Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 425(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Standing in the middle of the dance floor, I frantically search for a way out before breaking to the right and squeezing past the eager partiers. I catch an accidental elbow to the ribs, but I push through it, ignoring the pain before finally reaching the small door that leads out to the busy kitchen.
Barging through it, I race into the kitchen, my gaze shooting from left to right, searching for a way out. “Miss,” one of the chefs calls after me. “You can’t be back here.”
I search around, frantic and desperate. “Help,” I rush out. “Please. I need help.”
One of the waitresses stops and grabs my shoulders, looking into my eyes and seeing the pure fear within them. “What’s wrong?”
“I need to get out of here. A . . . a window or a back door. Please.”
She immediately steps out of my path before pointing further down the kitchen and into the back. “There’s a break room through there. It has a window out onto the street.”
Racing past her, I don’t even stop to say thank you, just push on ahead, my strappy heels slamming down against the dirty kitchen tiles. I push past a small bathroom before running straight into the break room and gripping the blinds. I open them wide, my hands shaking so violently I can barely clutch the window latch.
The window is old, and I have to shove it hard before pushing the table right up against the wall and climbing up onto it. Then gripping the window frame, I let out a shaky breath and haul myself up through it. I have to brace my ass against it, sliding one leg out at a time.
My dress gets caught and rips, but it’s the least of my problems as I stare down at the ground below. I’m going to have to jump.
Finding my nerve, I go to push out when I hear a loud roar coming from behind me. “OAKLEY, NO!” I look back, my heart racing with fear, finding Zade and Dalton racing through the kitchen, Sawyer and Easton flying around the corner behind them.
Terror grips me, and knowing this is my only shot to save my life, I jump, hurtling toward the ground as my heart breaks, knowing I have to leave Dalton, Sawyer, and Easton behind.
I fall heavily to the ground, my strappy heels snapping against the concrete as my arms and knees are viciously grazed. Adrenaline pulses through my body and I scramble to my feet, not allowing the pain to affect me.
One foot slams down in front of the other, and I race out onto the road just as Zade’s face appears in the open window. “OAKLEY,” he roars after me, but I don’t dare stop, sprinting ahead.
I get another few feet, knowing they’re coming for me when my body is thrown into the air, a loud explosion rocking through the city behind me. A blood-curdling scream tears from my throat as my body slams against a parked car and quickly drops to the ground.
My head spins, and my ears pound from the blast. I’m disoriented and unsure. I can’t see through the debris raining down around me, and the fire and smoke cause havoc across the city. I crawl along the ground, unable to find my footing when I rock back, falling onto my ass.
The heat is unbearable as the fire casts an orange glow across Faders Bay, and as my senses finally start to adjust, I look back at the extravagant ballroom to find nothing but an empty shell. The kitchen workers. The partiers. Cara . . . the boys.
Gone.
All gone.
Crippling heartbreak tears through my chest, and I heave for oxygen only to choke on the thick smoke. As tears stream down my dirty face, I hold onto a lamp post and pull myself to my feet, my knees shaking beneath me. Then without a backward glance, I run. Never to return here again.