Embracing Juliette (Texas Heroes: Station 9 #1)

Chapter 40

40

Juliette

H ands grabbed me but I couldn’t see who it was. I couldn’t breathe.

“You’re okay, take a deep breath. Hold it. Breathe out. That’s good. Again. Breathe with me. In. Hold it. Out. Good girl. You’re okay.”

“No. Not okay. I took too long.”

It was Beth, kneeling next to me. “You’re okay, just breathe.”

I took a deep breath and tried to talk as slowly as I could. “I took too long. It’s my fault if he’s hurt or dies! Or if the woman or baby does!”

“S-stop that. He’s going to be okay. S-stand up and we’ll go see him.”

I jumped up and would have gone right back down if Adeline hadn’t grabbed my arm.

“Wait, you’re hurt,” Blythe said.

“I’m fine. I just need to see Dylan.”

“Okay, let’s clean you up and we’ll go.”

“No. Now.”

“Fine, let’s go.”

“I’ll stay here and wait for the guys to get back,” Beth said.

“Do you want me to stay with you?” Adeline asked Beth.

“No, I’m good in here. You all go ahead.”

The drive to the house felt like it took forever but the clock on the dashboard showed only two minutes passing. How the hell did it take me so long to get there when it was only two minutes away?

I prayed and pleaded. Please God, let Dylan be okay. Please let the woman and her baby be okay. Please God, help Dylan forgive me for leaving him in the fire for so long. No, ignore that waste of a prayer. Just save them. I didn’t care if he hated me forever, or if he never wanted to see me again. I wouldn’t blame him. Just make him be okay. He can’t die. He can’t be seriously injured. He doesn’t deserve that. Please God, punish me if you have to, but not Dylan.

Smoke was billowing into the sky. The street was filled with flashing lights, wailing sirens, and neighbors watching. Where the hell were those neighbors a few minutes ago?

I was out of the car before it fully stopped, already running towards the ambulances. Smoke was pouring out of the house, but I didn’t see any flames.

Inside the first ambulance, the woman we saw was sitting on the bench and a baby’s tiny body lay on the stretcher. They both had on oxygen masks, and I didn’t see any obvious burns. She was conscious and sitting on her own. The paramedics were caring for the baby, but they didn’t seem panicked. Thank God. They were okay, and Dylan would be too.

I ran to the next ambulance. No! Why was Dylan strapped on a stretcher and not sitting up like the woman? He had on an oxygen mask, and two paramedics were hovering over him. I was shaking so hard, I couldn’t get myself to move the few feet to the ambulance.

“He’s okay.” It was a familiar voice, but not the one I needed to hear.

I turned and threw myself against his chest. “Crash! He’s hurt!”

He hugged me tight. “He’ll be okay, Juliette. I’m going to ride in the ambulance in case they need an extra hand. We’ll see you at the hospital.” Then he gently pushed me into Moose’s arms as he climbed into the ambulance and the doors closed.

I knew I was surrounded by people and chaos, but I could only hear the sirens, could only see the red and blue flashing lights. And the smoke. Too damn much smoke. I closed my eyes, fighting back the vision of Dylan lying motionless on the stretcher. Oh God, what had I done?

“Juliette.”

I shook my head against Moose’s chest. I couldn’t bear to hear how bad it was. Or how I had failed Dylan. Or any platitudes that I didn’t fail him. Nothing anyone could say would make this better. Nothing would be okay again until Dylan walked out of that hospital. As long as he was okay to walk out, as healthy as when he’d walked into that fucking fire, I’d be happy. Nothing else mattered except for him being okay. As long as he was okay, it didn’t even matter if he never forgave me.

“Come on, Juls,” Moose said. “Let’s get you to the hospital.”

Hearing Dylan’s nickname for me shook me from my stupor. I tried to pull back from Moose, but he held me against his huge chest. “You’re trembling so hard. Let me help you so Dylan doesn’t chew me out for letting you fall.”

“We got her,” Koren said, and I felt the girls gather around me again.

“Thank you. We’ll be there as soon as we’re finished here.”

A few hours later, I sat on the hard plastic waiting room chair, pulling at the strings fraying from the tear in the knee of my jeans. Jenna and Nicky sat on either side of me, but I couldn’t look at them. I knew that all the guys from Dylan’s firehouse were here, except for the group still on duty. The firefighters and women from Station 7 were here too. There were other people I didn’t know also. So many people talking, their incessant voices like an ice pick piercing into my brain. I wanted to scream for them to all shut the hell up. If one more person asked if I was okay, or told me that Dylan would be okay, or tried to tend to my fucking injuries, or paced back and forth in front of me, I was going to punch them in the face. Or scream. Or cry. So I just sat there, pulling at my fucking torn jeans, with my stupid scraped fingers, trying really hard not to think at all.

Liam had introduced me to Dylan’s parents and brothers. His mom hugged me, trying to share our worries, but I pulled away. If she knew it was my fault he was in the fire that long, she wouldn’t be hugging me.

Jenna grabbed my arm. “The doctor is coming.”

I looked up to see a man in blue scrubs with gray hair and a tired face walking towards the waiting room door. I couldn’t read his expression. I looked around, trying to gauge from everyone’s expressions whether they could tell what the doctor was going to say. They all still looked nervous. Damn. I grabbed Jenna and Nicky tightly and pulled them forward with me, leaning on them for emotional and physical support. It was hard to put any weight on my ankle, and that pissed me off. The one injury from Kayla’s attack that slowed me down getting to the fire station was the one I’d caused myself.

“Dylan Larke’s family?”

Dylan’s parents and brothers stepped forward, with Liam and Ryan right behind them. “We’re his family.”

I held my breath as the doctor looked around, taking in the uniforms and shirts with firefighter logos that almost everyone was wearing. Was their status enough to get special treatment? Was this confidential or would he tell us all everything?

The doctor nodded. “Dylan arrived with smoke inhalation injury and a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula. He’s finishing up surgery to repair the leg. His oxygen is stabilized, although still low, and we’re continuing to monitor his oxygen and carbon monoxide levels. He’ll be moved to the ICU in about an hour and—” He cut off to look at the pager beeping loudly on the elastic waist of his scrub pants, then he ran back out through the double doors without looking back.

“Code blue OR one. Code blue OR one,” a monotone voice called through the speakers.

I watched in horror as so many doctors and nurses sprinted past the open waiting room door, disappearing through the same double doors his doctor had just left through.

Dylan was in trouble. Dying maybe. I gripped my friends’ arms, trying to keep myself from falling over as the bright hospital lights swirled around me. They held me up, and a strong pair of arms came around us.

Ryan led us back to the chairs, then he knelt in front of me. He grasped my face firmly and forced me to look at him. “He’s going to be okay. Don’t you dare give up on him or underestimate him. Dylan is going to fight like hell to get back to you. You understand?” I nodded as best I could with him holding my head in place. As though just realizing what he was doing, he snatched his hands away like I’d burned him.

Before he could move further away, I launched myself out of my seat and into his arms. He caught me easily and stood. I couldn’t hold back anymore. I sobbed and wailed. He held me tight, and I wished it was Dylan instead. Would I ever be in Dylan’s arms again?