Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 94716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94716 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 474(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
He was my shadow for the next few hours, while Jack made his parts run to Dallas. I was at a patient’s house where we got a call for an “unknown injury.”
“Can you tell me what happened?” I asked with barely restrained annoyance.
“Well, I was opening the mail and I got a paper cut.” The young woman said.
My eyes closed for a few moments while I took her blood pressure. “You got a paper cut.” I said for clarification.
“Yeah.”
“Ma’am. This paper cut isn’t even bleeding anymore. What did you want me to do?”
“Well, you can, like, put a Band-Aid on it, can’t you?”
Gabe was turning around and walking to the side of the house where he could no doubt laugh in peace. “Yes, ma’am. But when you call 911, you take our resources away from someone who could really need it.”
“I did need it. My finger was bleeding, and I couldn’t get my husband to get out of bed.”
“Your husband is ignoring you?” I asked.
I wasn’t really surprised, either. I’d ignore the bitch, too.
“Yeah. I called and called for him to get out of bed and bring me a Band-aid, but he never came, so I called you.”
“Did you check on your husband after you called 911?” I asked.
“No. I’m mad at him.”
Putting the bandage over her finger, I stood and made my way into the house. “Which way to your bedroom?”
The house was an absolute pigsty. Trash lined the walls. The trashcan was overflowing. Bugs ran skittering away as I walked through, and there was an odd smell in the air.
“Through that first doorway on your left. Is your partner coming in?” She asked.
My so called “partner” was still in the truck. Danni, with an ‘I’ didn’t want to get out because it was only a BS call. My partner was also spoiled rotten and probably got this job because she has family in the company.
I ignored the question and continued into the room. The smell was much stronger here. It smelled like urine and feces, and I about gagged. My hand lifted to cover my face, and I approached the lump on the bed with a foreboding feeling.
As soon as I reached the man’s side, I knew he was dead. Rolling him over, the first thing I became aware of was the stiffness. Rigor mortis had set in, which meant he’d been dead for a while.
Sighing, I turned to the woman. “Your husband is dead.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” I said in all confidence.
“Well, that’s no good. How the hell am I supposed to eat?” She asked.
My mouth dropped open, and I stood staring at her flabbergasted. “Your husband is dead and you’re worried about what you’re supposed to eat?”
“Well, yeah. He’s the one who buys the groceries.”
And pays for them. I didn’t say it out loud, even though I wanted to.
Palming the radio at my shoulder, I called it in. “Dispatch, we need the police. Priority zero.”
Priority zero meant the patient was dead, and there was no reason to hurry. Police had to be notified each time a death occurred. The coroner would also be contacted by dispatch to pronounce the man dead before he would be taken from the residence.
Walking out of the room with the woman following close beside me, I came out into the yard and took a nice big breath of clean air. Gabe was leaning against the side of his bike and Danni with an “I” was trying to chat with him, but he was as closed off towards her as one could be.
When he saw me exit the house, his eyes immediately zeroed on to me. “Danni, I need you to take in the stretcher and an extra sheet. Please cover the body in the first bedroom.”
She gave me an annoyed look and huffed back to the truck. Turning my attention back to Gabe, I saw he had his eyes raised in question.
“The woman’s husband’s dead. Which is why he wouldn’t get her a Band-aid.”
Gabe’s eyes closed, and I admired his dark lashes as they laid down against the upper part of his cheeks. He was a very handsome man. Strong. Built in all the right places. Leaning up against the bike as he was doing, he looked like every woman’s wet dream.
His lip curled in disgust, but he didn’t comment on the idiocy of the woman.
Thirty minutes later, we were back at the station. I was laying down in bed contemplating another line of work when the phone rang in my pocket. Jack’s profile popped up on the screen, and a smile took over my lips.
“Hey.” I said.
It came out a lot more breathy then I’d intended.
“Hi.” He clipped.
He sounded off. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Just got home and a copy of Adam’s will was delivered to me. He left me something, which means I have to make another trip to San Antonio next Monday.” He said gruffly.
I grimaced. “I can’t go. I’m on shift, and if I call in I won’t have a job anymore.”
Not that I needed it. When Allen had come to see me earlier, he’d had a proposition for me. Since I’d already proven myself a competent medic, he’d asked me if I wanted to be one of the first medics to join the KFD.
They’d recently decided to start doing their own EMS calls in the city limit, and if I wanted to, I could be their first recruit. He’d told me to think on it, and call him when I’d decided. However, after the crap that my current employers put me through this week, I didn’t have to decide anything.
As I’d walked in that morning, I’d gone to see the supervisor and given my two-week’s notice. That wasn’t to say that I wanted to be fired though, which is why I wouldn’t be able to go with him Friday. I’d never been let go from a job, and I didn’t want to start now.
“I don’t want you to go anyway, so that’s good.” He said distracted.
My heart lurched at his words. What had I done that he didn’t want me with him? Had I been too clingy? Granted, I still didn’t have all of my memory back, but it had gotten better. I still had a big black hole of when the attack happened, but he’d said we would figure it out. Had he changed his mind?