Page 11 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

“So you purposefully didn’t tell me something was wrong. Don’t worry. I felt it in my gut.” Willow stepped to the side to let me and Riley in. When we both stopped to stare at her, she shrugged. “Fine. I called McKay’s and they said Ember got fired for leaving to pick up her friend.”

“You lost your job for me,” Riley choked out as she carried Dobby to the laundry room and set him inside.

Damn it.I glared at Willow. “What are you still doing up anyway?”

“I’m a mom. I don’t sleep. Especially not when I’m worried sick about you two. And the shake woke Harper. I just got her back down.” Willow stood as Riley made her way over and crumpled onto the couch.

The frown on her face deepened as she stared at Riley’s sunglasses. I pulled out a bottle of wine from the bag and handed it to Willow, motioning with my eyes for her to chill out.

Willow took the hint. “I’ll get the glasses.”

“Why did you get fired?” Riley pulled her knees to her chest. “You don’t always have to be the hero. I could’ve—”

“What you can do is stop worrying about what anyone else thinks or does.” I sat next to her and rubbed slow circles on her shoulder, trying to get her to relax. “We’re leaving anyway. Right?”

“Right.” Willow moved fast, coming back from the kitchen with three glasses and the cork twisted out. “Everything is packed. Harp and I are ready to get out of here.”

I poured an extra-large dose of wine.

“But Ember doesn’t want to go,” Riley whispered as she took a sip. “Maybe this isn’t the right time. I know we’ve been talking about it forever, but we can wait a little longer.”

I chugged half the glass and wiped my lips, staring at the flickering flame of the candle on the coffee table. “Didn’t I just tell you to stop worrying about me?”

“Should we be worried?” Willow frowned.

Great. Now I was the center of attention.

I swirled the rest of the wine in my glass. Despite the anxiety twisting in my gut, I knew this was the best plan.

“We’re leaving,” I said. “The last six-pointer was less than a month ago. They’re getting more frequent. McKay’s is out of almost everything. So are the stores. Traffic was backed up into and out of Portland. There’s some sort of new protest going on southside and construction crews were clearing debris north of the 5. That’s what took us so long to get here.”

“Drew said they’re going to shut everything down soon.” It was hard to tell if Riley was looking at us through her sunglasses, but she definitely lowered her face. “Not that I care what he thinks anymore.”

I put my hand on her knee and gave it a pat.

“The gas went out after the shake. I turned off the main, but I don’t know what the damage was to the underground lines this time.” Willow sipped her wine.

I finished mine and poured some more. “If we stay here any longer, we’ll end up wrapping the house in barbed wire to protect us from the outside world and be trapped inside as it crashes down on our heads.”

“Someone broke into Mrs. Waterman’s house earlier today and stole her husband’s Jeep from the garage,” Willow said. “Her son is coming up to move her out. That only leaves two of the original homeowners on this street. The rest are squatting.”

That should’ve worried me more than it did. But as it was, I just nodded.

I kept thinking about all the chaos we’d been through for the past decade. We were pretty much numb to it, but I couldn’t let us get complacent.

If anything happened to my friends, I’d die. They were what made this crazy, screwed-up life worth it.

“We’ve waited too long,” I said, ignoring the panic knocking at my chest. “I don’t care who lives there.Hedoesn’t own that town. Even if he did, the cabin is miles away from everyone else. We can avoid them all. It’ll be okay.”

“And we’ll be there with you.” Riley smiled. The wine was loosening her up.

I swallowed the rest of my second glass. “Damn right you will. I’ll need help if we’re going to get things running again.”

Ugh.I sounded like my father—rest his soul.

The last I’d checked on GPS satellite maps, the ranch was an overgrown mess. I’d paid yearly taxes on it since my dad passed away and left it to me, but I hadn’t wanted to go home and deal with the land yet.

Willow and Riley remembered the ranch from when we’d stayed there after my father’s funeral. They were the ones who’d come up with the idea that if things kept going the way they were, we’d make it our new home.

---