“There!” I told Heath, “It’s—”
I cut myself off again, this time with a cry of pain. I hadn’t heard the gunfire. I didn’t realize that the other two were so close until the bullet tore into the flesh of my arm. Blood spurted out of the wound.
“Kayla!” Heath shouted. He didn’t slow down.
As I wrenched my eyes closed in pain, I felt his bike swerving and swaying trying to avoid the bullets.
A moment later, I heard sirens begin to sound from the police station. I heard men yelling. We slowed to a stop outside the station.
As Heath helped me off the bike, I opened my eyes just long enough to see the two other bikers turning around and rushing the other way. Two cop cars were chasing them.
Heath put my arm around his shoulders and hoisted me up and over the bike seat.
The stinging in my arm had increased and I looked down to see streams of blood pouring down as Heath walked me into the station.
I saw cops swarm around us. I heard one call for an ambulance as Heath set me down on a bench.
“It’s ok, Kayla,” he said, “I’m here.”
I looked into his eyes and smiled before resting my head back and closing my eyes. After that, the world faded to black.
*****
I didn’t have to stay long in the hospital. Less than a week and that was more for safety reasons than because I truly needed it.
Heath spent every day with me at the hospital. He refused to leave my bedside and got angry with the nurses when they tried to tell him that visiting hours were over. It was only when I told him that I needed sleep, he agreed to leave me for a few hours every night to go back to the townhouse.
The police came in to see me twice. Once it was to take my statement about the break in. The two men they had been chasing had disappeared and they hadn’t been able to find them yet.
But, they did find the drugs.
Heath revealed that he kept a fake bag behind the tire of his bike in case he needed it. That was the bag he had given Bunsun and his gunman. It was filled with icing sugar.
The real drugs were inside the warehouse where I’d found him beaten two days before.
The warehouse was owned by the Bulls biker club. The police said that gave them enough evidence to arrest not just the two men who had chased us, but all the leading members of the gang.
The second time the police came was the day I was set to be released. They were accompanied by a man in plain clothes who identified himself only as Agent Murphy. He claimed he worked with the FBI.
“Why do the FBI want to talk to me?” I asked, confused. Heath, clutching my hand beside the bed, did not look confused. He looked wary, even defiant.
“Well, I had hoped to talk to both of you separately. But, Heath insisted—”
“Whatever you’ve got to say, you can say to the both of us.”
“Ok, then,” Agent Murphy said.
“We know that you’ve given evidence against the two men who broke into your home,” he said, “and that those men are still on the loose. We can offer you protection if you would like to take it.”
“What sort of protection?” Heath asked. Now pressing my hand so tightly that I was afraid the blood would stop circulating.
“We give you both new identities, move you to different cities, give you different jobs,” he said, “that way they’re less likely to find you.”
“What about the rest of our family?” I asked.
“The rest of your family should be safe enough,” the agent said, “the gang doesn’t know their names or where they are and it’s unlikely they’d be interested even if they did. What they’re interested in is you.”
I was silent for a moment. I knew I had to take what they offered. I would never survive if I didn’t.
Then I looked at Heath. His eyes met mine and I remembered what I had told myself. What I had decided the night I ended up in the hospital.
“Would you be able to place us together?” I asked agent Murphy.
He hesitated, looking from me to Heath and then to our hands clasped together over the hospital bed.
“The agency won’t place couples together unless they’re married,” he said. “If we put you in the same city...it would be too much of a risk.”
I nodded then looked to Heath. I was willing, prepared to turn back to the agent and tell him that, in that case, I couldn’t do it.
I opened my mouth to speak, but, Heath beat me to it.
“Can we have a few days to think about it?” he asked.
“You can take two days,” Agent Murphy said. “But, we need to know your answer by the day after tomorrow.”
With that, the agent left.
I wanted to ask Heath why he needed time. I wanted to know what there was to think about.
After all, that night, he had said that he loved me and I’d believed him. He’d stayed with me while I was in the hospital. I couldn’t imagine why he would want to think about being apart from me now. Unless he was trying to protect me. Unless he was going to pull some stupid noble shit and tell me, I was better off without him.
He was in for a fight if he tried that. Now that I’d decided I was sticking by Heath’s side no matter what, no one and nothing was going to pull me away from him.
Throughout the rest of the day, I tried to think of some way to tell him this. But, the timing never seemed right.
Before I knew it, I was checked out of the hospital and Heath was driving me home. He’d taken my car and left his motorcycle in the garage.
We sat in silence most of the drive. The silence stretched on as we entered the house.
Heath moved to the table and slumped into a chair beside it, exhausted.
I knew I had to say something. Anything. So, I decided I would.
“Heath I—”
“Kayla, do you want to marry me?”
I stared at him with my mouth hanging open for several seconds.
“I...what?” I asked lamely.
“I mean it,” he said looking up at me. With a sigh, he turned and moved towards me. I was still standing by the garage door, motionless.
“I don’t want to be without you anymore,” he said, “and if we go through with this protection and we’re not married, it means I might never see you again. I can’t do that.”
He moved closer to me and I backed into the wall. I was very aware that my mouth was still opening and closing like a particularly stupid fish.
“And I...I know I do stupid shit and I might not change overnight but...for you I will try. You could help me. We could help each other. I just think—”
Before he could finish the sentence, I had leaped forward and pressed my lips passionately to his. Not a moment passed before he was returning my kiss with equal passion.
Suddenly, I was being moved back towards the wall. I felt my back collide with it as Heath lifted me from the ground. I wrapped my legs around him as he pushed me further up the wall and took one hand to run it along my body.
He ran his hand down my leg and reached up to the place between my thighs where he pressed hard against the still covered fabric.
I leaned my head back against the wall and let out a low moan.
“Is that a yes?” he whispered in my ear.
“What do you think?” I asked pulling back slightly with a flirty smile on my lips.
He smiled back and his hand moved from between my thighs.
I was disappointed for one moment before I felt him unbutton and unzip my pants. Still looking at me with a naughty smile, he dipped his hand beneath the waistband of my underwear and touched my hot, wet center.
I moaned loudly once again as he said.
“I guess I will take that as a yes.”
Then he kissed me.
The rest of the night was spent in the bedroom, his body towering over mine, pressing into me, giving me more pleasure than I had ever felt before, I realized that this was the only man I would ever want to spend my life with.
&
nbsp; We were married the next day.
Now, I guess you could say we don’t exactly live a traditional life. Our names are different. I had to start all over again in terms of becoming a doctor. But, in the end, that is not such a terrible loss.
What’s important is that Heath and I are together. As long as that’s true, nothing will be able to stand in our way.
THE END
Bonus Story 12 of 40
The Fireman’s Flame
Curtis
Curtis was dripping sweat and smeared with soot and grime. At least once a week he and his fellow firefighters looked like this. It was June in Santa Ana. Essentially, this end of the state of California was a phosphorous coated match stick. Curtis pulled off his helmet, exhaling loudly as the fire truck squealed into the station.
“Mark, easy on the brakes, man,” Curtis said, pulling down his suspenders.
Mark shrugged, chewing on the tip of a toothpick. His lips were barely visible behind the layer of soot painting his face.
“You have to fix it, man. It’s not the freaking Fast and Furious. We basically skidded past the last house,” Curtis said, shaking his head.
“But we made it, right?” Mark said, shaking debris from his thick, wavy hair.
His hair looked like it was smeared with tar. That was one reason Curtis kept his blonde hair buzzed short.
“Alright, shower and food. If Manny is late with lunch again, I’m messing with his brakes,” Mark said, slamming the door.
Curtis laughed, knowing Mark was joking, and followed him into the firehouse. Curtis had been partnered with Mark for the last eight years and they were not only partners but best friends. When they weren’t living together for forty-eight hour shifts at the Santa Ana Fire Station, they lived the bachelor life downtown.
“Yo, Curt, I got a story for you, man,” Mark said with a wicked twinkle in his eyes.
Curtis sighed, knowing the story starts with a woman and ends with said woman attempting to put a curse on Mark. Mark was not only a womanizer, he was the king of womanizers and he milked the whole I’m—a—caring—fireman angle to essentially sleep with all of the American southwest.
“What’s her name?” Curtis asked, taking off his boots, and hanging up his gear.
“Her coffee just said, ‘J’,” Mark said, staring off like he was thinking of something.
“Wait, what? Please tell me you’re joking.”
“Nope. We had a chat ‘cause she was making eyes at me. Cool girl. Really hot. She’s one of those yoga girls, but she’s sharp, man.”
“So what happened?”
“We’re going to have coffee again tomorrow.”
“You mean like a date? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you date anyone.”
Curtis laughed at the mental image of Mark holding flowers and chocolates.
“I have to. She won’t give me her number. She said she was flattered, but she didn’t know me so no dice. I mean she was sweet about it, which ‘sweet’ is rare for Cali, but she was pretty clear I wasn’t getting her number—or in her panties.”
“Wow, and you said yes? Either you are desperate or crazy.”
“Neither, man. I can’t explain it. She just has this thing about her.”
“Thing, huh? Well, the fact that you just used a complete sentence to describe her already has me interested. You usually talk about women in grunts and hand symbols.”
Mark shoved Curtis playfully and then jerked his chin towards the kitchen. Curtis nodded in agreement. Nothing like a five alarm fire to make you feel like you could die of starvation.
All of the other guys were already sitting around the tables with massive hoagie sandwiches overflowing off of plastic plates. They were all black with soot too, but the mood was clearly much lighter than it had been when they were tackling a fire. This had been Curtis’s band of brothers since he graduated high school.
In high school and even during the years after, Curtis was no different from Mark, plowing through women like the water from the fire hoses attack fires. It was just too empty and after his dad died he needed an income to take care of his mother. She took his death the hardest and if Curtis had not buckled down he was sure his mother would have just wasted away.
Thankfully, even though Curtis barely graduated high school due to his frequent absences, he passed the firefighter exam and he passed the physicals with flying colors. Curtis only wanted to do it for a few years to help his mother out with the mortgage but after he and Mark became best friends it just seemed like a perfect fit.
“Did you knuckleheads leave any food for us?” Mark yelled, patting Manny the cook on his shoulders.
“Hell no. You should have come earlier, man,” said Donte, a fellow fireman, as he shoved his sandwich in his mouth.
Curtis laughed, knowing there was always more than enough food to go around. Manny waved at both of them as he put out fresh hot hoagie rolls on the buffet table.
“Yeah? Well if my partner here would fix the damn brakes maybe we could get to places on time,” Curtis said, popping an olive in his mouth.
“Hey, no hands on the platter,” Manny said, glaring at Curtis.
“Easy, Manny. No harm meant,” Mark teased.
Mark made two mountainous sandwiches, grabbed some chips and made a B-line to their regular table next to Donte and Brent. Curtis patted his abs, knowing he probably should not copy Mark, but his stomach rippled with hunger. He piled up his plate and plopped down at the table.
“You guys hear Mark is in love?” Curtis asked, biting into his sandwich.
“Shut up, asshole,” Mark said.
“Wait, what?” Brent asked, leaning forward on the table.
Mark rolled his eyes and dropped his sandwich on the plastic plate.
“She’s just cute. No big deal,” Mark said, stealing Brent’s bag of chips.
Mark rolled through the story, trying to look nonchalant. Curtis was not buying it. Mark did not talk about women in details. He probably talked about politics more than women, and Curtis was sure Mark did not even vote.
“So, she won’t even give you her number and you’re going out for coffee anyway? What if she’s not even there?” Donte asked.
“I’m getting coffee anyway. Plus, she’s cute. She’s smart too, man. I mean we actually had a conversation and she was funny. Girls aren’t funny,” Mark said with a little too much certainty.
“My wife is funny,” Brent said affronted.
“Brenda? No, she’s not. She’s cute, not funny,” Mark said.
“My wife is hilarious. Just last night she—”
“No one cares, Brent,” Curtis said, throwing a pickle at Brent.
“At least he has a wife. Isn’t Lisa leaving you?” Mark asked, raising an eyebrow at Donte.
“No, she’s just crazy. She doesn’t like me working so many shifts, but we have three kids! Damn, I should be working on putting out a fire right now,” Donte said, sucking his teeth.
“Brenda’s hassling me for kids, but I’m still part time. Ain’t no way in hell we can have kids right now,” Brent said.
Curtis zoned out as the men complained. Truthfully, Curtis wanted kids. He was thirty and by now he really thought he would be married with kids. He had not dated in a few years since he and his ex, Tammy, broke up. To make it worse Tammy was married with twins. If Mark got married to his mystery girl before Curtis, he was sure he would die alone.
*****
Jessica
Jessica shook her hair loose from her messy bun. She had just gotten back from yoga, and as usual she had finished her latte before she got up the four flights of stairs leading to her apartment. She could hear her roommate Cynthia was cleaning because Reggaeton was blasting in the stairwell.
“Roomie!” Jessica yelled, keying into the industrial-style two bedroom apartment.
“Oh hey!” Cynthia yelled, turning down her iPhone.
“Jesus, is that hooked up to the TV?” Jessica asked.
“I had the ele
ctronic guy come over and set it up. Isn’t it amazing?”
Cynthia beamed a toothy white smile, nodding her head. Her thick black curls bounced on her head as she bobbed to the end of the song.
“House looks good,” Jessica said, dropping her bag on the ground.
“I saved the dishes for you,” Cynthia said, winking.
“Oh, great. Hey, random not-related question, have you ever dated a fireman before?”
Cynthia whipped around and stared at Jessica with a mischievous smile playing on her face.
“Um, what? Jessica Lynn, did you meet a man?”
“Yes, I mean no. I mean, maybe?”
“Yes! What’s his name and when should I not be at the apartment?”
Jessica rolled her eyes and sat at the metallic kitchen island. It was spotless now. Unlike earlier when Jessica had scraps of construction paper and gooey globs of dried Elmer’s glue everywhere. Jessica was an elementary school teacher and Cynthia, her best friend since college, taught advanced placement Spanish at the neighboring high school.
“It’s not that serious. He’s a meathead to say the least.”
Jessica scoffed and picked a banana from a fruit bowl.
“Meatheads make good fucks.”
“Cynthia Delgado!”
“What? We’re grown-ups and you haven’t had sex since college. Jesus you’re thirty-two not dead.”
Jessica ignored Cynthia and focused on her fruit instead. Though, Cynthia was right. Jessica dove into her career head first securing a full-time job with benefits in her field but something was missing. It was not that she needed a man, but she wanted one. She wanted a man she could build a life with and have children. While she loved Cynthia like a sister, Jessica was ready to forge her own path, hopefully with a husband and kids. Though something about the fireman told her he was more interested in making love not making babies.
“Hello, earth to Jess? Did you give him your number?”
“Huh? No, I don’t want to make it too easy. Plus, he’s not the relationship type.”
“So what?”
“So what! My biological clock sounds like Big Ben. I can’t just mess around with dumb guys like I’m still in college. To be honest, I don’t even have the energy.”
In Time to Love Page 39