Chapter 3 : Fire in My Room

 Skylar emerges from the stairs, Liam’s younger sister, messy hair, oversized jacket, soft smile.

 She looks between us and smirks.  “You both look like someone told you to share a room.”

 I groan.  “Your parents are leaving for a year.”

 She gasps.  “Together?”

 “Yes.”

 “And you two are staying here alone?”

 “Yes.”

 She bites her lip, trying not to laugh.  “This is priceless.”

 “It’s not funny,” Liam snaps.

 “It’s hilarious.”  She pats his shoulder.  “Try not to kill each other.”

 I shake my head.  “I can’t do this.  I can’t pretend everything is normal.”

 Skylar looks at me.  Longer than necessary.

 Like she knows something.

 “Maybe pretending isn’t the problem,” she says softly.  “Maybe it’s what you’re pretending not to feel.”

 My breath catches.  Liam stiffens.

 Skylar smiles and walks upstairs like she didn’t just drop a bomb between us.

 I say, “She knows.”

 “She doesn’t,” Liam says quickly.

 “She does.”

 “She doesn’t.”

 “She absolutely does.”

 He rakes his hand through his hair.  “We need rules.”

 I nod.  “Rules.”

 He steps closer.  “Rule one: no staring.”

 I roll my eyes.  “I don’t stare.”

 “You do.”

 “Fine.  Rule two: no touching.”

 His lips twitch.  “You already said that.”

 “I’m saying it again.”

 He nods.  “Rule three: no talking unless necessary.”

 “Perfect.”

 “Rule four,” he says, voice softer, “no bringing people home.”

 I close my eyes.  “You don’t get to control my dating life.”

 “I’m not.  I’m avoiding disasters.”

 “What disasters?”

 He stops.  “The kind that involves you getting hurt.”

 My chest tightens.  “I’m not your responsibility.”

 “Maybe you should be.”

 The room feels smaller.  Tighter. Hotter.

 I say, “Stop confusing me.”

 He whispers back, “Stop looking at me like you want me to.”

 My breath stutters.  I look away.

 Then everything changes.

 The lights flicker.

 Once. Twice.

 Then the entire house goes dark.

 I freeze.  “What just happened?”

 Liam swears under his breath.  “Power cut?”

 My phone screen glows slightly in my hand.

 He steps closer, voice tense.  “Stay where you are.”

 “No,” I say.  “Something feels wrong.”

 His voice thickens.  “Nico”

 I hear a sound in the hallway.  A heavy crash.  A door opening.

 Another sound.

 A soft click.

 My stomach twists.

 “Liam,” I say, “you heard that, right?”

 He doesn’t answer.

 He’s already moving toward the sound.

 I grab his arm.  “Don’t go alone.”

 He turns to me, face shadowed in the dark, voice low and sharp.

 “This isn’t a normal outage,” he says.

 My heart pounds.  “What do you mean?”

 He looks me dead in the eye.

 “Someone else is in the house.”

 The house stays dark.  The hallway stays silent.  And Liam says the one thing I never want to hear in the dark…

 “We’re not alone.”

The smoke hits before the warning does.

 I didn't understand it at first.

 One second I’m reaching for my charger.

 Next, something burns at the back of my throat.

 I cough hard.

 The taste is sharp.  Bitter.  Wrong.

 “What… what is happening?”

 My voice cracks, and hearing it out loud only tightens the fear rising in me.  I turn toward the door, but the smoke thickens so fast I can’t see anything clearly.

 Then the alarm screams.

 And I freeze.

 Not because of the sound.

 But because the doorknob glows red.

 “No… no, noplease.”

 I spin around, looking for anything that will help even though I know I’m wasting time.  My thoughts spread.  My hands shake.  My chest squeezes tight.

 The fire is close.

 Too close.

 Too fast.

 “This can’t be real,” I say, but fear doesn’t care about reason.

 I try the window, but the heat at my back tells me the flames are moving.  I grab my phone, but the smoke burns my eyes so badly I can’t even unlock it.

 My heartbeat pounds loud enough to drown the warning.

 “I don’t want to die,” I say.

 A crash hits the other side of the door.

 I jump.

 Another crash.

 Faster.  Harder.

 Someone is hitting the door.

 “Move back!”

 That voice.

 That deep, eager, powerful voice.

 It punches through the fear like a lifesaver.

 He shouldn’t be here.

 He shouldn’t care.

 He shouldn’t sound like he’s fighting the house to get to me.

 “Move back now!”

 I stumble away, coughing, half blinded.  The world spins.  The floor feels uneven under my feet.  I sink down, dizzy.

 Then the door bursts inward.

 And Liam storms in.

 His eyes are wild.  His jaw is tight.  He doesn’t pause; he doesn’t slow.  He comes straight for me.

 And for a second, even with the smoke, even with the fear, I see it.

 Fear in his eyes is almost equal to mine.

 He drops to his knees.  “Nico.  Look at me.”

 I try to answer, but a cough rips through me.

 He grabs my arms.  “Stay awake.  You hear me?  Stay awake.”

 His voice breaks in the middle.

 A small crack.

 Barely there.

 But I hear it.

 “Why… why are you”

 “You’re not dying in this house,” he snaps.  “Not like this.  Not when I’m right here.”

 Before I can argue, he pulls me up, swings me into his arms like I weigh nothing.

 I cling to his shirt without thinking.

 He carries me through the smoke, covering my face with his shoulder.  Heat strikes at us, but he doesn’t move.  His arms tighten around me as if the fire is something he can fight off with sheer will.

 My voice comes out small.  “You broke the door.”

 “I’ll break the whole damn house if I have to.”

 I swallow hard.

 This is… too much.

 Too strong.

 To him.

 He pushes through the hallway and out toward safety.  When the air finally clears, I gasp, choking on relief.  He sets me down gently, but his hands stay on my shoulders as if he’s not sure I won’t fall.

 “You okay?” he asks.

 I nod even though I’m shaking.

 “You sure?”

 My throat trembles.  “I thought I was done.”

 He stares at me for a long second like he’s counting the breaths I’m taking, like each one matters.

 Then he exhales, long and shaky.

 “Don’t scare me like that again.”

 The way he says it isn’t casual.

 It’s not playing.

 It’s not angry.

 It’s real.

 Too raw.

 “Why do you sound like that?”  I whisper.

 “Like what?”

 “Like… losing me means something to you.”

 His jaw moves.  “I didn’t say that.”

 “But you feel it.”

 He looks away.  “You hallucinated from the smoke.”

 “That’s not an answer.”

 He doesn’t reply.

Before I push further, the fire crew rushes over.  They ask me questions about my name, how I’m feeling, whether I swallowed too much.  Liam stands close the entire time.

 Too close.

 Anyone else would think he’s my brother or my… something.

 I’m not even sure what word fits him anymore.

 When the team finally goes inside to inspect the damage, one of them returns quickly.

 “It started in your wing,” he says to me. “Bad wiring.  Very bad.  The whole part is dangerous now.  You can’t stay there.”

 My stomach drops.  “So where do I sleep? ”