Chapter Twenty-Three

Nate

I held Jenna in my arms and breathed in the scent of her. I could still smell the jasmine beneath the smoke. The feeling of her hair against my cheek filled me with the greatest sense of relief I’d ever known.

When the call that there was a fire at Walton Apartments had come into the station, I’d felt my heart drop beneath my feet. Instantly, I’d known. It was too much of a coincidence that a fire would break out at Jenna’s apartment building after she received those two notes from her ex.

That knowledge had filled me with dread, then a rush of pure adrenaline. That adrenaline had pushed me to move faster than I ever had.

The two-minute journey from the station to Jenna’s street had seemed eternal. I’d fought enough fires to know how quickly they could spread, and how destructive they could be. My mind had immediately started swimming with images of Jenna surrounded by flames, choking; trapped.

I’d fought back my fears for her through sheer determination that I would not let anything happen to her. I made that promise, and I intended to keep it. As soon as we pulled into the street, I’d been the first out the engine. My eyes darted straight to Jenna’s window. Sure enough, there she was—screaming for help.

She was at the window. Good girl.

I dashed to the ladder and screamed at Lewis to get it moving. The moments it had taken to reach Jenna had felt a lifetime. When she stepped out that window and into my arms, I felt all the fear I’d been pushing back crash over me. I held onto her for dear life.

Now, we were on the ground, and she was safe with me.

I drew back to examine her. “Are you all right?”

She was shaking head to toe but managed a nod. “I think so.”

My eyes traveled over her to check for injury. Her skin was flushed from the heat, but apart from a small mark on her arm, she hadn’t been burned. She was grimy from the soot of the flames. My hands ran down her forearms, and I held onto her as if to check that she was real.

I hugged her again, pulling her close and kissing her forehead. I shut my eyes and allowed myself just a moment to savor the fact that she was safe and alive.

I heard another set of sirens behind me and turned to see the ambulance had arrived. “Come on, Jenna. Let’s get you checked out.”

“I’m all right, Nate…” Jenna’s voice was hoarse.

“Please, Jenna. You’ve breathed in a lot of smoke.”

She didn’t argue with me anymore, and let me lead her to the waiting ambulance. A paramedic rushed out to attend to her.

“She was rescued from inside,” I informed him. “Take good care of her.” I turned back towards the fire.

Jenna grabbed my arm. Even though the paramedic was trying to press an oxygen mask over her mouth, she shrugged him off and clung onto me. Her eyes grew round and frightened. Her hair was disheveled, her skin flushed and blackened. She was afraid. “Where are you going?”

“I have to help my crew. That fire’s still going.”

Her eyes brimmed with tears. “Don’t leave me.”

I gently pried her hand away from my forearm, held it tightly, and kissed it. “I’ll be with you again before you know it. You’re going to get some medical attention, and then I’ll come find you.”

I could see Jenna battling with herself. I could tell from the way she was having to set her jaw to stop it from trembling, and the way tears still hung suspended in her eyes, although she wouldn’t allow them to fall, that she didn’t want me to leave her. But Jenna was too strong to beg me, and as she looked around at the chaos of the residents milling in the street, crying and comforting one another, she knew I had to go.

She bowed her head. “All right.”

I took her face in both my hands and kissed her head again. “I’m sorry.”

It pained me to leave her, but the fire was still burning. The flames compromised the whole building. If the structure gave out, it could cause even more damage, and pose a risk to the people in the street. I had to think about the residents and the turmoil it could cause if the fire spread and destroyed more homes. Some of these people had kids.

I began to jog back towards the building, turning back over my shoulder to give Jenna one last glance as I returned to fight the fire. She had the oxygen mask over her face now, but I could still see the anguish in her expression as she stared up at her burning apartment. The flames were curling out of the window now, sending smoke spiraling into the sky.

I was already worried about her again, but I had to focus on the task at hand. I had to minimize the risk to people and surrounding buildings. I had to do my job.

I was running back to the building when a familiar figure came rushing over to me, pushing past other people to get to me. It was Carla. She was in her pajamas and looked stunned. Her eyes were wide, her hair a mess, her feet bare.

She grabbed me by the arm, frantic. “Nate! Is it Jenna’s apartment? Is she okay? Please God, tell me they’ve got her. Please, Nate, tell me she’s okay.”

I didn’t have time to talk to her and tried to brush her off quickly. “It’s all right, Carla. Jenna’s fine.”

“Nate! Did her ex do this?”

I stopped and turned to Carla. I nodded. “Probably.”

Carla gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. “Where is she?”

I nodded towards the ambulance, putting my hand on Carla’s shoulder and giving her a gentle push in its direction. “She’s getting some medical attention. Stay with her, will you? She’s in a bad way.”

“I will. I’ll look after her.”

I nodded. “Thanks, Carla.”

Carla’s frightened gaze lifted to the burning building, and she swallowed. “Nate, please be safe.”

“This is what I do, Carla. I’ll be fine.”

She nodded and reluctantly stepped away. She looked back at me over her shoulder as she headed towards Jenna, eventually breaking her gaze and jogging the last of the distance toward the ambulance. I saw Jenna stand up from the back of the ambulance and open up her arms to Carla, who rushed into them and gave her a giant hug.

I was glad that Carla was with her. I didn’t want Jenna to be alone. As I jogged toward Sam to take up my place at his side, I found myself scanning the crowd, examining the faces. I was looking for him; Victor.

I didn’t know what he looked like. Dark, fair? Tall, short? Any one of the men in this crowd could be him, gleefully witnessing the chaos he’d wreaked. The faces I scanned didn’t look gleeful; they looked horrified. Husbands were holding their wives; fathers were holding their children. I couldn’t pick out any figure looking pleased with the sight of the flames.

Still, as I stood behind Sam to lift the engine’s hose and jumped into fighting the fire, I felt uneasy. Victor had been here. That fire had started in Jenna’s apartment—there was no other explanation. He could still be here.

I wanted to be with Jenna; to comfort and protect her. I wanted to stand guard at her side until the culprit was caught and behind bars.

I instructed onlookers to step back, waving them away from the building. Then I turned back to the flames.