“God-fucking-damnit,” he yells as I dash around him, grabbing my purse that contains my keys and run for the door.
I’m only inches away. My hand is outstretched, ready to twist the doorknob when he comes up behind me. He wraps his arms around me and slams me into the hard wood floor. My head bounces off the wood and I grow dizzy. My ears are ringing, and my vision blurs and grows dark. I can feel it, the darkness taking me.
“That’s more like it,” he says, catching me just as I fall. My fingers loosen up on my purse and it falls from my hands as he throws me over his shoulder and carries me through the apartment. Where’s he taking me? Oh no. To Hudson’s bedroom. As much as I want to fight, I can’t. My body is tired and weak, and my vision is blurring together. My head is screaming in pain, and my ears are ringing so loud, I can’t hear anything over it. The next thing I know, he’s throwing me onto the bed and I bounce hard, jarring me even more. As I lay there, I feel myself beginning to come down. The ringing begins to lessen, even though my head is still pounding. My vision starts to lighten back up, and things are doubling but coming into focus. When I look up, I see him crawling up the bed, ready to cover my body with his.
13
Hudson
It takes many hours of fighting to get the fire out and the building roped off since its structure integrity has been compromised. I managed to pull three people out of the blaze, all of whom were trapped on the second floor. The building was an old, shut-down factory, but homeless people, drug addicts, and runaways have been using it for shelter. The whole place was trashed, filled with ratty clothes that got left behind, dirty mattresses, empty bottles of booze, and drug paraphernalia.
It’s going on nine a.m. when we roll the firetruck out to go back to the station. I’m hot and soaked through with sweat. There’s soot covering my face, and my eyes burn from the smell of the smoke coming off of my gear, but I have this high pumping through my veins that I can’t ignore. I didn’t get much sleep last night and I got up early. I would normally be tired right now, but the adrenaline coursing through my veins keeps me up and alert, and I’m not ready to come back down.
When we get to the station, I strip down and pull my clothes back on. I look at my watch and see that it’s going on nine-thirty. Breakfast started an hour ago. If I hurry, I bet I can make it. I run to the bakery to grab a basket of muffins, not wanting to show up empty-handed. I place my order and hang out by the counter when Brad walks up to me.
“Hey, man.”
Surprise washes over me. “I thought you were having breakfast at your place?”
He nods. “Yeah, we were, but Mom and Dev got into it pretty badly. She stormed out and went to lay down in your room. Mom needed to get some fresh air, so we left Marco there and came out for a drive. We just stopped for some coffee.”
Wait a minute. Did he just say that he left Deven alone with Marco? “You left her alone?”
“Marco’s there. What’s the big deal?”
“You left her alone with him?” I ask again.
“Yeah, why?”
“Goddamnit, Brad.” I push past him and run for the door. I jump into the driver’s seat of the truck and twist the key. It roars to life and I throw it into reverse. Stomping on the gas, the truck jumps backward at record speed. I shift into drive and hit the gas. The truck takes off. This thing may be old, but Colton knows what he’s doing with an engine. I’m flying toward the apartment building at record speed. It’s only been two minutes since I left the bakery before I’m parking in front of the apartment building. I run up the stairs two at a time until I reach the door. I twist the knob, but it’s locked. I quiet myself and press my ear against the door. I hear the faint sounds of her yelling.
I raise my hand and pound on the door. “Deven!” I pound harder. “Deven, can you hear me?” I yell again, pounding harder and harder.