Page 17 of Corrupted Lies

They closed around her automatically, and he drew her close as she sobbed. There was every chance he would believe he was merely hallucinating, but the smell of smoke had gotten stronger the second he was touching her.

“I thought I was going to die,” Alannah wailed, her wet face pressed against his neck.

“You screamed and the phone cut off, I thought … I thought you were gone. I thought I lost you.”

“You didn't lose me, grumpy, I'm here.” The arms she had curled around his neck tightened to the point she was almost impeding his ability to breathe, and he didn't care in the least. She was here, alive, and in his arms.

That was all that mattered.

“How did you get out?” he asked, running a hand the length of her spine to calm her, only he was almost as panicked as she was.

“There was a man, another jogger, he came out of nowhere, that’s why I screamed. Then he showed me a way out of the flames,” Alannah explained.

A jogger who was prepared to walk through an almost impenetrable wall of flames to get to a stranger with no guarantee they could get back out?

His faith in humanity didn't believe that.

Not in the least.

“Where is he, Alannah?” he asked, scanning the area but seeing no one. If some random jogger had saved her life, they wouldn't just disappear, except he, Alannah, Jax, and Cole were the only ones there.

Lifting her head she looked around. “I don’t see him,” she said, sounding confused. “Where did he go? I have to find him, Jake. I have to thank him. He saved my life.”

When she started to struggle to get out of his hold, he tightened his grip on her. Their minds obviously going in the same direction his had, Jax and Cole shifted closer, moving in to flank Alannah on either side.

“I don’t think he saved your life to be nice, sunshine.”

Brow crinkled, Alannah cocked her head. “What do you mean?”

“I think whoever led you out of the flames is the person who started the fire to begin with.”

October 14th

6:26 P.M.

I think whoever led you out of the flames is the person who started the fire to begin with.

Alannah couldn’t stop thinking about Jake’s words even hours later after she’d given her statement to the cops, been checked out by paramedics, packed a bag, came to Jake’s house, showered, and eaten.

Well, picked at her food more than eaten it.

Her appetite had disappeared.

Even though she’d showered, standing under the hot spray for a solid thirty minutes, scrubbing and scrubbing at her skin, and shampooing her hair over and over again, she still smelled like smoke. It seemed to have permeated deep into her skin and no amount of cleaning would get rid of it.

The smell made her nauseous, and even though she knew her body needed the calories and nourishment, she just couldn’t settle her stomach enough to do more than nibble at the food on her plate.

It wasn't just the smell that had her so on edge. Wasn't even the fact that she had almost died in a fire for the second time in two days. It was also what some of the cops had implied when they’d been taking her statement.

They had kept saying how odd it was that she’d been in back-to-back fires.

Of course, she knew it was odd, but the way they said it made her feel like they thoughtshewas the cause of the fires. Like she’d set them herself. If it wasn't for Jake being with her in the first fire and confirming there was no possible way she could have set it, she couldn’t help but feel that instead of sitting in Jake’s house right now she’d be sitting in a police station.

“I didn't set the fire,” she blurted out, looking up from her plate to see all eyes fixed on her.

The way they were watching her made her squirm.

Did Jake’s family think she’d set the fire today?

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