Chapter Ten
Dan
Hey, baby, can’t wait to see you tonight
I grinned at the text, tagged delivered underneath, and sat back in the plastic chair.
Everything was set – the table reserved at the Rialto, flowers set to be delivered, the glimmering earrings nestled in their velvet box and tucked in my nightstand.
Tapping my finger on the reports I’d printed out, I envisioned Lila’s face when I pulled out the earrings. I was pretty sure she’d love them.
I wasn’t confident she loved me yet, but we had time. Chuck and Deanne had dated for a couple of years before he proposed and look how solid they were.
Signing off on my end-of-shift report, I hefted up and dropped it in the box on the counter that ran along one wall of the squad room. Even though Dix was young, he was old school about wanting to skim over a paper report.
Lifting a hand in farewell to Mel and Josh, I headed out to my unit, already smiling in anticipation of seeing Lila later. I had time to go home, shower and shave–
“Dan?” Nicole’s shaky voice held a note of panic. My smile morphed into a frown as I spun, boot scraping on the asphalt. “I know you’re about to get off shift, but can you take me to the ER?”
What the hell? Unease rippled through my gut. She was pregnant, not far along. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m bleeding.” Wincing, she folded a hand over her lower belly.
Shit. Why hadn’t she called an ambulance? I blew out a breath. Okay, fuck that. We were only a few blocks from the hospital and I could have her there in less than five minutes.
“Let’s go.” I pointed toward my unit, already keying my radio to call in a medical transport.
She huddled in the passenger seat as I wheeled around and out of the lot. Silent tears tracked down her face, and she kept a palm cupped over her stomach. Sympathy, always present on a med call, twisted in my chest. I didn’t want anything bad to happen to anyone.
I eyed the intersection at the courthouse, ready to hit my siren if the light turned red. It stayed green, and I shot a glance at Nicole, crying without sound in passenger seat. “Be there in a second.”
She nodded, a gulping sob tearing free from her throat.
Moments later, I hooked the right onto Ellis Street and pulled up near the ER entrance, straddling the sidewalk, so I left the one-way street open and the entry accessible.
Shoving open my door, I jogged around to open her door, mic keyed so I could call in my location. “Need a wheelchair?”
“No.” Her voice small and reserved, she swung her legs free of the car and stood. She swayed, and I held an arm behind her, not touching but ready to catch her if she fell.
“I’ll walk in with you. Know if Allison’s here?” Maybe having her cousin at her side would make her feel better.
“Yes.” The word emerged muffled, choked. I walked behind her up the steps, still prepared if she was unsteady again. This situation was outside my wheelhouse. Should I have called for a bus? I mean, the arrival time was like three minutes. An ambulance wouldn’t have been faster than that.
I reached to open the door for her and ushered her through. An older couple sat in the chairs on the back wall, holding hands. At the intake desk, Nicole talked to Lorraine Williams in a low voice.
Before she even finished, Allison appeared behind Lorraine and swung open the heavy door between the waiting room and the ED itself. Her blue gaze skimming from Nicole to me and back to her cousin, she pointed toward the hallway behind her. “Room three. I’ll be right with you.”
Face white and eyes wide with panic, Nicole looked at me before following her cousin’s directive. Her shoulders slumped, her whole body curled in on itself.
An agitated male voice rose from a room beyond my line of sight. I frowned at the aggressive tone, and Lorraine glanced over her shoulder, then pinned her sharp glance on me. “Can you step back here?”
“Yeah.” I moved through the hallway, door closing behind me with a definitive thump.
“She doesn’t need that.” An exam room door jerked open, so I caught a glimpse of the owner of the male voice. My stomach dropped. Reese, from Haynes County’s sheriff’s office. “Come on, Stacy.”
“Sir.” Jay Mackey’s voice drifted from the room. A few years older than me, Mackey had grown up a couple of houses down. He’d been back from medical school a year or so, working in the ER.
“She’s fine,” Reese bit out.
“Ma’am–”
“Don’t talk to her. I said move, Stacy.”
“Ma’am, you don’t have to–”
“She ain’t talking to you. Get the fuck out of the way.”
Mackey stepped in front of Reese as I reached the door. “She needs–”
Reese shoved him. Mackey didn’t move, feet planted.
“Sir.” I placed myself between Reese and Mackey, palm out. The woman with him shrank back, cradling her forearm. A bruise bloomed on her cheekbone.
“Honey, you can stay,” Lorraine said, and I caught a glimpse of her from the corner of my eye. Down the hall, the ambulance bay door opened to admit Santillan and Williams with a stretcher. Reese’s face reddened, his gaze darting from me to her. “You don’t–”
“Shut up,” Reese snarled. I tensed, aware Williams – not just a paramedic, but also Lorraine’s husband – had honed in on the conversation and Lorraine’s presence. “Fucking bitch.”
“Hey.” Williams strode forward, heavy brows pulled together in a fierce scowl.
Oh, shit.
I held up a hand, a visual halt. Reese glowered, face red, and I needed backup. I reached for my radio. Reese clocked the movement, fury blazing over his features.
The chair by the door screeched over the tile floor. Movement flashed at the corner of my vision. Reflex lifted my arm.
Pain exploded in my forearm, then my nose. Fuck. Warm wetness flooded over my mouth, a metallic smell buzzing up my nostrils. I rocked back, but stayed on my feet. The chair clattered to the floor.
I reached for my cuffs.
Reese lunged. I sidestepped, fumbling with my cuffs case.
A blur of navy and white moved on the edges of my vision.
My foot tangled with a solid leg.
One boot skidded on the floor.
And Reese’s weight hit my chest, my back slamming to the floor. The ceiling swung above me, fluorescent lights bright as the breath whooshed from my lungs.
Agony sheared through my skull.