Shock Advised (Kilgore Fire #1)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  My dress fell down and covered me instantly, but I just knew what we had been doing showed on my face even if my lower half was now covered.

  I bit my lip as Tai turned around and glared at the cop car.

  “You stupid fucker,” Tai said. “You scared the shit out of her.”

  The cop laughed and that’s when I saw this was a K-9 unit. The same unit that Tai had introduced me to the other night.

  The dog had her head hanging out the passenger side window, looking at us as well.

  It took a few long moments while the two men spoke, but when it came, I nearly laughed.

  Tai looked sideways over at me.

  “What are you laughing about?” He asked.

  I bit my lip, only then remembering the time this officer had spent at the hospital with his wife having their baby.

  I’d thought that I’d recognized him the other day, but it didn’t click until just now.

  Downy, looked over at me then, and his lips thinned.

  He glared at me.

  I held my hands up.

  He pointed one long finger at me, and then got back in his car and left without another word.

  “What was that about?” Tai asked.

  I snickered.

  “He passed out when his wife had their baby,” I answered. “He says he didn’t, but I saw his eyes roll back in his head when he got a look at his kid coming out of her.”

  Tai’s mouth kicked up in a grin.

  “Interesting,” he said.

  I looked at him.

  “You ready for dinner?” I asked. “I suddenly feel ravenous.”

  He snorted. “Oh, you’re ravenous alright.”

  ***

  I was dying.

  I bit my lip, praying that I’d make it through dinner.

  Ten minutes later, Tai finally handed over the cash to the waitress and stood, offering me his hand.

  I reluctantly took it, standing up next to him and clenching my thighs as I walked stiffly at his side.

  Once we were outside, I looked at his truck in dismay.

  Tai chuckled and lifted me up, placing his hand right on my belly as he placed me in the seat.

  I prayed once he shut the door that I’d make it.

  My stomach was roiling, and my eyes were clamped shut.

  “You okay?” Tai asked.

  I nodded, biting my lip.

  “I need to use the restroom,” I said.

  And I did. Badly.

  But he didn’t understand just how urgent my situation was.

  It was more like, ‘if you don’t drive fifty in this thirty, I might have to have you pull over and allow me to go on the side of the road’ kind of urgent.

  He sped up, keeping a pretty steady pace.

  However, by the time we arrived at my mom’s place, I was practically in tears and, I swear to God, ready to do some things that wouldn’t be acceptable to do in front of anyone, …let alone the man I was hot for.

  “Thanks for the ride,” I said quickly, smiling painfully as I shot out of the truck.

  I lost one shoe somewhere in the yard, but I didn’t even stop to grab it.

  By the time I made it into the house, I’d lost the other.

  My mother didn’t even spare me a glance from where she was busy in front of her sewing machine; instead, she just kept working as I practically barreled into the bathroom and slammed the door.

  I won’t get into the details of the next ten minutes of my life, suffice it to say that it’s not proper to discuss it.

  However, when I was done, I felt about a million times better, and realized that I’d probably given Tai the very mistaken idea that I was upset over something.

  I ditched my clothes in the bathroom and walked out naked, only to come to a sudden bone jarring halt as I realized that Tai was leaning against the wall directly across from where I’d just exited.

  A wave of what I’d left in the bathroom followed me out, and I saw the moment the smell hit him.

  His eyes started to water, and it took all his strength not to lift his hand up and cover his face.

  My mouth dropped open in horror.

  “What are you doing here?” I cried, covering my own mouth as the smell filled the hallway around us.

  He couldn’t talk, only kept swallowing convulsively.

  He didn’t even look at me in all my naked glory, and I realized just what I’d done.

  Mortification filled my face as I ran to the bedroom I’d taken over and slammed the door.

  I dropped onto the bed with a strangled cry and buried my face into the pillow.

  “Oh God,” I breathed. “God.”

  Had he heard me?

  Smelling it was bad enough, …but hearing it was completely different.

  There were things I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy and having the stomach problem I had was one of them.

  I should’ve known not to have that drink at the movies.

  Mother of pearl!

  A knock sounded at my door, and I shouted into my pillow.

  “Go away!”

  My mother ignored me and walked into the bedroom.

  It never occurred to me, though, that it wasn’t my mom at all, but Tai.

  Then hands that definitely didn’t belong to my mother smoothed up the bareness of my thigh, up further over my ass, to settle on my lower back before he took a seat on the bed beside me.

  Then he leaned over until he could see the side of my face.

  “You know I’m a paramedic, right?” He asked.

  I squeezed my eyes tightly shut.

  “Yes,” I muttered into the pillow.

  “And there are things that I’ve seen that would make a grown man cry,” he said. “So, certain bodily functions don’t bother me like they would a normal human being.”

  I wanted to cry.

  “You’re saying that would’ve bothered anybody else, but you?” I clarified.

  He chuckled.

  “Yeah. That’s what I’m saying.”

  I laughed.

  There was nothing else that I could do.

  “Shit,” I said.

  He started laughing, too.

  And just like that, Tai had learned my most embarrassing secret …and he was still standing here after the dust settled…or in this case, the smell.

  Chapter 15

  Standing within a foot of an exceptionally well bearded man greatly increases the likelihood that a baby will fall out of your vagina nine months later.

  -Proven Fact

  Tai

  I just need you to love me. Make me forget,” she pleaded.

  Those words haunted me during my sleep.

  My mind was a tangle of emotions. And they all centered on Mia, in my nightmares, and for once, not Cati, my sister.

  Mia was rocking back and forth, holding her dead son in her arms, as she cried.

  “Please don’t leave me. I need you. I need you,” she keened.

  My heart started to pound, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get to her.

  My fingers turned bloody as I clawed at my invisible cage.

  Then I froze when my sister, with her long, beautiful black hair and long legs walked out from the clearing beyond Mia.

  She walked slowly, keeping her eyes on me as she moved.

  My breathing started to come in pants, and I tried harder to get out, knowing that this wouldn’t end well.

  Nothing ever ended well when Cati was involved.

  Cati didn’t have the best taste in men. She trusted too easily. She cared too much.

  She was the one thing in my world that I tried to take care of, even when I tried my hardest not to care.

  Cati reached Mia and carefully disentangled Colt’s lifeless body from her arms.

  Mia cried out in alarm, trying to get up, but couldn’t.

  The same invisible cage held her down, keeping her immobile.

  Cati looked once more at me, then she took Colt and walked back towards the d
irection she came, not looking back once.

  Mia’s head turned in my direction.

  “This is all your fault. If you’d have just given me another baby, I would’ve never tried to get a bone marrow transplant,” she hissed.

  She looked like she hated me, and I shrank back in surprise at the venom in her tone.

  “I didn’t mean to…I’m sorry.”

  I woke up to my body covered in sweat.

  Nothing new.

  It wasn’t the first time…and it wouldn’t be the last.

  I got out of bed and squinted at the closed bedroom door when I heard the pots and pans going in my kitchen again.

  This time, however, I knew it wasn’t Mia.

  She had to work this morning, so it could only be one other person.

  My brother.

  I scrubbed my face and teeth clean, then pulled on a pair of jeans that were at the bottom of the bed before walking out the bedroom door.

  I found my brother at the stove, cooking what I assumed were eggs.

  My eyes ran over the table as I passed it, and I froze at what I saw on it.

  My eyes focused on the paper, and I bent over the table as I stared in disbelief.

  My stomach dropped at what I was reading.

  Amelia Davis, a nurse at Kilgore Memorial, has been accused of blackmailing a prominent business man in this community. Detectives are still gathering evidence and confirming the facts but enough had been gathered for a judge to issue an arrest warrant. She was arrested last night at her mother’s home on extortion charges and will be arraigned later this afternoon.

  My heart pounded.

  “Did you read this?” I asked my brother.

  My brother turned around, his brow furrowed.

  “No, what?” He asked, dropping the spatula he’d been using to flip eggs and walking over to me.

  I threw the paper at him, then ran back into the bedroom to grab a shirt and shove my feet into boots.

  I was grabbing my wallet and keys by the time Jack had gotten through the entire article.

  I glanced at my phone before I shoved it into my pocket but didn’t see any missed calls.

  Jack jumped into the passenger side of my truck as I started the old girl up, and we rode in silence to the police station.

  My mind was reeling.

  Why hadn’t anyone called me?

  What the fuck was going on?

  “You do realize that there’s something seriously wrong here,” Jack said.

  I tossed him an exacerbated look.

  “Of course I know something’s fucking wrong here,” I said. “She didn’t do any of this.”

  Jack gave me a look.

  I started to get angry.

  “Mia’s not like my ex-wife,” I said through clenched teeth.

  He didn’t say anything.

  God, would he ever fucking trust me?

  We arrived at the station in less than five minutes, and I parked the truck illegally right in front of the station.

  None of the boys from the fire station, nor the police department, would have my truck towed. You don’t piss off your brothers.

  Luke saw me the moment I walked in, and I saw the moment he realized I was upset.

  His back straightened, and his eyes widened.

  Luke was the assistant chief.

  He was also a member of the SWAT team, and a very good friend.

  Right now, though, I wasn’t liking him very much.

  “Where is she?” I barked.

  Luke’s brows rose.

  “Where’s who?” He asked.

  I clenched and unclenched my teeth.

  “Mia Davis,” I said.

  His head turned.

  “The paper said she was here, that you arrested her for extortion,” my brother explained with a sigh.

  Dawning awareness appeared on Luke’s place.

  “She’s yours?” He asked.

  I nodded stiffly.

  “This whole fucking thing is weird as hell,” he said, looking at his watch.

  I looked at my watch, realizing that it was five past six in the morning.

  What the fuck was my brother doing at my place so early, anyway?

  “What’s weird about it?” Jack asked.

  “You mean other than he arrested an innocent woman?” I asked sarcastically.

  Luke ran his hands through his hair.

  “She’s not exactly arrested…she’s being questioned,” Luke explained, leading us through a maze of hallways, down into the bowels of the station.

  He stopped at a plain brown door and opened it.

  Luke went in, but I stopped in the doorway, taking in the scene in front of me with disbelieving eyes.

  “What the fuck?” I asked.

  Mia wasn’t in cuffs. She wasn’t being treated poorly, either.

  In fact, she looked like she was better than okay.

  She was laughing with Nico, of all people, looking at his phone as he swiped through picture after picture.

  On the table in front of her there was a plethora of food and drinks.

  A coffee from Starbucks and what looked to be the remnants of breakfast from McDonald’s.

  I cleared my throat and both Nico and Mia looked up.

  Mia stiffened.

  “I told you not to bother him so early!” She cried, shooting an accusing glare at Nico.

  Nico held his hands up.

  “It wasn’t me, Chiquita,” he said. “Promise.”

  She harrumphed, then burst into a huge smile as she got a look at me.

  “Did you get dressed in the dark?” She wondered, looking down at the shirt I was wearing.

  It was the same one I was wearing yesterday, and so were the pants.

  I shrugged as I entered the room, taking a seat at Mia’s left.

  Jack followed me in, but I ignored him.

  He wasn’t on my favorite people list right then.

  “Tell me what the hell is going on,” I demanded.

  Luke took up positon against one wall, and Jack followed suit on the other.

  Nico shoved his phone back into his pocket and crossed his arms over his chest.

  Mia bit her lip, looking first at Luke then at Nico, before she turned back to me.

  “Someone is blackmailing my ex, I mean…Colt’s father…and trying to pin it on me,” she said finally.

  “But not you,” Jack said.

  Mia’s eyes went wide.

  “Of course not me!” She cried. “I haven’t seen him, or spoken to him, in over a year and a half now.”

  Jack shrugged unrepentantly.

  Mia’s eyes turned to me.

  “You never contacted him when your son was sick?” Jack continued.

  She shook her head.

  That was news to me.

  Why hadn’t she done that?

  “I had my doctor call him. I couldn’t call him since I had the restraining order out against me,” Mia explained.

  Her face flushed as she said that, and Jack’s eyes narrowed.

  “Why does he have a restraining order against you?” Jack asked.

  Mia sighed.

  “I slept with the father of the children I was watching. I had just started at the hospital, and I was still working for the man that hired me to watch his kids, along with another part-time job, while I waited for the hospital to finish the hiring process. I’d told him I was leaving to start full time with the hospital, as a nurse, and he decided to throw me a going away party,” she said to her lap. “I don’t know what happened. I guess I got drunk. I don’t know. The next morning, I woke up and I was in bed with him…and I left.”

  She looked beyond embarrassed that she was having to have this conversation.

  I was the only one surprised by it all, though.

  Jack, Nico and Luke looked like they knew the entire sordid tale.

  “And you got pregnant,” Jack confirmed.

  “Yes,” she agreed almost unwillingly. “I went back to te
ll him about a month later, and he said to get rid of it. Said that he would have no part in raising Colt, and that if I knew what was good for me, I’d get rid of it while I still could.”

  “You didn’t,” Luke said.

  She finally looked up to him.

  “I don’t even know how I did that…got drunk,” she said. “I haven’t had a drink in years. I wasn’t a big drinker to begin with. He kept handing me drinks, and I kept taking them. They tasted so good. I didn’t even realize that there was alcohol in them. What kind of stupid person doesn’t realize there’s alcohol in their drink?”

  “A lot of people. There’s drinks out there that taste exactly like a candy drop in the form of a beverage. Seriously, you wouldn’t believe how many drinks there are where you can’t tell there’s alcohol in them,” Nico said, trying to help her out.

  She shrugged. “I tried to go back to Edwin and tell him about Colt…about his leukemia. But he said if I came on his property again he’d sue me for anything he could think of…and he probably would have, too. He’s got the cash to do it. His wife is a millionaire in her own right. I’m sure the two of them together would make a formidable pair.”

  “Fuck,” Jack said harshly.

  She winced. “Yeah. It wasn’t my finest moment. I tried to contact him one more time, hoping that he’d reconsider, but he didn’t. After that, I was slapped with a court order to stay at least five hundred feet from him at all times. It was awesome.”

  Jack knew all of this already.

  Hell, I knew before he even said he’d done it that he’d run a background check on her weeks ago.

  In fact, he probably knew more about her than I did.

  “Why don’t we just cut the bullshit, Jackopa, and you tell Luke and Nico what you’ve found on your end? There’s a reason you showed up at my house, conveniently placed the paper exactly where I was sure to see it and woke me up so early. You know something, so enough already and just spill it,” I called him on his shit.

  He sighed and dropped his act.

  “I just wanted to get all of my ducks in a row,” he said.

  “And what’d you find?” Luke rumbled, rubbing his face.

  He must’ve been up all night.

  I would’ve normally felt bad for him, but he wanted this job, and it came with a lot of responsibilities.

  Like keeping my girl here overnight.

  “How long have you been here?” I asked shortly.

  Mia looked at her watch.