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It’s hard to tell where his voice is coming from, though, even as he keeps calling my name. And as the smoke gets thicker, fear grips me.
What if I led us both into danger?
What if something terrible happens?
What if I never get to tell him how amazing the past few months with him have been?
That it’s all been so much more than fucking around and hanging.
It feels like a lesson I already learned with Kacey, and I should have said something sooner, told him how I really felt.
These thoughts flash by as I hear Ty beckoning me. “My voice…just follow my voice…”
I listen carefully, navigating until I hear it growing closer, and then I feel a hand, and Ty pulls me into what I assume must be the hall. Not sure, since I still can’t open my eyes.
I hold his hand as he escorts me through the house, anddespite being aware that there isn’t as much smoke around, it’s still too much. My lungs feel overwhelmed, my body trembling.
“I still can’t see,” I warn him.
“We’re getting close to the stairs. I’m gonna pick you up. Just be ready.”
I halt in place, and he practically scoops me right off the floor. I feel the jerkiness as he takes me down the stairs, still trying in vain to get the smoke to clear out of my lungs as I endure a fit that reminds me of the first time I had COVID. I can’t get a breath in…starting to feel lightheaded…and then everything goes black.
28
Ty
Ipace theER exam room, my nerves wrecked from everything that’s happened.
When I went to find Jaxon, I discovered him in his room with his earphones on, oblivious to the blaring alarm. After telling him to head out to the yard, I thought I heard Lance shouting from upstairs, so I went up, where I discovered it was all filled with smoke. When I reached Dax’s room, it was so clouded, I couldn’t even see Lance.
Everything else happened so fast, panic setting in as I scrambled to find my boyfriend.
I was relieved when I finally felt his hand, but he was coughing so much, and before I knew it, I was carrying him out of Sigma Alpha. After we reached safety, my relief shifted back to panic as I discovered Lance unconscious in my arms. Jaxon grabbed Frat Cat, and I called emergency services, watching as smoke billowed from the back of our house. Under normal circumstances, it would have been hard enough seeing our place being ravaged by fire, but my only concern was for my boyfriend. Making sure he was still breathing. Getting help to him as soon as possible.
The EMTs arrived on the scene before the fire trucks.
“How are you feeling?”
“Relax as much as you can. You’re doing great.”
The ride in the ambulance was chaotic as an EMT asked me questions while another worked with Lance, who was coming to but couldn’t respond easily. “We’re going to intubate you,” the EMT said. “This is fairly routine for smoke inhalation injuries. Just a precautionary measure to keep your airway open.” It was a struggle to watch them put that tube down his throat, but I didn’t give a fuck what they had to do as long as he was okay.
When we arrived at the ER, I answered another series of questions while hospital personnel took Lance off for treatment and testing, leaving me on my own in an exam room, and so overwhelmed, I struggled to work out what to do next.
I should check in with Jaxon, who’d texted to let me know he was taking Frat Cat to the vet.
But first, I needed to call Lance’s parents. An EMT had given me Lance’s phone to get ahold of them, and I talked to his dad briefly to let them know what was going on. They were on the road to visit family, a few hours out already, so it would take them a while to get back here.
As I’m about to pull out my phone, I hear a familiar voice from the hall. “Which room did they say?”
The hell?
I hurry out the door, spotting Ryan and Marty heading toward me in jackets and loincloths, earning looks from the personnel and patients in the hallway. I want to call out to them, but it’s a strain to get words out right now, so I flag them down, and Ryan kicks up his pace, jogging over, Marty following.
“How is he?” Marty asks, still a few yards away.
“They said everything would be fine, but I figure they tell everyone that. And he was unconscious for a minute, and they intubated him to make sure he was getting oxygen. I think hemight’ve passed out again…or they gave him a sedative. I can’t remember. Then they came and put me here. And…”