enough to lean out and peek. “What do you…?”
Gently as he could, he took Cass’s gravel driveway, but we were close now. I could see the flames licking the night sky, smell the burning forest, and tell my highly flammable friend was in grave danger. This close to sunrise, Cass was screwed. Her bedroom was downstairs, in the basement, but she couldn’t retreat there without trapping herself. She couldn’t run either. The sun would be up in a half hour, maybe less, and she had no shelter in the woods.
“Stop.” I released the fist I’d made in the back of his shirt. “Stop the bike.”
The second the motor quit, I was shucking the protective gear and then running for the house.
“Cass,” I screamed. “Cassandra.”
The door was engulfed in flames. I didn’t have to kick it down. It fell. The first-floor interior was a raging inferno.
“You can’t go in there.” Boaz caught me around the waist. “You can’t reach her.”
Flailing against him, I kicked and hit him and bit when he got too close to my face. “Turn me loose.”
“I’m not going to let you kill yourself. Cass wouldn’t want that.”
“Cass can’t want anything if she’s dead.”
“Addie…” He turned me in his arms. “It’s too late.”
“No.” I stomped his instep and then screamed in his face when his grip loosened. “It’s not.”
“Wait—” He kept reeling me back in. “Do you hear that?”
I heard nothing over the pounding of my heart.
He seemed to understand that and clarified, “Music.”
“Music.” I whirled from the house toward the woods. “Like the others.”
Before he could stop me, I bolted into the trees, sprinting hard, desperate to find Cass.
Boaz had a killer headache from the gazebo incident, and he was sore from all the hits Addie landed, but he could have run a triathlon the second he lost his grip on her and she fled into the woods. He ran after her, crashing through the leaves and debris, no stealth whatsoever, but in that moment, he didn’t care about how much noise he made. He cared about Addie.
The killer might be in the woods, but he didn’t slow. Addie would give away their location long before him, and it chilled his blood to think what the killer might do if they got their hands on her while Cass was still breathing.
Only the secretive nature of their friendship had spared Addie. He believed that in his bones. The killer would have circled around to her, given time. No one could convince him otherwise. And here she was, throwing herself at them.
With every ounce of strength left in him, Boaz poured on speed until he caught her. He slammed into her, and they tumbled to the ground. He only half absorbed the impact, and she cried out from the shock. He would have clamped a hand over her mouth if he wasn’t certain she would bite him.
“Addie, you’ve got to calm down.” He struggled to restrain her. “Think.”
“Cass might be out there.”
“And she might be alive.” He hated to be the bad guy, but she left him no choice. “The killer might finish her off if they hear us coming.”
The fight drained out of her, and tears poured down her face. “Oh, goddess.”
“Shhh.” He released her slowly, unsure if this was a trick or if he had gotten through to her. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.” Twin tracks glistened on her cheeks. “She’s my best friend.”
“I know.” He hit his knees then helped her sit on the forest floor. “Let’s go find her.”
Backup was on the way, but they would arrive too late to help Cass, and Addie knew it.
Nodding, she rose to her feet then helped him stand. “All right.”
Worried she might bolt, he took her hand and laced their fingers. “Come on.”
Her legs didn’t work right the first step or so, but he kept tugging her along until she remembered how to walk. The farther they traveled, the quieter she became until he worried she might never speak again.
Away from the fire, the music pounded, making it easier for them to track its source.
They came into a pecan grove filled with broken limbs on every tree and ratty leaves in dull colors.
“I didn’t know this was back here.”
Boaz jolted at hearing Addie’s voice after so long. “Are we still on Cass’s property?”
“She owns the entire hill.”
Her return to quiet made it clear small talk was over, but at least the spark was back in her eyes when they came across yet another phone resting on the stump of