I’m trapped.
No, I don’t want to die, but I don’t want to put my loved ones at risk. Maybe it’s weak, but I’m not sure I can live in the hell Mitch plans for my life. I’m not sure I can do it even to protect the people I care about. It’s abundantly clear that Mitch plans to make my life hell on earth. He’ll control my every move by using the people I love as leverage. As long as I live, they won’t be safe.
With that in mind, I close my eyes. I breathe in the smoke and cough but continue trying to inhale. I do this because I’ve always heard that when people are trapped in house fires that it’s not the fire that gets them—it’s the smoke. People die of smoke inhalation long before the fire gets a chance to do its damage. That sounds much less painful than letting the fire kill me. I let my body go limp, and I continue breathing. I close my eyes so that I don’t have to see Mitch. I don’t want his face to be the last thing I see before I die. I picture Reed. The one man that I had given my entire heart to years ago. I had tried to make a go of my marriage, but now I see that no matter what I did, it would have been useless. How could it have worked? I didn’t even know the man that I am married to.
In the end, it turns out that I’m as stupid as the man who pretended to be my father always said I was. Briefly, I wonder if my mother will cry when she finds out I died. I can’t see her even caring.
The only person who might miss me is Reed.
I’m starting to feel woozy, and I give into it. In the distance, I can hear sirens and do my best to try and fill my lungs with more smoke.
“Hang on, Mrs. Lane. We’re going to get you out of there.”
I had stopped feeling panic until I heard that voice.
“N…no,” I squeak causing me to cough uncontrollably. It’s painful because of the way that Mitch choked me earlier and maybe because of the smoke I’ve been inhaling. Still, I force myself to go on. “Stop,” I croak.
“Don’t you worry. We’ll have you out in no time. The crews just need to finish putting out the fire.”
“No. Please don’t,” I beg, but there’s a loud sound in the background, and I know it’s draining out my cries. I try to take in more smoke. I force my eyes to open, and there’s a firefighter crouched down across from my window.
“Just one more minute,” he says as if trying to reassure me. I shake my head no. That’s a different kind of pain, and I cry out not expecting that pain.
“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. They’re going to get you out, and when I get you home, I’ll take care of you. I’ll make sure you’re safe and sound,” Mitch says, and my heart stops.
I hear the groaning of metal, and as I look to my side, I can see they are peeling back the car door. The firefighter that has been trying to reassure me is on all fours, inching closer to me. His hand reaches out and holds mine.
“You’re safe now. We’re going to get you out,” he says, and I fight the pain and the wooziness to shake my head again.
“No,” I tell him again. “Let me die,” I plead with the fireman. “Please, just let me die.”
I see his eyes go wide. I know he heard me. I can also see that he’s not going to give me what I want most. He’s intent on saving me. I wonder how he will feel if he ever finds out that he may as well have just sign my death warrant. I can see the surety of that in Mitch’s cold smile…
CHAPTER 13
Reed
“Your boyfriend is kind of an asshole, Juniper Sellers.”
“He can be. He looks hot in a pair of jeans, though,” she laughs, wiping down the bar while her boyfriend starts snoring, having drank one too many yet again. I don’t judge a man getting drunk. Hell, I’ve been crawling in a bottle much more since leaving Macon in the dust. Greg, however, has been drunk almost every single night and if not, then, he’s been buzzed. I get the feeling that if it wasn’t for Junie, he’d fall completely apart.
Hell, maybe I’m being judgmental because God knows I fell apart when it came to losing Callie. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to put all my pieces back together again.
“I’m fucking Humpty Dumpty.”
“What?”
My gaze jerks over to Junie as I realize I spoke the words out loud. I yawn and push away my drink. Perhaps I’ve had too much, too.