AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Once they reached a road, Brick flagged down the first motorist, a sheetrock contractor, and borrowed his phone to call 911. When several police cars arrived on scene, Brick and Les were told Colin’s body had already been found and called in by a group of fishermen.
An EMT unit came with the police. Les insisted that Brick be checked out, his wound dressed. He required she be checked out, too, which was fine since they could sit together at the ambulance.
As what happened sank in, the expected trauma effects started to show. Lightheadedness, conversations happening around her fading in and out, getting fuzzy. Her limbs had occasional spasms. Brick noticed, because he was holding her hand and wouldn’t let it go.
“I’m okay,” she told him.
“I know. The handholding’s for me. Kay might decide to stick a needle in my arm. Sharp stuff scares me.”
“He’ll faint dead away,” Kay agreed dryly. She was a round, compact thirty-something with a bouncy blonde ponytail and tattoos along her neck and arms, peeking out from beneath her EMT shirt.
Despite the banter, when Les gave her an expectant look, Kay offered her professional reassurance. Plus a woman-to-woman tone, her gaze touching their clasped hands. “He’s good. With his muscle definition, I’m betting any bullets would have bounced off.”
“Especially if he’d aimed for my head. Thanks, Kay. You don’t have an extra scrub top in here, do you? My T-shirt’s pretty much a goner.” Brick nodded to Les. “She tore it off of me. You know how you women are.”
Les narrowed her eyes as Kay chuckled. “I don’t carry size G for giant. But we’re right up the road from a Dollar General. We can run you by and take you back to your truck, long as we don’t get an urgent call in the meantime.”
“Appreciate it.”
It was a few more minutes before they could leave, but Les could tell Brick expedited it as much as he could. After confirming he would be at the office in the morning to finish the case report and fill in any other blanks that needed filling, they were ready to go.
They picked up a 2XL large blue Hanes T-shirt at the dollar store. When Kay and her partner left them at Brick’s truck, Brick assured them they were fine from here, and thanked them for their help. After the ambulance left the driveway, Brick collected the gear he’d flung at Colin.
The shovel had landed on top of his dropped case folder, so the contents were intact. Les found the copy of the family picture caught in the branches of a scorched azalea. After she smoothed it, Brick tucked it back into the folder and put it in the truck. He slid the soiled PPE into a bag and stored it with his turnout gear.
By the time he helped her into the passenger seat, the soreness and fatigue had tripled. She thought Brick was the same, evident in how heavily he settled into the driver’s side before turning the engine over.
Les moved as near to him as the console allowed, laying her head on his shoulder. Brick put his arm around her to hold her close. He backed the truck around Colin’s vehicle one-handed.
She saw a Dunkin Donuts coffee cup in Colin’s cup holder, and a saint’s medal dangling from his rearview mirror. “St. Florian,” Brick provided, seeing her glance at it. “Patron saint of firefighters.”
She closed her hand on his thigh. “Glad he sided with us today, instead of Colin.”
“You and me both.”
When they reached his place, by mutual accord, they took a shower together. Brick removed the bandage, and Les did a quick inspection, verifying that Kay had done a good job. It would leave a scar, but it would heal.
While she’d have to be dead not to be sexually aware of Brick, she was sure neither of them could do anything with that right now. Until he turned her, coaxing her to lean back against him as he soaped her breasts, caressing the nipples. One hand slid down her front. “I didn’t let you finish earlier. I didn’t take care of my girl.”
Under his skilled fingers, slow and easy waves of need came surging back up. Moans broke from her throat as he massaged her to a spiraling, gradual but powerful climax that had her cries echoing off the shower walls. His erection pushed against her backside, but when she wanted to help with that, he wouldn’t let her.
“Later, doc. I appreciate you wanting to serve your Master. But let me take care of you right now.”
He helped dry her off as she did the same, the two of them working with the corners of the same towel. Their hands overlapped, and her insistence on drying him made him smile. He set it aside, bent and picked her up. When his breath drew in between his teeth, she protested.
“Put me down. I can walk.”
“It’s fine. It’s just pain. You make me forget all that when you look at me with those big eyes. And when you’re naked.”
She shook her head at him, but figured it was better to let him get her to the bedroom than argue. Once there he laid her down, putting himself under the covers with her. He wrapped his arms around her. “Sleep, doc.”
“You, too.”
It didn’t take either of them long to follow that direction. She fell right into a deep slumber. The events of the day shadowed her dreams, but whatever lurked within that darkness stayed there.
He’d stood between her and Colin. It was no surprise that his embrace stood between her subconscious and nightmares.
Even without serious injury, running for one’s life worked out a whole different set of muscle groups. Knowing it, Brick had left her a couple aspirin by the bed, and one of those heart chocolates.
