17BLACK

Chapter 59

Harry's POV:

"Holy. Shit." I park the car a block down the street, seeing the flames from that far away. When Will told me that the club was on fire, I imagined a small flame of some sort. Maybe a customer dropped a lit cigarette?

What I didn't expect was a soaring tower of flames visible from a mile away. Louis gasps in the seat next to me and I'm about to tell him to wait in the car while I go check things out when he clicks his seatbelt off and runs out of the car.

I shout at him to stop, but it's pointless. He's already running to the building swallowed by flames, calling for his brother.

I curse and hurry after him. We're fighting the crowd running away from the building.

I catch up to him easily - him having the wounded lungs of a smoker and me having daily running sessions with Katrina - and don't even try to make him go back into the car. If I were him I'd be worried about my brother too.

We're stopped at the front gate entrance. There's a thick line of yellow tape and fire trucks blocking our path. I grab Louis' arm to keep him from doing anything stupid.

The scene around us is chaos. Desperate men in red uniforms try putting the huge flame out but it only grows larger and larger, filling the sky with an alarming column of smoke. Coughing people emerge from the scene with the aid of workers in numerous ambulances. From the screams coming from the building, I'd say that there's still people trapped inside.

Louis struggles in my hand like a dog on a leash trying to chase a squirrel. In this case Will is the squirrel.

"Where the hell is he?" Louis calls his name into the crowd over and over. I scan the crowd for his familiar face.

Finally I see one. But it's not Will.

"Aaron!" Louis snaps his head to the direction I'm calling, and then he's pulling me through the crowd again.

Louis is looking for an answer to his question, but it's clear that Aaron doesn't know where Will is anymore than Louis does.

"I had a hand on his arm but everything got crazy and I lost him. I'm not sure where he is." Aaron's eyes are wide. I've never seen either one of them this scared. Why are they this worried? He's probably somewhere in the crowd, doing the same thing we're doing and searching for us.

But they know Will better than I do. I think about what I know about him, and immediately realize why they are freaking out.

Will isn't in the crowd. He is going to be helping the people trapped in the building.

So instead of searching the mass of people observing the scene, I look past the yellow police tape and around the building.

And then I see him. He's between a firefighter and a middle aged man. The man is bent over and coughing violently. Will says something to the firefighter and then the firefighter nods, running back into the fire. It seems as if Will is ushering the wounded to a safer area.

I tug at Louis' arm.

"He's over there. See? He's okay." I tighten my grip on his arm just in case Louis gets any ideas. Louis leans over to tell Aaron and they both noticeably relax.

Louis reaches for my hand and I wrap my fingers around his. I lean down to press a kiss to his head.

"There's no need to worry. He's just helping." Aaron glances over at us as I'm soothing Louis. He runs his eyes over Louis and then does a double take.

"Um, Louis?" Louis raises an eyebrow.

Aaron smirks. "Had a bit of fun recently?"

I follow Aaron's eyes and I blush once they land on Louis' chest. In our haste to get here, Louis chose a white V-neck shirt. His revealed skin displays my intimate morning love bites. I blush deeply.