Page 9 of Ashes

Kenna leaned back against the leather booth, assessing me. Her eyebrows winged up at the expression my face must’ve been sporting. “Who were you looking at?”

I glanced back at where he was sitting, only to find him gone. I scanned the room, but there were no signs of him. “Oh, no one,” I said, unexpected disappointment delivering a punch to my stomach. When I saw Kenna gearing up for a deeper interrogation, I changed the subject. “What were you saying?”

Kenna didn’t push me any further and continued her previous train of thought. I pushed away the regret of not walking up to the stranger and joined their discussion.

Since I was off work tomorrow for the big day, we spent the next few hours catching up and talking about Kenna’s upcoming wedding until it was almost closing time.

When I lay in bed later that night, I wasn’t thinking about how I was signing my life away to a stranger tomorrow, but rather about how a different one had set my skin ablaze with a simple look.

CHAPTER 2

JAMAL

On. Off.

On.

Off.

My flicks weresteady as I let the voices of our team fade into the background. They were discussing our newest potential client and I was only attending this meeting because Ihadto.

I always preferred delegating this part of the job to Kai since he was better at talking to our employees, whereas I preferred demanding, but we’d agreed to take turns on these meetings when we started the company and today was mine.

I pressed my finger down on the button, releasing the flammable gas and letting the flame dance against my skin.It was something I’d been doing out of habit ever since I was a little boy.

Ever since that night.

My gaze was hypnotized watching the flames fold into themselves, feeding on the surrounding particles to burn brighter, hotter,strongeruntil it fulfilled its intended purpose. But at least this time, I was in control of how close it could get.

Control what it consumed.

I learned early on that life could change in the flick of a match. All it took was one little spark for everything to go up in flames until it was the only thing left standing on top of a pile of ashes.

How ironic was it that I craved the feel of fire in my hands when it had destroyed everything I’d ever loved. When twenty years ago, it had brutally murdered my parents and I’d barely escaped it.

Flames almost suffocated me, but now the flicker of a flame felt like the only effective balm for my nerves.

Before the fire, my father had been working on his latest case for months without any breakthrough when his director asked to bring on a fresh pair of eyes to help solve it.

Noah, who was well-known as the academy’s prodigy at the time, had been assigned as my dad’s new partner after successfully helping in a similar case during his training.

They had both been working on the case for a fewweeks when they’d found discrepancies that could finally lead to tangible grounds for an arrest. That same day, my father had left the office early to come home since it was my mother’s birthday. Noah had, unsurprisingly, stayed behind since he had been—still was—married to his work.

In the middle of the night, he’d received a tip from one of his informants about a hit that had been ordered on our family. Despite him rushing over to our house to warn my father, it had already been too late.

He hadn’t been able to go back for my parents, but he had got me out just in time before more damage was done.

Pressure.

That’s the first sensation I was aware of as I regained consciousness. My head felt like it might explode.

I peeled my eyes open to see where I was, but the fluorescent light seared into my pupils, so I pinched them shut. An incessant beeping got louder, so I lifted my hand to shut my alarm, but tightness in my back prevented me from doing so.

My entire body ached.

Noah’s voice broke through the fog I was under. “Jamal?”

I opened my mouth to answer him, but it was bone-dry.