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Which meant he had to keep fighting as hard as he could.

“I'm sorry, Alannah. I truly am. I should have continued keeping my distance from you.”

There was so much guilt and pain in Jake’s voice that she snapped around to look up at him. Instead of his usual gruff expression, the same raw guilt and pain she’d just heard in his voice was written all over his face.

While she absolutely got why he was blaming himself, that wasn't what she wanted. Not at all. It was not his fault that he’d brought these people to her.

She was his best friend and he should be able to come to her with his problems. And he’d stayed away for three long months, leaving her to wonder if she’d done something wrong to cost her his friendship.

She’d much rather this.

Huh.

Actually, she really would rather this, even with her life in danger and all the close calls she’d had over the last few days.

Because without Jake in her life, she felt so alone.

She had other friends, but none could even hold a candle to her best friend.

Not because they weren't great people who cared about her and who she had fun with, just because they weren't … Jake.

Stepping up to him, she didn't hesitate, just wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his chest. Right above his heart so she could hear the steady beat of it. Even though she’d been the target of the second two fires didn't mean that he wasn't the real target. She was just something to be used to try to manipulate him. Alannah couldn’t imagine how bad that made him feel, but she didn't want him taking on guilt that wasn't his to bear.

The people to blame were the ones who had raped his stepmom then gone to the extreme to try to cover it up.

“Don’t blame yourself, Jake. I don’t,” she whispered.

For a long moment, he didn’t say anything, and his arms hung limply at his sides. Then, ever so slowly, he lifted them and curled them around her.

Cocooned in his embrace, a small sigh slipped past her lips and she nestled closer.

They might be best friends, but they didn't often touch, at least not like this.

A quick hug, sure, a high five or fist bump, definitely, but they didn't stand there looking like a pair of lovers entwined in each other’s arms.

Lovers.

The word whispered through her mind.

It made her the worst best friend in the world, but last night when she’d been leaving the bathroom wrapped in nothing but a towel, and bumped into Jake wearing nothing but a towel, she’d wanted him.

Unable to tear her gaze away from his ripped body, all she’d been able to think about was how good it would be to touch and kiss every inch of his tanned skin. She’d seen him topless before, they worked out at her gym together a lot, and they hung out at the beach in the summer.

But last night had been different.

She’d felt … things. Things that grew as he held her tenderly.

“You should blame me,” he whispered, and she could tell that he meant that one hundred percent.

“It’s up to me who I blame or don’t blame. And I don’t blame you. I blame the people who raped an innocent woman then tried to cover it up. But you wouldn't be my grumpy if you didn't go straight to the negatives,” she teased.

“My sunshine.” A hand swept down her back, and she felt a kiss to the top of her head before Jake released her and took a step back.

There was something in his voice just then, something she hadn't heard before, only she wasn't sure exactly what it was.

Now wasn't the time to try to figure it out. Or obsess about this sudden shift in her feelings. It felt like things were changing in a way that had already taken off, and there was no stopping it. Alannah just didn't know if the change was going to be a good one or a bad one.

Please be a good one .

“Come on, let’s go upstairs and pack you some more clothes,” Jake said as he headed across the street toward her apartment building.

Hurrying after him, she caught his hand as he headed for the front doors. “Let’s go into the parking garage first. I need to grab a few things from my car.”

After the fire at the park when she’d gone home with Jake, one of his brothers had driven her car back to her building for her.

They’d grabbed the bag from her friend’s house and taken it to Jake’s, but after the third fire at the grocery store, it was apparent she couldn’t stay on her own, and she wasn't bringing trouble to any of her other friends.

So she’d be staying with Jake for the foreseeable future, but that meant she needed more stuff.

They were there to pack her a bigger suitcase, but she also needed her other set of headphones.

The ones she’d been wearing at the park had been lost in the fire, but she had a second set in her car’s glovebox.

With Jake watching their surroundings and her worrying that all of a sudden a fire was going to appear out of nowhere, they headed for the parking garage beneath the building.

Her parking space was her favorite thing about the whole building.

It sounded silly, but she wasn't that great at parking her car, and her spot was right at the end of the entry path, before it turned the corner, which meant she could drive straight in, then reverse right out without having to be careful about turning without hitting another car.

Sometimes, it was the small things that made you the happiest.

At her car, she pulled out her keys from her purse, unlocked it, and hopped into the passenger seat so she could more easily reach the glovebox.

Jake stayed outside, she assumed because it was easier to keep watch. That was fine, it wasn't going to take her long to retrieve the headphones, and then they could go up to her apartment and pack.

It was underwear—specifically whether she owned any sexy lingerie—that was on her mind as she opened the glovebox. Which meant it took her a moment to realize there was a folded piece of paper lying against the pair of green headphones that were the only thing her ears could tolerate.

While she wasn't a neat freak, she did like to keep things organized and the only things she kept in there were a first aid kit, a spare phone charger, a travel mug she’d use if she stopped off for coffee since she hated those disposable cups they gave out, and the headphones.

Her fingers trembled as they reached out to grab the piece of paper.

No one other than whichever of Jake’s brothers had driven her car there had been in her vehicle in months. Why would one of them leave her a note when they had her number? They could just call or text if they had something to say to her.

Knowing it was a bad idea and she wouldn't want to know what the note said didn't seem to stop her unfolding the slip of paper.

Back off or the girl will die.

Her heart about stopped beating in her chest when she read those words.

“Jake!”

At the sound of her panicked voice, he quickly jumped into the driver’s seat of her vehicle. “What's wrong?”

Instead of answering, she just shoved the piece of paper at him, no longer wanting to touch it as though that could eradicate the words from her mind.

“What the hell?” he roared. Anger and fear rolled off him, adding to her own, and filling the car.

A flash of something in the rear vision mirror caught her attention. A whimper of terror tumbled from her lips when she realized what it was.

Jake saw it too, she knew he did by the curse that fell from his mouth.

A burning car was barreling down the ramp right toward them.