by M. A. Grant
I remove my finger from the button and close my eyes for just a second, trying to recollect myself.
I think it was a second. But the crashes near the basement door that alert me my brothers are on their way come faster than I expected. The door splinters under their attention and three masks work their way towards me.
I manage a weak grin. ‘Took you long enough.’
‘You dumb motherfucker,’ Ty spits as he pushes debris away from me. ‘Falling through the fucking roof and giving us all fucking heart attacks. Fucking Jeff is about to keel over.’ His lecture continues, the F-word featuring prominently in his shock and fear. I lose track after it begins to take the place of basic words like ‘the’ or ‘and.’ Instead, I focus on trying to get up.
It takes all three of them to get me to my feet. My knees don’t want to work. Travis slips my arm over his shoulder and lets me rest my weight on him. We make our way to the stairs, where Ty fits my mask over my face. The action stings, which it’s never done before, but there’s no time to focus on that.
The first level is starting to go. Overhead, timber under the sheetrock creaks ominously and every now and then flames sneak out and whisper at us as we pass. Still, it’s not far to the door. My legs go out from under me as we hit the porch. Travis drags me the rest of the way, Ty slipping under my other arm and helping.
Once we’re a safe distance away, they lay me down and take off the mask. The sky overhead is a beautiful pale blue, with wispy white clouds brushing the edges of my vision. Captain Blake’s face appears above me. ‘Medics are on their way,’ he says.
I want to nod, but am too tired. Instead, I wave my hand in acknowledgment. ‘Nelson?’ I ask.
‘Already down. That entire side collapsed once you went through.’
‘Sorry. Should have been more careful. Why are you here?’
Captain Blake glances over his shoulder at something I can’t see and nods. ‘We got called in to this one as back-up. Now I’m glad we did.’
‘Me too,’ I mumble.
The air is cool and clean. The sky distracting. I swear I only close my eyes for a few breaths. When I open them, a pair of medics surround me. They’re almost done running through their assessment, which is kind of weird.
‘Hey, Sleeping Beauty. You’re going to have some nasty bruises,’ one of them tells me.
The other, who doesn’t smile, is busy setting a drip line. ‘You’ll need stitches for the gash on your head. Hold still.’
He uses a pen light to check my eyes and his frown deepens. ‘Probable concussion,’ he tells his partner.
‘I could have told you that,’ I grumble. Too bad they lever me onto the gurney, a surprisingly painful movement.
Nelson, face pale, runs towards us as they wheel me toward the ambulance. ‘You okay, Jacobs?’
‘Yeah. Shitty roof.’
Nelson gives a weak laugh. ‘Right. Bad construction.’
Captain Blake reappears, towing Jeff behind him and Nelson heads back toward the engines. ‘Jacobs, you’re not coming back tonight. Jeff, make sure he doesn’t try to get discharged before they fully check him.’
Jeff nods and clambers up into the sardine can with me. ‘Captain told me to call your sister,’ he warns as he pulls out his cell phone.
I groan. ‘If you do that, I’m a dead man.’
He shakes his head and ignores me. Fortunately, he only has the house number. I overhear the answering machine kick on and relax. I have to remember to delete that message before Cat gets back into town.
‘Anyone else you want me to call?’ he asks after hanging up.
Maya….
‘No.’ Then I think about it and correct myself, ‘Actually, Dallas Miller. Make sure he knows to bring me a change of clothes. I refuse to walk out of the hospital bare-assed in one of those stupid dresses.’
I give Jeff Dally’s number and listen absently to their one-sided conversation. Dealing with Dally won’t be fun, but it’ll be much better than facing Cat. Thank God she’s at the conference.
‘He’s on his way,’ Jeff informs me.
‘Awesome.’ I hurt everywhere. I’m sure the mental shock will set in later. ‘Hey, Jeff?’
‘What, Jacobs?’
‘I’m just gonna close my eyes for a few minutes. Don’t let them cut anything off me.’
He chuckles and gently pats my shoulder. ‘Got it.’
The last thought before I slip into sleep or unconsciousness or whatever it may be is that I really hope Dally remembers to bring underwear and socks with the rest of my clothes.
***
I despise hospitals. It’s normally an irrational dislike, but this time I feel justified. The glass doors slide open and I rush toward the main desk.
A no-nonsense woman looks me over as I approach. I’m sure she’s seen hundreds like me before. People shocked and horrified and panicked and now invading her personal space to get any scrap of news.
‘How can I help you?’ she asks.
‘Jake Jacobs. The firefighter who was brought in.’
She glances down at her computer. ‘Are you family?’
Bless my acting skills. The lie comes far too easily. ‘I’m his fiancée.’ Now, don’t embellish. Refocus her on what you want. ‘Where is he?’
She doesn’t bother to look at my ring finger. Instead, she taps a few things into the keyboard. ‘He’s in room 701.’
‘Thank you!’
It takes me a few hallways to realise I probably should have looked at a map. A passing nurse stops and gives me directions, so it doesn’t take me too much longer to reach his room. Every step closer makes my anxiety spike.
What if he’s really hurt this time? Dallas didn’t have much information to share. He said Jake had fallen through a roof and was going to hospital. What if when he fell, he got hit on the head and has amnesia and won’t remember me? Worse, what if seeing me brings up so much hate that he does remember me and throws me out of his room?
I’m maybe five steps away when a familiar, angry voice sounds.
‘As I told the first nurse who came in here, the orderly she called, the doctor, and now you, I am fine! I want my discharge papers. Now.’
The fear coursing through me doesn’t abate completely at Jake’s voice, but it certainly lessens. I push open the cracked door to his room in time to jump aside for the huffy medical person exiting. The man I came here to see sits up in his bed. His hair sticks out in crazy directions, partially plastered to his head in some places. A bandage runs from his left eyebrow up onto his forehead, eventually disappearing back into his hair. He must have been cut.
His hospital gown stretches tightly across his chest, a challenge considering the billowing fabric. Without his boots and turnouts, he looks surprisingly normal. The drip line taped into his hand is the only other thing that doesn’t fit the specimen of physical perfection in front of me.
Dallas sprawls in a nearby chair, eyeing Jake with a mixture of amusement and irritation. When I step inside the room, he grins.
‘Here to play Cat’s pinch bitcher?’ he quips. ‘I didn’t think she’d call you that fast.’
‘I’m here for something like that,’ I say. Too bad my voice shakes.
Dallas’s eyes widen minutely. He stands and stuffs his hands in his back pockets. ‘I’m gonna go to the cafeteria.’
Jake glances up at that abrupt announcement. His eyes meet mine and we both stare. As Dallas passes me, he says in a low voice, ‘Just don’t kill him, okay? They’re waiting on the CT results and he’s being a pain in the ass about wanting to leave. The guy’s been through enough already.’
It isn’t until the door clicks shut behind Dallas that I rouse the courage to speak. ‘You’re hurt.’
‘Not bad. I’ll be fine. They just need to discharge me.’
‘They need to make sure you don’t die on them first.’
He snorts at that. How is it that the moment I step into the same room as him my patience runs out and my libid
o soars? Even now, I can’t decide if I want to choke him or rip off his hospital gown and console myself with his body.
Instead, I revert to the conversation Doctor Blathe and I practiced. In light of the circumstances, I think I can skip the basic formalities of friendly greetings. ‘I talked to my therapist about you today.’
He blinks. I cross my arms over my chest and hope I can say everything I practiced on the panicked trip over in the car.
‘Yes. I have a therapist. I’ve been seeing her for almost ten years. I’ve made a lot of progress.’
‘Good.’ The rough, honeyed purr of that word gives me hope. He’s not running away. Not yet.
‘You scare me.’
‘No shit?’
‘My dad was a military chaplain. A real hard ass, too. My mom left us when I was eight. She didn’t take me with her.’
I raise a hand when anger starts clouding Jake’s face. ‘He wasn’t physically abusive and I like to believe she didn’t know how bad it would get. My mom was the mediator and when she left, my dad and I kind of gave up on each other. A few years ago, I decided to get out of contact with him for good. It was a smart change.’
My hands smooth invisible wrinkles from my skirt. ‘Every now and then you remind me of him.’
‘I’m so sorry.’ He looks sick.
‘No, not in a bad way. I mean, not always. You’re just intense and really precise and it messes with my head sometimes. Doctor Blathe keeps reminding me that I say you’re not like him. It helps.’
He sits there so quietly, as if he’s afraid of scaring me away by moving. Funny, considering he’s the one trapped in the hospital bed.
‘I’m bad at this, Jake,’ I admit. ‘I like acting because it’s pretend. This isn’t.’
‘What do you mean, this?’
‘Us.’
‘There isn’t an us, remember?’
‘I want there to be one. More than I’ve ever wanted anything else.’
The only sound in the room is the steady beeping of Jake’s heart monitor.
Time for the hard part. Be brave. ‘That’s what I came here to tell you. Dallas called me. I came as soon as I heard.’
‘You didn’t have to,’ he protests. ‘Our run-in today was a freaking disaster.’
‘And knowing you’re safe is more important to me than my pride.’ I suck in a breath and blurt out the rest before the chance to escape presents itself with Dallas’s return. ‘I had to tell you that. I’m sorry I’ve been horrible to you. I don’t know how to say how I feel.’
‘You’re doing a pretty good job right now,’ he murmurs.
‘I’m scared of ruining your life,’ I whisper. ‘You’ve already been through enough.’
He tilts his head a little and watches me. ‘Come here.’
I obey, crawling up onto his bed and curling up against his side. At first, I can’t help but be a little stiff. That fear and awkwardness begins to leach from my limbs when his arm wraps around my shoulders and he pulls me to his chest. After a few minutes, he heaves a deep sigh. I’m on instant alert.
‘You’re not going to walk out on me again, are you?’ I ask, a little afraid of his answer.
‘Kind of hard to do when Dallas won’t give me my clothes until the doctor clears me to leave.’
‘So if I ask you a question, you can’t go anywhere?’
‘Nope.’
I move so I can kneel and face him. The corner of his mouth tugs up when I have to pull at my skirt so I’m not tangled up. ‘Stop laughing at me.’
‘No. What’s your question?’
‘Do I have any hope that you’re willing to give me another chance?’
He recognises my wording, as I thought he would. I wanted to make sure he understood how much asking this question means to me. That I now understand how hard it was for him to ask a similar question before I drove him away.
The smile vanishes. ‘I want more than sex, Maya.’
‘I know.’
‘We have to tell Cat.’
‘Agreed.’
‘And if either of us walks away again, that’s it. No more chances.’
I swallow. He knows running away is my safety net. But the thought of losing him again gives me the courage I’ve never had. ‘Okay.’
He considers me and my heart leaps when his features soften. ‘What are your conditions?’
I think about it as I curl up against his side once more. ‘Don’t take a job in Texas after the academy.’
‘I don’t even have to go to the academy.’
‘Yes, you do.’ I put a finger against his lips, ignoring his attempts to argue. ‘You deserve to have a life and the academy will help with that.’
‘Anything else?’
It’s a hard thing to say, but Doctor Blathe said Jake deserved my honesty. ‘If I say I need space, I need you to trust that I’m not trying to run away from you. I’m just saying that I need time to process. I don’t want to watch you walk out of my apartment again.’
He’s quiet for a long while. Finally he presses a kiss to my temple. ‘Fine.’
As we both settle back against the bed, he adds, ‘And, to clarify, when I said I wanted more than sex, that means everything else gets added to the sex.’
‘You do know you’re still in the hospital, right?’
He cracks a grin and it’s a little like being blinded by the sun. ‘There’s a first time for everything.’
‘Then consider this our first fight as a real couple. We are not having sex in the hospital.’
‘You are so boring.’
‘That’s why you love me.’ Those words aren’t terrifying anymore.
His eyes are serious. ‘I do.’
‘I love you too. I think.’
He sighs. ‘Stronger without the second part. But I’ll still take it. I’m man enough to appreciate the tin woman getting her heart.’
I stick out my tongue at him. ‘What’s the plan once you get out of here?’
‘How about our first make-up sex when we get home?’
He nuzzles against my neck, lips tracing their way down the curve of my jaw. I ignore him until the light nip of his teeth sends shivers over my skin. My body’s reaction our accidental night together was a pale imitation of what I’m feeling now.
‘Deal,’ I answer breathlessly.
Hours later, safe in the comfort of my bed, he makes sure I understand exactly what I’m getting myself into. Once again, he gives me a perfect night. The first night of many.
Cat and Dally
Day 1 — Morning
‘Hell, no.’
I place my hands on the island counter and dig in for battle. ‘Come on, Dally,’ I plead as I watch him cut another slice off the apple he snagged from the fridge.
Okay, so technically I’m watching the way his abs are flexing above his gym shorts as he leans back against the counter, but the muscles of his forearms are pretty damn distracting too. And his fingers. And the dark ink cascading over most of his upper body.
Fine. All of Dallas Miller is distracting.
But judging by his scowl, he isn’t of the same opinion about me. ‘Don’t give me that look, brown eyes, it’s not going to happen.’
I narrow those brown eyes and lean over the counter. ‘Pussy.’
That does it.
He sets the apple and paring knife down and closes the distance across from me. The muscles of his arms cord when he mimics me and leans in. He’s smirking and his voice is soft, but I hear the smug confidence under his words. ‘I dare you to call me that again.’
I lean further, breathlessly aware how close I’m getting to him. His trimmed beard only makes his teeth whiter and his smirk more attractive, even though it has the same predatory promise of a shark. His dark eyes are focused on mine.
‘Pu-ssy,’ I repeat, drawing out the word.
If it were anyone but Dally, the tension between us would explode and we’d end up kissing all Notebook-style while clawing each other’s clothes off
as we found the nearest soft surface.
Too bad he’s my brother’s roommate and best friend. The one who views me as having the same sexual allure of a floor lamp or potholder.
Instead of ravishing me, Dally cracks up, pulling back and retrieving the apple and knife. He’s still chuckling at me when he cuts off another slice and holds it out. A peace offering. I accept it begrudgingly and move onto one of the stools as I nibble. Maybe the added height will make me more intimidating.
‘You can’t expect me to believe you didn’t consider it,’ I argue. ‘Just for one second?’
His incredulity really sucks.
‘Half a second?’
‘I’m not fucking you, Cat.’
I throw up my hands in exasperation. ‘I didn’t say that, Dally. I asked you to—’
‘De-virginise you, I believe was the technical term.’
‘I don’t know what else to call it,’ I mutter, reaching for the box of dried cereal my brother left out a few days ago when he headed off for his training.
God, Dally’s grin is sinful. ‘Want me to give you a list?’
‘No. I don’t need you to lord your sexual prowess over me after you’ve just refused to help.’
He snorts. ‘And again I state, I am not helping Jake’s little sister lose her virginity. Why would you ask in the first place?’ he asks as he turns back to the sink.
I eye him surreptitiously. Why did I ask him? Because he is, without any doubt, the hottest man I have ever seen in my life. Leave it to me to figure it out this late in the game. I blame it on my late sexual awakening.
This year I actually managed to engage in some fairly hot second base action at one of the parties my friend Maya dragged me to. After said action, I went home and had the strangest, strongest erotic dreams I didn’t even know were possible … with Dally as the star. Ever since then, I haven’t been able to stop obsessing about him in that way.
‘Umm …’
He glances back over his shoulder. ‘What’s “umm” mean? I’m serious, Cat, do you know how crazy Jake would be if he knew we were having this conversation?’
My brother would not be crazy. He’d be homicidal. He would probably try to castrate Dally and then lock me in a tower far, far away in a magical forest. Only he wouldn’t be stupid and he’d make sure to give me regular haircuts.