When She Wasn't Looking by Helenkay Dimon Page A

fire muffled other sounds. She pushed up, ignoring the slice of glass into her palm. Residents stumbled out of the bottom units. Others lay on the ground not moving.
    So many people hurt… Jonas.
    Her vision blurred as the smoke fell over her. She blinked and rubbed her eyes to bring the images back together. When she could focus again, she scanned the ground, trying to remember the last place she saw him. The stairs, the walls, they were gone now, but the fire inched closer and the wind kicked up.
    Something moved off to her left. Dark pants. A hand. Jonas lay on his stomach with his face turned away from her.
    She struggled to stand up but her legs wouldn’t hold her. She slipped back to the ground with a whoosh. Forcing her eyes to focus, she made out Jonas’s lean frame and saw the flames edging closer.
    She crawled on her elbows and knees, ignoring the crunch of glass as she went. When she got close she reached out and wrapped her fingers around his ankle. He didn’t move at her touch. Climbing, shuffling her body along the hard ground, she slid up his body and pressed a finger to his neck. A steady heartbeat greeted her.
    With her hands on his back, she shook him and shouted his name. On the third shove, he groaned.
    “Jonas, please, wake up.” She continued to poke and prod. They had only minutes before the fire reached them. “Come on.”
    His eyes popped open. “Bomb.”
    Relief zapped her strength. She fell against him and buried her face in his neck. “We have to move.”
    “Are you okay?” His question came out in pants.
    She lifted her head and brushed a hand over his blackened cheek. “Fine.”
    “Everyone else?”
    “I don’t know. Can you get up?”
    “I doubt it.” He shifted his head and faced the fire. “Forget that. Yeah, I can.”
    He pushed up on his forearms, his arms shaking as he went. When he pushed back on his knees, his chest heaved.
    Panic swamped her. Every cell in her body shook. “Jonas, please.”
    He opened his eyes again and some of the haze had cleared. “Let’s go. I can come back for the others.”
    She doubted he could even rescue himself this time.
    With her arms wrapped around him and his weight suffocating her, they half crouched and half crawled out of the line of the fire. Sirens wailed in the distance, growing louder. She laughed, so relieved by the welcome noise.
    They were a few steps from freedom when strong arms reached under her stomach and pulled her away. She screamed out Jonas’s name and kicked out her legs.
    Then the smoke closed around her.

Chapter Thirteen
    Jonas moved his arms but he wasn’t holding anything but air. He blinked several times to clear his vision as he called Courtney’s name over and over again.
    He could hear her screams over the blaring whistle of the incoming fire trucks. As the wind blew, a patch of visibility opened and he saw a man dragging Courtney away. The man had his arms banded around her chest as she dug in her heels to stop him.
    If she could find the power to fight, so could he. Jonas crawled until he struggled up on all fours, willing his body to keep moving. He fell twice, but on the third try he rose up on shaky legs.
    The smoke had blown back in, and heat seared his back. He turned to find the fire creeping in a line toward him. Adrenaline surged through him, coursing through his blood and shooting power back into his beaten muscles.
    The window of smoke closed and he couldn’t see her anymore. “Courtney!”
    “Jonas, here!”
    He followed the sound to a car parked on the opposite side of the complex. Through the thick smoke, Courtney fought, swinging her legs and punching at her attacker. When he tried to open the passenger side and stuff her in, she smacked the door shut by balancing her feet against the side of the car.
    Jonas inhaled and ran. His heel overturned, but he kept moving. With a yell, he launched his body at the attacker, hitting him square in the back. The men went down, rolling on the