Once Upon A Half-Time: A Sports Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,263

Josie.” Nolan studied me, as if for the last time. “But I need to protect myself and move on from this obsession.”

A lighter flashed in his hand. I stiffened, searching the barn. Old wood. Barrels of oil and gasoline. Boxes and crates. The place was a tinderbox.

And we were trapped inside.

Nolan lit the edges of an old newspaper. He tossed the crumpled sheet onto a bundle of straw in the far corner. Flames immediately danced along the dried bale.

He was going to burn the barn to the ground.

Nolan pulled and antique lamp from the wall and pitched it into the fire. The glass shattered, and the fire eagerly lapped at the leaking oil. It billowed into a ferocious curtain of flame that seized the barn and everything inside.

He dropped the lighter into Maddox’s coat pocket. Maddox gripped his arm, but Nolan’s punch dropped him again. Nolan turned before he opened the barn door.

“Goodbye, Josie.”

Oh god. I screamed as Nolan slipped into the night, and screamed again as the door slammed shut, feeding the fire a burst of oxygen before trapping us within.

The ropes sliced my hands.

Maddox stopped moving.

I shouted his name, but the tape muffled everything the fire hadn’t obscured in its roar.

I never thought I’d be surrounded in fire again, but the smoke roiled over the barn. I twisted the rope enough to loosen it, but I could only drop to the ground.

The flames ruptured through the floor, aiming for Maddox.

I could do nothing to stop it.

We were going to die.

20

Maddox

Smoke coiled in my lungs.

Was this Hell? I didn’t smell sulfur, but her screaming would haunt me for all eternity.

My eyes didn’t want to open, but something in my brain kicked to life. I hurt now, but I’d hurt a hell of a lot more if I didn’t move my ass.

That heat crept closer. I remembered getting trapped in flames before. A year ago I ran into Josie’s burning shop absolutely terrified, not for my own safety, but because Josie might have been hurt. I sacrificed myself then to save her. I’d sat in jail, bandaged and in pain, waiting for her to come to my side.

She didn’t, so this time I’d come to hers.

I rolled over. That was a mistake. The violent, acrid smoke thickened the air. The night was dark, but ash and embers blackened the barn. My head ached. Blood dripped from above my ear. Whatever the fuck he hit me with was hard enough to nearly crack my teeth.

I shouted. The sound ripped through my head. Everything hurt.

I couldn’t see Josie.

My cell phone flashlight did nothing. I crawled, hand over hand, deeper into the barn. Away from the heat. At least I remembered the layout from when I rewired the lighting. Two exits, two doors, a shit ton of windows. None that would help me now as the flames consumed everything. The walls and roof lashed with fire, and all the scrap parts and seed and straw fed the inferno.

Christ, and I even did him a favor. Nolan’s barn was so badly wired a single spark would have burned the son of a bitch to the ground. I thought I fixed it.

Instead, I got the front-row seat.

And so did Josie.

Something muffled her screams. I clawed toward the sound, praying it was her and not a figment of my imagination, a hallucination from the smoke and head trauma.

The fire moved too fast, and I shuffled by inches, not feet. Where the hell was she? Why couldn’t she move?

My hand struck her bare foot. She kicked, and the muffled cry wavered.

I got her.

And she was alive.

But not for long. We were surrounded by too much smoke, too much heat, and the hungry flames that licked the floor. I reached for her, ripping the tape from her mouth.

“Just go!” Josie struggled against the ropes that bound her to the support beam. “I can’t get out. Save yourself.”

“I’m not leaving you.” I coughed through the smoke. “I’ll untie you.”

“Maddox—”

“I’m not leaving you!”

Josie squirmed, but the ropes didn’t release their hold. I searched my jacket for my knife, but the movement was too quick and my fingers too dulled by the blow to my head. I dropped the blade into the darkness.

“Maddox, go! I already took a year of your life away!”

“And you’re living the rest with me!”

I groped the floor, scraping against the boards, the support post, and finally, nicking the blade. The sharp edge drove into my hand. I didn’t care.

I’d chop through my own arm if it