Chapter 1
Just moments ago I flicked the ash from my cigarette off the balcony as the world burned before my eyes. One final drag and it was gone. I couldn’t stop staring -- like a train wreck, I could not look away. I felt arms snake around my waist as Thea’s chin pressed into my shoulder. She leaned her face against mine. I let the cigarette butt drop from my fingers and twisted in her grip. I began to guide her face into a kiss, but she pulled free.

“I hate the way you taste after you’ve smoked those things, Jake.” She haughtily sniffed the air as only she could, “You know I’m a Camel’s kind of girl,” she whispered indignantly.

“Why are you whispering?” I whispered back. She looked over my shoulder at the dying inferno behind me. I dropped my gaze not looking at anything, just staring. My arms dropped from her shoulders as she turned away from the fiery scene. I grabbed her hand and we left it all behind.