Sudden Response

by R. L. Mathewson

  the hospital gave them a room to work out of.

  It made it a hell of a lot easier filling out paperwork in a designated area than trying to hunt down some counter space, or worse, using the stretcher. As long as they kept this room clean the hospital was happy to let them use it.

  "I might if you buy me a Coke," he said, filling in the narrative section on the run sheet.

  "You drive a hard bargain," she said, sighing as she purchased a twenty ounce bottle of Coke and placed it in front of him. "Okay, spill. What happened to our third rider?"

  He opened the bottle and took a sip as Joe sat on his left leg and put her arm around his neck. His arm automatically went around her waist as he considered how to answer her question.

  "I believe I mentioned that he went for a walk," he said, feeling his lips twitch from the memory.

  "Yes, you said that," she agreed as she stole his soda and took a sip.

  "Did I mention that I discovered the reason why he was acting so damn cocky?" he asked offhandedly as he took the soda back from her and took a sip.

  "No," she said, pursing up her lips in thought. "I'm pretty sure I would have remembered that part."

  "Do you remember USG Ambulance?" he asked, knowing that she already did.

  "That ambulance company you interviewed with a few years ago?" she asked, shifting to get more comfortable on his leg.

  "Well, it seems that he interviewed with them last week and had his uncle put in a good word for him. It seems that he was just waiting for their call," he said absently as he ran his eyes over her, appreciating the way her uniform fit her.

  "I'm guessing he got it while I was talking to Beverly," she surmised, giving him a sexy little smile even as she gently cupped his chin and forced his eyes up.

  "Apparently they're convinced that he only needs to do their two day requirement of ride along before they put him to work," he said, wondering if she'd be up to hunting down an empty hall closet and fulfilling another one of his fantasies.

  "So he just walked out?" she asked, frowning in adorable confusion.

  "More or less," Eric admitted with a mumble.

  Her eyes narrowed on him. "What did you do?"

  He blinked innocently. "I didn't do anything," he lied.

  "Uh huh," she said, obviously not believing him as she stood up and stole his soda and walked back over to the vending machine to pick out a snack.

  "Did somebody at least call dispatch and let them know that he quit?" she asked as she counted out enough change for a package of peanut butter cups.

  "He called Bill," Eric said, not mentioning that the little bastard demanded that Joe and he bring him back to the station. He calmed the little prick down by arranging a ride for him. One that took him to the middle of nowhere and forced the little prick to walk ten miles to the nearest gas station, but he decided it was best not to mention that or the fact that the guys may have decided to give Greg a farewell gift by making it easy for him to return his uniform. So the asshole was probably walking along Madison Road at this very moment in his boxers and boots.

  But Joe really didn't need to know about that.

  He finished up his report and headed for the door, pausing only long enough to give her a quick kiss and swipe the candy bar out of her hand. When she swatted him on the ass he simply ignored it as he finished off her chocolate. Why did the food he stole from Joe always taste so damn good? he wondered as he reached out and stole back his soda. He ignored her muttered promises to kick his ass and dropped his run sheet off at the nurse's station on his way out to the ambulance bay.

  "I'll clear us with dispatch since you're still enjoying my snack," she said, shooting him a look that promised all kinds of pain for his poor wallet.

  If he wasn't head over heels in love with this woman he'd consider dropping her for her gold digging ways. But he did love her so he was probably going to have to suck it up and treat her to the dollar menu at McDonalds.

  *********

  "Did you call 911?" Joe asked as she bent down to look into the adorable little boy's face.

  "Yes," he said, nodding.

  "Is someone hurt?" she asked, looking around the front porch and yard and not seeing anyone. Eric walked past her and looked through the window.

  "Yes," the little boy who couldn't be older than five said, gesturing towards the backyard.

  With a slight nod, Eric jumped over the porch railing and headed into the backyard.

  "Can you tell me what happened?" she asked the little boy, deciding it was best to keep him here until Eric let her know what they were dealing with. If it was something this little boy shouldn't be seeing she was going to have to call over one of the neighbors that were now watching them to come over and watch him until they could get the police to come and handle the boy.

  "Roger hurt Toby really bad," the little boy said with his little chin wobbling.

  "Where's your mommy and daddy, buddy?" she asked soothingly.

  "They're out. I was s'posed to be with Uncle Charlie, but I didn't like leaving Roger and Toby by themselves so I came back," he admitted, shuffling his feet nervously.

  "Does your Uncle Charlie know where you are?" she asked, guessing it wouldn't be very long before the man in question showed up or the police did.

  The little boy shook his head stubbornly. "No, he doesn't want me to play with Roger. He thinks Roger is bad."

  "What's your name?" she asked, already noting the name Henderson on the mailbox.

  "Caleb."

  "Okay, Caleb. I need to call my dispatcher and have him call your uncle. Do you know your uncle's phone number?"

  He nodded.

  "What is it?'

  He squished up his face in thought. "It has a five in it."

  Okay.......

  "Do you know where your uncle lives?"

  "Uh huh," he said, wiping his nose on the back of his arm.

  "Can you tell me?" she asked patiently as she pulled her cell phone out and started to scroll down until she found dispatch's phone number.

  "That way," Caleb said, pointing in no particular direction that really helped her.

  Biting back a sigh she dialed dispatch.

  "Dispatch," Hank said in way of answer. If she'd called the emergency line he would have told her that the line was being recorded, but thankfully she didn't have to deal with that.

  "Hey, Hank, it's Joe. Um, I have a Caleb Henderson at that call you sent us on. Has anyone by chance called looking for him?" she asked, wondering what was taking Eric so long. He should have at least given her a head's up by now.

  She heard him sigh in relief. "We have police and fire scouring the town for him. Is the call his home address?"

  "Yes."

  "There should be a police unit there soon. Is the boy hurt?"

  "Doesn't appear to be. He called for his friends. Eric's checking now I should-"

  "Holy shit!" Eric suddenly shouted, startling the hell out of her. Seconds later he came running back around towards the front of the house. He paused in his mad dash only long enough to throw Caleb over his shoulder and grab her by the hand and drag her towards the ambulance.

  "Joe? What the hell is going on?" Hank demanded, sounding nervous, which was good because that meant that she wasn't the only one.

  "Is that dispatch?" Eric asked as he ushered her and Caleb into the back of the ambulance.

  "Yes."

  He didn't say anything else to her as he grabbed the phone from her. "Hank? Call animal control," she heard him say as he paced in front of the ambulance, but thankfully didn't close the doors.

  "I think Roger is going to be in trouble," Caleb said sullenly.

  A sneaking suspicion crawled up her back. "Caleb, who is Roger?"

  "He hurt Toby," Caleb mumbled sadly.

  "Is Toby a dog?" Eric asked, still pacing as he kept an eye on the house.

  Caleb nodded. "He's big."

  "That's what I figured," Eric said, turning his back to talk quietly into the p
hone.

  Sick of being left out of the loop, she climbed out of the ambulance, motioning for Caleb to stay where he was and walked towards the back of the house. She hated not knowing what the hell was going on.

  Eric knew that and she had a sneaking suspicion that he was going a little overboard with trying to protect her. If he was still hell bent on getting her off the truck after everything they'd gone through in the past week she was going to......going to.........

  Why was that really thick yellow and white hose moving? she wondered.

  More importantly why was it coming towards her? she wondered as she registered Eric's hand on her arm as he yanked her away and pulled her into a run.

  She swallowed hard as they ran towards the ambulance. "Was that a snake?" she asked, unable to hide the disgust in her tone. She hated snakes, absolutely hated them, which was probably why Eric didn't tell her what it was. He knew she'd freak out.

  "Yup. Looks like a twenty foot python and that large lump is probably Toby," he said, giving her a gentle push to get her to climb back into the ambulance.

  "I see." She nodded hollowly as she reached out and pulled one of the back doors shut.

  "You want to stay in here until it's captured?" he asked, moving to shut the other door for her.

  She gave him a "duh" look that had him wincing as he shut the other door. Joe wasted no time in locking them. Then she scrambled over Caleb who was frowning to lock the side doors as well.

  "I don't think Roger will hurt you," he said.

  "Really? Why not?" she asked absently as she kept watch through the side window. She swore if she saw anything yellow or white move towards the ambulance that she was driving off and never looking back.

  "Cause I don't think he can fit you and Toby in his tummy," Caleb explained, probably thinking that he was helping.

  He wasn't.

  Even if they weren't dating she knew that she'd be making Eric sleep with her for the next week or so. They'd be using the same drill as the time she found that large black spider crawling across her kitchen floor at two in the morning. Only this time he would also have to check around the property too before checking every room in her house and doing a double check of her room. He would also be responsible for getting up and checking her room and bathroom when she woke up during the night and needed to pee as well as checking the kitchen when she needed a drink.

  At least she didn't have to worry about him planting fake snakes around her house since she was pretty sure that he learned his lesson from hiding that fake spider in her cereal the last time. He may have thought it was funny at first, but when she accidentally kicked him in the balls he'd learned his lesson rather quickly.

  Granted, she wouldn't have kicked him between his legs if he hadn't fallen to the ground laughing his ass off at her the same time the fake spider was knocked to the ground. Okay, so kick might be an understatement. It might have been more like a stomping or two..........five times.

  In her defense she had been a little too freaked out to notice his screams of agony.

  Chapter 28

  "Wow, I'm impressed," Jeff said and Eric knew the man wasn't talking about the way he was washing the ambulance.

  He looked up at the small group of men who had gathered in front of him as he dunked the brush in the soapy water. "Impressed with what?" he asked, knowing that they'd keep bugging the shit out of him until he bit.

  "Three months and she hasn't killed you yet," Jeff said, shaking his head in wonder. "I'm shocked."

  He was too.

  Three months, easily the longest relationship he'd ever had in his life. If at all possible he loved her more today than the day she took a chance on him. She was everything to him, his partner, his best friend, his lover and his soul and he had fucked it all up

  He knew this day would come, but he'd been so damned sure that he could do this with her, but he'd been wrong. He'd obviously done something really stupid, because she was pissed at him. Well, he was pretty sure that she was pissed at him since she hadn't said more than a few words to him since their overtime shift ended last night.

  When he showed up at her door last night to take her out she mumbled an excuse, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and sent him on his way. This morning he came in a bit early, anxious to see her. Since they came together three months ago they hadn't spent a single night apart and he hated not holding her in his arms last night. She was pulling away from him and he didn't know why.

  Sure, he'd screwed up along the way and pissed her off. They fought and they practically made up before they were done arguing. She made him unbelievably happy and he couldn't for the life of him figure out how he'd fucked up. Last night while he ignored his brother's bitching about their mother's latest setup, he'd paced his living room, taxing his brain and tried to pinpoint exactly how he'd messed everything up. He was sure that he'd done something to piss her off, but after twelve hours of racking his brain he couldn't figure out what that was.

  This morning he'd come up with a plan. Since he didn't know what he'd done he was just going to focus on making it up to her and hope that it was enough. He was going to do all the things that he knew she liked and a few dozen that he'd seen his brother do for women over the years. If by the end of their shift she hadn't forgiven him then he was going to have to apologize and promise never to do it again and hope that she dropped a hint about what he did. If that didn't work then he'd have to send Nathan over to her house with a half dozen of those milk shakes that she loved and hope that she told his brother what he did so that he could fix this before it was too late.

  "Uh oh, someone's in the dog house," one of guys crooned.

  Frowning, he looked up in time to see Joe climb into the back of the ambulance without a word to anyone. Thankfully the guys lost interest after a few minutes of busting his balls and walked off, giving him a chance to set his plan into motion.

  He finished rinsing off the ambulance the same time Joe finished checking out the ambulance. When she jumped out and shut the doors he walked to the front of the ambulance and grabbed the large white pastry box that he hid from the guys.

  "Good morning, Joe," he said, holding the box out to her and feeling like an idiot when she only stared at it. "I got you breakfast."

  "Oh," she said distractedly as she accepted the box and looked around the garage. "Thanks. Do you mind getting on the road a little early I want to pick something up for breakfast," she explained, still not looking at him.

  Feeling his lips twitch, he gestured to the box. "I picked breakfast up for you," he said, trying not to laugh since he knew that would only make things worse.

  "Oh," she said, frowning down at the box. "Then I need to grab a coffee."

  "Got one in the truck for you," he said, feeling quite proud of himself for meeting all her needs this morning.

  "Thanks," she mumbled, looking lost.

  It was then that he realized he'd gone beyond fucking up. It was over. She was dumping him and he was helpless to stop it. He didn't know what he should say or do, but he knew that he didn't want this to go down in front of the guys. If she was going to break his heart then he wanted it done in private.

  "Let's go for a ride," he said, gesturing to the ambulance.

  With a nod she walked around the front of the ambulance and climbed into the passenger seat. After a slight pause he followed. He called them on the air, half praying that dispatch had a call for them so that they could put this off for a little longer, but they didn't. They were posted to the south side and he thought that maybe that was for the best.

  For ten minutes they rode in silence as Joe absently toyed with a corner of the cardboard box. His hands tightened around the steering wheel as he wondered how something that hadn't even happened yet could hurt so damn much. His chest ached and he felt sick to his stomach. Any other woman and he would have beat her to