The red-and-blue lights from the emergency vehicles flashed on the surrounding buildings. What seemed like miles of hoses ran from the hydrants to various windows and doors of Keaton, where firefighters had run toward danger. People were screaming and crying, and calling out names. Dozens of bodies were lying in a line, covered with yellow, wool blankets. I walked along them, staring at the shoes, praying I didn’t come across Trenton’s yellow work boots. When I got to the end of the line, I recoiled. One pair of feet was missing a heel. The other foot was bare, displaying perfectly manicured toes. The big toe was painted with a black-and-white chevron, with a red heart. Whoever she was, she was alive when those toes were painted, and now she was lying lifeless on the cold, wet ground.
I covered my mouth, and then began searching the faces around me. “Trent!” I screamed. “Trenton Maddox!” The more time that went by, the more bodies were dragged out, and fewer people were being saved. It looked like a war zone. So many of my regulars went to these fights—classmates, from college and high school. Since I’d arrived on the scene, I hadn’t crossed paths with any of them. I didn’t see Travis, or Abby, either, and I wondered if they were among the dead as well. Even if Trenton had made it out and his brother didn’t, he would be devastated. After a time, it grew eerily quiet. The crying was reduced to whimpers, the only sound the buzzing of the hoses, and the occasional yelling among firefighters. I shivered, and realized for the first time that I wasn’t wearing a coat.
My cell phone rang, and I nearly dropped it trying to get it to my ear. “Hello?” I cried.
“Cami?” Raegan said. “Stay put! Trent is on his way to you!”
“What? You talked to him?”
“Yes! He’s okay! Stay put!”
I hung up, and held the phone to my chest, shaking uncontrollably, and looking around, waiting and hoping Raegan was right. Trenton appeared, a hundred yards away, running at full speed in my direction.
My legs gave out, and I fell to my knees, sobbing. Trenton fell in front of me, wrapping his arms around me. “I’ve got you! I’m here!”
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t do anything but sob and claw at his shirt. Trenton ripped off his coat and draped it over my shoulders, and then his arms were around me again, rocking me until I calmed down.
“It’s all right, baby,” he said, his voice calm and soothing. His face was streaked with soot and sweat, and his shirt was filthy. He smelled like a campfire, but I still buried my face in his chest.
“Travis and Abby?” I finally managed.
“They’re okay. Come on,” he said, bracing himself to stand. “Let’s get you home where it’s warm.”
Trenton drove the Jeep to my apartment. Hank had closed down the bar out of respect, so Raegan and Kody huddled together on the love seat, watching the news while Trenton and I took turns in the shower.
In a fresh pair of gray sweats and fuzzy socks, I snuggled up to Trenton in my bedroom. I hugged him tightly, pressing my temple against his side. My wet hair was soaking his Spaceballs T-shirt, but he didn’t care. It was all too hard to process, so we just sat in silence, holding one another until I’d spontaneously break down again.
Kody knocked on my door, and then he came in, followed by Raegan. She looked everywhere but into my eyes. “Baker’s mom was just interviewed. He didn’t make it.”
I was devastated, but I was all cried out. I just closed my eyes, and my lip quivered. Trenton held me close, and we both jumped when his cell phone rang.
He glanced at it. It rang again. “It’s just a number.”
“Local?” I asked. It rang a third time. He nodded. “Answer it.”
He held the phone to his ear, hesitant. “Hello?” After a short pause, he lowered the phone to his lap. “Too late.”
Kody and Raegan went to bed, but I just lay there in Trenton’s lap. I didn’t want to turn off the lights. I wanted to see him, with my own eyes, and know that he was alive and okay.
Trenton ran his fingers through my hair. “I left her,” he said.
I sat up. “Who?”
“Abby. Travis couldn’t get to us. He was going to go out the way everyone else came in, and Abby was going to take us through the back way. We got lost. We ran across a bunch of lost girls. They were following a guy, but he was just as lost as they were. I panicked.” He shook his head, staring at the wall. “And I fucking left her.” A tear fell down his cheek and he looked down.
“She got out,” I said, touching his thigh.
“I promised Travis I would take care of her. When it came down to a life-or-death situation, I pussed out.”
I grabbed his chin and turned him to face me. “You didn’t puss out. You have strong instincts, and your mom is on the other side watching after you. What happened to that group you passed?”
“I broke a window and I lifted the guy up, and then lifted the girls so they could climb out.”
“You saved their lives. No way could that guy have done it on his own. Your mom helped Travis find his way to Abby, and she helped you save more lives. That’s not pussing out. That’s stepping up.”
Trenton’s mouth turned up slightly, and he leaned toward me, kissing my lips. “I was so scared I was never going to see you again.”
My lip began to quiver again, and I pressed my forehead against his, shaking my head. “I kept thinking about that bad feeling we both had earlier. And then when you left, how I felt like it was good-bye. I have never been that afraid in my life, and that’s saying something. My dad can be pretty terrifying.”
Trenton’s phone chirped. He picked it up, reading a text message. “It’s from Brad at Sig Tau. We’ve lost three so far.”
My shoulders sagged.
Trenton frowned at his phone, pressed a button, and held the receiver to his ear. He looked at me. “I had a voicemail from that number. It never sent an alert.”
“Maybe because you halfway answered it?”
“It’s from that weird number.”
A female voice said, Ugh, and nothing else. Trenton frowned, and then hit a button. I could hear it ringing several times, and then the same female voice answered.
“Hello?” she shrieked. “Trent?”
Trenton seemed confused and surprised at the same time. “Abby? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, we’re fine. How are you?”
“I’ve been sitting with Cami. She’s pretty upset about the fire. She lost some of her regulars.”
I lay down on his lap again, and all I could hear of Abby’s voice was high-pitched chatter.
“Yeah,” Trenton said. “It’s like a war zone down there. What is that noise? Are you in an arcade?” he snapped at her.
I sat up.
“What?” he said, even more perturbed. Surely not. They wouldn’t. “Okay, with what?” he asked. “Abby, stop playin’. Just fucking tell me.” We were both exhausted, and whatever game she was playing, Trenton wasn’t having it. I leaned in closer to the phone. Trenton held it away from his ear a bit, so I could hear.
“There were a lot of people at the fight last night. A lot of people died. Someone has got to go to prison for it.”
I leaned back, and Trenton and I traded glances. She was right. Travis could be in serious trouble.
“You thinkin’ it’s gonna be Travis?” Trenton said, his voice low and serious. She had his total attention, now. “What are we gonna do?”
I leaned in to listen.
“I asked Travis to marry me.”
“Uh . . .” Trenton said, he looked to me again. My eyebrows shot up halfway to my hairline. “Okay, how in the hell is that going to help him?”
“We’re in Vegas . . .”
I leaned back to see Trenton’s reaction. He was the one with elevated eyebrows, now, and several deep lines running across his forehead.
“Abby.” He sighed. She spoke some more, her voice even higher, sounding more desperate. They were going to get married, hoping it was just crazy enough that the investigators would believe that Travis was in Vegas instead of at Keaton Hall. My heart broke for them. As upset as I was about the man I loved nearly losing his life, they had the same fears, in addition to the fear of dying themselves. And now they faced the possibility of losing each other again.
“I’m sorry,” Trenton said. “He wouldn’t want you to do this, either. He would want you to marry him because you want to. If he ever found out, it’d break his heart.”
I leaned in.
“Don’t be sorry, Trent. It’s going to work. At least it will give him a chance. It’s a chance, right? Better odds than he had.”
“I guess,” Trenton said, sounding defeated. Abby remained quiet. “Congratulations.”