Page 6

While she hadn't had a great home life as a child, and she’d struggled to make genuine connections with people even as she grew older because she was so desperate to be loved and belong that sometimes she didn't see people for who they truly were, she’d never been in physical danger like that.

Never wondered if she was going to survive.

Never come close enough to death that she could feel its soft touch as it reached out for her.

To say she was shaken by the ordeal was a massive understatement. It was all she could think about, and the snatched pockets of sleep she’d managed only because she was completely exhausted by the time she crashed had been filled with dreams, reliving the trauma.

Even though she’d been in a house with one of her best friends, the woman’s husband, and their four kids, Alannah had never felt so alone.

What she’d needed was Jake, but something had held her back from saying yes when he’d asked her to stay the night at his place.

It wasn't because she blamed him for what had almost happened, she didn't. If someone was after his family, then he had no control over that.

It wasn't because she didn't want to be around him, in fact, she’d craved nothing more and maybe that was why she’d said no.

She’d needed him, not just wanted him, and for some reason that had felt wrong.

Alannah had chalked it up to the high stakes and overflowing emotion from wondering if she was going to die. She’d also done her best not to think about it.

It wasn't like she didn't have a ton of other stuff to worry about.

Which was why she’d decided she needed this.

It was the only way Alannah could come up with to try to convince her mind and her body that she was no longer trapped.

She’d never suffered from claustrophobia before, but she was pretty sure she would going forward.

It clung to her skin even though she’d scrubbed and scrubbed in the shower when she got to her friend’s house, but that feeling of being trapped remained.

For how long she wasn't sure, but hopefully not forever.

Sliding on her earphones, she set her playlist to her classical music selection, what she listened to when she needed to relax, and set off down the path.

Running had always been her escape.

As a child, she’d been the unwanted sister.

As a small infant, her older sister had almost perished to SIDS.

Found unbreathing in her crib by their mother, a pediatric neurosurgeon, who had performed CPR and managed to get Amy breathing again.

After that, her sister had been the star of the family.

The golden child, the one who was fawned over and spoiled to the extreme.

On the other hand, she was the unwanted second child.

Her parents hadn't planned on more kids after almost losing their firstborn, but her mother had accidentally gotten pregnant when birth control failed, so along she came.

Unwanted, and her parents made sure she knew it.

There was no limit on what her parents would spend on hobbies and activities that Amy wanted to try out. Over the years, her sister had tried pretty much everything under the sun, and was praised for giving it a go no matter how good she was or how hard she’d tried.

She didn't get the same treatment.

Told that they weren't wasting money on her, Alannah had gravitated to the one hobby she didn't need anything else for.

Running.

All she needed were a pair of sneakers and some comfortable clothes, and she was good to go.

Needing to escape her home where she was constantly being shoved aside, told she wasn't good enough, or smart enough, or pretty enough even though she worked hard in school, got better grades than her sister, treated people better than Amy did, and looked exactly the same as her parents’ golden child.

But no one could take running from her. It offered her freedom to let go of everything else, to put her brain in a zone where thinking wasn't necessary, where she could stop feeling for a while and just be.

With the wind in her hair and her feet pounding the paths of the local streets and parks, Alannah had found her happy place.

And since her parents were always happy for any excuse to have her out of the house, they never restricted her running time even as they seemed to enjoy taking away other privileges.

Today, though, it wasn't freedom from her unloving parents that she sought but freedom from the mess her entire life had become.

Thankfully, no one other than her and Jake were hurt yesterday. The childcare worker had revealed that a man in a maintenance outfit had requested she leave the space with the children, so no one else had ever been in any danger. Everyone else had filed out when the fire alarms went off.

Only the basement had been damaged by the fire and the resulting efforts of the firefighters to put it out. But since it was the basement, there was the potential for structural problems for the entire building so she couldn’t reopen until it had been evaluated.

Then there was insurance to deal with, and the fears that she’d lose members while it was closed, or that people would never come back because they no longer believed she could offer them a safe place to work out.

If she lost her gym …

No.

She couldn’t even allow herself to think that right now. The gym was her baby, her livelihood. She’d put everything she had into it and was so proud of how successful it had become.

What would she do if she lost it?

Forcing all thoughts out of her head, Alannah just ran.

She had good speed, but it was her distance and endurance that had won her lots of awards when she was a kid.

Now she ran marathons a couple of times a year, but it wasn't about winning, it was just about losing herself in the smooth, steady movements of running.

Alannah was so in the zone that when something bright orange-red appeared in front of her, she startled.

It took a second for it to sink in what she was seeing.

Rubbing at her eyes, positive she had to be hallucinating, when the orange-red didn't disappear but instead started to grow, she knew this was no imaginary fire.

It was real.

Flames sprung to life in front of her, blocking the path she’d been taking through the trees.

Panic fluttered in her chest, and she froze.

How could there be a fire in the park?

How could there be another fire around her in two days?

Were they here now?

The men who were after Jake’s family?

She knew they were dangerous, but for some reason, she hadn't grasped fully just how dangerous. She’d thought she’d only been in danger because she was with Jake, never in a million years had she thought they would come after her when she was alone.

Spinning around so fast she stumbled and almost lost her footing, Alannah was about to take off back the way she’d come to backtrack to the parking lot and her car, when more flames sprung to life.

Behind her and in front of her.

Surrounding her.

Trapping her.

She was shaking so badly that she dropped her cell phone when she pulled it out of the pocket of her leggings.

Dropping to her knees, she scooped it back up. Knowing she should call 911 and report the fire, instead it was Jake’s name that she brought up on her phone. Jake’s number that she dialed. Jake’s voice that she desperately needed to hear.

“Sunshine, what's up?”

The sound of Jake’s voice had a sob building in her chest. She didn't want to be anywhere near fire ever again, but here it was, once again trapping her. “Jake,” she whimpered, it was all she could get out.

“What's wrong?”

His sharp voice ordered her to speak, but she couldn’t seem to make her voice work.

The flames were quickly consuming the trees around her. Fall might have started a few weeks ago, and the temperatures were beginning to drop, but it had been a dry summer, and that had continued into fall. It wasn't going to take long for the fire to close in on her.

“Alannah, tell me. Now.”

This time the command in his voice spurred her on. “There’s a fire.”

He cursed. Mumbled something that she didn't think was to her. “Where are you?”

Knowing his voice was coming out harsh because he was afraid for her didn't mean she didn't flinch at the ferocity in his words, and a whimper must have escaped, too, because when he spoke next his tone was gentle.

“Tell me where you are, sunshine, so I can come and get you.”

“The park. Running. I was running. The flames are everywhere, Jake. Surrounding me. I … I don’t think I can get through them.”

Which meant she’d escaped a fire one day only to be claimed by one the next.