“I THINK THIS was my absolute favorite day ever,” Alexa said as they made their way back to Maverick’s truck. They had their llama, their hedgehog, and bellies full of sweets.
“I love you, Alexa,” he said, pinning her to her door. He kissed her slowly, deeply, thoroughly, his tongue leaving no part of her mouth unexplored. Need and lust rose up inside her. She just couldn’t get enough of him, and it was the most amazing thing to know that she didn’t have to get enough, because he’d always be there. And they’d always be together.
She wound her arms around his neck. “Love you, too,” she whispered. “I think we should go check on my mom as quickly as possible so we can get home.”
“Mmm.” He kissed and licked down her neck. “Yeah, we better, before I take you right fucking here.” He pulled away wearing a mischievous grin, his eyes blazing.
She sighed, her body not feeling big enough to contain all the happiness overwhelming her. She wasn’t sure she could ever remember a time when life seemed so full of promise, the future so bright. And Maverick had given that to her.
Mav started up the truck and made his way through the parking lot, the line of traffic to get out moving slow.
She thumbed on her phone. “Oh, shoot. I have a voice mail. I didn’t hear it ring.” She put it to her ear to listen.
Her mother’s voice: “Hi, Alexa, it’s your mom. I realized there were a few things I forgot so I took a cab over to my house. There’s absolutely no rush because I can just take my time gathering some stuff, but drop by and grab me after the carnival. Okay? Bye.”
Alexa groaned, frustration flooding through her. Getting her to leave things behind had been a real struggle, despite the fact that most of it was either trash, so old there was no way her mother even remembered owning it, or something nearly identical to what she was already taking. And now, the first minute they left her alone, she ran back for more. “Crap. Mom went back to her house to get more stuff.”
“For real?” Maverick asked.
“Yeah.” She huffed out a breath. “I’m sorry, but can we go get her?”
“Of course we can. How the hell else is she going to get home?” They finally got to the main road, and he turned in the direction of town.
“Honestly, I think she hoped we’d be a while so she’d have time to collect more things to bring back to the new place. Damnit. I’d really hoped she would see how nice it was without all the clutter and want to keep it that way. Who was I kidding?” Her stomach dropped. She’d been kidding herself, clearly.
“It is what it is, Al. You’ve given her a nice place, and you can help her keep it up if you want, but you can’t force her to change her ways.” He took her hand and held it against his thigh.
“I know you’re right.” And what a difference it was to have someone to help shoulder the burden of dealing with moments like these. She forced a deep breath. It was only some stuff. It would be fine.
Within fifteen minutes, they pulled up to the curb in front of her mom’s old place. The driveway was largely blocked off with the most obvious and disgusting of the trash that they’d carried out during the move. Which was going to make schlepping whatever new boxes or bags she’d packed a pain in the butt, but it was too late to worry about that now.
“I’ll go get her,” Alexa said, opening her door. She caught the smoky scent of a wood fire or a cookout, making her thing of the yummy burgers they’d had at the carnival. God, that had been so much fun.
“You’re not going alone, woman. Especially if she has a bunch of shit to carry.” He joined her and they made their way up the driveway.
Looking at the house, Alexa couldn’t help but think that it seemed dark, although there did seem to be some light—
Not light, a flicker. And a pale haze hung in the air. The scent of wood burning. And then she knew. Oh, God, she knew.
She gasped and bolted. “Maverick, the house is on fire!”
“Alexa, wait!” Maverick yelled.
But she couldn’t. Her mother was in there. In that death trap of a house—even with everything they’d removed, it was still loaded down with crap all over the floor. Her heart pounded and her ears rang. The world closed in on her as she burst through the front door—
“Oh, Jesus,” she moaned. Smoke hung thick in the dark air, a roiling, looming beast. She stopped short inside the living room. Fire engulfed the kitchen at the back of the house and was crawling into the living room, climbing up the walls, licking at the ceiling, and consuming the piles on the floor. “Mom!”
Maverick was right behind her. “Get out. I’ll find her.”
“No, I’m not leaving without her,” she said, coughing. But at least she could call for help. With shaking hands, Alexa dialed nine-one-one.
“What’s your emergency?” the operator answered.
“House fire with injured people inside at 825 Walnut Street. Hurry,” she yelled, coughing again. The dispatcher asked a few more questions, but Alexa finally cut her off. “Just hurry.” Because the heat was making it hard to breathe.
Maverick turned to her. “Alexa, I’ll find her. Go.”
“I’m not going without her and we don’t have time to argue. This place is going to go up fast so we can’t wait for help. Let’s just find her and we’ll all go together.” She turned on the flashlight on her phone, but the light almost reflected off the smoke. “Mom? Answer me!”
“Cover your mouth and nose with your shirt,” he said. She did, pulling it up over her face. “Cynthia!” he yelled, as they made their way farther in. He tripped over something he couldn’t see, going down on a knee. God, the floor was a hidden debris field.
The fire popped, spraying an arc of embers as the fire found more fuel and spread surprisingly fast. Alexa screamed and ducked, but they had to keep going. Moving slow because they couldn’t see what was underfoot, they made for the kitchen. God, this was her nightmare come to life. The thing she’d always most worried about with her mother’s hoarding, ever since that fire when she was a kid. They got as close to the kitchen as they could with the fire consuming the doorway.
The heat threatened to sear her skin and wrung sweat from her body. Her chest was so tight that she couldn’t get a deep breath, the asthma she hadn’t dealt with in so long kicking in. “Mom!” she yelled, finding it harder to project her voice. “What if she’s in there?”
He moved past her one more step, the flames stretching out above him now.
A giant crack and a big piece of the ceiling caved in. Right above Maverick. The fiery debris rained down on him, taking him to the ground.
Alexa screamed and lurched toward him, thinking of nothing but needing to help him. She grabbed the flaming Sheetrock and lumber and pushed it off of him, the fire lashing at her skin and making her cry out.