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“Do you smell the smoke?”Eb gritted as he turned for the door.
Henry barked and bounded toward the open door.
“Your house is on fire.I’m getting you and your precious dog out of here so you can both keep living.”
“Fire?”Naomi repeated as her eyes widened.An old, never-forgotten terror clawed at her insides.
They were in the hallway.Then rushing for the stairs.And, yes, she could smell the smoke.He’d flipped on one of the hallway lights and she could even see the smoke drifting lazily in the air.Not too strong, not yet.
He flew down the stairs with her still cradled in his arms.She coughed because the smoke was so much thicker down there.
My home is on fire.Her home.The only thing she had left.Her future.Her head whipped around as her hands suddenly clung tightly to his neck.The flames were coming from her den.From the area where she’d had all her paint.But the fire—it wasn’ttoobad.Not yet.Not as bad as it could be.Not as bad as she’d seen it before.“Stop!”
He didn’t.He barreled for her front door.Only when he got there, he had to put her down so he could unbolt the door, and she used that time to break away from him and run toward the den.
“Naomi!”He grabbed her from behind and hauled her back against him.“We don’t runtowardfires.We are not firefighters.We get the hell away from them!”
“Wetry to save our house!”She twisted and turned in his grip.“Get my dog out.Please!”
“I’m getting you and the damn dog out!”
“He’s not adamn—”Naomi stopped.Sucked in a breath and tasted smoke.“I have a fire extinguisher in the closet.”How bad were the flames?Big and twisting, but…manageable.Still manageable.Hopefully.
They were wasting time.Every second was vital.And if he opened that front door, he’d introduce more oxygen to the scene.The flames would flare higher.“Let me go!”
“Naomi…”
She tore from his arms.Grabbed for the closet door.The one right near the entrance to the sprawling house.Her desperate fingers closed around the fire extinguisher.She grabbed it and rushed for the flames.“Get Henry out of here!”His barks haunted her.
The fire wasn’t too big yet, was it…?
The flames chased up the side of the wall.They ate at the couch.
Okay, yes, they were big.They were terrifying.They reminded her of the past she’d never escape.
She pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher.Aimed the extinguisher at the bottom of those twisting, heaving flames.She squeezed the handle.A white cloud shot from the fire extinguisher, and she yelled in surprise because Naomi hadn’t been expecting such a powerful burst.For a second, she almost lost her grip on the extinguisher, then she tightened her hold and swung it from side to side as she tried to hit all the flames.
And—
Another fire extinguisher began spraying.
“You don’t listen for shit,” Eb told her.He sprayed at the flames.Flames that were flickering and dying.
Where was her dog?
They sprayed.Kept battling until the fire extinguishers were empty.Until the flames sputtered away.When her extinguisher stopped shooting, she let it drop to the floor.Eb sprayed longer, hitting the flames that lingered on the edge of her curtains.
In the distance, she heard the shriek of a siren.
Smoke lingered in the air, and she coughed.
He dropped his extinguisher and immediately reached for her.“Now we’re getting the hell out.”
The fire had stopped, hadn’t it?Wearily, she nodded.Tension held her shoulders in a tight grip as Naomi stumbled for the door.She’d barely taken two steps when Eb scooped her into his arms.
This time, she didn’t fight him.
They made it outside.She sucked in fresh air.Henry wasn’t barking, but he was right with them.The stars glittered overhead.