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Chapter Two
SUMMER
Four weeks passed since Muffin and I held a bonfire in our backyard. We’d invited our neighbors, of course, but they didn’t know the source of heat baking their marshmallows was the set of sheets from my ex-girlfriend’s affair. I’d figured not telling them would make it less creepy for my old dog and me to be burning junk in our yard, in the middle of spring. In any case, it had been an excuse to socialize and drink in excess, both things I found myself desperate to do as my heart came to the harsh reality of coming home that night.
I thought I was over it, but when I woke to a punch against my freshly inked stomach, coming to on one of the fire station cots, I realized spending more nights at work than at home might have had more to do with denial than desire to work. Okay, that’s only partially true. I lived for the job. Saving people, helping others, that was why I did what I did. Hell, I spent most of my life at the station even when Callie and I were together. Muffin spent his time in the chief’s office whenever I’d be there. Spoiled old men, those two.
“Noah!” Ben shouted, knocking me once more in the abs. My muscles clenched in response as I anticipated his third strike.
“Get up,” he barked at me. I blinked enough to clear my dream of the crash, never able to get to the part I want and always stuck reliving the worst on repeat. Ben was in uniform, pulling my boots from beneath my cot.
“What’s the status?” I demanded, jumping on instinct and getting out of bed. I laced my boots, pushed up the sleeves of my gray thermal shirt, and followed Ben through the room as he described our job.
“Cardiac arrest. Young guy. Downtown. Girlfriend called it in.”
“Rossi!” I turned at the sound of my last name, catching the chief holding Muffin while talking to Nina at the ambulance’s rear door. His bushy brows furrowed above his narrowed eyes as he nodded to me, his left hand stroking Muffster’s head.
“Keep your heart in your sleeve, kid,” he warned. “Not on your sleeve.”
I heard Ben laughing from inside the ambulance, the ignition switching to cover his mockery. With the boss taking Muffin back to the comfort of his office, I joined Nina and Ben in the ambulance.
“What was that about?” Nina probed, fastening her seatbelt next to me before switching gears and peeling from the station heading toward the Capitol Square.
I grumbled, rolling my eyes at the chief’s comments, and turned to face Nina. Ben beat me to a response, poking his head through the space between Nina and me.
“He’s a softy,” Ben teased from the back as he prepared supplies. “A big one.”
The siren blared above us as Nina tore through the streets. We were just blocks away when Nina nudged my side as she drove. “I knew that,” she joked. “Your tats and the whole brooding guy thing don’t fool me. What was it really about?”
I waited while she blared her horn as we rammed through the intersection of Doty and Pinkney, considering how much I should share before the scene—or if I even wanted to. I’d worked with Nina and Ben for two years and knew way too much about them.
“Girlfriend calling in her boyfriend’s cardiac arrest,” I scratched my neck while quoting the chief’s brief description of our job, “hits close to home. That’s all.”
The sirens filled the vacancy between us as the anxious excitement of impending action hung heavily moments before arriving at the condo complex just off the Square. Nina checked the address one more time before swerving into the loading zone. Sunshine reflected from the puddled pavement, blinding my eyes as I jumped from the passenger seat. Ben and Nina rushed to the rear, pulling the stretcher and rolling it into the building as I followed behind.
The elevator came quickly, and we flew into it, pounding the number for our destination on the keypad. We were silent, always were on these trips. We never knew what to expect: tragedy, violence, death, a hoax. Two years was a long time to burn the hours with Nina and Ben, each of us having a favorite job. Sure, maybe my heart was on my sleeve a little…a little too much. But really, who wouldn’t live for the days they could help deliver a baby or soothe someone’s frightened heart? Okay, maybe my sleeve is the window to my heart. Whatever, boss.
As the elevator doors opened, Ben read through his notes to confirm we had the right unit. It sounded like a loss already; young guy, not breathing, traumatized girlfriend called it in. I thought of her while he read the notes, trying to take a breath to steady myself in hopes of having the strength to keep her together. Nina knocked first, but the door unlatched with the pound of her fist. The poor girl expected us, and that twisted my stomach.
We entered quickly, and my gaze stopped on the frozen woman standing just inside the doorway. Her auburn hair hung in a mess around her ashen face, blue eyes wide as a moon full of panic. Ben and Nina asked her questions, but she couldn’t reply, and I didn’t blame her. They knew the drill and should’ve known better than to ask this guy’s girlfriend what happened, so when she lifted a trembling hand to point in the direction of her boyfriend, his name tumbling from her quivering lips as she broke down, they ran from us. I studied her, saddened by the moment fate destroyed as she remained in an oversized shirt and boxer briefs. I assumed they were her boyfriend’s, and my twisted stomach churned harder. Heart, meet sleeve, and get comfortable there.
“Ma’am,” I whispered, holding her rattling biceps in my palms. She wasn’t answering me, clearly in shock, so I tried to get her attention once more as she quivered in fear, cautiously rubbing her arms up and down.
“Avery,” she muttered. “My name is Avery.”
“Avery.” I smiled at her. “I’m Noah.” Her eyes finally moved, her gaze fixed on the canvas of my arm.
“Ben and Nina have everything under control in there. I promise.” I heard the faint mumble of activity flowing from the back of Avery’s condo, and I quickly glanced around. “How long have you lived here?” I was trying to distract her, willing the others to hurry. I noticed her eyes track the ink on my arms, thankful for the dedication to my life’s mistakes in that moment because it kept another person occupied from fear.
“Two weeks.” Avery’s voice was a harsh whisper before she started rocking back and forth. Shit. The poor girl was in nothing but a t-shirt and her man’s boxer briefs, rocking in shock, with the cold wind blowing in here. She wasn’t going anywhere as long as the others were working on her man, and I needed to help her get comfortable. I pulled away from her for a moment to close the door, returning to Avery’s side.
“If it’s okay with you,” I put my right arm around her trembling shoulders, “I’m just going to sit here with you for a while.”
“Here?” she croaked, still rocking.
“Yes. Right here. You don’t need to be alone right now.” I pulled her against me, rewarded with her weight giving in. I knew her mind was going haywire, but she didn’t need to know or see what was happening to him.
Me sending a prayer to her ceiling wasn’t going to save his life, but I sure as hell wished he would be okay. Avery sank further against me, her knees curling even closer to her chest than before, as I tried to distract her from the hum of activity.
