”
“I’m not leaving you.” I coughed through the smoke. “I’ll untie you.”
“Maddox—”
“I’m not leaving you!”
Josie squirmed, but the ropes didn’t release their hold. I searched my jacket for my knife, but the movement was too quick and my fingers too dulled by the blow to my head. I dropped the blade into the darkness.
“Maddox, go! I already took a year of your life away!”
“And you’re living the rest with me!”
I groped the floor, scraping against the boards, the support post, and finally, nicking the blade. The sharp edge drove into my hand. I didn’t care.
I’d chop through my own arm if it meant freeing Josie from the ropes. The blade didn’t cut smooth, or maybe my head leaked more brains than blood. Josie turned, flexing the rope. She wove her arms up and down, tearing through the fibers. I lurched.
The knife struck her wrist.
She shouted, but the rope frayed and she was freed. She didn’t bother holding the wound. The knife tipped from my fingers, but she seized it and worked on the other ropes.
The smoke burned in my lungs. A rough cough battered my head. I leaned forward. Too much.
I went down.
“Maddox!” Josie didn’t stop sawing through the rope. “Get up! Please!”
“I’m up.” A lie. At least I could still lie. That was impressive for a man about to die.
“I need you!” Josie wiggled, shifted, tugged at the ropes. Her arms slipped out, but a thick cord bundled her feet. “Stay awake. We gotta get out of here.”
I was awake.
Think I forgot to talk.
Or I couldn’t. Probably why I was having trouble moving my arms. Legs.
Everything.
Thoughts.
Eyes. They burned in the fucking smoke.
“Maddox!” She escaped and leaned over me, trying to pull me up. But Josie was a hundred pounds of sugar. “Come on. Please.”
“Go.” The word grunted from my chest. “I’ll follow.”
“No, you won’t.”
Not as good a liar as I thought.
I rolled. The motion blinded me then cracked me with pain. A flicker of heat drew so near Josie screamed. She took my arm and pulled. I lurched. She pulled again.
A thundering crash shook the barn. Josie dove over me as the beams above shattered, and the fire leapt from the roof and into the sky. The ceiling collapsed, shredding timbers and shards of wood to the floor.
The entire barn was on fire, and the fiery wreckage blocked one of the doors.
“Maddox, let’s go.” Josie begged me to move.
Her words wavered and broke through her coughs. She pulled me, and the pain erupted from my head. I couldn’t figure out which was up, down, heaven, or hell.
“Don’t do this.” She forced me onto my hands and knees. “Get up, damn it!”
No. She was wasting time. She had to get out. I swore. So did she.
“Maddox, I’m pregnant.”
That word was more of a blinding shock than the strike of the metal tool against my head. I blinked. Grit and ash ground into my eyes. I drew a breath to speak but only coughed.
Pregnant.
She was…
And she and my baby were trapped.
This wasn’t happening. I had to get her out. I couldn’t die, worthless and pathetic, on the floor of a burning barn. It wasn’t a surge of strength that forced me to move. It was terrified adrenaline.
I finally had my family—Josie, a baby, everything I ever wanted.
And it was on the brink of ruin.
She yelled. I forced my arms forward, sliding against the uneven floor. She ground her way at my side, clawing ahead and reaching the door before me. She couldn’t kick it open. It stuck in the frame.
One of us had to force it. I swore a breathless groan and struggled to my feet. The air choked me, driving through my lungs like each breath slashed with knives. I couldn’t see. It didn’t matter. I knew where to aim.