Chapter53

#Chapter53

Stryker had learned from an early age that no good deed truly went unpunished.

As he woke to clouds of smoke flooding the room, his chest tight and painful, making breathing a chore he almost gave up on, he couldn't help but think that this was another perfect example.

Out of the kindness of his heart—or because Jamie had told him he was doing it—he had agreed to cover Kernal's night shift at the shop so that he could take Maddy on a well-earned date.

Forcing himself to sit up, eyes streaming and coughs racking through his body, Jamie was lying to his right, lifeless.

He had never known true fear until that moment, he realized. He shook the boy violently, harder than he ever would have any other time. But the smoke was getting worse and it was only then that he realized just how hot the room actually was.