Yeah, you’re a whore.
“What the fuck is this guy’s problem?” Greg said, hearing the anger in his own voice.
She threw him a worried look. “I don’t know. I mean the first set of texts sound like a regular conversation. But we never texted or talked outside of work until after the tornado. Then he switches up and starts saying all this weird stuff. It doesn’t make sense.”
He had to ask, even though he believed he already knew the answer. “You haven’t dated him?”
She shook her head vehemently. “No. I mean even if I did, these are totally off the wall messages.”
He returned the phone to her. “You’re right, it’s weird as hell. Do you have a plan for how to handle it?”
She nodded. “I thought while I was at the hospital today, I’d see if he’s in and talk to him face to face.”
“I can take you there directly from here, if you like.”
“That sounds like a good idea. But not until you’re finished doing what you need to do here.”
“I’m done for today.”
Fierce protectiveness rose inside him. The text messages from the doctor didn’t feel right. Something was off.
“If you want moral support when you talk to him, I’ll stay with you,” he said.
“I should be able to handle him myself.”
Just tell her, idiot. Explain yourself.
Greg put both hands up in surrender. “Of course you can. I’m worried about you, okay?”
She smiled. “I was going to ask you if you would be there for moral support.”
Silence fell between them for a moment, but he felt that inevitable pull, a desire to kiss her and so much more. Instead he kept the leash tight. Here, sitting in front of his old house, felt like the wrong place and the wrong time.
The satisfaction that she wanted his help edged out the grief over his dad, and when they left Flower Mound, he felt a weight lift off his shoulders.
* *
Jenny and Greg hunted for Manny at the hospital, and it didn’t take long as they thought it might have. They tracked him down in the hallway near the nurses’ station, and as they approached him, Jenny’s stomach did a nervous rumble and roll. She was very glad Greg had offered to come with her. They greeted him cordially, but he looked nervous. Before Jenny could ask him about the texts, he jumped right into it.
“I’ll bet you’re here about the texts messages, right?” Manny kept his voice low.
“Yes. I don’t understand why you sent them to me.”
Manny looked behind them and around them, as if searching for an escape route. Finally he looked at Greg. “Is there somewhere we can talk Jenny? Alone?”
Jenny adjusted her handbag on her shoulder. “Right here is fine.”
Manny looked uncertain, and she wondered if he’d refuse to talk with her.
Instead he said, “I thought I’d lost my cell phone the other night. Couldn’t find the damn thing anywhere. When my girlfriend came to visit it accidentally fell out of her purse. She saw you and I at the booth at the July fourth exhibit. She got jealous and stole my cell and sent those texts.”
“Wait a minute,” she said. “Does she drive an old red car?”
Manny nodded. “Yeah, a Nissan.”
“I saw her parked across the street outside of my house the other night. I wasn’t sure, but I thought I saw her texting. Does she have brown hair?”
Manny made a face and rubbed the back of his neck. “Long brown hair. Longer than your hair.”
Greg didn’t look too pleased. “It sounds like stalking to me.”
Jenny closed her eyes and groaned. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Could this week get any more weird?”
Manny made a pleading gesture with both hands. “Look, I’ve already talked to her. I was trying to think how to approach you about it.”
“Took you a damned long time to do it,” Greg said, his eyes hard and mouth tight with disapproval.
Jenny touched Greg’s bicep. “Take it easy. Where did she get the idea I was with you or whatever it is she thought we were doing?”
Manny looked embarrassed and ashamed all at once. “She’s crazy. I haven’t known her all that long and she started acting possessive and all weird. I’ve broken things off with her.”
“Good. I wonder how she knew where I lived?” Jenny asked.
Manny shrugged. “She just got hired on in the personnel office here. That’s how.”
Greg smiled and shook his head. “Okay, things did just get weirder.”
“I’ll talk to the personnel office and they’ll probably want to talk to you, Jenny. They’ll probably fire her.”
“Let’s do it now,” Jenny said. “I’m here to help Donna, so I need to go to my office.”
Manny said, “I’ll go there now.”
Jenny nodded. “I’ll be there shortly.” She turned to Greg. “Down there, big guy. For a moment I thought you were going to punch his lights out.”
Greg cupped her shoulders. “He was probably hoping you just wouldn’t say anything about the texts and his problem would just go away. He wasn’t dealing with the problem head on.” He drew in a deep breath and pressed her shoulders gently. “But I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to go Neanderthal. I wouldn’t have punched his lights out.”
“Excellent. Because then you’d be arrested and this thing gets a lot more complicated than it has to be.”
One corner of his mouth turned up. “Yeah, and then you’d tell me to get out of your life for being a jerk.”
“I like having you in my life. A lot.”
Was he closer? The heat seemed to rise in the hallway. “And I like the sound of that.” Tension grew, and she felt it move between them, hot and alive. He gently cupped her face in both hands, and her entire body tingled. “For the record, I’m feeling protective right now. Protective as hell.”
Spoken in his husky, deep voice, those last words made her whole body light up. She gripped his wrists gently so he couldn’t escape. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah. You don’t need to stay. I’ll see if Donna can take me home.”
His eyebrows lifted. “You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. Go enjoy the rest of your weekend. What’s left of it.”
“I am enjoying it being with you.”
He leaned in, the heat of his big body melting her. Her eyelids closed and suddenly his mouth touched hers. As kisses went it was honest, slow, and not as presumptuous as it could’ve been. But oh my God, what it did to her. Thick, hot-as-sin need rolled through her body as his mouth glided gently over hers. His kiss asked but at the same time it promised there could be so much, much more later. She responded, eager as everything sexual in her ignited. He pulled back, still cupping her face, then he smiled and released her.
“Call me later if you want. I’d love to hear how everything went,” he said.
“I’ll definitely call you as soon as I get home.”
As he grinned at her and walked away, Jenny thought she’d melt into a puddle in hallway. She didn’t know if anyone had seen her kissing the gorgeous firefighter, and she didn’t care. One simple, tender kiss from Greg had set her more on fire than any kiss she’d experienced before. Smiling to herself, she headed for the personnel office.
“That’s awful,” Donna said as they worked on the office a short time later after Jenny explained what had happened with Manny and his girlfriend. “I tell you, Jenny, the dating world is a landmine. If I knew before what I know now about James, I never would’ve dated him. Hell, I never would’ve married him.”
“Well you know what they say about hindsight.”
Manny and Jenny had told the personnel office what Manny’s girlfriend had done. Paperwork followed and the woman they’d talked with there explained there would be more questions to come at a later date. Manny and Jenny didn’t want the woman fired, but the personnel office would make that decision based on the hospital rules and regulations. Jenny walked away from the situation not feeling
confident. By the time Jenny reached her office, Donna looked ready to bite her head off. Until Jenny explained why she was so late coming in to help. Donna had even agreed to drive her home after they’d cleaned up the office. They were close to finishing up when the door opened and James walked in looking disheveled and angry.
“James? What the hell—” Donna started.
“Shut up, Donna. You’re always running your mouth. Now it’s time to pay.”
Jenny’s blood ran cold in that moment. Her stomach sank, and her heartbeat sped up. Jenny considered leaving the office and go for help, because the wildness in James eyes scared her to death. But she knew it was a horrible idea. If she made a sudden move, who knew how he’d react.
A few seconds later he pulled a weapon out from under his suit jacket and pointed it directly at Donna.
Chapter Seven
Jenny gasped and took a step backwards as fear knifed her. She bumped into the desk behind her. Donna’s face contorted in sudden panic, and she lifted her hands.
“James, no,” Donna said, the terror in her voice soft but razor-sharp.
James took another step forward, completely ignoring Jenny. Time seemed to slow and fragments of wishes and memories launched through her mind. Uppermost in her thoughts lingered Greg’s kiss. So damned tender and so filled with aching promise. Please, please let me make it out of this alive. She wanted more of his kiss. She wanted more him, more of life.
He turned toward Jenny and everything inside her seized with heart-stopping fear.
“You,” he said. “Sit behind your desk and don’t do anything stupid.”
Donna’s eyes widened even more, the fear so stark in her face Jenny wondered if the older woman would pass out. And then she did. She fell straight back, bounced off her chair and went head first into a filing cabinet with a sickening crack.
“Oh, God!” Jenny gasped out, covering her hand with her mouth.
Jenny stood without thinking, ready to help Donna.
“Sit! Down!” James turned on her, the gun in Jenny’s face.
The barrel almost touched Jenny’s nose, and rather than look at the weapon that might prove to be her end, she looked to the side and tried not to choke on the fear.
James cursed creatively, mixing combinations she’d never heard before. He went to where Donna had fallen and looked down at her. “Well, she’s got a good dent in her head. I think the bitch might be dead.” He snorted. “At least they can’t blame this one on me.”
Although it was probably seconds, she had a chance to assess the man nearby. James had lost a lot of weight over the last few months. She hadn’t seen him many times and whenever she had he always seemed pissed off and not interesting in talking with anyone. His scrubs looked wrinkled as if he’d wadded them or slept in them. His short beard and mustache held hints of gray, and his blue eyes seemed sad.
Ten years of marriage had flushed down the toilet when Donna had found a ton of porn on his computer. Jenny imagined more than just porn had screwed up their marriage. Donna was no prize herself. Yet Jenny would never condone what James had done busting into the office with a gun.
Jenny had enough of an imagination she’d thought of what she’d do if she found herself in a hostage situation. Gut-hollowing fear made her feel hot, disoriented, and a lot stupid. Her mind didn’t want to work.
Come on. Come on, Jenny. You need to get out of here alive. Think. Think.
“Let me help Donna,” she managed to squeeze through her tight vocal chords.
“Hell, no. I think she’s beyond that.” He laughed. “So what are we going to do about this, Jenny?”
“I don’t know. Maybe you could leave and I’ll give you some time to get away. I won’t call the cops.”
He snorted again. “Bullshit. I guess we’ll just have to die by cop.”
Her breath seized. “James, no. You don’t have to do that.”
“Yeah, I have to do that.”
In her imaginary hostage situation, she’d thought of so many ways she could talk down the suicidal person. So many ways to get out of this situation alive. Words failed her big time when reality arrived. She swallowed hard.
“Look, James. I’m not going to be brave. I’m telling you right now I’m scared shitless. I just found out today that I’m falling really hard and fast for someone and I want to live long enough to find out what’s going to happen between us. I want that chance. Please give me that chance.”
James appeared thoughtful for a moment, as if he considered her request interesting and reasonable. Then he pointed the gun at her.
* *
“What?” Greg said into his cell phone. He wasn’t sure he’d heard Jax Mallory correctly.
“Station 58 was just called to Dallas Emergency Hospital,” Jax said. “Shots have been fired and the word is that someone’s been hurt or killed.”
No. Fucking. Way.
Greg struggled to understand what he’d heard. His heart banged in his chest and his breathing shortened as every horrible thought he could imagine slammed him. Jenny. Jenny hurt. Dead.
“What the fuck, Jax? Is Jenny…is she all right?”
“I don’t know. I heard what was going on from the news. I’m home with Skye. I’ll meet you at the hospital if you want.”
Greg was already moving, the Marine in him kicking into high gear. “No, that’s okay. I’ll let you know what’s happening as soon as I know.”
He tried calling Jenny as he jumped into his SUV, but it went straight to voice mail. He used his hands free system to try and call her as he was driving and got the voice mail again. This time he left a message.
“Jenny, it’s Greg. I heard about the hospital shooting. Call me when you get this so I know you’re all right. I’m coming to the hospital.”
When he hung up he almost choked on the combination of anger and anxiety riding him like a bronc rider on a bucking horse. In battle he’d managed to control apprehension and fear to do the mission. Right now he had very little control as it twisted his insides.
Greg tried not to speed or do something crazy like run a red light. Yet at every red light, the freaking traffic seemed determined to keep him from getting to Jenny, and his heart and mind screamed at him to drive faster. What he could do, he didn’t know. It wasn’t like the police would let him participate in bringing down the perpetrator.
Given half a chance I would take the guy down with everything I’ve got.
Of course, he knew he couldn’t march in there and save the day. Anger hit him at the same time. Why did these assholes take out their anger, pain and fucked up attitudes on the innocent? He guessed it might be Donna’s ex doing this stupid shit, but who knew?
You couldn’t save your father. You can’t save Jenny.
Painful thoughts haunted him, seized him by the balls and hung on. If he lost Jenny…
He sucked in a ragged breath. He couldn’t allow that fear to make him crazy. Jenny might already be outside the hospital and safe. Apprehension rode him hard as he parked as close to the barriers as he could. He encountered the cops at road blocks, and when he showed his fire department identification, they cleared him to go through. Station 58 and another set of rescue personnel from a different department waited just within the road blocks in case they might be needed. Greg could venture no farther. He could see from the huge crowd, many of them dressed in scrubs, that many people had already escaped the building. There also had to be a lot of people still locked down in the hospital.
A firefighter from a different station told Greg, “We heard a cop say shots fired and SWAT is moving into the building soon.”
“Any word on casualties?” Greg asked.
“No.”
Time crawled as Greg scanned the crowd for any sign of Jenny. Jax and Dane showed up. They had the same day off but here they were to support Greg. Definitely a band of brothers to keep him from going insane.
“Why are you guys here?” Greg asked through a tight throat.
Jax cl
apped him on the shoulder and held on. “Because we know what it’s like to have the woman we love in danger. It scared the fuck out of us, so we figured we’d better get down here and see if we could help you.”
Greg shook his head. “There’s nothing we can do.”
Dane said, “Then we’ll do nothing together.”
A moment later the chain of voices reached them, and they heard the news. The hostage taker was James Herald, Donna Colton’s ex-husband.
“Fuck,” Greg said under his breath.
“That could mean…” Dane said.
“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Jax said. “Jenny could still be in the crowd here and we haven’t seen her yet.”
Jax’s reassurance did nothing to soothe the rampaging fear for Jenny or Greg’s desire to rip off James’s face.
Greg’s made fists, his body reacting with a need to fight. “She would’ve called me. She would’ve called Lexi or someone else to let them know she was safe. That cocksucker has Jenny.”
* *
For those seconds when James turned the gun on Jenny, she thought she’d bought the proverbial farm. Tears threatened, but she found her anger at the situation overwhelming the gut-hollowing fear. She wanted to scream, wanted to rip James a new one and do anything she could to torpedo his idiotic plan.
“Sit in that chair,” he said.
She sat in the chair behind her desk, thankful for at least that.
Her cell phone in her purse rang once and went to voice mail. When it rang a second time not long after, she heard the notification indicating someone had left a message. The phone on Donna’s desk went ape shit. It rang and rang until James decided to answer it.
“What the hell do you want?” James almost yelled into the phone.
From that point forward, the negotiation process went the way she imagined it always did. With the Dallas PD doing what it could to talk the shooter out of doing more damage. James hung up a considerable time later with no promise to surrender.
Jenny made a plan to say what she meant, to speak as honestly as she could to the man in front of her. If he thought of her as human, maybe he’d give her a chance, and perhaps she could survive this situation. Even if that meant making nice with James.
Dallas Fire & Rescue: All Fired Up (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 7