Three Men and a Woman: Haidee (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour)

by Rachel Billings

  The damn woman ignored him, pushing her head into his chest so she could see around to Landry. “Get me an IV start kit! He’s losing a lot of blood.”

  “Haidee!”

  She spared him one glance. “Help, or get out of my way!”

  He cursed again, realizing he probably would have been more help outside, where he wouldn’t mind using his bare hands to rip open the door of the truck so they could get the old geezer out. Where he was, all he could do was pass through the tubing and shit that Landry handed to him.

  As far as Vashi could see, the old guy was pretty much out of it. Still, Haidee talked reassuringly to him as she looked for a vein in the only arm she could reach. The space was so cramped, she had trouble getting an angle to work from. “How close are they to getting him out?”

  “Probably a few minutes,” he said. They were working pry bars under the pickup’s engine to lever it off the man’s legs. Another crew was taking a saw to the log that was jammed through the windshield and out the driver’s door. The guy was lucky it had mostly missed his head. Though whether that was enough luck to save him, Vashi didn’t know.

  He worried about how the log would fall when they cut their way through it. Like a game of pick-up sticks, he was afraid that moving one would upset the balance of others. Particularly, he was concerned about the one he had his shoulder braced into.

  In best Murphy’s Law fashion, when one of the things that could go wrong went to hell, they all did. Something had sparked a fire. It started under the pickup, more likely a rupture in the pickup’s own gas tank than what was leaking from the tanker. Vashi could see flames coming up on either side of the pickup, and he had to hope the old cowboy bought his gas just ten dollars at a time.

  “Haidee,” he said, urgently. “I’m bringing you out of there now!”

  “Hold on!” She’d just gotten the IV in and was frantically trying to tape it in place so they didn’t lose it. Vashi reached in for her just as the crew working on the log finished their final cut. The log broke in half. One end fell, taking with it the pickup door that had been cut almost free. The other end flipped up, knocking into the pile that was still partly resting in the bed of the logging truck. Some of those rolled to the ground on the far side of the pickup.

  The one at Vashi’s shoulder teetered for a second, like it didn’t know which way it wanted to go. When it decided, it made the wrong choice, rolling toward the crushed cab and, among other things, Haidee’s head. He planted his boots on the side edge of the pickup bed with his back against the log. Pushing with all his might, he managed to influence the log’s fall just enough to send it off the other side of the pickup. He felt it tear along his back and had a split second to wish he hadn’t left his leather flight jacket in the helo.

  The rescue squad had their hands on the victim now and were carefully lifting him out of the truck. All Vashi had left to do was pull Haidee out the back. With the logs mostly gone, the way was clearer now.

  The hole they’d cut for her wasn’t all that big, and it was lined with broken glass and jagged metal. In the best of times, he could have gotten her out without hurting her. But the seat she was crouching on was on fire, so it was sort of the worst of times instead. He grabbed her across the chest under her arms and tugged, using one hand to protect her head as her brought her through the opening. He cursed as he saw a line of blood form along her arm and knew he’d scraped her against the glass.

  By the time he had her over his shoulder and bailed out of the truck, her cargo pants were going up in flames. His own boots landed in fire, and all he could do was hightail it with her to the side of the road. He dropped her there and rolled her in the dust, slapping with his hands at the burning patches of fabric. One of the firefighters ran over with an extinguisher and sprayed her off, then yelled for water. They got a hose there and ran water over her, cooling her legs.

  Vashi cursed endlessly in his head. She’d fucking been on fire. He held her in his arms while the guys treated her. She was stiff, plastering her face into his tee shirt, and he knew she was in a lot of pain. But she was quiet except for little moans.

  He saw Landry looking over to check her out from where he worked with the crew on the rancher. They were splinting him, getting ready to secure him on a board.

  The guys working on Haidee removed her boots. It looked like they’d protected her feet from burns. But the legs of her pants were pretty much literally toast. The workers cut away charred cloth, and Vashi winced. A little skin came with it. Some of her flesh had blistered already and there were several patches of red burns along her shins and calves. The wound on her arm oozed a little blood, but it wasn’t deep and was starting to clot off.

  The rescue squad chief hunkered over and said his guys could take her in their truck, but Vashi shook his head. He wasn’t letting her go with anyone else. “No,” he said. “I’ll take her to my helo, then I’ll lift off and come for the guy on the stretcher. Try to get him moved a little further away from the damn fire.”

  The fire guys were letting the pickup burn and concentrated instead on keeping the flames away from the tanker. So far, it looked like they were winning that battle. There’d been a good thump when the pickup’s gas tank had lit, but Vashi guessed his ten-dollar wish had been granted. A bunch of the logs were on fire, and they were going to take a couple days to burn out, but, still and all, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

  Except for the whole deal about Haidee lying in his arms, wounded and in pain.

  The chief obviously wanted to object, but he could maybe see something in Vashi’s eyes, and so he nodded his consent. “You need help getting her there?”

  Nope, he did not. He got to his feet and liked the way Haidee clung to him, not wanting to let go. “You’re going to be okay, baby. I’ve got you.” He met her eyes briefly, but guessed she was probably too distracted to remember when he’d said those words to her before.

  He wasn’t.

  He had some climbing to do, so he hauled her up over his shoulder again. Picking his way, he clambered down the slope of the gully and then back up on the far side. When he got to the barbed wire, he went to the nearest post, kicked it down, and stepped over it, wire and all. Then he brought Haidee off his shoulder, holding her in his arms, tight against his chest. He glanced down once as he strode to the helo and saw her gray gaze watching him. He’d have spent some time looking back, but he was watching his footing for rocks and cactus and damn rattlers.

  But he did notice how she had her arms hooked around his neck, and he wasn’t so busy that he couldn’t enjoy that.

  The back of the helo was stripped down to make room for equipment and stretchers. There were two seats left, and he belted her into one of them. “We’re going to lift off and go back for Landry and the stretcher. I want you here, not moving.”

  “I can help,” she said.

  He put her hand in the middle of her chest with a certain amount of force. “Here,” he said. “Not moving.”

  Then he leaned in to kiss her, which he might not have done if she hadn’t opened her mouth to argue some more, so that was on her.

  Before he turned to the cockpit, he shot a look at her and saw he’d managed to quiet her. Settling in at his controls, he got the bird fired up. When he lifted off, moved out of the dust cloud, and checked out the scene, he saw Landry with the stretcher moved well north of the fire. The highway was clear enough that he could put skids down while they loaded.

  Then he was in the air, headed fast to Billings. He radioed their dispatcher first. “Tell Danya I’ve got Haidee Wells on board. She’s hurt, and I’m taking her into the med center hot. Get Lev down there, too, if you can. I think I’ll need him to ferry the helo back to the airport.”

  Vashi was beginning to feel the wounds on his back from when he’d levered the log away from Haidee. He recalled growling at the rescue squad chief when he’d started to mention it and had been distracted enough until now to not really notice. Or maybe, he’d
just been running on adrenaline.

  But it hurt like hell now, and he figured it wasn’t just sweat running wet down his back.

  Apparently, he wasn’t the only one to notice. He was on the radio to the med center, giving status reports on his patients, when he felt her touch. He didn’t even have to look to know it wasn’t Landry.

  “I told you to stay put.” He glanced over his shoulder and saw Haidee poking around at his back. She had a supply kit at her feet. “You’re hurt,” he said. “Go sit down.”

  “You’re hurt, too,” she answered without taking her attention from his back.

  “Haidee,” he warned.

  She looked up at him then. “You’re the only one who can fly this thing,” she answered back. “I don’t think it’ll be good for my health if my pilot passes out from blood loss.”

  He was a long way from passing out, but she had a little bit of a point, and she looked steady enough on her feet. So he relented, turning his attention back to flying while she worked on him. She used scissors to cut his tee right down the back. She pushed it down over his shoulders until he just pulled it off each arm and dumped it. He gave it a second glance when it made a wet splat on the deck, surprised by how much blood there was.

  She touched him a few places, gently, but not exactly painlessly, and pressed a couple spots with gauze. She’d just finished forming a tight wrap around his chest and shoulder when he told her and Landry to take a seat. They were five minutes out.

  Fast and low, he set down on the big red cross of the hospital helipad.

  * * * *

  Danya was already there. He’d been in the office when their dispatcher passed him Vashi’s message. He was on his bike two minutes later and tearing down Airport Road. He left his Scout in the patient drop-off circle and tossed his keys to the valet there, but he figured it was likely both the bike and a ticket would be waiting for him when he got back. He was up on the roof, swiping his own badge through the security lock, as Vashi touched down.

  Vash hadn’t slowed on his approach, so the propwash was strong. The hospital staff—transporters and emergency RNs and techs—bent into it as they ran forward.

  Landry was there as they opened the hatch, directing the staff to his patient on the stretcher. Danya was blocked from going further, but visually searched the interior of the helo until he found Haidee. Vashi was crouched there at her seat and stood with her as the way cleared for them to move.

  They both looked like they’d been in a war. The clothing they still wore and their arms and faces were blackened with smoke and ash. Vash was without his shirt and had a white bandage wrapped around his torso. His face was drawn and scarily pale. Haidee was barefooted and there were red and blistering burns on her legs below the knees of her charred pants, and a long streak of blood ran down her left arm.

  Vashi had his arm around Haidee’s shoulders as they came out—and she had hers around his waist. They’d been through a shit storm—together.

  Danya moved close as they stepped down from the helo. “Haidee,” he said, cupping her face.

  “I’m okay.” She gave him a smile, but it was a bit shaky. The medical staff all knew her and got right to work. They hurried a stretcher over and took her from him to check her out. She gave them a report as they loaded her up. “Mostly second degree burns but a couple small areas may be third. The blood on my arm is just a scratch from broken glass. Danny!”

  They grasped each other’s hands, but it was clearly going to be a crowd on the elevator. The nurse at Haidee’s head backed him off. “We’ll take her to Emergency. Meet us down there.”

  Reluctantly, he let go and watched the elevator doors close between them.

  He turned back to check on Vashi. The hospital had only been prepped for two patients, and so there was a lone ER tech with a wheelchair still left. Vash ignored him other than to growl that he could walk, and the brothers met midway.

  “What happened to you?” Danya asked.

  Vashi shrugged and pushed past him. “Let’s go find her.”

  “Vashi—” From the back, Vashi’s wounds appeared more serious than Haidee’s had. Fresh blood seeped through the field bandage in three places, and the back of his jeans was saturated. “What the hell happened?”

  Vashi pushed the elevator button three times. “Is Lev coming? You’re going to have get the helo back up to the airport if he’s not.”

  The elevator came and Vashi closed the door practically on Danya’s ass. They left the dude with the wheelchair stranded there.

  “Lev’s coming. Vash, what the hell happened?”

  “It was a damn clusterfuck, and Haidee didn’t have the sense to stay out of it.”

  Which, Danya considered, pretty much explained why the pilot came back needing emergency care.

  The head nurse of the ED corralled Vashi as they strode through looking for Haidee. She wasn’t letting him by, and, after fuming a bit, he let her push him into an exam room. “Find her,” he told Danya over his shoulder. “And when they release her, you take her home. Our home,” he made clear. “And nowhere else.”

  Danya found Haidee and held her as they cleaned her up. They’d already given her an injection for pain, which was going to be an issue for a few days, he was told, with the burns she had. What she’d called a “scratch” down her arm was significantly more than that, but looked better when it was cleaned and only needed stitches in a couple spots. Though, it was going to hurt, too.

  Lev came by and said they were considering taking Vashi to surgery to stitch up his wounds. Apparently, he’d gone all Incredible Hulk, pushing a log off Haidee with his back, and carrying her out through flames. He had a couple deep gouges into muscle that needed repair. From Haidee’s glassed-in room, Danya could hear Vashi arguing for them to just give him some local and be done with it. He kept it up until the surgeon showed. That one must have had some strong will, because Vash was off to the OR a little later.

  Or maybe it was their mom, because she showed up about that time, too.

  While Danya held Haidee’s hand and Maggie hovered over them all, Lev made some calls. They had a couple flights to cover, so he talked to Matsin and then tracked down a friend of theirs who’d flown helos in Afghanistan. She was happy to take a group of sportsmen up to the Absarokas and drop them off for a little high lake fishing.

  When he was done, he put his hand on Danya’s shoulder and watched Haidee sleep for a long minute. “They’re going to let her go?”

  Danya nodded.

  “Mom said they might keep Vash. If they release him, she can probably help with transportation. I saw your bike at the entrance. I’ll get the 130 back to the hangar, then I’ll bring my car down, and you can use that to get Haidee home. I’ll ride the Scout back to the house.” Danya noticed Lev didn’t bother giving instructions about taking her to the Vanchenko brothers’ home.

  Apparently, there’d been enough said on that.

  Chapter Seven

  Haidee was sound asleep in his bed, so Danya had had nothing to do but pace and worry for a couple hours. He was supposed to wake her every four hours to keep her dosed with narcotics.

  He’d rather have had that happening in the hospital but Haidee, like every health care worker he’d ever known, hadn’t wanted to be admitted. He’d already talked with his mom twice, and she’d had a good mix of understanding Haidee’s preference and supporting him as he cared for her. She promised to come give him a hand, but she was at the hospital until Vashi was out of surgery.

  He spent most of his time sitting on the bed, holding Haidee’s hand and watching her breathe in the dim light of his bedside lamp. He’d thrown a brown towel over it to keep the room dark. After a while he carefully lay down beside her.

  But he was still awake when Lev called to say they were bringing Vashi home—yet another patient who’d declined the offer of a night in the hospital. So he was in the kitchen when they came in, Vashi, Lev, and his mom.

  Vashi looked like hell. He wore
only hospital scrub pants and, on his feet, his filthy, bloody boots. His chest was wrapped with an ace bandage over gauze, and he leaned into Lev as they came in from the garage. Their mom was on his other side as soon as they cleared the door. His eyes were a little glazed. No doubt, he was under the influence of the same drugs as Haidee, plus leftover anesthesia. Through it all, he was still in pain. Danya could see it in the way he moved.

  The two brothers exchanged a long look. Vashi finally turned away and, letting go of his support people, walked to the refrigerator. Reaching gingerly above, he opened the cabinet that held their liquor stores and took out a bottle of Jack.

  “Vashi,” their mom admonished. “No alcohol.”

  “It won’t kill me,” he answered back. “And it will help me sleep.” He poured himself a good-sized shot and tossed it back. Then he looked over at Danya again. “Where is she?”

  Reluctantly, Danya answered. “In my bed.”

  Vashi nodded, set his whiskey glass down, and headed to the stairs. The stairs going up.

  They all followed—Danya, then his mom, then Lev.

  Vashi went straight to Danya’s room. The door was open, since Danya had wanted to be sure he’d hear Haidee if she woke.

  Like the woman lying there asleep was his, like his need to be near her was primal, Vashi went to the bed, crawled onto it, and lay down. He was on his belly, his face turned toward Haidee, close, and he moved his hand to grasp hers. Without seeming to wake, Haidee entwined her fingers with his.

  Danya had left her covered in only one of his Van’s Flying Service black tees and the bedsheet. He saw she’d kicked her legs out from under, probably because the cloth was bothering her burns. Vashi was on top of the sheet with his mucked-up boots still on.

  “Shit,” Danya said. “Those sheets were clean.”

  Lev snorted. “He crawls into bed with your woman, and that’s what you have to complain about?”

  Yeah, well, good point. Looking at the pair in his bed, he had to wonder if Haidee was as much his woman as he thought.