Chapter Eight
Jamie Bell didn’t sustain any injuries from the fire.
Because Jamie Bell wasn’t even in Seven Roads.
“He had to change his schedule around last second and go to his new jobsite early to set something up. He was set to come back in the morning before leaving again in a few days.”
Price was leaning against the outside wall of the hospital, arms crossed over his chest and nothing but focus on Deputy Little. She had come off patrol duty already but was still hands-on despite the fact that her stomach was growling, and the sun had long since gone down.
But that’s just what you had to do when you worked at a department that had less than a football team’s worth of employees.
You stepped up because there was space you needed to fill.
“His poor boyfriend Georgie up there was helping him pack up some things when—well, all heck broke loose,” Rose said.
This wasn’t news to Price. Once they had verified that Georgie Reynolds had been the unconscious man on the floor, Jamie had been called.
He’d answered the phone quickly and completely shocked.
The brand-new information to Price was the reason behind Jamie being out of town sooner than he’d apparently told others.
“I know you and Miss Shaw left early but I have to say, the fire chief was mighty intimidating at the scene,” she added after a moment.
“He said we still have to wait for an official report, but he seemed confident, and angry for it, that the gas stove was tampered with to go kaboom. He was surprised there wasn’t more damage. ”
“Something we already suspected, considering there was a whole damn man upstairs ready to fight,” Price said. He shook his head. He was angry too. “The way he had Georgie already laid out, it’s easy to make the jump that he wanted the fire to spread. We just came in too fast.”
Rose nodded. This had been a conversation that they had also already had. The potential plan of the man in the hood and what his motives might have been.
“That’s another thing I meant to tell you earlier.
” Rose snapped her fingers and then pointed at him with a finger gun.
“The fire chief made a point to praise your rescue efforts. You managed to get two unconscious adults out of a burning house with little to no injuries yourself.” She smirked.
“He even said if you’re tired of flashing a badge, he’d gladly welcome you into his station. ”
Rose was trying to lighten the mood. Price knew it and he suspected that she knew that he knew it too, because they’d both been present after the ER doctor had sent JJ up for a CAT scan.
To say Price had been angry was an understatement.
He was filled with rage. And not just rage, but rage tinged with guilt.
As smoke had filled the bedroom and neither JJ nor Georgie had moved an inch, Price had known instantly that he wouldn’t be able to save both at once.
In fact, there was a very good chance that just taking one of them out of the house would be a difficult feat.
In his mind, he knew to save one was to most likely damn the other.
He’d already been picking JJ up as the thought blared in his mind.
He carried her through the burning home without hesitation, right out until he was in the backyard and far enough away from the house.
Then, he’d been incredibly lucky to get Georgie out before the fire consumed the walkways and before Price couldn’t take the smoke anymore.
By the time he was outside again, some neighbors had converged and were quick to lend a hand. Some took Georgie across the street to wait for the ambulance while the others hurried to make sure neighboring houses were empty, just in case.
One man tried to help with JJ, but Price didn’t give him the room.
The second Georgie left his arms, JJ took his place.
Price carried her to the other side of the street as sirens blared in the distance. He kept her there while coworkers and fire fighters converged. He only relinquished his hold once they were loaded into the back of an ambulance.
Now that guilt sat there, reminding him of that split second when Price had thought he was choosing between JJ and Georgie.
It wasn’t regret at choosing to take JJ out first. Instead, it was guilt at realizing something he hadn’t said aloud.
Once JJ had gone limp against the wall, Price had forgotten entirely that anyone else had existed. Georgie had become an afterthought.
And it shouldn’t have been that way.
It was a grating realization. One that was still bothering him.
Rose must have seen the feeling pop up on his expression. She might not have known the exact reason for it but she tried to console him regardless.
“Hey, you did good work today,” she said, patting his shoulder twice. “Georgie is going to recover from his fight and our favorite Good Samaritan is too. So try not to worry too much. Instead, do like the sheriff said and get some rest. I know you’ve gotta be tired.”
Price was. His body hurt and the adrenaline had worn off long ago.
But he wasn’t going home.
Rose didn’t need to know that.
He gave her what he hoped was a nice smile and nodded.
“I’ll leave in a bit,” he lied. “Let me know if you hear anything, okay?”
Rose said she would, but paused before turning away completely.
“The guy you fought today…do you really think it’s the same guy in the mask you fought at Josiah’s?” It was a good question. He answered it the same as before.
“The size felt off,” he admitted. “But, just because it might not have been the same guy, doesn’t mean they aren’t working together. The actions are the same at least.”
Rose sighed.
“Two violent break-ins and attacks from masked and hooded suspects.” She shook her head. Then her gaze went up to the building behind him. “And you and our Good Samaritan JJ have the bad luck to get thrown into the middle of both of them.”
She tilted her head a little and let out a brief but heartfelt laugh.
“I gotta say though, that woman up there sure knows how to hold her own,” she continued. “If you ever decide to take up the fire chief’s job offer, maybe we should ask JJ Shaw to replace you.”
Rose said her goodbyes and Price watched her go before walking back into the hospital lobby.
It wasn’t until he was in the elevator and pressing the second-floor button that he thought about Jamie Bell’s locked back door.
How had JJ opened it so quickly?
* * *
JJ didn’t hate hospitals. She just wasn’t used to them. At least, not being in them as a patient.
She set herself up on the small couch next to the hospital bed and eyed her IV pole with annoyance.
If she hadn’t gotten sick in the ambulance—or passed out before—she wouldn’t be in this mess.
Something she’d already scolded herself for.
What was the use of spending half of her life training to withstand almost every hardship, only to be taken out by a wall?
And a man.
Her stomach turned a little. It wasn’t because of her confirmed concussion.
Josiah had been attacked.
Jamie Bell’s home had been attacked.
Two of the five men who were on JJ’s list were coming to, or were already in, the hospital.
It wasn’t a coincidence to her anymore.
That meant that JJ had been too slow.
They were finally in town, and they were looking for her brother too.
The question now was: How much did they know?
Had they gone after Jamie Bell because they knew who he was? Or had they heard that he was about to leave town too and acted like JJ had?
JJ balled her hand into a fist. She made sure not to push down too harshly on her right palm. Along with the scar on her back, there was another just there. Small, but a heavy reminder.
She had been too slow—too careful—in her search for her brother since coming to Seven Roads. It was clear that she wasn’t racing against time anymore. She was racing against them.
Him.
And she couldn’t lose this time.
JJ’s thoughts hyperfocused on everything she knew about her mission. So much so that she almost missed the knock at her door. She must have still looked out of it after inviting them in.
Price’s eyebrows drew in, concerned as he walked inside.
JJ mentally pulled herself together, along with the imaginary mask she had been wearing in public since moving to Seven Roads.
She held up her hand to stop his words before he could say what she guessed he would inevitably say.
“Some people don’t like hospital food—I don’t like hospital beds.” She narrowed her eyes at the bed, untouched since she’d been moved out of the ER. “Downstairs, I understood the need to be in one but now I see no point. Especially since I have this handy-dandy rolling IV.”
Price’s expression of concern turned into a laugh. He wasn’t shy about going over to that same bed and patting it.
“Then you won’t be offended if I take a load off here for a bit, right?”
He didn’t wait for an answer and sat down at the foot of the bed. His long legs nearly reached the ground, but there was a small enough gap between his shoes and the floor that it made for a humorous image. When he swung them a little, JJ felt the urge to smile.
Instead, she took a really good look at the man.
Price had not only ridden with her to the hospital, but he’d also stayed with her in the room she’d been assigned in the ER. Not only had he stayed by her side, he’d done more than just stand there idly.
In the ambulance, he’d held her hair back as she’d gotten sick. In the ER lobby, he had spoken to the front desk clerk to get her checked in. In the room, he’d talked to the attending nurse and doctor, asking more questions than even she had about her own condition.
Price had only left her after she’d been sent to the second floor and that, she thought, had mostly been because of her insistence that she was fine and he had more important things to do than babysit her.
It had only been in his absence that she’d felt an itch of disappointment that he wasn’t standing next to her.
That itch she’d decided to scratch a second after that thought had come into her head. Staying beneath the radar might have proven useless in the last week or so but she could at least try to stay off Price Collins.
But there he was, swinging his feet while sitting on the edge of her hospital bed, no more than a few feet from her and her IV pole.
He was his usual smiling self.
However, the rest of him seemed to be lagging a bit.
JJ hurt from her fight with the unknown man. She couldn’t imagine fighting him and then having to carry two people from a burning house.
He must have been tired and hurting.
She doubted he’d admit it though, just like she doubted she could convince him to leave her alone again.
Maybe if she went a different route this time…
JJ pointed a finger down at his shirt. It was slightly destroyed from the earlier hustle and bustle.
“You know, it might not be a bad idea for you to head home and change into something less almost–flame broiled. I know you said you have a friend who works here, but I’ve worn her scrubs before, and I don’t think they’ll fit you.”
Price was unfazed. He plucked at his ruined shirt and then shrugged.
“I think this could be a new style trend. Like those jeans with the holes all in the knees that Winnie said was all the new rage. It even has a nice, outdoorsy smell built right in.”
He grinned.
JJ retroactively felt bad, once again, for hitting him the week before.
She caught herself from grinning right back.
Instead, she made sure to harden her expression, letting the jolly man know she was serious.
“Listen, I appreciate everything you’ve done, but you’ve already done enough. You saved my life—and Georgie’s—today. You don’t have to hang out with me after. I’m fine.”
JJ thought she had finally done it—finally convinced Price Collins to leave—but no sooner had his grin fallen than a look she could only describe as mock offended animated his features.
He even put a hand to his chest in a classic Scarlett O’Hara dramatic move.
“You might be fine, but have you ever wondered about me? What if I’m the one who’s not fine?”
JJ opened her mouth. Then she closed it again.
Heat started to crawl up her neck and seep into her cheeks.
Had—had she thought she was special to the deputy? Was his constant consideration only because of his role as law enforcement and not because he cared about her as a—
A friend?
A fellow local?
An acquaintance who had fought alongside him?
JJ didn’t know what she would describe their relationship as, and suddenly it left her stumped and in silence.
Thankfully, Price took mercy on her.
He dropped his dramatic pose and gave off a hearty laugh that seemed to fill the room.
“Don’t worry, I’m fine too,” he said. “I’m just waiting for Winnie and Deputy Gavin to drive my truck here. Then we’ll get out of your hair so you can rest.”
More than an itch of disappointment moved beneath her skin at that. JJ tried to recover with her own little laugh.
“Well, good then,” she said. “I guess waiting in here is nicer than staying in the lobby.”
Price’s expression did another little change that JJ couldn’t track. It was like he had his own mask on, and it slipped enough to see what he was really thinking.
But even that JJ couldn’t place.
She wondered if it was simply him being tired.
His next words, however, didn’t sound at all like a man in need of his own bed.
He sounded so sure of himself that JJ sat a little straighter as he spoke.
“Staying with you has nothing to do with the lobby downstairs being nice or not. I’m here because you’re here.”
In all her years of training her emotions to stay hidden, JJ found herself struggling the most right then.
Price Collins might not be dangerous to most, but for her, he was downright a problem.