When I woke in the morning, I squeezed my eyes shut again, wanting more sleep. The trouble was, the little thing that was jumping on the foot of the bed, singing Hotdog Hotdog Hot-diggedy-dog, had no intention of letting me sleep more. I groaned a little and turned my head, looking for Jace’s handsome face. Immediately, disappointment settled in the pit of my stomach because his side of the bed was empty. I sighed when I remembered that he’d gone out with his friends and sister last night. He was working today too, so I wouldn’t even get to see him until tomorrow. I pushed myself up to sitting, smiling at DJ. “Morning, Baby,” I mumbled, yawning. I was tired because Jace had called me during the night, drunk off his face, singing down the phone that I was the best girlfriend ever, and that he couldn’t wait to see me. He’d then proceeded to list all the dirty things that he would do to my body next time he saw me, which, of course, made it hard for me to fall back to sleep b

This had to be a mistake. Jace wouldn’t do that to me. All the times that I’d thought about us breaking up, it was never because he’d cheated; it was always because he just had enough of me and wanted someone better. I always thought he would have the decency to break it off with me first. Josh was lying, trying to split us up. He’d never liked Jace, that much was obvious from his attitude towards him, so maybe he was just trying to make me doubt my boyfriend. But if he was lying, then why was he still holding out his phone to me with a smug smile? “I don’t need to look at whatever you have on there. Jace wouldn’t cheat on me. He’s nothing like you,” I rebutted, shaking my head, praying that my words were right. I didn’t want to doubt Jace, but there was always that memory of Josh in the back of my mind, forcing that little bit of doubt there even though I was trying to be confident. “Bunny, I saw it! He was all over this girl, then he took another to the bathroom. The

The following Monday I asked at the school for a cleaning job, but the Principal was a little reluctant to let me clean because apparently it ‘wasn’t a teacher’s place to be seen doing that’. However, he did offer to give me an extra hour and a half work each day. Instead of cleaning, I was helping in one of the after school clubs. It worked out perfectly because I was allowed to have DJ there for free, so I didn’t need to arrange additional childcare. Everything was great again. Josh hadn’t called me for the last two weeks, so I was a little unsure where we stood but, from what he’d said, he still wanted to see DJ. Today was Friday, and this was his custody weekend, so I’d just have to wait and see if he turned up to collect his son or not. Jace was less than happy with him; well, ‘less than happy’ seemed to the understatement of the century. He’d insisted on being there tonight in case Josh came. I had visions of their being a stand-off and threats of decapitation if Jos

My lip trembled, shaking my head in horror as the guy ignored his teammate, trying again to get through the flames to my trapped son. When he stumbled and fell against the burning wall, he jumped back, and I saw his shoulders slump as he turned to look at me. Even through the thick mask he was wearing, I could see the sadness and sorrow his eyes. My heart shattered into a thousand pieces as I understood his apologetic expression. He was silently telling me he couldn’t rescue my baby. “NO! DJ!” I screamed, trying to wrench my arm out of the other guy’s grasp. There was no way I was leaving my child in there, fire or not, I was getting to him. “Momma!” DJ wailed. Through the haze and the smoke, his red rimmed eyes met mine, and I knew I would never get that look of sheer and utter horror out of my brain. I moved to run towards him, not caring that the flames were everywhere in the room, that even the walls were on fire. I just needed my baby safe. I made it only three st

I looked back at the flames that were outside his door, they were making their way into the room now. Now that the door was open, the fire was rapidly setting DJ’s carpet on fire too. If we didn’t get out soon then it’d be too late. He didn’t have a window in his bedroom, so the only way out was through the flames, back the way I came. I had no idea how we were going to do that though. I barely made the jump last time, now though the fire had spread and I would be carrying a four-year-old. My heart sank, but my head refused to give up. Struggling to get back to my feet, I picked up the little fire extinguisher from the floor. I mentally planned everything out. This was going to have to happen fast. I looked back to DJ and smiled. “Right, I’m going to spray the fire then I’m gonna pick you up and we’ll jump back to the lounge. Now, I only have one arm, so I’m not going to be able to hold you very much. I need you to hold onto me as tight as you can. Really, really tight, ok