Page 176 of Between Never and Forever
“This house is beautiful. It’s absolutely gorgeous. But...”
“But it hurts,” he finishes, and I nod.
“It hurts.” I take his hand in mine. “I don’t know if it will always hurt. But for now, it does. And with everything changing with the label and the future of the band, I should be in Los Angeles with everyone else. But I can’t expect you to uproot Brynn. To abandon the life you’ve made here. Your company.”
We fall back in the silence with our hands clasped. I feel like crying, but I also feel hopeful. I know that no matter what, we’ll make it work. We’ll adapt. We’ll merge our lives into one.
It’s Levi who finally breaks the silence.
“You can ask me, you know. To move to California. To leave this life. You can ask. I can talk to Brynn and see what she says. Honestly, she might want to move. Or we can split time between here and L.A. I can handle the company remotely. I can sell it. I can share ownership with Dustin. There are so many options, and I’m only willing to consider the ones that keep us together.”
His words calm my nerves and warm my heart. I lift his hand and press a kiss to his palm. We’ll only consider the options that keep us together.
“We’ll figure it out.”
I smile. “Okay. We’ll figure it out.”
39
“Savannah!Savannah, get up. We have to get out!”
I jolt upright in the bed and notice smoke. Can smell it. Thick and curling up through the crack under the door. If someone hadn’t woken me up seconds ago, the smoke would have done it on its own.
I scramble from the bed and notice Levi is throwing on a shirt. He tosses one at me as he opens the bedroom window. Red is holding a trembling, whimpering Ziggy.
The house is on fire.
“Cover your face with that,” Levi says quickly. “We have to get to the balcony. We can climb down from there.”
“Brynn? Sharon?”
I cover my face with the shirt, and Levi opens his closet, slipping on a pair of boots.
“We can’t go down the stairs,” Red says. “We have to get out. They might be out there already.”
Levi wordlessly tosses me a pair of boots, and I slip them on and tie them tightly. They’re far too big, but at least my feet won’t be exposed.
“Ready?”
Red doesn’t wait for an answer, he just uses what looks like a towel to open the bedroom door, then covers his mouth with it as rancid, dark smoke billows in and the sound of fire, crackling and angry, gets louder.
“Let’s go,” he shouts, then disappears out the door toward the primary bedroom.
Levi nudges me, so I follow, taking a second to look down the hall toward the stairs. Toward the intense heat. Flames and dark smoke. Glowing, raging red. The first floor must be an inferno. My whole body freezes, and I gasp into the shirt. I can feel the heat on my skin. Can see it moving through the air.
“Go, Sav! Go!”
I hurry after Red, my feet heavy and awkward in the boots, but I can already feel the heat radiating up through the soles. When Levi and I cross into the primary bedroom, he shuts the door behind us. Red already has the sliding doors to the balcony open and ushers us through them.
“From what I can tell, the fire started on the first floor on the other side of the house,” Red says.
My stomach sinks and I start to shake. First floor, other side of the house would be the rec room. I want to cry. I don’t know how Levi and Red are so calm. I’m terrified. I can barely think straight. I can barely move properly without forcing myself.
“The deck looks clear,” Levi says, peering over the railing. “You can drop from here to the deck, and then we can use the stairs to the yard.”
Levi motions for Red to hand over Ziggs.
“Red, you first. It’s not a far drop. Ease yourself down the rails. You can help Sav, then I’ll pass the dog and follow.”
