All or Nothing (All Series Book 1)

by Ann, Natalie

  Presley ran her hand along Sarah’s leg. “I know what it is. And yes, I was being stubborn and I did come around.” Chuckling, Presley thought back to their conversation a little over a week ago regarding the spa day. Presley didn’t want to go and didn’t want to be part of it but knew that Kaitlin was pushing. In the end, guilt made her give in and spend the day with the bridal party, even though she wasn’t part of it. However, she was glad she did give in, because she really had enjoyed herself.

  “That’s good. So he wasn’t mad at you?”

  “No, not at all.” Presley stood up and smirked slightly. “Don’t worry about Ben. I can handle him.”

  ***

  “Tell us about the wedding. Please, Presley?”

  “I can’t, Allison,” Presley said to a fellow co-worker.

  “Why can’t you? You went to one of the hottest weddings in the area and you can’t give us one little detail? You were even hanging with some of the big wigs here at the hospital,” Allison said in a whiny voice. The two nurses were talking at their station after Presley’s lunch break. Ben had just left for the night and all the kids were in their rooms. Everything was quiet at the moment.

  Presley didn’t feel like Lucas, Brooke, Ben or Jack, were big wigs. Not at all, they were friends. More than friends it would seem. “They are people just like the rest of us. And those people were enjoying a wedding of their loved ones. All I can tell you is it was beautiful. The bride and groom were stunning and looked very much in love.”

  “You are no fun, Pres. I was hoping for some juicy gossip,” Allison said, pouting.

  “Sorry, no gossip. It was just a wedding, but a very lovely one.”

  “I don’t believe you,” Missy, another co-worker, said, coming up to stand at the station. “At least tell us what Ben looks like in a tux. Better yet, show us a picture. I bet you have one on your phone,” she said, giving a sly look.

  Yep, there was a picture of Ben in the tux on her phone, but it was for her and not for anyone else. She wasn’t sharing.

  He hadn’t even known she had taken the picture, at least not at the time she took it. It was when he was looking at Kaitlin as she walked down the aisle. She had to freeze that moment in time. More so after he looked at her with that same gaze after the picture was snapped. Either way, it was for her and her only. “Sorry, ladies. You will all have to just imagine it in your mind.”

  “Oh, we will be imagining it, all right,” Allison said. “Along with images of him out of it, too.” That comment caused a round of laughs, though Presley wasn’t thinking anything was funny about the girls picturing Ben out of his clothes. But she couldn’t blame them. She had done plenty of that before they started dating.

  Only now that she was dating him, she didn’t want anyone else doing it.

  Missy reached over and grabbed the phone when it rang at the station, and Presley watched as her smile vanished, before hanging up. “That was the security dispatcher. There is something going on in the ER and all wards are being told to have staff and patients stay put. Thankfully, visiting hours are over, but I’ll go out and see if anyone is sleeping in the waiting room. I’m sure we can let them in here for the moment.”

  “What’s going on? Did they say?” Presley asked, feeling a great deal of dread creeping up her spine. If there was trouble she knew who would be the first one trying to get a handle on the situation. Even though Ben had left her only thirty minutes ago, she was willing to bet he was in the thick of things right now.

  “Sorry, they didn’t give me any details,” Missy said, then walked out the door toward the waiting room.

  Presley leaned over, picked up the phone and called the dispatch. They knew who she was, but it just kept ringing. Again, not a good sign. Maybe he was just calling all the wards and warning everyone. Five minutes later, and several more tries, her call was answered. “Sorry, Presley, I really shouldn’t say,” Bob replied.

  “Can’t you just tell me something? Ben’s down there, isn’t he?”

  “Yes, he was just leaving the building when the call came in, so of course he is there. But I’m not at liberty to say anything else.”

  “Okay, thanks, Bob. I understand.”

  “Presley,” Missy shouted, running back through the doors. “I just heard there is someone with a gun in the ER.”

  Not waiting around for any more information, Presley left the floor and made her way toward Ben.

  Going Down

  Ben looked over at the man holding the gun, waving it around the ER. Even from a distance, Ben could tell he was high on something. He didn’t need the man to be yelling for someone to get him a fix. There was no reasoning with an addict to begin with, least of all one whose eyes were currently as large as saucers and dilated. Crazy, the man was looking and acting wildly crazy and extremely unstable.

  After securing the perimeter and ushering everyone out of range, Ben inched forward, his hands in the air, and showing no signs of nervousness.

  He needed to try to reach the guy, though he suspected it might be a lost cause. What he didn’t want to do was use force if he didn’t need to. There were still too many people around and the police hadn’t arrived yet. “What’s your name?” Ben asked calmly.

  “What the fuck do you care? Just have one of those nurses get me some Oxi and I’ll get out of here,” he said, twisting and turning around, the gun moving unsteadily in his trembling hand.

  “I really don’t care what your name is. Just trying to have a conversation. And I can do that without knowing your name.”

  “Move back.” The man turned and pointed his gun at Ben. “I’ve used this before and it doesn’t bother me to use it again.”

  Ben wasn’t so sure about that. He could see the safety was still on the gun, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t change at any moment. So for the time being he was staying calm and trying to get through to the addict. “Just put your gun down and let’s talk. No reason to use foul language,” Ben said, adding a grin to his calm face, slipping back into his interrogation days and trying to throw the man off as to what was really going on in his head.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing,” Ben said, the smile gone from his face, changing his features up. “Like I said, just trying to have a conversation. Why don’t you have a seat over there by the window?”

  “Why, so you can have a sniper get me? I don’t think so. I’ll stay right where I am. I want you to take your gun off right now. Lay it on the ground and slide it over here.”

  “I think you’ve been watching too many crime shows. There are no snipers here,” he said, humor in his eyes, making no attempt to remove his own gun.

  “Take your gun off now!”

  “Don’t get trigger happy there, John.” Ben removed his gun from his shoulder strap.” I’m going to call you, John. Is that okay?”

  “My name’s not John,” he snarled.

  “Well, unless you tell me your name, it’s going to be John. So, John, let’s try to come to a compromise here.”

  “Stop calling me John! My name’s Paul.”

  That was easier than Ben thought. “Okay, Paul. Let’s compromise.” Ben had his gun in one hand, the other up in the air. He had been ever so slowly inching his way closer to Paul, who hadn’t seemed to notice the gap closing. “I took my gun off like you asked, and I’m going to lay it down on the ground. Now I want you to do something for me.”

  “No compromise. You’re in no position. Slide your gun over to me right now.”

  Ben used his foot and slid the gun away from Paul, in the opposite direction. “Oops, sorry, bad aim.”

  He knew it would agitate Paul, but there was a reason for it. Paul didn’t need two guns and now he wouldn’t be able to notice Ben moving in closer, not with the gun out of the picture, and no reference point.

  Unfortunately that was also when Paul realized the safety was still on his gun and quickly rectified that.

  Ben never let on that he noticed or blinked an
eye, just calmly continued on with his conversation. The police had arrived and now had their weapons aimed at Paul.

  “Paul, you are outnumbered here. Just put your gun down and no one gets hurt.” Ben realized there was no way he could get to his ankle holster, not before Paul could get a shot off, at least, so that option was out.

  Of course with as high as Paul was and the shaking of his hand, he would probably miss, but Ben couldn’t take that chance, not with so many other people around.

  “Tell everyone to leave right now.”

  “They aren’t going to leave when you have a gun pointed at me. But you should listen to me, and do what I say.”

  A nurse, who obviously hadn’t been told what was going on, came in through a side door and was grabbed by Paul before she knew what happened. In the blink of an eye, the whole thing turned into a hostage situation.

  Ben could have handled the situation one on one. He had it under control, but now he had to think fast. A hostage turned the tables on it.

  With his arm around the nurse’s neck and the gun at her head, Paul started issuing demands. “Get me the damn drugs now, or I put a bullet in her brain. I mean it, I’ll do it.”

  At this point, Ben was afraid Paul might do it. Maybe not even on purpose, but his hand was shaking and his eyes were darting all over the room. Whatever he was on, he was crashing down hard from it, making him even more unpredictable. “Listen, Paul, you are only making matters worse for yourself right now.”

  Ben was about ten feet away at this point and inching in more with his eyes locked on the nurse, whose face was turning red. “Paul, you’re going to have to loosen the grip on your hostage right there. You’re choking her.”

  “I don’t care. If you don’t give me what I want, she’ll have a bullet in her head anyway.”

  “Please,” the nurse begged. “Let me go.”

  Ben took a breath and stared right at the nurse, praying she remembered all the training he had been doing with the staff for situations just like this. He continued to engage Paul but never took his eyes off the nurse. “Paul, you’re cutting her air off right now. You need to loosen up on her throat.”

  Ben hoped he was getting through to the nurse, giving off as many hints as he could, short of coming out and telling her what to do.

  A loud commotion sounded by the officers, but Ben never looked over, never took his eyes off Paul or the hostage.

  “Stop moving!” Paul screamed and pointed the gun at Ben.

  “What are you talking about? I’m standing right here.”

  Paul seemed confused, and started to look around some more, keeping the gun pointed at Ben. He would rather have it pointed at him than the hostage anyway.

  “Ben,” he heard, followed by a gasp but never turned his head. Shit, Presley. How the hell did she get down here and past everyone?

  When Paul turned and looked, Ben mouthed to the nurse what to do. She finally understood and nodded her head. He had only needed that split-second distraction, too bad it had to come in the form of Presley. Because now Ben’s patience was wearing thin when the next words out of Paul’s mouth were. “Is that your girlfriend?”

  Ben never looked over, never blinked. “No. Just another nurse. Paul, loosen up your hold on your hostage. You’re cutting off her air.”

  “Maybe I should switch hostages. That one over there seems pretty upset right now. She’s a lot hotter, too.”

  That’s it. More than enough time had passed. “Listen, Paul. Remember how I said the officers wouldn’t lower their weapons? All I have to do is tell them to fire right now. Is that what you want?” Ben said, his eyes turning deadly, enough so that Paul paused and looked at the hostage nervously.

  “I don’t believe you. They wouldn’t shoot a hostage.”

  “Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn’t. Do you want to take that chance?”

  “What, do you think I’m stupid? They won’t do it.”

  Ben thought Paul was more than stupid, but he kept that to himself. Especially since Ben was only about five feet away from Paul right now and he still didn’t seem to understand how it was happening. One more foot, that was all he needed, and the right timing from the hostage.

  “Like I said, do you want to take that chance?”

  Paul’s head was moving around, and back to where Presley had come in. Ben had refused to look at her or to be distracted. “Loosen your hold, Paul. Your hostage is going to pass out if you don’t.”

  And just like that, the nurse went limp in Paul’s arms, pretending to faint, as she had been taught. A second later Ben lunged, knocking the gun out of Paul’s hand, hearing the break of the bone, only a moment before he slammed Paul’s head into the wall, knocking him unconscious. The police rushed forward and cuffed Paul. The nurse sat up on the floor shaking, but unharmed as Ben moved toward Presley. “What the hell were you thinking?”

  She burst into tears and reached for him, so he pulled her forward into his arms, her body shaking uncontrollably. “He had a gun pointed at you.”

  Ben never wanted to go there with anyone in his life before. Ever. But it was unavoidable right now. “It’s not the first time I’ve had a gun pointed at me, Presley.” She sobbed even louder, probably not the wisest thing for him to say, but it was the truth. “I had it under control the entire time. There was no reason for you to be worried.”

  He pulled her head back, saw the tears rolling down her cheeks, her face bone white and knew she was going down for the count.

  ***

  “Come on, Presley. Open your eyes,” she heard Ben say. “That’s it, come on, open them up.” Slowly blinking them open, she saw Ben standing over her looking both concerned and amused.

  One minute she had been watching the gun pointed at him, the next the sound of a broken bone and the man’s head hitting the wall, then Ben yelling at her and that was it. She didn’t remember anything else. “Where am I?”

  “You’re on a bed in the ER.”

  “What?” she shrieked and went to sit up, only he put a hand on her shoulder and held her down.

  “Relax. You just passed out.”

  She pushed his hand aside and sat up slowly, running her hands over him and checking him for any injuries. He looked okay, better than okay actually. Was even grinning at her, but she saw what he was trying to hide behind his grin and she wasn’t buying any of it. “Where is everyone?”

  “What do you mean?”

  She looked around and saw the curtains closed. For the moment they were alone, despite all the noises of the ER going on around them. “The police and everyone.”

  “They’ve got Paul under watch while the doctors tend to his injuries.”

  “I can’t believe you did that,” she said remembering how fast he moved, the broken bone, and knocking the man out.

  He didn’t answer her, only looked at her, concerned. “Feeling better? I expected better from a nurse than to pass out over a broken wrist and head injury,” he said, adding a raise of his eyebrow.

  “Stop it. Stop right this minute. Stop trying to hide everything behind a smile.”

  His grin faded, replaced by annoyance. “What would you rather I show you? How pissed off I am that you interfered? That you could have gotten hurt? That you could have distracted me from doing my job and caused someone else to get hurt?”

  She looked away, shamefaced, but refused to give in. “He had a gun pointed at you,” she said hiccupping, feeling the blood drain from her face again. She needed to lie back down, fearing she was going to pass out again.

  “What is going on? Why do you keep passing out when you say that, or looking like you are going to pass out?”

  “Nothing. Just give me a second. I need to get back to my shift.”

  “No. You aren’t going back to work. I already called up and told them. I’m taking you home once you can stand. Someone is coming down with your stuff right now.”

  “I’m fine, Ben,” she argued. “I just need a minute.”

 
; “You aren’t fine. There is more going on than you’re telling me, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it. But not until we get you home.” Allison walked in with Presley’s things and handed them over to Ben. “Here, get your jacket on and let’s go. We will deal with your car tomorrow.”

  “You can’t just leave, can you? Don’t you have to follow up with what happened? Let me go back to work,” she told him.

  “Yes, I can just leave. Yes, I have to follow up. I will tomorrow. And, no, you can’t go back to work. Any more questions? Are you going to stand and walk out of here, or am I going to have to carry you?”

  There was a look in his eyes she had never witnessed before. One she wished she would never see again. He wasn’t budging, she knew. And she knew he would indeed carry her out of there if she didn’t get up on her own. “Let’s go home.”

  Child

  “Let’s go, in the house,” he ordered her, holding Presley’s arm and guiding her in.

  “I’m not a child. You can let go,” she said, frustrated.

  He held his tongue. It wasn’t the time to berate her. There was more going on, and he was going to find out, even if he had to push her further than she was willing to go. “Then stop acting like one.”

  “Excuse me?” she said, whirling around on him after she hung up her jacket.

  At the moment he would rather have her angry than upset. Maybe that was the best route to take. “I said, stop acting like a child and do what you’re told.”

  She stopped and stared at him. In a flash, the anger was gone, replaced by tears and misery, and his heart broke. Things weren’t going at all the way he had hoped, but he couldn’t stop now. He was going to have to just continue and change the course as needed. “Come here, babe,” he said, pulling her in. “Just let it out.”

  And she did, for a good few minutes, cried until the tears wouldn’t fall, and was hiccupping on his shoulder while he rubbed his hand up and down her back. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what is coming over me.”