Jensen leaned on the counter, with his arms crossed. “Hey, Mr. Devereaux. Nice to see you again.”
Lyric gave him an arched brow. “Shouldn’t you be putting the stock out for the 4th?”
“Right. Whatever you say, Boss.” Jensen was lanky and that kind of good-looking that meant he probably never had to work hard for anything in his life. But he had an affable charm that I envied. I’d never be that kind of easygoing.
“I wanted to show Dahlia around.”
“Take your time. Let me know if you need anything.” Lyric picked up her iPad.
“Will do.”
Dahlia rushed through the aisles with a childlike wonder that was exactly why I’d created this place. Macy had her style of Halloween and I had mine. The over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek kind of horror had always been my thing.
“This bear is wild. Ecto-green blood.” She turned back to me. “A la Slimer?”
“You like Ghostbusters?”
“Are you really shocked?”
I laughed. “That’s a no. Take whatever you want. I’ll clear it with Lyric.”
“This place is awesome.” She went back to the killer Gummy Bear and snapped out a bag. “Now this is what I’m talking about.” She was grinning when a loud crack and snapping sound boomed though the room.
The edge of the front counter careened forward and folded inside of itself as the floor cracked. Black, billowing smoke rolled out of the floor.
The sprinklers popped and started spraying over everything just as the wall of candy tipped forward.
I dove at Dahlia and took the brunt of the acrylic tubes full of candy as they rained down around us in every flavor of the rainbow. The acrid smoke rolled up and around the Grim Reaper like some bad B-Movie.
“Hellcat? Are you okay? Talk to me!”
She coughed and groaned under me.
“Can you move?”
“I don’t know.” She curled under me as the floor rumbled again.
“Lyric!” Jensen’s voice came from the far side of the room. He shot forward, skidding under the toppled display cases. But the floor was uneven with the break, and he swore as his hip crashed into a cracked tile.
Flashbacks of getting pinned down by my sculpture threatened to drag me under.
The pain in my shoulder was a distant echo of the past. But it was the blood on Dahlia’s face that dragged me back from the edge. “Hellcat, can you get out?”
“I can’t move my leg.”
“Fuck.”
“I think it’s pinned.”
I reached for my phone, but I remembered that as soon as the sprinklers were activated, it automatically routed the fire department to this building. Thank God.
“Jensen!” Lyric’s voice was thready as she coughed.
“I’m coming. Hang on.” Jensen gave a grunting shout as he pushed the tile out of his way and he Army-crawled to the crack in the floor.
I hoped to God that kid could get to her. I could only focus on one thing right now. “Okay, Hellcat. I’m going to try and lift this thing up, and I need you to slide free, okay?”
“Okay.” Her hand shook as she reached out for me. “Nolan, do you think the baby is okay?”
“We’re going to make sure the baby makes it through this. Our baby is tough as nails, and stubborn as fuck, remember?”
She shook her head. “Right. Stubborn. Strong like her Daddy.”
“That’s right.” I didn’t feel very strong right now, but I was going to do it for her. “On three.”
“Three. Okay.”
“One. Two. Three—” I growled as I pushed up with everything I had. My back, my shoulders, and my thighs screamed as I shoved at the display case. Something sunk into my shoulder, but I ignored that and finally, it moved a few inches. “Go!”
She scooted free just as the sirens and the heavy horn of a fire engine came closer. There was no way I could get this thing off me, but at least she was okay.
I heard Jensen yelling in the distance as fire licked up the side walls.
The smoke started to settle down to where we were on the floor. “Dahlia, get out of here.”
“Not on your life.”
“Not my life, that baby of ours.”
