Everlasting Desire

“That’s understandable. You were afraid. The mind can play funny tricks on you when you’re scared.”

Frowning, she shook her head. “No.” One minute they had been inside; the next, they were here. She had no memory of what had happened in between.

Rhys set Megan on her feet, then folded his hands over her shoulders. Gazing deeply into her eyes, he spoke to her, his voice low and hypnotic. “I carried you through the crowd and out of the building. We were lucky to escape so quickly.”

“Yes,” she murmured. “Lucky.”

When he was certain she believed what he wanted her to believe, he released his hold on her mind and turned his attention to the people still running out of the building, which was now engulfed in flames. The screams of those trapped inside, the sobs of those who had escaped, the sickly sweet smell of burning flesh rode the night air. And over all, the wail of sirens as fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances rolled to the scene.

Freed of his spell, Megan blinked up at Rhys. “Drexel? Do you think he’s…?”

She couldn’t say the word, couldn’t bear to think of the enthusiastic young man who had proposed to her so many times being burned alive in the inferno.

“I don’t know.” Rhys stared at the fire. It was like a scene out of hell, with the flames shooting skyward and sparks falling in the streets and landing on the crowd. Men and women, some with their clothing on fire, ran out of the building, trampling each other in their panic. Rhys shook his head. There wasn’t much in his existence he feared, but fire…It was one of the few things that could destroy him.

Megan watched in morbid fascination as the firemen went to work. A few of them dashed into the burning building while others manned the fire hoses. The air crackled as thick streams of cold water met the hot, hungry flames.

It wasn’t long until the reporters arrived, shoving their microphones in the faces of spectators, asking people who had just survived a horrible ordeal the same stupid questions reporters always asked at scenes of death and destruction.

Rhys glanced at Megan. “Are you ready to go?”

Megan shook her head. She couldn’t leave, not until she knew whether or not Drexel had survived. And then she saw him, sitting on the curb across the way. His pants were singed, his face and hands were smeared with soot, his right arm looked badly burned. But he was alive.

The reporters saw him, too. Like vultures on a fresh kill, they swarmed around him, all asking questions at once.

“Why can’t they just leave him alone?” Megan exclaimed. “Can’t they see he’s hurt?”

“Do you want me to get rid of them?”

“Can you?” she asked hopefully.

“Watch me.” Flexing his shoulders, Rhys pushed his way through the crowd of reporters. “Drexel, do you want to talk to these clowns?”

Drexel shook his head, then started coughing.

Standing in front of the boy, Rhys fixed his gaze on each reporter in turn. “You heard him, ladies and gentlemen, he wants to be left alone. Now get the hell out of here.”

As though pulled by the same string, the reporters all turned and walked away.

“Come on, kid,” Rhys said, “let’s get you out of here.” And so saying, he swung the young man into his arms and carried him toward an ambulance that had just arrived at the end of the block.

When one of the attendants started to protest that there were others more in need of immediate care, Rhys forced his will on the EMT, then opened the ambulance doors, jumped inside, and lowered Drexel onto the bench that ran along one side of the vehicle.

The EMT came in behind Rhys and began examining the burn on Drexel’s right arm.

Drexel stared up at Rhys. “You,” he said, his voice gruff from all the smoke he had inhaled. “I know you….”

“We met at Shore’s.”

“Young man,” the EMT admonished, “You shouldn’t try to talk right now.”

“The medic’s right,” Rhys said. “Save your breath.”

“Megan…I saw her….” Drexel broke into a paroxysm of coughing. “Is she…?”

“She’s fine. You’ll be proposing to her again in no time.”

Drexel smiled faintly; then, with a pain-filled sigh, he closed his eyes.

Rhys stared down at the kid for a moment. Had he ever been that young? With a shake of his head, he jumped out of the ambulance and returned to Megan.

“Is he all right?” she asked anxiously.

“He’ll be fine. He’s got a bad burn on one arm, and he inhaled some smoke. Nothing too serious.”

Rhys glanced at the six covered bodies lying in the street. He could have told the firemen there were two more inside, but the dead were beyond help, beyond caring.

The fire was under control now. Cops were directing traffic away from the scene. The scream of sirens pierced the night as ambulances pulled away from the stadium. Reporters, their cameramen in tow, prowled the edges of the crowd like wolves on the scent of prey, hoping to chase down a good story.

“Come on,” Rhys said, “let’s get out of here.”

She didn’t argue this time.

Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, Rhys led her to his car, helped her inside, fastened her seat belt.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked.

She shook her head. She didn’t want to talk about what had happened, didn’t want to think about it, but she couldn’t get the images out of her mind—the relentless flames, the firemen rushing into the inferno, putting their own lives at risk to try to save others. It was frightening, the way the fire had spread so quickly. She thought of all the people who had gone to the concert looking to have a good time and had lost their lives. Images of the covered bodies lying in the street flashed through her mind. If not for Rhys’s quick thinking, one of those bodies could have been hers. It was the first time she had ever seriously considered her own mortality. She was young and healthy. Dying was something that happened to other people.

Rhys slid a glance at Megan. She was trembling now. After removing his jacket, Rhys tucked it around her. He needed to get her home, warm her up with some hot tea, and put her to bed before she collapsed.

He had no sooner pulled up in front of Megan’s place when Shirl came running out the front door, her bathrobe flying behind her. She yanked open the car door, then dropped to her knees. “Megan! Are you all right? I saw the fire on the news. I was so worried!”