Lorna sounded so sure of herself. I thought I was the one getting answers but all I was getting was more confused.
Her mouth twitched. “I should have done this the first time…”
She turns and the flames behind her sizzle. They are whole, abundant. She must have been in here for a while. The two untouched logs since I found this place are now charred black.
The embers crack along the brick but it’s almost strange how the heat doesn’t seem to affect her. The hotness fanning her hair across her face. If anything, they make her thrive. Elbow curving as she raises her arm higher.
I bolt and she grunts, staggering from the force of my body. My arms snake around her stomach and latch onto her waist. Spinning her away from the fire.
Her intoxicated state working in my favor. Legs wobbling as she shrieks. The heel of her shoe catching on the rug.
The book falls from her grasp as we both tumble to the ground. I try to catch myself at the last second. The inside of my palm slicing into the table’s edges.
I don’t have time to focus on that. I needed to get my book back. It was laying feet away discarded on the tile.
I was close, Lorna was closer.
Grunting, she takes the heel of her toe and kicks it away and I cry out. Paining ripping through my scalp as she yanks at my hair.
She hesitates only a second but it’s all I need, and I attack.
My elbow worked in automatic succession, crashing into her rib cage. Her back arches at the same time her stomach dips. I rear my head back with unrelenting force and hear a crack.
In her shock, her feet shuffle as her arms swing, her head hitting the edge of the couch, knocking herself out cold.
My jaw gritted. Breathing through my nose.
Running over, I grab for my book, tucking it protectively into my chest. Feeling lightheaded but I swallow pulling myself together.
I’m at the door, my hand on the knob… but I can’t do it. I can’t open it, not yet.
I turn around.
Checking Lorna’s pulse, it was steady, she would be fine. I smirk other than a few new bruises and a broken nose.
The watering can comes in handy as I make quick work of filling it and putting out the flames. Lorna may be a bitch, but no one deserved to be stuck in a room if a fire broke out.
A chill shot its way down my spine.I should know.
I look back once more, her body in the same sprawled out position, snoring in her slumber. Nodding, satisfied I’d done the right thing and then I was out.
fifty-four
Rory
IknewColewasat practice, but I texted him anyway. His response was immediate, and it wasn’t long before he was calling me demanding to know more.
“What happened,” he orders in lieu of a hello. I could hear the grated edge in his voice.
I try and give him a basic rundown, but he wasn’t having it. I heard the squeaking of the shoes. A whistle, more shuffling, and then it quieted like he moved somewhere else.
Had Cole called me while he was still on the court?
Iceman wanted answers but I wanted off the line. I could hear more yelling in the background from Coach Boone.
I should have waited to tell him. I wasn’t sure why I had felt the need to after anyway. Always handling things, myself in the past.
More voices and then. “Hold on, Rory,” Cole grates out. His agitation was prominent.