Page 13 of Demon's Desire
“911, what is your emergency?” the operator over the line asked.
“My friends’ house is on fire,” I said firmly. I was trying to sound as calm as possible, but now that it looked like everyone was safe, I was starting to shake a little.
“What is the address of the house?” they asked.
“Um… It’s 332 West Fletcher Street, in Lakeview.” I took a deep breath. “It’s a duplex apartment. There was a house party, but I think everyone is out of the building now.”
“This is not the first call. We already have units on the way.”
“Thank you.” I let out a deep breath and pressed my other palm to my forehead. They asked for my name and phone number, so I gave it to them before hanging up. When that was all taken care of, I finally turned around and started looking for my friends.
I didn’t immediately see Torie, Mica, or Kelly in the thick crowd of people, but I did see Elias. He ran over to me and suddenly pulled me into a hug. “Hey! Are you all right? You ran off.”
“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine.” I nodded, trying to calm down. “I was trying to get everyone out.”
“Yeah, I saw you.” He pulled back and smiled. “You were like Wonder Woman. It was awesome. But are you all right?”
“Yeah, totally.” I gave him a half-smile. “Just a little shaken up, but it’s fine.”
“Okay.” He took my hand and squeezed it. “That was really impressive, Mia. You should be proud of yourself.”
“Thank you.” I sighed, trying to relax a bit. “Everyone got out, right?”
“Yes, there’s no one else inside,” he assured me. “You called 911 already?”
“Yes, they’re on the way.” I swallowed hard and looked back at the group of people. “Listen, I’m gonna try to find my friends. Um… I don’t know if this is, like, the worst time to ask something like this, but… could I get your number? I had a great time before, you know, the house caught on fire.”
“Really?” Elias smiled at me. “I’m glad you asked. I wasn’t sure you’d like my timing if I had.”
I responded with a dry laugh. At least I wasn’t the only one who thought that.
“I had a great time too,” he added. “My phone’s dead right now, and it’s a new number, but if you like, why don’t we meet up for coffee tomorrow? I can give you my number then and make sure you’re still doing okay.”
“Tomorrow?” I hesitated for a second, struggling to think about much right now other than the fire. “Um… Yeah. Yeah, actually that sounds great.”
“Great! There’s a coffee shop on this side of town called Short and Steamy. How about one o’clock tomorrow?”
“Sounds good.” I gave him a smile. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow, gorgeous.” He winked at me as I pulled away. I blushed as I approached the crowd to find my friends.
I saw the family from upstairs first. The parents looked utterly pissed, but the mom saw me and ran over to grab my hand. “You, what’s your name?”
“Oh.” Shit, was I in trouble? “My name is Mia. I’m sorry about–”
“Mia,” she cut me off. “Thank you. Thank you for thinking about us.”
I blinked, a bit surprised that I wasn’t being scolded about the party or the fire. After I took it in, I smiled at her and nodded. “I’m just glad you’re all okay.”
I dropped her hand and finally went into the crowd. “Kelly?” I called. “Kelly, where are you?”
“Mia?” I heard her call back. I walked toward her voice and found her on the other side of the crowd. When she saw me, she ran over and pulled me into a huge hug. “There you are! I didn’t see you when everyone left, I thought you fucking died or something!”
“I’m fine,” I promised, hugging her back. “I went upstairs to make sure the neighbors got out before it got bad.”
Kelly pulled back and blinked. “You did that?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged. “If it wasn’t me, someone else would have done it.”