Page 27 of Tough Justice

Again, Dylan nodded, and when his lower lip started trembling, Deck rested his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “I broke my arm when I was kid, too. It hurt a lot, but it healed up just fine and I was back to playing ball in no time. Dylan’s being very brave about all this.”

“I can see that,” Tori agreed. She could also see the positive effect Deck was having on the boy. As if someone had flipped a switch, Dylan’s shoulders stopped shaking and his lip stopped trembling.

Deck pulled something that looked like a deck of cards from his pocket.

“Are those baseball cards?” Dylan set the mitt in his lap and pointed.

“Kind of.” Deck handed one of the cards to the boy, returning the rest of the stack to his pocket. “It’s a K-9 trading card. It has a picture of Thor, and it tells you all about him. What kind of breed he is, what his specialty is, and what he likes to do for fun.”

Dylan looked at the card, turning it over to read what was on the back. “Does he do tricks for fun?”

“He sure does.” Deck looked at Thor. “Thor, up.” To Tori’s astonishment, Thor rose on his hind legs in front of the stretcher, standing straight up and hovering there. “Spin.” Deck twirled his finger, and Thor began turning in circles.

Dylan laughed. Beside him, his mother looked on, sending Deck a grateful smile.

“Wow,” Dylan said, reaching out to touch Thor’s outstretched paws.

“Cool, huh?” Deck said.

“Really cool.” Dylan grinned.

“Down, boy.” Thor lowered his front paws to the floor then uttered a low snort. “Tell you what.” Deck pulled something else from one of his thigh pockets, handing them to Dylan. “These are four tickets to Family Night at Coors Field. You can go see the Rockies in person.”

“Wowww. For me?” Deck nodded, and the boy’s eyes practically popped from his head. “Thanks, Deck.”

“Thank you.” His mother blinked rapidly. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“It was my pleasure,” Deck said. “Every kid should see the Rockies play in person at least once.”

Behind them, someone cleared their throat, and Tori turned to see Ethan looking on with an amused expression. Ethan must have been assigned the boy’s case and was waiting to examine him.

“I think someone’s waiting to take a look at that arm,” she said to Dylan. “You’re going to be playing ball again in no time.”

“Stay brave, my man.” Deck held up his fist, and when Dylan fist-bumped him back, Tori couldn’t stop smiling at the gesture and Deck’s kindness to the boy.

Deck and Thor fell in step beside her as she led the way to Leslie Batista’s room. “That was very sweet what you did back there.” And very much like what he’d done with Amy on the raid. She began to suspect that beneath all that body armor and muscles lay a heart of gold.

“We saw Dylan and his mom coming in. The kid looked so upset we thought he needed a little cheering up. And don’t be mad with me for sneaking Thor into the ER. In addition to being the best drug dog in the state, he’s also a certified therapy dog.”

“I didn’t know that.” Along with not knowing what a soft spot Deck obviously had for kids.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” The corner of his mouth lifted, and her belly did that same annoying fluttering thing.

“Um.” She had to shake her head to clear it. Any of her body parts fluttering over this guy was so not good. “We’re here.” She led the way into Leslie Batista’s room, momentarily hesitating. Neil Shibowsky, the hospital’s cardiac surgeon, sat at the foot of the bed. Leslie was laughing at something Neil had said.

“Dr. Shibowsky?” Tori shot Neil a questioning look. “I didn’t know Dr. Barnett had called for a cardiac consult.”

“Leslie and I were just chatting.” Neil took his sweet time getting off the bed. “I’ll come back and check on you later.” He winked at Leslie before leaving the room.

“Good morning,” Deck said, taking immediate charge. “Thank you for speaking with me.” He held out his hand to Leslie.

Leslie was barely nineteen and had come in with a moderate overdose. Color was already back in her cheeks, and the prognosis was good. Catching sight of Deck, Leslie flipped back her thick blond curls and managed to sit up straighter. Her gaze drifted down then up Deck’s tall, muscular form.

“Good morning to you, too.” Leslie smiled appreciatively, taking Deck’s hand and holding it, in Tori’s opinion, far longer than necessary. Tori had already discovered that, when not under the influence of opioids, Ms. Batista was not only quite pretty but no shy flower. “I’m happy to help any way I can.”

“Great.” As Deck extricated his hand, Tori was reminded of the moment when he’d been helping her put on the body armor vest. His fingers had inadvertently grazed the side of her breast, sending chills up and down her spine and heat to her face. Get real, girl. He was so far outside her comfort zone, the only thing she should be thinking about where he was concerned was their business relationship. Anything else was preposterous.

“I know you want to get out of here, so let’s get started.” Deck took out a small pad and pen from his thigh pocket. “Where did you buy the drugs that you OD’d on?”