Page 65 of Burn
“Excuse me. We?” I choke out past the pulsing in my neck.
“Yeah. Your girl’s been beside herself for weeks.”
“Hold on. My girl? What girl?”
I’m freaking out. He can’t mean…
“Phoenix dude. She’s a fucking mess. Told me you died in an explosion or some shit.”
I can’t believe my ears, or what he’s saying, this has to be an auditory hallucination. He can’t be serious. I watched her blow up in the ladder truck. I saw the pieces fly through the air before I lost consciousness. The guys, and the captain told me she was dead. Why would they lie to me?
“No that can’t be. She’s dead.” I mumble out, my brain moving a mile a minute, my tongue catching on itself.
“Since when? She was just here like an hour ago and got her usual now that she can finally eat again.”
“Phoenix.” I whisper in disbelief. “Phoenix, oh God.”
“You thought she was dead? She thought you were dead. Jesus Christ.” He says, and looks just as shocked as I feel. His face is ashen, and he pauses before flapping his hands at me. “Go, get the fuck out of here and get your girl man.”
It takes a second of staring at him for everything to come together in my head, and I’m frozen in place, my feet feeling like they are imbedded in concrete shoes.
“Oh fuck! Phoenix! Angel, I’m coming!” I yell, surprising myself and the poor guy behind the counter.
My shoes squeak on the polished floor as I turn and run. I run as fast as I can, dodging some woman at the door, almost knocking her down, and not stopping to help her.
“Sorry.” I shout behind me as I leave her to get her bearings and dart across the street, running down the sidewalk as fast as my sneakers will take me.
I’m out of breath and I know it’s not from the exercise, I’m more physically fit than most people. No, I’m out of breath from the excitement of what could be.
Her steps almost trip me up, and I catch myself on one of the floral planters, knocking it over, spilling the dirt from it onto her stoop, but I just jump over it and crash into her front door.
Its locked, and I jiggle the handle aggressively then bang on the door with my fist. I hit it so hard that the wood cracks and my fist bleeds.
“Phoenix. Baby. Baby, open up.” I scream at the top of my lungs. “Baby, please.”
I’m a madman hitting her door, kicking it, and screaming until I hear sounds come from inside. They’re quiet, and they sound like tears, which only makes me yell more.
“Baby, Angel, it’s me. Zeph. Open up baby.”
The door rattles on its hinges, and just before a final kick breaks it down, it pops open and swings inwards, revealing an angel in the flesh.
Chapter
Thirty-One
“Zeph?”
I can’t believe my eyes. She’s alive. She’s so ungodly thin, and there’s still shadows of bruises on her tear-streaked face and arms, but she alive and as beautiful as ever.
“Oh baby girl.” I wail, rushing to her, grabbing her and lifting her up in my arms, squeezing her so tightly. “I thought you were dead. They told me you died.”
“Zeph.” She cries into my neck, soaking my skin with her tears as she buries herself into me. “They told me you died.”
I know how she feels, like she can’t get close enough to me. Touching isn’t enough, I want to be inside her, and she wants to be in me, to be one being.
“I missed you so much.” I weep into her hair, kissing her crown over and over again.
I never want to stop kissing her, I don’t want to put her down. She’s mine again, and this time I’m learning from my mistakes.
