I twist in a tight circle taking in every face around me, but I come up empty. The most beautiful woman in the world isn’t in sight, yet everything in that pile on the sidewalk belongs to her.
I’ve seen that tote slung over her shoulder and I carried that camera case for her the night I helped her with the Porter Knight shoot.
I look up at a building engulfed in flames.
Afton. Jesus, my Afton.
My crew was called to this fire on the Upper West Side four hours into my shift. That’s eight hours before I was going to find Afton, drop to bended knee, and try to convince her to spend every day of her life with me.
I rush toward the brownstone, but my captain stops me with a quick pull on the back of my jacket. “Stand down, Jones.”
I spin around and break his grasp with my arm. “She’s in there, Dane.”
“Help!” The screams of a woman come at us from the left. “Someone ran in to save my daughter. She went back in to get the dog, but he came out without her.”
As if on cue, a terrier bounces at her feet.
The toddler in the woman’s arms is covered in soot, but from the looks of it, she’s fine. The EMTs arriving will make sure of that.
“What woman?” I yell back, not caring about protocol or breaking rank.
I need this stranger to tell me that it wasn’t my love. I want her to say that Afton is somewhere close, tending to someone else who got out of the inferno.
Dane steps between the woman and me. “Jones, enough. Toranti and Burgess are going in.”
“Like hell they are, Captain.” I grab hold of his jacket with one hand while I point to Afton’s belongings on the sidewalk less than a foot away from the steps of the brownstone. “Afton is here. That’s her bag. That’s her fucking camera case.”
He knows about Afton. She’s all I’ve talked about for weeks.
His gaze darkens. “Luke.”
I start toward the door. “I have to find her.”
“In now. Go.” He yanks his facemask into place.
I do the same, praying that we’re not too late.
We head into the smoke-filled entrance. Flames are licking the walls of the foyer, but I rush into the darkness, determined to find Afton because there’s no way in hell I’m losing her now.
***
“Why isn’t she waking up?” My voice cracks. “She should be awake by now.”
It’s been two hours since we pulled Afton from the brownstone. She collapsed at the bottom of a flight of stairs.
I carried her out, praying with each step that she would live and telling anyone who would listen that I’d take her place.
I would have traded my life for hers in that moment. I still would.
“She inhaled a lot of smoke,” the doctor who was waiting for us at the entrance to the Emergency Department explains. “There’s a laceration on her head. We suspect that’s the cause.”
My gaze drops to the nametag he’s wearing. “Dr. Foster, please.”
He reaches for my shoulder. I’m still dressed in my full gear. Dane is here. Nelson and Joel arrived an hour ago, and I’ve left it to them to decide when Afton’s parents should be notified.
“We’re doing everything we can,” he assures me. “She’s young and strong. We’re going to run more tests. I’ll be back shortly.”
Shortly feels like four fucking days at this point. I should know. They told me they’d have an update shortly when the EMTs first brought her in. They let me ride with her. I had to. Holding her hand was just as much for her benefit as mine.
I watch the doctor walk away, hoping that I get a miracle in the next two minutes, and she wakes up.
“Luke,” Nelson’s voice comes at me from behind as I feel his hand on my shoulder. “Come and sit down. Sit with us.”
I can’t move. I’ve been standing in this spot, just inside the doors of the Emergency Department since they brought Afton in.
The little girl she rescued stopped by on her way out to hold my hand. Her mother hugged me, thanking me for rescuing the woman that saved her daughter.
I couldn’t speak, so my captain took control, leading them out of the hospital while I sobbed silently.
Nelson steps around me. “Our folks are here. They’re in the waiting room. It would help them to see you. They need to see you.”
Nodding, I swipe a hand over my face. “All right, but not for long.”
He wraps a hand around my waist to guide me, and I’m thankful for the support, both emotionally and physically.
All eyes are on me when I enter the waiting room. I glance around and spot who I’m looking for immediately.
Afton’s mother is wrapped in my grandmother’s warm embrace, and her dad is clinging tightly to Joel.