Burning orange flames claw their way high into the sky with plumes of thick, black smoke billowing from the tips of the fire. The heat pouring off the fire is immense, washing away any hint of a chill clinging to my skin. Sweat immediately prickles over my skin as my heart stutters back into function as I suck in a breath, forcing my lungs back into obedience. The flames lick around the burning carcass of what looks like a vehicle parked across the street from the nightclub, and a crowd of people scurries about in front of the club. They cluster together for a better look, eyes and mouths wide as they take in the horror before them.
Was it a bomb? I’d been told of these things. I’d even heard of the other clubs being blown up but seeing it for myself…
There has to be some kind of explanation. This can’t be real!
I stare at the fire until my eyes burn, tears filling them as my body tries to force me to blink, but I resist, completely rooted to the spot. The Uber driver turns to face me and I can see his mouth moving in my peripheral but I can’t tear my gaze away from the blaze to focus on what he’s saying.
I take a step, then another, dragging myself away from the roots holding me to the spot, then I break into a sprint towards the fire and towards the club.
No, no no no!!
What’s happened?
Why now?
Why tonight!
I skid to a stop near the edge of the crowd, panting, as a firefighter darts across my path from a fire engine parked just out of sight by the side of the club. They’re already here? It couldn’t have happened too long ago if the car is still burning.
Oh, God.
Then, to my right, an ear-splitting shriek carries its way over the noise of the crowd towards me, and I recoil as the pitch sparks a flare of pain in my ear.
“Cara!!”
I turn and Kimmy is pelting towards me, her hair flying wildly behind her and her mascara running thick and black down her cheeks.
“Kimmy?”
“Cara!” she screams again, and the moment we collide, I can’t breathe. The force nearly topples us as she winds her arms tight around my shoulders and collapses into violent sobs against my chest. I lift my arms, cuddling her back as Sadie crashes into us next, and I nearly lose my footing.
“Cara!” Sadie cries and flings herself into the group, cold hands clawing at my bare forearms. “We thought you were dead!”
“What?”
Kimmy wails louder, parting from the hug to grip my face and pet my cheeks.
“We thought you died!” she wails, and I pull my arms from Sadie’s grip to clutch Kimmy’s wrists as my heart stutters painfully in my chest.
Why would they think that?!
“What happened?!” I demand as deep heat punches up my spine.
Suddenly, large hands grip my shoulders and fling me around so hard my neck snaps to the side, and I yelp. The fingertips dig into the soft flesh of my shoulders so painfully that I start to recoil from the touch until I look up and come face to face with Killian, and all movement stills.
“Where thefuckwhere you?!” he roars at me and my lips part uselessly. His eyes are small and dark, his jaw so tense that the nerve is popping out on the right side, and his grip is so fierce I’m certain he’ll dislocate a shoulder if I move in the wrong direction.
“W-What?” I struggle to get the word out, and Killian shakes me so violently I lose my footing, held up purely by his grip. Sadie and Kimmy’s wails continue to echo in my ears.
“Wherewereyou, Cara?!” he yells again and fear spikes through my gut.
“The bathroom?” I offer lamely, and his grip tightens so savagely for a second that the urge to rip free of his grasp and run away rises. His eyes are so void of light that they’re penetrating right into my soul as if he can already see the new secret I carry. Then he pulls me towards him and crushes me to his chest, arms wrapping around me like vines, and his face buries into my hair.
“I thought Ilostyou,” he sighs so deeply that the sound reverberates through me, causing a tremble to rise in my limbs that I can’t quell. I close my eyes, breathing in his scent of sandalwood and leather as I clutch back at him.
“I’m okay!” I reassure against his shoulder, “but I don’t understand. What happened?”
“That’syourcar,” he snaps and he pries us apart, holding my shoulders once more. “Cara, your carblewup. There’s a body inside, and Callahan had said something about getting you to take him home, so when it happened, I thought—we thought—!”