“You okay, Kid?” I asked breathlessly. He nodded in confirmation. I smiled and pulled the hood of my sweater back up, covering his head, protecting him. Now we just needed to get out. I stumbled towards the front door. The heat and smoke were making it hard to move. All I wanted to do was curl into a ball and give up. Each step was like wading through quicksand as the lack of oxygen in my bloodstream started to shut down my body.

By the time I made it to the door, I was exhausted. The only thing that was keeping me moving was the thought of getting DJ out to his mom. Seeing her again, kissing her again, telling her that I loved her. We were home free now; all we had to do was get across the thirteen steps to the stairs, down, and out the front door. We were so close I could almost taste it.

As I stepped out of the door, I stopped and my heart leapt into my throat. The fire that had ripped through the apartment next to Rosie’s had spread to the hallway. Flames were everywhere. No walls remained, just the burning timbers of the internal walls and pipes for the plumbing. The fire was blazing. I flinched, and DJ hissed through his teeth from the intensity of the heat. I could feel my skin burning yet we weren’t even anywhere near it. The fire escape was at the end of the hall, but I couldn’t get to those stairs either.

“Christ!” I screamed angrily, shaking my head as I stepped back into their apartment. Where were we supposed to go now? How were we going to get out? My eyes scanned the room for something, anything, a fire extinguisher, bucket of water, anything.

There was nothing. Nothing was going to help me; nothing was going to magically appear to save us. I looked down at DJ knowing we were both going to die and that there was nothing I could do about it. I’d tried so hard, but it just wasn’t enough. This was beyond my control. We were out of options.

I smiled down at him, feeling tears prickle in my eyes as I looked at his cute face. This was the most heart-breaking moment of my life. He seemed to know without me saying it. He smiled back, his arms tightened on my neck as he moved his face forward and kissed my cheek. I closed my eyes at the feel of it. It was bittersweet. My hold on him tightened as I could somehow wish us out of here. There was so much still left to do, so many things I wanted to teach him and show him. There were so many things I wanted to say to his mom, so many things that we would never get the chance to do.

I opened my eyes and looked down at him again, about to apologise for not being enough, for not being able to save him, but instead my gaze settled on something on the other side of the lounge. The window. It was at the front of the building where the fire engines were. Where Rosie was. She was so close but yet so far. If I could just give her back her son… It didn’t matter about me; I just needed to give my girl back her child.

Grim determination settled over me as I knew this was our only chance. His only chance.

“DJ, I need you to do something for me.” I looked down at him hopefully. He nodded. “I need you to tell your momma something if I can’t say it myself, okay? It’s really important. If I can’t tell her, then I need you to tell her for me,” I explained.

“What?”

I smiled. “I need you to tell your momma that Nate said he loves her, and you, more than anything in the world. Can you remember that, Kid? Tell her that I love you both more than anything,” I promised, putting my forehead to his.

He sniffed, his lip trembling. “More than chocolate cake?”

I laughed quietly. “Ten times more than chocolate cake,” I confirmed.

He smiled. “I love you more than chocolate cake too.”

My heart melted at those words. Each syllable meant so much to me that I could barely even understand and process the waves of love that washed over my body.

I kissed his forehead before pulling the hood tighter around his face and guiding his face into the crook of my neck. I didn’t tell him what I was about to do. He didn’t need to know.

“You hold on as tight as you can. And you don’t let go,” I instructed. His arms tightened on me again as I shoved myself away from the wall. I ran as fast as I could, literally running through the fire that was everywhere, I gritted my teeth at the pain as it burnt my legs. As soon as I was close enough, I jumped and smashed into the glass of the window, turning my body so that I took all of the impact. I barely had time to feel the glass rip into my skin.

Then we were falling.

Everything was happening so slowly. I tightened my arms on DJ, knowing that the fall from two stories onto the concrete was probably going to kill me. As long as he got to his mom, that was all I needed. If there was one thing that I was proud of in my life, it was that I got to give a child that I loved, back to the girl that I loved.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Agony like nothing I had ever felt before ripped through my whole body as I smashed into the ground. I’d tried to turn so that I could protect DJ as much as I could, I knew he would get hurt, but it was the best I could do under the circumstances. Thankfully, I landed feet first instead of on my back. One of my ankles cracked, my knees buckled and popped, and we fell forwards. I immediately panicked because DJ was clinging to my chest. If I fell forward I could crush him and he would hit his head. Placing my hand on the back of his head to limit the damage, I put my elbows out to try and keep some of my weight off him.

Shooting pains coursed up my already damaged arm making the air whoosh out of my lungs. I twisted my body and rolled slightly, my shoulder and h*ps connecting with the cold hard floor next. The side of my head struck the concrete making my eyes unfocussed. Then I felt the burning on my lower body.

People were shouting, screaming around us. I could still hear the glass tinkering to the floor around us so I knew that merely seconds had passed since I’d jumped, but it felt like an eternity. An eternity of pain and horror. DJ was still clinging to me as I screamed and thrashed my legs as the burning got worse. I squeezed my eyes shut, rolling onto my back, gritting my teeth, just wishing I was dead already because this was too much. This was the worst pain imaginable; actually, I wouldn’t even be able to imagine how much this hurt in my worst nightmares.

I could hear people shouting, the voices getting closer, something was thrown over us both, people began slapping at my legs causing the pain to intensify. I knew I should roll over and over, but I couldn’t move, the pain had made my whole body stiff. DJ was crying on my chest, his arms still tight around my neck, just like I’d told him. I was immensely proud of him; he must have been terrified in there.

Off to my right, Rosie was screaming my name, screaming DJ’s name, but she was further away than the other voices. I turned my head in her direction, seeing her practically fighting with two police officers as she tried to get past, shouting at them that she was with us. I tried to smile, but I couldn’t, it just hurt too much. Her eyes locked on mine and, in that moment, we were completely alone. Her brown eyes were the most beautiful things I had ever seen, and I was silently thankful that I got to see them one more time.

DJ’s weight was shifted on me. He screamed. His arms tightening on my neck making my head hurt.

“You need to let go now. We need to let the doctors look at him!” a guy said sternly, trying to lift him off me again.

DJ’s arms tightened even more as he buried his face in the side of my neck. I could feel his tears wetting my skin; it was actually quite nice because my skin was so sore and tight.

“No! Nate tolded me not to let go until he said so!” DJ shouted fiercely. I smiled and closed my eyes. That’s my boy. I swallowed awkwardly, gulping down the fresh air, but it just made me cough, the small movement of coughing made the pain even worse, and I couldn’t help but groan.

“Let go now, come on, quickly!” the guy repeated. I could feel DJ moving, struggling to hold on to me, the guy was obviously trying to pry him off me.

“NO! NATE?” DJ screamed.

I swallowed again, willing my voice to work.

“It’s okay, Kid. You can let go now. Go with the doctor,” I rasped. Then he was gone. I closed my eyes again. I couldn’t feel exactly where the pain was, it was just everywhere, too many places to count. There was a commotion off to my right; I turned my head just in time to see Rosie sweep DJ into her arms, crying hysterically as she kissed all over his face and hugged him. She buried her face into his hair, and squeezing her eyes shut. I smiled at the sight of it, all of this I was feeling right now, was totally worth it. I would go through this again and again just to see them reunited like that.

Her eyes opened, and she looked straight at me, instantly pushing herself forward, trying again to push past the police officers that were stopping her from getting to me. I could see her mouth moving, she was begging them to let her past. The pleading expression graced her face – the same one that I could never resist. A paramedic took DJ from her arms, sitting him on a gurney next to an ambulance. Rosie gripped her hands in her hair and looked at me desperately as she continued to beg the policeman. He nodded once, and she practically ran to my side, dropping down next to my head.

She bent over me, tears streaming down her beautiful face as her eyes locked on mine. “Nate? Oh God, please be okay. Please?” she whispered. Her hands were hovering above me as if she wasn’t sure she could touch me. Her eyes raked over my body, horrified. “Oh God. I was so scared. Please, you have to be okay. Please?”

She bent forward and kissed my lips softly. Her tears dripped onto my face, and I closed my eyes, savouring the feel of her kiss that I never thought I would get to feel again.

“I’m okay,” I lied, nodding, trying not to wince. I could feel people working on my lower body, a paramedic cutting my pants leg, the cold wind whipping around my scorched skin. Rosie was sobbing, her body was shaking. I longed to reach out and hold her, but I wasn’t sure I could move. She leant forward and stroked the side of my face, her eyes bright with concern. I could see the ‘I think you’re superman’ expression on her face as she looked at me in awe. I smiled weakly. “I think another kiss is in order,” I rasped, coughing.

She smiled and immediately bent her head, pressing her lips to mine. Her soft fingers stroked the side of my face. She pulled back and put her forehead to mine, her breath blowing across my stinging skin. “I love you, Nate,” she whispered.

The breath caught in my throat. I had imagined her saying that to me over and over, but never once had it sounded so beautiful. The awful thing was, I knew she didn’t mean it. This was just another one of those perks of the job that I had. Hero worship. It was textbook. Someone went through something traumatic, a person saved them or a loved one, and they formed an attachment to them. Rosie didn’t love me; she was just grateful that I saved her son and was confused as to the feeling of it.

I smiled, not wanting to get into this discussion now. “Where’s the kid?” I asked weakly, changing the subject.

She smiled and nodded behind me. “He’s getting looked at,” she replied. Her eyes met mine; I could see a gratitude there that I would never be able to explain in a million years. “Thank you. Thank you so much, Nate. Thank you,” she whispered. Fresh tears ran from her eyes as she smiled, stroking my face again.

I smiled; I didn’t have the energy to keep talking. “You should go be with him,” I suggested, coughing again. The paramedic moved up, placing a mask over my mouth and nose. Rosie looked torn, like she didn’t want to leave, but at the same time she was desperate to. “Go make sure he’s okay. Go on,” I instructed, nodding encouragingly.

She gulped; her eyes flicked to DJ before coming back to rest on me. “Okay. I’ll be back in a minute,” she promised. She bent and kissed my forehead softly, her lips lingering for only a couple of seconds, but they felt like the most magical seconds of my life. “I love you, so much,” she whispered, kissing my cheek before pushing herself up and heading quickly to DJ again.

Once she’d gone, I didn’t need to hold onto the tough guy act anymore. I pulled the mask off my face and groaned. “Fuck, it hurts. Shit!” I hissed through clenched teeth.

The paramedic nodded, taking the mask from my hand and putting it back on my face. “I know, sir. Keep that on, and we’ll be moving you to a gurney in a minute and getting you to the hospital,” he assured me.

“Is it bad?” I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

He frowned. “There is some damage, but the flames were out quickly. I think you’re going into shock and have suspected internal bleeding.” He motioned down to my leg. “Your ankle looks broken as well,” he added almost as an afterthought.

I already knew that, I could feel the thing throbbing.

“My arm’s broken too,” I told him, wincing as his hands went straight to it, examining it.

Rosie came back after less than a minute, a torn expression on her face. “Nate, they want to take DJ to the hospital,” she said, looking at me worriedly.

“Is he okay?”

She nodded, smiling weakly. “Yeah. He’s on oxygen because of the smoke inhalation. He’s got a couple of cuts, but no burns thankfully,” she explained, her eyes shooting down to my legs.

“That’s good,” I replied. “I’ll see you there then.”

“I don’t want to leave you here on your own,” she croaked, crying again as she shook her head, taking hold of my hand.

I smiled weakly. DJ came first, that’s the way it had to work, we both knew that, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. “Stripes, I’m fine. I’ll see you there. Go take care of DJ, he’ll be frightened. Go on,” I instructed.

She sniffed, wiping her face on the back of her hand as she bent forward pressing her cheek to mine. “I love you. You really are the most incredible person I’ve ever met, Nate Peters,” she whispered, kissing my cheek gently.