Chapter 39
Denver
Rubbing my arms to fend off the chill, I dial Axel’s number, and he answers quickly.
“Perfect timing! I’m on my way home.”
I grin. “Good. Can I bring a plus-one to your wedding?”
He cheers and I laugh. “Yes! You’re really coming?”
“I really am.”
“As long as that plus-one isn’t Dad, that’s fine by me,” he says. “We’re thinking August. It cools down a bit, so you won’t be a lobster in the sun.”
I tut. “I buy stocks in sunscreen. I’ll be fine.”
“The sun hits different out here. I was pink for the first three months.”
I laugh. “Well—”
Heat hits me. I’m lifted off my feet, my back slamming into something hard, my head snapping back and hitting a solid surface.
Stars burst behind my eyes and stones bite into my skin, pressure building in my face until my blood coats my tongue.
A screeching fills my ears, and smoke invades my nose, and the darkness is overwhelming, but so comforting, so close, so—
Car alarms gnaw at my brain. I blink, staring into a blue sky, dust and stones raining down on me. Smoke mars a sky that should be clear, and I try to move, to turn onto my side, but pain radiates through my shoulder so much that I cry out.
I cough and splutter against the dust and try to focus, shifting inch by inch until I’m facing Colt’s house.
Half of the building is gone.
No. No, no, no.
“Colt.” I try to shout it, but my throat won’t obey. With my only working arm, I pull myself through debris, trying to get to the hole torn through the back of the house.
The light fixtures swing free, the floor above us fully visible, the bed from the room upstairs dangling between the space. Sparks of electricity hiss and bite as wires twist, still shuddering from the explosion.
The island. He was behind the kitchen island.
Each drag is agony. I grit my teeth, the taste of blood making me want to gag, but I ignore it. I ignore all begs to rest and give in to the darkness. Warmth is dripping down the back of my head, but I can’t think about that. I have to hold onto consciousness. I have to find Colt.
I grunt as I see him. Lying beneath debris. His skin whitened from dust.
“Colt,” I cry out, my arm torn to ribbons from the glass and stones.
I touch his face. “Colt, please wake up.” One side of his face is coated in blood, and tears burn my eyes as I whisper his name again and again.
“Please don’t leave me. Please …” My lips tremble and my throat burns and my world crumbles. “Don’t leave me.”
The darkness curls around me. My vision blurs from tears and pain. So much pain. I rest my head on his chest, my body slumping beside his. Debris shifts against my back as I close my eyes. Just for a second. A minute.
And in the quiet fog of my mind, I hear sirens.
“They’re coming,” I say into his chest. “We can wait. They’re coming. Stay awake. They’re coming.” I relax into him, and the pain ebbs away. I open my eyes, slow twists of dust curling around us, the morning sun turning the disaster into diamonds in the air. I breathe slowly. Slower.
I’ll rest.
Just for a minute.