A Burn Like This (Mature Jocks Series #4)

40 ~ I LOVE YOU.....IN THIS LIFE, IN THE NEXT

"How is any of this made better?" I demand, "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?!" I yell, my voice cutting through the chaos of destruction that surrounds us. Death, ruins, and catastrophe paint a macabre picture, and I grapple with the enigma of his intentions. The weight of his words lingers, leaving me suspended in a disorienting reality where the brother I once protected has become an architect of my despair.

Emerging from the shattered remnants, my inquiry echoes through the desolate scene, "Where is she?"

His sinister chuckle reverberates, "Oh, she's fine, for now."

Fury surges within me, "What the hell does that mean?"

"Why bring her here? The plan was to end you, but now it's intriguing—I must end her too." His ominous declaration hangs in the air, propelling me into action. I charge, determination masking the peril.

In a blink, he strikes; pain shoots through my leg, a calculated wound, sparing me death for now. "You'll find her and bring her to me. We'll settle this; she's not part of—"

"She's engaged to you; she is a part of this," he interrupts, anger punctuating his words, the ruins amplifying his menacing presence. 

"But we're going to play a very interesting game, Alexander," he chuckles, the sound discordant against the backdrop of destruction. His once-familiar eyes now bear the weight of madness, a stark departure from the brother who once shielded me in Seattle alongside the woman I cherish.

"I'll give you a chance to find her amid the rubble and the stench of death," he sighs, the air thick with malevolence. "Who knows, she might already be dead amongst all others." His bloodshot eyes fixate on me, a predatory glint that betrays the sibling bond we once shared. "I know you've considered that possibility," he taunts with a sardonic smile, his lips curling with a sinister knowledge. "Or perhaps you'll find her just in time to watch her bleed out."

"Andreas!" My anger explodes and all I see is red. I watch his demeanor and I come to one conclusion that I voice out. "You don't know where she is, if you did, you wouldn't be here."

"Quit wasting time and find your wife," he spits out the word 'wife' with venomous disdain, the contempt dripping from his lips like acid. The ruins bear witness to our fractured connection, a poignant contrast to the protective brother who once stood between me and impending danger.

Hold on baby, hold on just a little bit, I'll find you.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

J O D I E

You feel it, the moments before you die.

Sensation courses through you, an instinctive awareness that your life is teetering on the precipice. In the unforgiving symphony of impending doom, fragments of the life you've woven flicker before your eyes, a tapestry of moments that now blur into a surreal uncertainty. Doubts gnaw at you—did you truly live, or merely dance on the edges of existence?

Yet, a stark dichotomy unfolds. One moment, you sprint towards the man destined to be your eternal love, and in the heartbeat that follows, chaos unravels—pain and catastrophe in a grotesque ballet. The timeline fractures, leaving you stranded in a disorienting limbo within your subconscious, where the looming specter of death seems to await.

Numbness envelops your senses, a shield against the pandemonium until whispers infiltrate the void. Ethereal voices, like tendrils of the unknown, start to creep in, casting an eerie pall over your fading consciousness. In this twilight between life and whatever awaits beyond, you grapple with the spectral chorus, a haunting prelude to the uncertainty that hovers on the edge of perception.