Fallen: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World)

by Rebecca Barber

  “Get some rest, Zach.”

  “Will do. Thanks,” I said politely, grabbing the box and racing out the door.

  I thought I heard her call out behind me, “You’re going to need it, big boy,” but I couldn’t be sure. Maybe I was just hearing things. I was sleep deprived, so it was a possibility.

  After some food and sleep I was feeling much more human. The problem was, after two long nights, one of which was much more enjoyable than the other, I’d slept longer than planned and only had an hour before I was due back for another shift.

  Stepping into the shower, I let the scalding hot water pound down against my shoulders, hoping it’d relieve some of the aches. Dropping my head, I couldn’t shake the image of Lily on her knees, taking me into her mouth, working me over and driving me wild. Squeezing a dollop of body wash into my palm, I reached down and wrapped it around my cock, which was now proudly standing to attention.

  “Shit, Lily,” I grunted as I stroked harder and faster.

  With the picture of her in my head, the memory of her mouth wrapped around me and the way my cum had exploded across her tits had me coming on the tiles embarrassingly quickly. After washing away the evidence, I climbed out of the shower, wrapped a towel around my waist and went to get dressed.

  Picking up my phone, I checked the time. If I hurried, I’d have time to stop by and maybe steal a kiss or two before I was due at the station. With that possibility in mind, I moved faster than I think I ever had.

  Ten minutes later, I was pulling into Lily’s driveway and bouncing out of the car. With every step towards her door, I reminded myself to calm down. I couldn’t act like a caveman and just throw her over my shoulder, carry her into the bedroom and keep her there, not that that idea didn’t have merit. It was a damn good idea actually, one I was tucking away for another day.

  Marching up the steps, I paused when I heard the wood beneath my heel groan. I wasn’t exactly a waif of a guy, I wasn’t overweight either, but steps shouldn’t make that sound. Carefully, I took another step. Again with the creaking and cracking. I wasn’t liking this. I wasn’t liking it at all.

  Knocking on the door, I moved back and waited for Lily to answer. The minutes were ticking by and I was on a time crunch. When she didn’t answer, I knocked again. Still nothing. Glancing at my watch, I mentally calculated I had ten minutes, twelve at a stretch, before I had to get my ass moving. As I dug my phone from my pocket, I headed towards the porch swing and dropped down.

  Zach: Hey. At your place. Are you around?

  I wasted two precious minutes trying to come up with the perfect wording and still, that was all I had.

  Rocking back and forth, I looked around. Up close you could see the wear and tear aging the house. The paint was flaky in places. The wooden window frames were bulging in areas and the gutters looked like they were in need of some desperate attention.

  Minutes ticked down and still no response from Lily. She hadn’t appeared either. With the overwhelming weight of disappointment sitting on my chest, I got up and headed to work resolved to try again tomorrow.

  22

  LILY

  Thank God for Linda is all I can say.

  Today was a disaster of epic proportions, and I was still trying to get my head around it. Last night the storm had come up, but I was tucked up on the couch with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book while Ava slept like an angel. The thunder rumbled and the lightning lit up the room, but all that was happening on the other side of the windows, and I was too engrossed in what I was reading to pay much attention.

  When the lights had started to flicker, I gave up and went to bed. I was still tired, despite my afternoon nana nap in attempt to recover from Friday night’s activities. Well, Friday night’s activities and the enforced hike I’d made myself go on today. I hadn’t realized how unfit I was until I attempted walking up that damn hill.

  When Ava had woken me up at three o’clock in the morning, screaming blue murder, I’d tried to turn on the lamp beside my bed, but it seemed the power was out. Hobbling around in the dark, arms outstretched while trying to avoid walking into a wall, I’d stubbed my toe on the corner of the kitchen bench, sending a throbbing pain shooting through my body. Ignoring the desire to reach down and rub it, I pressed on and found a torch and some candles. I never thought I’d see the day when I would be changing a diaper by candlelight, but hey, here we were.

  After getting Ava settled – in the bed beside me rather than her crib, because every time I tried to set her down her ear-piecing cries almost deafened me, and tonight, I just didn’t have the patience or the energy to fight with her – we fell into a fitful sleep. At least I fell into a fitful sleep. I was so afraid I was going to roll over and squish her while I slept, I doubted I got more than twenty minutes in any one stretch.

  By the time morning rolled around, well morning to any normal human being, I was aching and exhausted and not in the pleasant way I had been the night before. After feeding and changing Ava, I rushed to get ready for my own day. We were still without power, and I needed coffee. It wasn’t a want. It was a desperate, critical need.

  Bundling Ava up, I buckled her into her stroller and headed for the bakery. I deserved a flaky, buttery, full-of-fat pastry and a bucket of coffee. Overhead the skies were dark and the clouds rolling in were menacing but so far not a drop had fallen. Pushing through the bakery doors, I was assaulted with the aroma of strong coffee and moaned loudly.

  Settling Ava’s stroller in the corner, I went to the counter keeping one eye on her where she laid sleeping quietly. Damn that kid was gorgeous when she was asleep. Her cute little chubby cheeks and her long lashes had cost me hours of just sitting there watching her.

  “Lily,” Phoebe greeted, stepping behind the register and rubbing her hands against her black apron.

  “Good morning, Phoebe,” I replied, trying to be extra friendly.

  “What can I get you?”

  I placed my order and paid before going back over to the table and sitting down. Pulling my phone from my bag, I started scrolling through the picture gallery to kill some time. I hadn’t realized how many photos of Ava I’d snapped. I had almost every facial expression the kid had, all captured. She did this weird gurgle smile thing when she was in Zach’s arms, not that I could blame her, it seemed she wasn’t the only one who made weird noises when he had his hands on her. No matter what I did, making silly faces, singing off key, tickling her, I still hadn’t managed to coax a real smile out of her. I would, I was determined, I just hadn’t got there yet.

  Flicking to the next image, my breath caught in my throat. It was one of the first ones I’d taken. Zach was sleeping on my sofa, shirtless with Ava nestled in his arms.

  “I heard you went home with him,” Phoebe announced, setting my breakfast down on the table, completely ignorant to the coffee splashing over the side of the mug and onto the table.

  I didn’t answer her. I felt no need to. Who I did and did not spend time with was none of her damn business, nor anybody else’s.

  “Well from what I hear, Zach’s lousy in bed. Doesn’t even know how to please a woman and can’t even get it up,” Phoebe declared loudly, making sure the other people in the bakery heard her snarky comments before stomping off.

  Ava whimpered. I reached over and started rolling her stroller back and forth gently, trying to lull her into sleep. “If only she knew, Ava. If only she knew.”

  As soon as I was done eating, I downed what was left of my coffee and left. The less time I spent near her toxic presence, the happier I was going to be. I’d made it four steps down the footpath when the first fat raindrop hit me. A rumble overhead had me making a beeline for the shop. We could hide out there, and I might even be able to catch up on some work while we waited out the storm.

  Four hours later, the storm had passed but I was on a mission and I wasn’t ready to stop. I’d eaten all the snacks I could get my hands on, cleaned the windows, rearranged the floor displays and rippe
d the shelves off the wall in the stock room. They were in the wrong spot, loose and too small. I’d even dug out a clean sheet of paper and redesigned the whole place, carving out a place for Ava.

  My phone beeped on the counter where I’d left it, interrupting the music I had pumping through the speakers. Heading out to get it, I didn’t see the puddle of water on the floor and slid straight through it. My runners were no match for the slippery tiles.

  Everything happened in slow motion. First, I went up, then I went down. And I went down hard.

  By the time I’d come to a stop, my ass was planted in the puddle of water, my phone was on the floor beside me, screen shattered, and my elbow was pointing in the wrong direction.

  It didn’t hurt until I saw it.

  Tears filled my eyes and Ava’s screams filled the store.

  Trying to cradle my arm against my chest, I realized that any movement at all made me want to throw up. Picking up my phone, I looked at the screen. It was bad. It wasn’t merely cracked; it was shattered beyond saving. I couldn’t even read the screen let alone a message. Taking a chance, I hit the screen, ignoring the glass digging into my finger.

  “Lily?”

  “Oh, Linda. Thank God you answered.”

  “What’s wrong? Is it Ava?”

  “Ah, well… umm… I kinda slipped and fell. Ava’s fine, just crying, and I can’t pick her up. I’ve done something to my arm, and I… I… smashed my phone.”

  I started blubbering like an idiot when I told her about my phone. You’d think I’d be freaking out about the fact my elbow looked completely crazy and was sticking out at a weird angle, or that I couldn’t pick up and soothe Ava. But no. I’m the girl who cried over a smashed phone screen.

  “Where are you?”

  “At the shop.”

  “Stay there. I won’t be long.”

  With one final snotty sob, I hung up, at least I think I did and tried to stand. At first my feet slipped and tried to slide out from under me, but somehow, I managed to find my feet. My butt was soggy, and I looked like I’d pissed myself. I was a damn mess.

  As carefully as I could, I stepped around the water and over to Ava. Poor little chicken. Her cheeks were red and wet from her tears. Reaching in with my good hand, I pushed a sweaty curl from her forehead. Her cries started to fade but her bottom lip still trembled.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. We’re okay. A little banged up, a little bruised, a lot embarrassed but we got this. It’s you and me against the world.”

  While we waited for Linda, I attempted to clean up the mess. Why was it no one ever told you that to clean properly, it meant you first had to make a giant mess. I was down on my hands and knees, a fistful of paper towels mopping up the puddle when Linda came flying through the door, stepping on a pile of rubbish.

  “What the hell happened here?”

  Looking up, I watched her step carefully through the store, dodging the piles of crap I’d left strewn from one end of the shop to the other.

  “Careful,” I warned her. I wish someone would’ve warned me.

  I’d made it to my feet when a wave of dizziness hit me, and I wobbled. Without thinking, I reached out to grab onto whatever I could reach. I used the wrong arm. A shot of pain radiated down my arm and I gasped.

  Linda’s arm wrapped around my waist, and I felt myself leaning into her. Relying on someone wasn’t something I was used to and something I was determined not to come to rely on, but right now, it felt so good to have her.

  “Honey, what have you done?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  “So bad.”

  “Can you wiggle your fingers?”

  Looking down at my hand, slowly I wriggled my fingers, watching with strange fascination as they moved back and forth.

  “Okay. That’s good. That’s really good. Now, we’re going to have to get you to the hospital and get that arm put back in place.”

  “No. It’s okay. I can…” I tried to extend my arm to prove everything was fine. Everything was not fine. Nothing was fine. The wave of nausea slammed into me and had me hunching, retching on my own store floor.

  Not appearing in the least bit squeamish, Linda sprang into action and took control of the situation, and before I could catch my breath, we were on our way to the hospital and I was being reprimanded for not calling Zach straight away. Even my excuses of a wrecked phone, his night shift and not wanting to worry him with my problems were waved away.

  I was lying in the hospital bed, wearing one of those very attractive, flimsy gowns trying not to freeze to death when the doorway was filled by a scowling, hulking presence.

  23

  ZACH

  I was furious.

  Like borderline rageaholic right now.

  After spending more than an hour on the side of the road helping with a traffic accident, somehow we’d ended up at the hospital waiting for Samuels to get his hand stitched up. Bloody idiot had sliced it open. But I didn’t have time to worry about him. As we’d come through the doors, who did I find sitting in the waiting room? Mom and Ava.

  Ignoring the reason I was supposed to be there, I stomped over in their direction. “What’s wrong? Is Ava okay?”

  Straight away my mind started racing that something was wrong with that precious little girl.

  Mom smiled at me. She actually smiled. What sort of twisted universe was I in, where she was smiling at me in a hospital waiting room while my mind raced through a million different scenarios? None of them good.

  “Calm down there, caveman. Ava’s fine.” She spun Ava around in her arms so she was facing me and I could see for myself that everything was as it should be. Ava’s gummy smile beamed up at me, and for the first time since I’d spotted them, I felt like I could take a breath.

  “Then why…”

  “Lily had a fall and she’s dislocated her elbow.”

  “What the…”

  Seemed forming full sentences wasn’t something I was doing right now.

  “Zach, she’s fine. She’s in with the doctors now.”

  I didn’t waste any more time asking questions or trying to piece together answers. I was going straight to the source.

  I moved through the emergency department with all the grace of a bull in a china shop. A few of the nurses looked up as I passed their patients, peering through the curtains at each one, searching out the woman whose ass was going to be turned pink from the spanking she was asking for. Why didn’t she call me? Did she not think I’d help her?

  Running into Sarah, she halted me in my tracks.

  “And just where do you think you’re going?”

  “Ah…”

  “I’m pretty sure there’s no fire in the emergency department this afternoon.”

  “Well... um…” I rubbed the knot of muscles in the back of my neck, everything suddenly feeling stiff.

  “She’s in the last bed on the right. She’s going to be fine. Sore for a couple of days and will need help with Ava and everything else,” Sarah added, making sure to eyeball me so I didn’t miss her message, not that there was any way I could’ve. She was about as subtle as a slap up the side of the head with a wet fish. “But her ego’s taken a pretty decent dent.”

  “So, she’s okay?”

  “She’ll be fine.”

  “Thank fuck,” I exhaled, letting my shoulders sag.

  “Go ahead and check on her. She could probably use the company.”

  Sarah reached out and squeezed my shoulder in a sign of support before hurrying away. Shaking my head, I cleared the fog and marched through the ward desperate to get to my girl.

  Pushing back the curtain, I saw Lily lying in the bed, her head resting against the pillow and her eyes closed. She looked so tiny and fragile lying there. It was wrong. Everything about this scenario was wrong. She wore a flimsy gown that was sliding off her shoulder and the blanket was pulled up as best as she could manage. Her arm was in a sling, resting against her stom
ach.

  Sighing heavily, I let go of all the fight and frustration I’d been loaded up with ready to confront her for being so silly. It didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that she was okay, the rest we could deal with later. Together.

  Lily’s eyes flickered open, and when they fell on me standing at the end of the bed, my hands clenched around the metal bar, her mouth fell open.

  “Zach.”

  “What happened, Lil?” I asked, hearing my voice soften as I said her name.

  “Oh, it was nothing, really. I’m fine.” She tried to brush it off like it was an everyday occurrence. It wasn’t. Or if it was, things were about to change.

  “Lily…”

  “I just slipped in some water and landed awkwardly.” She tried to wiggle in the bed so she was sitting upright. Seeing her wince as she tried to get comfortable had me springing into action. “I’ll be fine,” she added through gritted teeth, her eyes watery.

  “Fine my ass,” I grumbled as I rearranged pillows behind her.

  “I will be. I just slipped and fell on my ass like a complete klutz. Sure, it hurt, and once these amazing painkillers wear off it probably will again, but it will be fine. And so will I.”

  “Why didn’t you call me?” I asked, pushing the point that was really bugging me.

  “Honestly?” I nodded, encouraging her to continue. “I smashed my phone screen so badly I couldn’t see a damn thing. I was lucky it was your mom I managed to call and not the pizza delivery guy.”

  “Where’s your phone now?”

  Before Lily could answer, my radio crackled to life. Someone was looking for me. I needed to haul ass and get back to work. Technically, I was still on shift. I didn’t have time to sit by Lily’s hospital bed, but I couldn’t leave her like this. Lily must’ve sensed my hesitation to leave.

  “Go, Zach. I’m fine.”

  “What are you going to do?”