“Take this,” I said and offered her my coat, the same one she’d worn earlier. I grabbed another jacket to put on. “Wait here. Let me tell Lincoln what we’re doing so he doesn’t worry.” I hurried down the basement steps, informed Lincoln and Skylar that we would check out the fire next door and see if anything suspicious stood out.
“That was fast.”
I had little to tell them, and I didn’t want Ariella going alone. I opened the front door and led her outside. “It’s hard to say, but if I trust my gut, they won’t be too far from here.” If someone had intentionally started the fire, they’d have stuck around watching the damage they caused.
With the hand on the small of her back, I led her through the forest and across the bridge. Smiling, she still wore the boots I’d given her. I bought them as a gift for my sister when she visited and never brought sensible shoes. The box had been shucked in the back of my closet and now had finally seen the light of day.
We crossed the bridge. Through the tree line, red lights flickered and flashed from the fire engine pulling into the driveway of her property.
She grumbled under her breath. “Would you look at that? The damned shed survived.” The structure had been on its last legs. It was no wonder the thick smoke hadn’t knocked the building over. “I guess I know where I’ll be living from now on,” she muttered and shoved her hands into her coat pockets.
There was no chance in hell I’d let her live in that crooked shed. “What about insurance money for the cabin?” Insurance would pay to rebuild the house and her living expenses up to a certain amount, depending on her coverage.
The firefighters unlatched the hose and used the reservoir of water available. There weren’t any fire hydrants nearby.
Water blasted the fire, causing a thicket of smoke to flood the area. I reached out, grabbing Ariella against me, and ducked my head into my jacket to breathe. The outside air burned my lungs.
She coughed on the plumes as the wind shifted direction toward us while we stood behind the property. “I don’t have insurance,” she choked out. The flames had been suffocated by water, smothering us in the process as the breeze picked up.
The gust of air brought the charred remnants ablaze, ash in the air, embers floating like fireflies gliding in the wind. My eyes burned, and Ariella continued to cough on the smoke.
We needed to turn around. This had been stupid and dangerous. I’d thrown her right into danger. The heaviness of the air filled with dark smoke turned me around. The bridge wasn’t visible. With one arm around her waist, I pulled her through the dense fog of smoke. I couldn’t even see my own hands in front of me.
I held my breath and pulled her tight against me so that she wouldn’t get lost and wander into further danger. Smoke burned my eyes. My nose tickled from the ash. This was my fault.
The breeze further picked up, and I gasped, needing a drink of air into my lungs. Ariella coughed and wheezed, the smoke bothering her far worse. The air caught beneath the charred remnants of the cabin, and the fire blazed back to life as we grew too close in the smoke to see.
Heat sizzled against my cheeks. I cursed and yanked Ariella closer, pulling her behind me. “Keep your arms around my waist,” I demanded. I needed my hands to feel my way through the trees and while I didn’t want to get burned, I wanted even less for her to be the one to discover the wild flames.
Skirting the fire, a blast of wetness smothered the flames momentarily. More smoke charged into the air. I coughed and stumbled forward. My eyes burned. Through the heat and warmth that had been nearby, still simmering on the foundation, I led us around the property. Sweat coated my cheeks and brow while my back pebbled with goosebumps from the chill.
Bringing her with me around the fire and away from the smoke, escaping harm’s way, I sensed the brightness before seeing anything clear. My vision blurred from the smoke, but one foot smacked the ground in front of the other.
Panting hard, I collapsed forward, away from the plumes of smoke, my knees on the icy cold snow breathing in the fresh air—the smoke behind us.
I heard the shouts of firefighters. I was no good to Ariella. My hands clutched the earth, gasping hard for each breath of oxygen that I could. With blurred eyes a man towered above me. A mask covered my lips and my vision wavered and blurred before the world went black.