Shock Advised (Kilgore Fire #1)

by Lani Lynn Vale

Tai took his seat and buckled up.

  I did the same and looked around the area.

  I wasn’t lying when I said I’d never been in an ambulance before.

  The back rocked when PD turned out of the hospital parking lot, and my stomach rolled.

  By the time we’d made it to the intersection that turned onto Main Street, I was ready to puke.

  “Tai?” I asked, placing my hand over my mouth.

  “Yeah?” He called from the front seat.

  The radio squawked, drowning out my reply.

  I looked around for anything I could use to throw up in, because it was only moments away, and found a barf bag…or at least what I thought to be a barf bag.

  Needless to say, that was what it was used for as I heaved up my dinner and lunch, and probably even last week’s lunch.

  Tai poked his concerned gaze around the partition, looked at me, and cursed.

  I continued to puke.

  Who knew that the back of an ambulance would make my car sickness days return with a vengeance?

  Tai wormed his way through the opening, and if I were feeling better, I would’ve laughed at the way he’d had to squeeze his shoulders through.

  “Go upfront,” he ordered.

  I ignored him in favor of puking again

  He cursed again.

  PD finally pulled over at Tai’s shouted order, and I finally felt my stomach settle.

  I held still for long moments after the rocking had stopped, waiting for the feeling to come back, but never did.

  “So, you get car sick?” Tai asked.

  I let the Ziploc baggie drop to my lap, and I shakily zipped it closed.

  He held his hand out for it, and I blushed fifteen shades of red.

  “Just point out the trash,” I ordered.

  He pointed to a small waste paper basket against the back wall, and I hurriedly dropped it in and closed the lid.

  “Get in the front. I have to get back to the station before another call drops so I can get the hell off shift. Hurry,” he said.

  I didn’t waste time arguing.

  I was still feeling slightly shaky, and I worried I’d fall to my knees in front of him.

  However, my knees held, and I dropped down into the seat across from PD.

  “What are you looking at?” I snapped.

  He looked down at my shirt.

  “You have puke on your shirt,” he quipped.

  “Shit,” I said, looking down.

  And sure enough, I did have puke on my shirt. Perfect.

  Hastily, I strapped my seatbelt on, then reached for the bottom edges of my scrub top before I yanked it over my head.

  Balling it up into a clump of fabric I shoved it in my purse that still happened to be in the crook of my arm after all that lovely vomiting.

  PD whistled under his breath, and I looked at him curiously.

  “What?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “Nothin.’”

  I decided to take him for his word, seriously not in the mood to ask him again, let alone to listen to him lie.

  The ride in the passenger seat was like riding in a Rolls Royce compared to riding in the back, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I rode the rest of the ride with little to nothing bothering me.

  Except for PD’s eyes on me.

  Those bothered me.

  “What are you looking at?” I snapped.

  He shrugged. “What he sees in you.”

  I blinked, turning to regard him, then leaned around further to see if Tai had heard.

  He hadn’t.

  He was laid out on the bench that ran along the length of the box, eyes closed, like he didn’t have a care in the world.

  I turned back to study PD.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  He glanced at me before turning his eyes back to the road and the traffic in front of him.

  “You’re hurting him…still hurting him,” he said. “He’s got enough on his plate. He doesn’t need to be collecting charity cases.”

  I blanched.

  “Don’t take that the wrong way,” he said.

  I turned my eyes straight in front of me. “How do you want me to take it?”

  He sighed.

  “Tai’s got a soft heart. He’ll do anything to take care of those he thinks that need it. He feels like he has to, to make up for his sister and what he didn’t do,” he said.

  “And how do you know that?” I snapped.

  “Because he’s me. I’ve been doing the same damn thing, only for a lot longer,” he answered. “Just be careful not to hurt him anymore. You can start by not pushing all of your issues on to him to solve, because he’ll focus on fixing your problems before his own.”

  I stayed silent, not knowing what to say to that statement.

  I thought on what he said as he pulled into the station, backing the ambulance with ease into the parking bay.

  Was I just bringing all my problems to Tai for him to fix?

  No. That’d never been my intention.

  In the beginning, I’d only been trying to make sure that Colt got what he needed. Any mother would’ve done the same.

  However, he’d inserted himself into my mother’s business.

  He was also the one that dragged me along with him instead of letting me drive myself home.

  I hadn’t asked him to do that.

  Chapter 7

  EMS. The lights and sirens aren’t just for decoration, motherfuckers.

  -Tai’s secret thoughts

  Mia

  By the time I got out of the ambulance, I’d worked myself into a good hissy.

  Tai was clueless as he stepped out behind me and immediately walked into the station, leaving me behind.

  I followed behind him.

  It was either that or stay with PD, and I was mad at him.

  I walked in, seeing Tai talking to some other man I hadn’t met yet.

  He handed off a key, his radio, and he shook the guy’s hand before heading back to me.

  “Ready?” He asked.

  I nodded.

  He placed his hand on my back and led me back outside.

  We arrived in the parking lot in time to see PD get into his truck and start pulling away.

  “Is it some written rule that everyone has to back in?” I wondered as I took in the parking area.

  Every single one of the vehicles, whether it be car or truck, was backed in.

  Tai led me to a lifted Chevy Silverado that was around forty years old…if not more.

  I wasn’t a car guru, but I could tell a restoration when I saw it, and Tai’s truck was definitely restored.

  The paint was a gleaming cherry red, and the tires had wheels that were so bright and shiny that I was envious.

  “Nice truck,” I said, going to the passenger side.

  Tai opened the passenger side door for me and helped me in, slamming the door once I was inside.

  “Thanks,” he said. “My brother and I built it when I was eighteen. It’s the only thing to survive my teenage years.”

  I snorted.

  “I wrapped my first car around a telephone pole,” I admitted. “And my second car around a brick wall holding a sign up.”

  He turned to me in surprise. “You don’t drive shitty anymore, do you?”

  I shook my head.

  “No, I haven’t had an accident since Colt was born. I guess he was my lucky charm,” I said softly, looking at my hands.

  Tai didn’t say anything.

  Most didn’t know what to say to me when I brought Colt up.

  But I didn’t want Colt to be a dirty little secret. I wanted his life to be celebrated, which meant that I would talk about him.

  I wasn’t going to hide my head in the sand.

  And it wouldn’t bother me in the least if they felt like talking about Colt.

  “Where does your mom live?” He asked.

  I gave him directions, and we arrived at my mother’s place in silence
.

  It wasn’t a thick silence, either. It was a comfortable one. One where we both thought about our own things but didn’t feel the need to fill the space around us with useless chatter.

  My mom lived in a neighborhood just outside the city limits. All the houses were the same style. Each a ranch style home with shutters, a well-manicured lawn and a two-car carport.

  If you didn’t know the address or the car that was supposed to be in the driveway, you could easily get lost in the monotony of it all.

  “My mom’s house is the first one on the right,” I said, pointing.

  It was weird not seeing her car in the driveway. Then again, I probably wouldn’t ever see that car again, seeing as she’d totaled it earlier in the day.

  “Nice place,” he said. “I live a few streets over.”

  “Oh, that’s close. I told my mom today I’d move in with her and help with rent. I had a place up near the college that I was going to rent, but then this all happened, and well…you know,” I said, getting out of the car and heading to the front entrance.

  Once I reached the front door, I opened it quickly and stepped inside.

  “Please, for the love of all that’s holy, excuse the huge mess. My mother doesn’t have any control of her fingers when it comes to fabric she sees online,” I said.

  Tai chuckled, but it broke off when I flipped the light on and he got his first glimpse of it all.

  “So I’m guessing she likes sewing?” He asked facetiously.

  I snorted.

  “My mom’s more of an embroiderer,” I said. “Those machines right there cost thousands of dollars a pop. She worked her ass off to get them, but they’re big and bulky, and she’s got no impulse control. Which is why she has three of them,” I informed him.

  He walked over to one of the machines and picked up a t-shirt that was off to the side.

  “That’s nice,” he said softly.

  I nodded.

  “She’s making me a bear of all of Colton’s clothes. One that I can place on a shelf or something, I guess,” I whispered.

  Tai’s eyes came to mine.

  “You’re doing well,” he said roughly.

  I shrugged. “At times. Other times, something like that would’ve set me off into sobs,” I answered truthfully. “It’s completely random, and I have no control over it.”

  He put the shirt back down onto the pile that it’d been on top of before.

  “Five years ago, when I moved here, it was because one of my good friends, Adam, died in an explosion right beside me,” he said, staring at the t-shirt with unseeing eyes. “It hasn’t gotten any better. I still have nightmares about it, almost nightly…more so lately…and well…I’m just telling you that you’re pretty normal.”

  I swallowed back the tears that rushed up at his words and walked toward the back of the house.

  I didn’t mean to make light of what he’d told me, but I was grateful that he tried to make me feel normal.

  That was what I needed right then.

  “Would you mind feeding my mom’s cat? The food bowl is on the counter. Food is under the sink,” I said, pointing in the direction of the kitchen.

  “Jesus Christ,” I heard Tai said. “You’re not a fuckin’ cat. You’re a fuckin’ sloth.”

  I giggled.

  Spaz was my mother’s very healthy twelve-year-old cat that, literally, did nothing but lay in the sun and eat all day. I was impressed that he could still get up on the counter myself, but mom said he never had any trouble.

  I guess since Spaz’s only goal in life was to eat, of course, he would make sure he could get up there to do it.

  I walked into my mother’s room and froze at the picture of Colt’s baby blue eyes staring back at me from a picture frame beside my mom’s bed.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

  Those baby blues had been so beautiful.

  I walked toward the picture and ran my finger along the glass covering his perfect cheek.

  “I miss you, baby boy,” I whispered.

  This time, the tears didn’t come.

  And I was grateful.

  Tai had seen me cry a lot today, I didn’t want to break down on him again.

  Turning away from that beautiful face I wanted to see again more than my next breath, I grabbed my mom’s nightgown from on top of her pillow, her slippers from the bottom of the bed, and headed into the bathroom.

  I found the rest of the items she’d requested, too, and put them all into an overnight bag I’d found at the bottom of her bed.

  Once done, I walked out of her bedroom to find Tai playing with a laser, making the old goat of a cat run and slide across the kitchen floor.

  “Having fun?” I teased. “Where did you find that laser?”

  He held up his key chain in his hand. “I carry it around because it bothers my brother’s dogs, and which, in turn, bothers my sister-in-law.”

  I snorted.

  “I’ll just take this home with me. Do you want to drop me back off at my car?” I asked.

  He gave me a look.

  “No. I want to take you to dinner.”

  I blinked.

  “What?”

  He grinned. “You heard me.”

  “Dinner…why?”

  He moved closer until he was within reaching distance.

  He touched my nose with one rough, blunt finger.

  “Because I want to, girly girl…because I want to.”

  ***

  I was nervous.

  I’d dropped my mom’s clothes off at the hospital, and now we were on our way to The Back Porch, a restaurant that was sure to be a hopping place at eight o’clock on a Friday night.

  It was also a cop and firefighter hangout. Or so I’d been told.

  I’d never been there.

  In fact, I’d never been out to a lot of places in the city.

  When we’d moved here, we’d literally had no money.

  I could count on two hands the number of times I’d gone out to eat during my high school years.

  And that’d only continued as I’d put myself through my prerequisites at the local community college and then started nursing school.

  I’d worked my ass off at an electronics store while going to school, and I’d kept my student loans down below ten grand rather than the forty-to-fifty grand it’d cost other students who didn’t have any help financially.

  It’d taken me an extra two and a half years to do it that way, but, in my opinion, it was worth it.

  Barely any debt meant being able to afford my bills.

  Which also meant that I didn’t get the luxury of going out to eat.

  I’d graduated school, then gone straight into working in my field until I had Colt.

  There was just no time, no money, and, honestly, no inclination to do so.

  Now, I was excited.

  We were in Tai’s truck, and I had my eyes closed as I listened to the whine of his large tires eating up the main highway that ran through Kilgore.

  The window was down and my hair was flying every which way, even with me having put it up into a pony tail.

  I opened my eyes and looked sideways when I felt the truck come to a stop.

  The red light in front of us had the lanes at our sides quickly filling up, and neither one of us missed the loud roar of a motorcycle pulling up beside us.

  I looked down and my eyes widened when I saw the sexy man on the back of the bike.

  He was on the older side, and I felt my pulse speed up as I took him in.

  “Whoa,” I said, turning back when the motorcycle rumbled beside me. “That’s loud.”

  “That’s Sam,” Tai said.

  “Sam who?” I asked, studying his face.

  “Sam Mackenzie. He was my brother’s CO when they were in the army,” he explained.

  Then I felt his truck rock as he revved the engine up in response to Sam’s revving.

  And when I said rock, I meant the whole damn truck sw
ayed from side to side as the engine roared deafeningly.

  I giggled and Tai’s translucent green eyes turned to me with amusement dancing in them.

  “What?” He asked, a grin playing at the corner of his mouth.

  “Are you going to race him?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

  “You’re not even going to try?” I teased.

  His grin turned mocking.

  “You want me to?” He asked.

  I nodded.

  It sounded like fun.

  “Alright, hold on to your titties,” he said.

  I shrieked when he took off, covering my mouth and clutching onto the window like it was my lifeline.

  The bike was slow to get started, but I could see the clear joy on the man named Sam’s face. He was having fun.

  “He’s letting me win,” Tai said.

  The scanner that Tai had mounted underneath the dash squawked and drew my attention.

  “Unit two, we’ve got a report of drag racing on Highway 259,” the dispatcher said in a disembodied voice.

  I gasped and turned to Tai, only to see him laughing so hard no sound was coming out.

  “Slow down!” I urged, on the way to being out of control in my yell.

  I’d never in my life had trouble with the law, and I darn sure tootin’ wasn’t going to start now.

  Instead, he stopped at the next red light like it was the most normal thing in the world for a man that’d just thoroughly broken the law.

  The man in the motorcycle pulled up next to Tai.

  He was laughing.

  “What the fuck, man?” Tai yelled over my body. “What’s going on?”

  “I’m sorry, but someone wrote on the back of your truck and I was reading the letters,” he said.

  My mouth dropped open.

  He wasn’t supposed to know yet!

  I brought my finger up to my lip involuntarily and absently started to chew on my fingernail as I tried to think of a reason as to why I’d written that on his tailgate.

  I could feel Tai’s eyes on me.

  “What’s it say?” Tai asked.

  Sam chuckled.

  “It says ‘honk if you like my ass’,” he said. “My horn isn’t working right now, so I couldn’t let you know how much I liked your butt.”

  I started giggling when Tai’s eyes turned to me.

  “Does it really?” He asked.

  Sam nodded.