Page 58 of Smokin' Situation

“But we need to move, now,” I urged, my voice loud over the roar of the approaching fire. Pulling out the pouch my shelter was housed in and ripping off the Velcro, I shook out the material. “I’m gonna have you roll over and pull this over your legs. Keep your feet hooked in the bottom pouch and use your forearms to hold down the top, cover your face with your hands and keep your mouth low to the ground.”

“Oh my God, oh my God,” she whimpered, rocking in place, but we didn’t have time to waste as the heat from the fire blew in our direction with the next gust of wind.

“This is probably gonna hurt,” I yelled, turning her and pulling the end of the shelter over her feet and legs. “Hold on!”

She grabbed the top of the shelter and pulled it over her head, her body disappearing beneath the reflective foil.

Glancing behind me, my eyes widened as I watched the wind carry the fire higher, heading directly for us. I grabbed the pouch with my fire-resistant blanket and my neck shield and turned back to where I came from.

Without time to waste, I moved up the hill, my legs burning with the extra weight of my suit.

The deafening sound of the fire followed me, but I knew there was no looking back. When I reached the peak of the hill, I sprinted across the open space, my eyes zeroed in on the break in the trees ahead. If I could get to an open field, I might stay far enough away from the fast approaching blaze.

But I didn’t make it, the sound of a deafening crack sounding overhead, the ground shaking beneath me. Suddenly, I was falling, the breathknocked out of my lungs as I hit the ground, stars dancing in my field of vision.

Blinking against the haze, I tried to roll, but I was pinned down, something heavy against my back.

“Fuck,” I grunted, trying to move, but it was impossible with the weight of whatever part of the tree had fallen on me.

As the seconds ticked by, the roar of the fire grew louder, sparks dancing on the breeze in my limited field of vision. Not knowing how close it was to me, I flexed my hands, testing my range of motion to see if I’d broken anything in my arms when I fell. With shaky fingers, I pulled off my helmet, and my eyes widened when I saw the dark red marks on the inside padding.

My adrenaline was pumping too hard for the pain to register, but my glove came back with streaks of blood when I ran it across my forehead. But I couldn’t focus on where I was injured, because the heat coming from behind me was a more pressing issue than some cuts or broken bones.

Reaching down to grab where I’d dropped my back up fire blanket and neck protector, I cautiously yanked the protector over my head, securing it as well as I could before I awkwardly pulled the blanket over my shoulders without letting the wind drag it out of my hands.

I pulled it in tight, tucking my face to the ground and trying to take shallow breaths as the noise got louder, the heat of the fire licking up my covered legs.

Flashes of my life started running through my mind as the roaring blaze crossed over me. My family. The somber look on my mother’s face when I told her I was leaving Sage Springs all those years ago to jump out of planes for a living. My brothers and memories of growing up trying so hard to be the role model I always felt compelled to be for them.

Spotty flashes of all the women I’d been with over the years were a blur, and I realized I hadn’t been in love with any of them. And I yearned to find someone who would finally see who I was and what I was passionate about. That despite my rough edges and scars, I just wanted someone to love and return it without conditions or hesitation.

As the pain registered across my back, the intense heat licking up my spine and making me scream into the fabric beneath my mouth, I clenched my eyes tight and let the darkness take me, hoping that this wasn’t the last moment I’d spend alive, because I had so much more I wanted to experience.

Annie

Myeyesflutteredopen,and I blinked in the dim morning light, trying to process my surroundings to figure out why I’d awoken before the sun was fully up. Tripp’s body trembled beside me as a pained, muffled groan welled from his chest. His fingers flexed against my side and my eyes widened, worry filling my chest.

Turning to face him, I traced my finger down the scar that ran along his hairline. His face was burrowed into the pillow beneath his head, but it didn’t stop me from studying both the beauty and pain so clearly there.

“Tripp,” I whispered, combing my fingers through his hair. “What’s wrong, baby?”

His breathing was choppy as he lay with his eyes clenched tightly, another groan echoing into the dim morning as his back arched.

“No…” he whimpered, and I burrowed closer, trying to turn his head to the side. He was clearly dreaming and judging by the pinched expression and the sounds coming from his lips, it was not a pleasant one.

“You’re okay,” I whispered, finally getting him to relinquish his grip on the pillow so I could turn his face.

“No, no, no…” he groaned, curling in on himself.

Climbing to my knees, I leaned over him, framing his face. “Tripp, wake up. You’re okay, you’re safe. Just breathe.”

Tripp’s eyes opened, but they held the vacant stare he’d had right before I kissed him in the barn again. They weren’t the warm deepblue I was used to, and it startled me how cold his expression was before he blinked hard, turning his face away from me.

“Tripp, please,” I begged, watching his body tremble. Relying on the techniques I knew could pull him from the flashbacks, I slipped my leg over his waist, gently rolled him to his back and covered his body with mine like a weighted blanket. I stroked his hair and whispered in his ear, tears leaking out the corners of my eyes as he shook beneath me.

Eventually, his body relaxed, a large, calloused hand settling on my lower back with his lips grazing my forehead.

“Thank you.” His voice was raspy, but I could tell from the tone that he appreciated I didn’t let the moments he slipped into those memories scare me away. If anything, they made me want to cling to him tighter. And acknowledge that at one moment in time, he might have been taken away before I ever met him.

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