Put Out (Kilgore Fire Book 5)

by Lani Lynn Vale

  I tossed him a look. “She was shot…or something. I have the girl in the back of the ambulance with her shirt off and all I can do is stare at the scars on her abdomen. My staring kept me from asking her anything when I had the chance. Now that I’ve decided that she’s worth losing my favorite mechanic’s trust, I’ve done everything I could to speak with her, and she still ignores me.”

  “Where does she work?” he asked.

  “The hospital and for her brother. You know her.” I cleared my throat, “It’s Angie.”

  Booth stared at me for all of two seconds before he fell backwards to the cot.

  “You’re doomed.”

  I laughed, zero humor in my voice.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  The tones dropped, indicating a call was coming through for us.

  We both paused in our conversations, and I cursed when I heard what it was.

  “Mother fucker,” I sighed. “This has to be a fucking joke.”

  Booth’s face showed the way he felt about the call that had come in just like I was sure mine did as well.

  “This is some fucking cosmic joke, isn’t it?” I asked.

  “Sorry, buddy.”

  Hurrying to my feet, I jogged lightly to the bay where my turnout gear was located.

  Despite this being a medical call, we were still required to put our gear on.

  Which was why I was sweating my balls off when we finally arrived at Soco Garage, the very same garage where none other than Angie Soco also worked.

  She was standing in the forecourt when we rolled up to the garage, her eyes blazing and her arms swinging. A long wrench in one hand and a pry bar in the other.

  Her eyes were not on the large red firetruck pulling into the drive, but on the man that was staring at her like he’d just been told his favorite dog had died.

  “I’ve already told you,” Angie bellowed. “I don’t want to see you! Go away!”

  “We have a kid together, bitch. I’m not going anywhere,” he snapped, taking an intimidating step forward.

  A kid? What?

  “My kid won’t be seeing you ever again,” she snapped. “Even if you did manage to get your head out of your ass, which you won’t, I’ll never forgive you. Never. My daughter had to watch as you nailed her mother, and not in a good way. You shot me eight times with a nail gun; why on Earth would you think I’d ever let you anywhere near me, or my daughter, after that?”

  He shot her with a nail gun?

  What the fuck?

  I moved, gathering both Angie’s attention, as well as the man’s.

  The man was my height, and at six foot three, that was rare. He was a lot bulkier than me, and that was a rather impressive feat since I was no slouch.

  This man, though, was definitely exhibiting some drug withdrawals if his shaking hands and his widened pupils were anything to go by.

  “What’s going on here?” I asked, stepping in Angie’s direction.

  A throat cleared beyond Angie, and that’s when I got my first good look at Alec.

  He had blood running down one side of his face, and his hand was bleeding as well.

  Whether either cut was serious or not, I didn’t know.

  I was too focused on the pair directly in front of me to be worried about him at that point.

  The man was only seconds away from snapping, and Angie looked like she’d lose the bravado that was stiffening her knees if I breathed wrong.

  “Angie,” I held my hand out. “Let me hold that for you.”

  She gave me a killing look, but nonetheless handed over first the wrench, followed shortly by the pry bar.

  “Thanks,” I hefted both in Booth’s direction, which he caught with ease. “Why don’t we check your brother out?”

  Angie turned her back on the man, and that’s when he chose to attack.

  Watching him out of the corner of my eye, I noticed him pull a gun from his back pocket. I moved forward and yanked her out of the way just in time to feel the whiz of a bullet blow past my face.

  I threw us backwards onto the concrete and rolled, pushing her away from me toward the firetruck that the other firefighters were now using as cover.

  She went where I threw her, but my balance was off and I knew the landing was about to hurt.

  Like a mother.

  My face rose up to meet the concrete, and my hands went out to catch my fall.

  Catch me they did. I knew I could count on them!

  Otherwise I would’ve gotten a face full of cracked concrete.

  Everyone shouted at once, and I rolled, getting my knees under me, as I did.

  Then, like a two-ton Mac truck grill to the head, something was brought down so hard at the back of my skull that I lost consciousness and spiraled into deep nothingness.

  Chapter 7

  If bearding is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

  -Angie’s secret thoughts

  Angie

  “Scene safety, Bowe! You know this! You see a man, obviously in distress, his eyes out of focus and his rationality questionable, you freakin’ call in PD!” the captain yelled at Bowe.

  Bowe didn’t so much as twitch.

  He stayed exactly where he was on the bed, his eyes closed, his breathing uneven.

  “If his O2 stats continue to drop,” the doctor said from the side of the room. “We’re going to have to intubate him.”

  The captain’s eyes swung to the doctor. “Have his parents been contacted yet?”

  The doctor shook his head. “We’ve been unable to reach Mr. Tannenbaum’s parents.”

  “What about his grandmother?” I asked softly.

  “She’s aware, but unable to get here until the morning. She’s recovering from a stroke.”

  I looked over at Bowe’s captain.

  “I’ll stay with him.”

  He shook his head.

  “No,” he replied. “I’m going to stay with him.”

  I smiled at him.

  “He got hurt because of something that I was involved in,” I informed him. “I’m staying.”

  He studied my face, then nodded his head before sighing.

  “Fucking son of a bitch.”

  I blinked at the captain’s use of profanity.

  “What?” I asked shortly.

  My emotions were already ragged; I didn’t need this man’s problems compounded on top of my own. I’d break.

  “You didn’t hear what the doctor said before you came in, did you?” he questioned me.

  I shook my head.

  “No, why?”

  “The blow to his head,” he shook his head. “It was bad. They’re monitoring the pressure in his head but they’re pretty sure they’re going to have to perform surgery to try to relieve it. Which means I’m down a firefighter until his head’s back on straight.”

  I sighed.

  “You sound kind of put out that this happened,” I said. “But we don’t know anything right now. He could wake up in the morning, completely fine.” Then pursed my lips. “And stop talking about him like he can’t hear you.”

  The chief smiled.

  “I don’t think I introduced myself properly yet,” he offered me his hand. “Alan Shepherd. And you are?”

  I took his proffered hand and shook it once. “Angie Soco.”

  “It’s nice to meet you,” he let go of my hand. “And I’ll take you up on your offer. I’ll…”

  “Hey, Sis.”

  I turned to find my brother at the doorway, his arm wrapped in a sling.

  His other hand was holding up my daughter’s booty, her curled up body tucked securely underneath his chin.

  “Hey,” I started walking toward them. “What’s going on?”

  I reached for Elise, pulling her into my arms and rubbing my face against her head.

  Elise didn’t so much as stir from the transfer.

  “I can’t watch her tonight,” he said. “Mandy has some intestinal thing going on, and I can’t deal with all of them.
”

  A grin tugged at the corner of my lips.

  “You have her bag?” I asked.

  He nodded, pointing to something that was outside of the door.

  I craned my head around, spotting my stroller, and nodded. “Thank you.”

  Alec pulled me into a hug, dropping a kiss to the middle of my forehead.

  “I’m glad he did that today,” he rumbled for only me to hear. “Sucks that Bowe got hurt in the process, but now that means that sick fuck’s going to spend time in jail, and I can’t find it in my heart to give a damn.”

  I patted my brother’s hand, and then let him go completely.

  “Love you.”

  Then he was gone.

  I turned around, Elise’s heavy weight in my arms, and smiled at Alan, who was smiling at me.

  “Got me a grandbaby,” he grinned. “How old is she?”

  “Would you mind bringing the stroller inside here?” I pointed at the door.

  He nodded and disappeared, reappearing moments later.

  “Elise is a little over seven months old,” I told him as he put the stroller at the end of Bowe’s bed. “She’s the best accident I’ve ever made.”

  Alan grinned even wider. “You can’t stay here.”

  I shrugged. “Elise is used to sleeping wherever. And there’s no way I’m leaving. Not until I know he’s all right.”

  Alan studied my face.

  “I’ll have the nurse bring in a recliner for you,” he cleared his throat. “And if you promise to call me the moment you hear something, I’ll leave you alone for the night.”

  I nodded my head.

  “I promise.”

  ***

  Four days, and one brain surgery later, Bowe was finally showing some progress.

  The night I’d first stayed with him had been terrible. Bowe had started to run a fever about six hours after the blow to his head, and then his condition had deteriorated from there.

  Then the swelling had worsened, and they’d taken him in for surgery.

  The swelling had gone down after that, but then he’d started to convulse.

  After some more testing they realized that the incision had become infected.

  Luckily, they’d managed to get that under control, too, and now he was doing much better every hour.

  Which led us to now, in the middle of day four.

  After taking some time off from my job at the hospital, I was now sitting there, waiting for him to wake up.

  Elise had become a permanent fixture of the hospital room as well.

  Turns out my brother hadn’t been immune to his wife’s stomach bug, which he’d caught, followed shortly by all of his children. My mom had gone over to help, and unsurprisingly, she’d caught it just after them.

  Now all my babysitters were incapacitated and I was left without a sitter for my child.

  I was Elise’s main caregiver, although my mom, my brother and his family, and The Jackwad’s mom got her from time to time.

  The first night that Elise had stayed the night with The Jackwad’s (aka Troy’s) mother, Tonya, had been harrowing at best.

  She had never spent the night away from me or my mother before. I’d been beside myself with worry the entire time she was away from me.

  Tonya, though, was a good woman. She deserved to be in her granddaughter’s life, even if her son was a complete dick.

  Elise was laying on my arm, her head lolling to the side as she slept, and my phone started to ring in my pocket, luckily on silent.

  Not really putting much thought into what I was doing, I moved Elise until she was laying on her side directly next to Bowe.

  Bowe’s hand was down by Elise’s head, a pillow shoved between his leg and the side rail.

  Being sure she was tucked securely, I picked up my phone and answered it as quietly as I could, not sure why I had.

  I wanted Bowe to wake up.

  Why I was speaking in whispers, I didn’t know, but I was.

  “Hello?” I answered.

  “Yo,” PD chirped. “How’s Bowe?”

  I looked over at Bowe’s face, which was swollen from his surgery.

  “He’s not up yet,” I told him, letting my eyes drop to Elise’s sleeping face. “He’s doing good, though. No fever. No swelling. Very little drainage as well.”

  “Good, good,” he paused. “I’ll be up there in the morning. July wants to know whether you want me to bring a change of clothes or something for Elise.”

  “No,” I smiled, lifting my hand to run it along the vein that stood out against Bowe’s hand, right next to the IV that was puncturing his skin. “I have to go home tomorrow anyway. I need some more formula. And I need to do some laundry. I’ll be back up here tomorrow afternoon.”

  As my fingers played with Bowe’s veins, my eyes stayed on Elise.

  Then PD said something that surprised the crap out of me.

  “You want us to take Elise for the day tomorrow? Give you some time to get your errands done?” he offered.

  My hand left Bowe’s hand while I considered that for a moment.

  “No,” I finally decided. “Nothing against y’all or anything, but Elise doesn’t really like anybody but my brother, my mom and me. She’s super picky, and I would hate for her to hate you before she even knew you.”

  I heard PD’s chuckle over the phone, and then another chuckle inches away from my face.

  My eyes automatically flew to the head of the bed, and my heart warmed.

  “Gotta go,” I said to PD. “Sleeping beauty just woke up.”

  I put the phone down on the bed between Bowe’s legs, and leaned over him.

  “You know my name?” I asked.

  He blinked.

  “Angie.” I reminded him.

  He blinked again.

  “Are you in pain?” I questioned.

  Two blinks.

  “No?” I asked. “You had a breathing tube down your throat yesterday, so it might be kind of painful to talk.”

  He blinked once.

  “Thought so. Do you want some water?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he croaked, then winced as the words fell from his lips.

  I looked down at Elise to make sure she was still securely in place, and then up to Bowe.

  “I’m going to go tell your nurse that you’re awake and get you some ice and water,” I said, reaching down for Elise.

  “Leave. Her.” He cleared his throat. “Please.”

  I grinned. “Okay.”

  Hesitantly, I backed out of the room.

  I didn’t fully leave it until he placed his large hand on her chest, then smiled.

  That’s when I left. But I did it quickly, unsure if he’d fall back asleep at some point while I was gone and be unable to keep his eyes on her.

  “Excuse me,” I stopped at the nurses’ station. “Mr. Tannenbaum is awake. Room 2332.”

  The woman looked up, saw me, and stood.

  “Okay,” she grinned. “I’ll let his nurse know.”

  “Thanks,” I muttered.

  Then I walked to the door where hospitality was located for the nurses and aids to use, pulled my badge from my pocket, and walked inside.

  It may not be my floor, but all nurses, aids and doctors had access to the hospitality room on every floor. It was easier that way.

  Other than the one ugly look from the nurse that was inside, I got the ice and water without any trouble and hurried back in the direction of Bowe’s room.

  I came to a halt when something flew my way, ducking just in time to miss the incentive spirometer—a device that was used to ensure that you took deep breaths so you didn’t catch pneumonia for those patients bed ridden or post-surgery—from knocking me in the head.

  “Go away!” Bowe bellowed. “She’s not leaving.”

  I blinked, then hurried back in the room to see the nurse huddling in the corner, her eyes wide and fearful.

  “Bowe!” I snapped loudly. “What’s your deal?”

 
Bowe’s eyes flicked to mine; instantly his defensive posture relaxed.

  He was sitting straight up in bed, his eyes wide and filled with something that I couldn’t quite decipher.

  In his arms was a still sleeping Elise. She looked comfortable and peaceful, content as only a baby with no troubles in the world could be.

  Bowe’s swollen head and face fell back against the bed with a soft thump, and I winced when a moan left him.

  “Owww,” he moaned.

  I hurried to his bed and took Elise from him, setting her down in the stroller that was leaned back, allowing her to sleep there whenever she might have need of it.

  And I figured now she had need of it.

  I couldn’t hold her and still get in the middle of whatever had just happened to Bowe and the nurse.

  Once securely inside, strapped in and all, I pushed the stroller to the side of the room, covered her with the blanket that was hanging from the canopy, and turned back around.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “She tried to tell me that I couldn’t have the baby. That I needed to give her over.”

  My brows rose as I turned to the nurse.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “That’s my fault. I shouldn’t have left her.”

  Bowe waved his hand as if to clear the apology out of the air.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “Wasn’t a big deal like she made it out to be.”

  “It’s hospital policy to…”

  Bowe turned his glare back on her.

  “How about you leave?”

  “Bowe!” I started forward. “She’s your nurse, not some lady you yell at. How about you let her take a look at you and check to make sure everything’s all right. You had brain surgery for God’s sake.”

  Bowe’s brow rose as I spoke, and kept rising until I was finished.

  “I had brain surgery?” he asked in surprise.

  I nodded my head.

  “You did,” I confirmed. “A big one, in fact.”

  Bowe’s eyes drifted to the side of the room when Elise made a random whine, then settled back down again.

  “She’s a beautiful baby,” he croaked. “I didn’t think they were pretty as babies.”