I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me.
“Not now. I’ll go. Let you know when I hear something,” I pulled the phone away from my ear and pressed the red ‘end’ button without waiting for him to reply.
Pushing open the door, I stared at the men that were standing in a circle.
Booth, Bowe and Chief Allen Shepherd were watching Tai and Drew spar.
They weren’t doing it seriously, and I could tell that by the trash talking that was going on.
“I need y’all to get in the truck,” I called to the room. “I need to go check on July.”
Drew and Tai stopped, facing me, while the other three turned as well.
“Now,” I said. “Or I’m going by myself.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Bowe asked. “Why not just send Able over there to see what’s up?”
I was shaking my head as he finished the sentence, then I explained.
“She was supposed to watch Nathan today,” I informed him. “She wouldn’t forget that.”
“Who are we going to see?” Naomi asked cheerily from behind me.
I gritted my teeth and ignored her as I said, “Let’s go!”
They all came, following behind me as I walked down the hallway, through the living room, past the kitchen, and out the door to the bay where the engine and ambulance were kept.
Today was my shift in the ambulance, so I got into the driver’s side and started it up as I waited for the rest of them to file out.
It didn’t take but another five minutes before they were all in the engine, except for Bowe and Naomi, who got into the ambulance with me.
“Ready, Freddy,” Naomi patted her thighs enthusiastically.
I didn’t bother to give her my usual smile at her predictable comment.
She said that every time we got into the ambulance, and for some reason it wasn’t nearly as cute as I usually thought it was.
“What’s going on with her?” Bowe asked me as he buckled his seatbelt.
“No clue,” I said. “Her brother called to ask me to go check on her.”
“I thought her brother hated you,” Bowe’s brows furrowed. “Why would he call you?”
“He’s at work,” I explained. “And he knows I’ll do it.”
Bowe snorted, and Naomi wisely chose to not speak.
Comprehension came into Bowe’s eyes.
All the boys knew about July, as well as her devotion to her nephew.
Although July and I had only lasted a short six months, they all were well acquainted with the two of them. You didn’t just forget the woman and the kid you saw at every barbecue and party that you attended once a week for six months.
“Where are you going?” Bowe asked as I turned onto Fourth Street. “I thought she lived off of the Interstate?”
I shook my head in the negative.
“She moved,” I growled.
The closer we got to The Hills, the more upset I got.
The Hills was the shittiest apartment complex in about fifty square miles. When you think of a slum, this was definitely it. Not one single person would call the cops if someone was shot outside their door in that complex.
But just because they wouldn’t look out for someone else didn’t mean they didn’t look out for themselves.
We ran this apartment complex at least three times a shift.
When we pulled into the ratty parking lot that had potholes all over it, and kids running everywhere, no one blinked an eye.
“Did he tell you a number?” Bowe asked as we pulled into the lot four minutes later.
I shook my head.
“No,” I said. “But that’s her truck.”
“My guess is it’s the one with the bunny on the balcony door,” Bowe suggested as I pulled in behind July’s pea green 1990 Ford F-150.
“You’d probably be right,” I said, opening my door and getting out.
Looking up at the apartment, I winced when I saw the fading blue paint cracking and falling off the side of the building.
The apartments were gross, and so broken down and trashy that I wondered how anyone could live in such conditions.
Paint was peeling, siding was falling off in places, and the front door that led into the shared hallway wasn’t even latched. Mainly because someone had forced their way in and management hadn’t deemed it necessary to replace it yet.
Once I’d rounded the ambulance, I walked to the parking spot where her truck was parked, and read the sign.
It read ‘Parking for 2D only.’
Using deductive reasoning, I assumed that was the apartment she was in, and took the stairs two at a time.
Nobody opened their doors, which was unusual.
Normally a fire truck pulled into the parking lot, every one of the bastards had their noses poked out of their doors.
I made it to the end of the hallway, tried the door, and cursed.
Locked.
With no answer, I started knocking.
With still no answer, I walked back outside and tried to see into the apartment.
She had blinds, though, effectively shutting out the outside world.
After trying to decide what to do that didn’t include me breaking down her door, I finally rounded the building and looked up at the balcony with the French doors leading inside.
The one with the stupid bunny decal on the door.
The balcony was shit.
We’d been getting on to the manager of the complex for years about the state of them, but they’d only do the bare minimum just to pass the inspection until the next hit came, then they’d do another Band-Aid repair job.
I distrusted the rickety piece of shit, almost as much as I did a frothing-at-the-mouth raccoon, but without another option, I jumped up and caught hold of the bottom of the balcony.
With a slight groan—on the balcony’s part, not mine—I pulled myself up, then shuffled up the bars until I could get my foot up on the rusted metal landing.
Once in position, I used the strength in my legs and hauled myself up and over the railing, sighing in relief when I realized that the balcony would hold.
“You’re going to fall,” Tai called from behind me.
“Fuck off,” I snapped.
“You want me to do it?” he asked. “I’m lighter.”
“I’m already up here!” I growled loudly, tossing him a glare.
He held his hands up in an act of surrender, and I turned back to my business.
After checking to make sure it was locked, I gave the French doors a narrow eyed look, and leaned my shoulder directly in the center, pushing inwards.
They folded in like the flaps of a cardboard box, and I cursed again as I realized just how easy it was to get into this place.
Pieces of shit.
She would not be staying here anymore. Not if I had a say in the matter.
I didn’t care if I had to help her fix up her own house before I fixed up mine. This was no place for her.
No way, not this fucking cesspool.
“July!” I called loudly.
A soft moan floated up from the bed directly in front of me, and my eyes went to the bed.
Massive amounts of pillows lined the bed on each side, and sandwiched in between the two mounds was July’s sexy body.
Sexy, naked body.
She was glorious.
One leg was raised to lay on the pile of pillows. However, the color of her skin was so pale that she nearly blended in with the white sheets of the bed.
Sleeping naked was something I’d encouraged her to do when we’d first started sleeping together.
I loved having easy access to her body, and she seemed to like giving that to me.
She’d obviously kept it up since she’d left, and my heart, as well as my cock, started to pulse steadily at the sight of her.
Another moan drifted up, and I leaned on the bed to see the rest of her
body that been concealed by the mound of pillows, and blanched at what I saw.
Her face was white, except for a bright flush of red riding high on her cheeks.
July’s eyes fluttered open at the movement of her bed, and she turned and vomited all over the sheets.
“Shit,” I said, reaching for her so she didn’t choke.
Pulling her down the bed and carrying her to the bathroom, I sat her on the toilet and leaned her over the side of the tub.
“You okay, baby?” I asked her, my hands running all over her body as I surveyed her.
“No,” she moaned. “Hurt.”
I grabbed the nightgown that was lying on the counter and pulled it over to me by the little white bow at the top of the collar.
Once securely in my hands, I positioned it over her head and started tugging it down.
It was only when I went to pull one arm through the hole that I saw the inflamed wound on her back, leaking a thick, viscous green fluid.
“Shit,” I hissed, taking the nightgown back off and staring at the wound. “Shit. So fucking stubborn.”
I eyed the wound a little closer while I held her up, wondering if she’d taken care of it at all before she’d continued to go on about her business as if nothing had happened.
“Why couldn’t you have just stayed and taken care of this?” I asked the pain in the ass. “You wouldn’t be feeling near as badly right now if you had.”
“I don’t need you to tell me I’m stupid,” she snapped weakly. “I now know it was stupid. Please save yourself the breath and get the hell away from me.”
My eyes narrowed on the back of her head.
“If I let go of you right now, you’d hit your face on the bathtub because you couldn’t keep yourself upright,” I told her. “Do you really want me to let you go?”
She growled, and it was so cute that I almost smiled.
Almost.
What kept me from doing it was the way she leaned weakly into my arm in the next moment.
“Take me to the doctor already,” she ordered. “Just not the ER you took me to three days ago.”
I picked her up and walked her back to the bedroom where I grabbed the first pair of underwear I could find, which happened to be the ones at the top of a folded pile of laundry sitting on top of her dresser.
The panties were familiar. Really familiar.
They were the ones she’d been wearing the first time we’d had sex.
They were black with white polka dots and a red satin bow on the front waistband.
Cute as fuck, and sexy as hell, especially on her.
Once I’d managed to finagle her panties up her legs and over her hips, I found a tank top that that would expose her back in the top drawer where I knew she kept her work clothes, and slipped it on over her head.
It was all incredibly hard to do seeing as she was like a limp noodle, but I managed well enough.
Her skin was blazing hot to the touch as I picked her up in my arms and carried her to her door.
It didn’t keep me from stopping to look at the cat I’d bought for July the week before we’d called it quits.
“Jesus,” I said, staring at the supersized cat that was sitting in the middle of the hallway that led to the living room. “You’ve gotten fat as fuck.”
The cat blinked lazily at me, then got up from his perch at the mouth of the hall and walked past me to the bedroom, not sparing me another glance.
“Don’t talk about my baby like that,” July muttered quietly. “He gets his feelings hurt easily.”
I snorted and started down the hall, stopping when I reached the end because the couch was directly in front of the pathway.
Grabbing her purse that was on the back of the couch, I tucked it tight into the arm that was bracing her back, and moved around the couch to the door.
The purse felt like it weighed nearly eighty pounds, making me stop for a second to readjust our positions.
“What do you have in this thing?” I asked her. “Bricks?”
“Tools,” she muttered. “Didn’t want to forget them.”
I huffed a laugh as I juggled the chain off the door, bringing my knee up to support her bottom as I did.
Once the chain was off, I toed the door open with my foot, blinking when I found Tai not a foot from my face.
“Jesus,” I grumbled. “You couldn’t have opened the door instead of standing there like a fuckin’ creeper?”
Tai blinked, then snorted a laugh under his breath.
“Need help?” he asked.
“Purse,” I said, jiggling it at him from my grip against her back.
He took it and I walked out, making sure not to bump her head on the door frame as I went.
“Hit the lights,” I told him. “Oh, and make sure that fat bastard inside has some food and water in case she’s not back for a couple of days.”
“Planning on keeping her?” Tai teased as he disappeared into the depths of July’s apartment.
“Yes,” I confirmed, even though he didn’t hear me.
Walking down the dark and creepy hallway, I headed straight for the ambulance where all of the guys and Naomi were crowded around.
The moment they saw the state of July, they all jumped into action.
All but Naomi, who stared at me like I’d betrayed her.
I ignored her as I walked to the back doors that Bowe had opened for me.
“She’s going to kill you for bringing her out here naked,” Bowe offered as he stepped to the side.
“She’s not naked,” I said as I took one step onto the back bumper of the ambulance, and then ducked as I walked hunched over until I could place her on the cot.
I made sure to keep her on her side as I pulled some gloves from the box in front of me and slipped them over my hands.
“Need me to do something?” Drew asked as he followed me inside.
I nodded my head.
“Take her vitals while I start an IV and get some fluids in her,” I ordered.
Naomi took a seat at the head of the bus and watched us working together just as we’d done a hundred thousand times.
Which we had. We were a well-oiled machine.
I had that with all the guys.
That was the good thing about being a firefighter on a team such as this. I didn’t have to worry about anything. I knew they’d always have my back, and I knew they could handle themselves. Especially when it came to the health of my woman.
Fuck!
I threw the brakes on at that thought, my eyes closing in annoyance.
The sight of July laying there limply, eyes closed and burning up from a fever was burned into the back of my eyelids, so it did no good to shut them. She was still there.
Fuck, who was I kidding? It didn’t matter what I did. She was always there. In my dreams. In my waking moments.
In my fuckin’ head twenty-four goddamn seven.
“You want me to spike the bag?” Booth offered from my side.
I handed him the bag and moved up to the head, the side of my legs nearly touching Naomi’s, and leaned forward so I was face to face with July.
“You still asleep?” I asked her, leaning forward.
I had a feeling she was awake but too exhausted to move.
Something that she confirmed to me the next moment when her eyes opened and she stared at me with those baby blues.
“Thought you were awake,” I teased her.
The corner of her mouth twitched into a small, weak smile, and my belly clenched.
She really had to be sick for me to get a smile out of her.
I hadn’t been blessed with one of her smiles in well over a year.
My fault.
I gritted my teeth at the urge to curse and stared at her for a long moment.
“You want any pain meds?” I prodded, pressing my fingertips lightly on her left shoulder.
She flinched.
Well, her eyes did.
The rest of her stayed so completely still that it would’ve been missed by anyone but me.
I knew those eyes well, though. Knew the expressions on her face. Knew the tilt of her mouth when pain washed over her.
“Bowe,” I said, keeping my eyes locked with July’s. “Give her some meds.”
“10-4,” Bowe confirmed, standing up and reaching for the meds.
“I’ll drive!” Tai called from the front.
Drew got out and shut the ambulance’s doors, and I felt the jolt of the ambulance as Tai took the driver’s seat.
“You want me to do anything?” Naomi asked softly from my side.
I didn’t bother to look up at her, instead just shook my head side to side. “No.”
“Cut’s infected as fuck,” Bowe muttered. “She’s gonna have to have that cut open and drained. Infection’s spreading, too. Look at the way it’s spider webbing around the wound.”
I assumed Bowe was talking to Naomi, so I leaned forward and placed my forehead against hers for a few long moments before I sighed and leaned back.
“Now I’m going to have to call your brother,” I told her. “You know what kind of fun that’s going to be.”
A spark of humor flared in her eyes, and I narrowed my eyes at her as I stripped my gloves from my hands and tossed them into the trash basin next to my feet.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I made the call.
And immediately decided I should’ve just texted him when Wolf spouted off a bunch of questions I had no answer to yet.
“Listen,” I said with annoyance. “When I know something, I’ll tell you. Until then, don’t call me.”
Then I hung up, shoved the phone into my pocket, and narrowed my eyes at July.
“Your brother’s a fucker.”
Chapter 8
If you can’t be safe, be deadly.
-Word to the wise
July
“Go away,” I murmured tiredly. “I don’t want you here.”
Alexa stood in the doorway, her eyes on the two of us, completely blank.
I wanted to snarl at her, but I just didn’t have the energy to do so.
Maybe later, but right now, it was taking everything I had to keep my eyes open and speak to Dean.
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