But this wasn’t a curiosity to her, a tragedy of a building in town.
It was a repeat of history.
The scream that came from her startled those around her; the sound ripped from her soul.
“Cassidy—” Marge reached for her, alarmed.
But she was already moving, knowing she couldn’t do anything, knowing she couldn’t donothing. The few people who were stupid enough to stand in her way were viciously shoved aside, her desperate cries of “No, no, no, no,” punctuating every footstep.
Her heart was breaking, her world collapsing, the edges becoming dark.
Everything, everything. Hereverything.
His hand, slipping out of her grasp, the startled look in warm brown eyes. The awareness, the apology, the goodbye.Elijah.
She saw him leaning against his door jamb naked. His grin, the smolder in his dark eyes. Teasing her, seducing her, annoying her, frightening her, comforting her. She hated him; she loved him.Mac.
And she wasnotgoing to do this all over again; she couldn’t.
Flames danced through her tears as she raced forward.
She was not willing to let go.
“No! No!Stop!” someone yelled. The voice was hard to hear over her own sobs. She didn’t heed the words. No one would stop her.
“Sweetheart, no!Day!”
She shrieked as she was grabbed, her instinct to fight off anyone and anything that would prevent her from getting to him. She was jerked around hard and then was face to face with Mac. With a soul-wrenching cry, she threw her arms around him, climbing him. Arms and legs wrapped tightly around him; her entire body trembling with the force of her tears. “Mac! My god, Mac!”
Chapter sixty-six
Mac
STUCK WITH ME
Macheldontoher, an arm encircling her waist, the other holding her head to his shoulder as her body trembled. He was having a hard time maintaining his own composure as he ducked into the alley with her. He’d almost had a heart attack, seeing what had looked like a suicide run toward a building on fire.
He fell back against the far brick wall, gasping out, “Day.”
“No, Mac, no!” she cried out against his neck, her voice bordering on hysteria. “I can’t do this again; I can’t. I can’t lose you, too!”
Mac sucked in a breath, holding her even tighter, wondering if she even knew what she was saying. She was in shock; she was babbling; words were falling out of her mouth. She’d had a scare—fuck—they both had. She’d fucking saved his life by being in the Trading Post and delaying him by a couple of minutes.
He’d been half a block away when the building exploded in a hail of fire and glass; the red door had blown across the street in front of him. His training kicked in, and he’d taken immediate cover in the alley, waiting and watching, anticipating the next explosion. Truthfully, he was fighting every trigger; the sounds, the burning smell. He was fighting against the overwhelming urge to give in to something worse.
And damn lucky he’d stayed frosty and hadn’t lost his own shit because then there she’d come, barreling toward the inferno like she was going to throw herself into it. She’d already passed him by the time he saw her. No time to think, he just reacted, charging out of the alley after her. She’d been heading straight toward danger, and he wasn’t about to let that happen.
For fuck’s sake.
Now she was clinging to him as if her life depended on it, telling him she couldn’t lose him.
Where the fuck had that come from?
Mac caressed her back. “Cassidy.”
“No! No, you don’t get to talk, you don’t get to say anything. I’m not letting go, Mac. I can’t let go.Pleasedon’t make me let go.”
Those words; he knew what they meant to her. His heart shattered.