“But Liya, so yummy, it tastes.” She paused blinking up at Jake “You smell good.” She murmured before promptly passing out on him.
“Fuck! I’m going to take her up to my room.” Jake said carrying her unconscious body in his big arms.
“Ahem.” I cleared my throat, looking at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Liya! She’s out cold. I’m not a fucking pervert.” Jake groused moving towards the stairs.
“She’s going to be so pissed off when she realises she slept through the New Year’s Eve countdown.” I muttered as I watched Jake carry her up the stairs.
“See what I mean about Addie being a menace.” Caleb said shaking his head “You sure she’s gonna be okay?”
“Yeah, she’s not a throw-up, crying sort of drunk. She’s just going to have a hell of a hangover.” I took a sip of my drink “Oh. Debbie sent a text saying something about lunch tomorrow?”
“Yeah, we usually have one at the start of the year.” He got distracted when a huge, cheerful looking man walked up to us. They slapped each other on the back jovially.
The man ran his gaze over me, smiling pleasantly. “Well, well. Who do we have here? Where have you been hiding this gorgeous lady, Caleb?”
“Couldn’t take any chances of you stealing her away Dre.” He chuckled, before introducing us. “Andre Washington, meet my girl Liya Abbott. Liya, Dre here is the Captain over at the fire station.”
I held out my hand, only to be pulled into a bone crushing hug. “Nice… to … meet you.. too” I squeaked as the air rushed out of my lungs.
“So you’re the reason my Lieutenant has been walking around looking like a besotted fool?” Andre said with a raised eyebrow.
“Well, what can I say? That just seems to be the effect I have on people.” I said grinning widely as Caleb pulled me into him.
Andre laughed loudly “Is my sister here yet?”
“If she is, she’s probably with Addie and Karina…”
“Well, that’s never good. Trouble, all of them.” Andre shook his head fondly. “What about that grouch of a brother of yours?”
“No clue, man. Look for the place with the least amount of people and that where you’ll probably find Nate.” Caleb said with a shrug.
Andre nodded at Caleb, threw a wink in my direction and walked towards the kitchen.
“You feel like dancing, babe?” Caleb asked
“Sure.” I said pulling him into the living room further “Show me your best moves, handsome.”
He kissed my neck “My best moves happen when we’re both naked. I could show you now. I don’t think that would be appropriate around other people, but I’m game if you are.”
I snorted and rolled my eyes, “Pervert. Come on, let’s dance.”
The next couple of hours passed quickly as we danced, drank and his family had me laughing so hard I was in stitches.
With a minute to go to midnight, Addie and Alex started handing round plastic cups filled with cheap champagne, plastic whistles, plastic horns and party poppers and other random noisemakers.
“Are you happy, babe?” Caleb asked as people began counting down.
I beamed up at him “Yes. So happy I’m kind of repulsed with myself. Are you?”
“Never been happier, Liya.” Caleb said with a hand cupping my face.
As the shouts of everyone wishing each other Happy New Year filled the house, I tiptoed to press a kiss to his mouth.
He pulled back from the kiss to look at me. “Happy New Year, Angel.”
“Happy New Year, Handsome.”
------------------------------
“I don’t understand how you all aren’t suffering right now.” Addie said, curled up in pain on a sofa in Debbie and Jeremy’s living room, in between Alex and Niki, who looked as if they were on death’s door.
Josh looked miserable as he was sat sideways in a single seater sofa, his legs dangling over one arm and his back resting against the other, as he cradled his head in his hands.
Nate, Jake, Caleb and I sat around smugly in other chairs.
“Grownups drink responsibly, Princess.” Jake said smirking.
“Grownups drink blah blah blah…” Addie said mockingly as she rested her head on Niki’s shoulder “Stop being a hog and share the damn blanket Niki.” Addie complained trying to tug more of the sheet over.
“Nooo.” Niki whined as the movement jostled her abruptly. “Stop moving around so much and just let me die in peace.”
I couldn’t help the laughter that burst out of me “It’s been a while since you got Yoda- level plastered Niki, I’d forgotten what an adorable little drunk you make.”
Niki threw me a glare and she accepted a mug of tea from Debbie with a look of gratitude.
“Oh Jer. To be young and stupid again.” Debbie said as she sat of Jeremy’s lap. “Do you remember the last time we got that drunk?”
He kissed her gently on the forehead “Yes, but I don’t think that story is suitable for innocent ears.” he growled suggestively.
“Oh, God. Now I really am going to throw up.” Addie said in disgust, burying her head between Niki’s arm and a pillow.
I thought it was charming how in love they were after so many years of marriage.
“How long have the both of you been married?”
“It’s going to be thirty years in July.” Debbie said leaning her head on Jeremy’s shoulder.
“How did you meet?” Niki asked.
“Vegas. Met her, knew I’d be a fool to let her go so persuaded her to marry me after a week.” Jeremy chuckled.
Debbie playfully hit his shoulder “Well, there was more to it than that. But yes, we got married after a week. I never thought I would be married by Elvis in some hidden little chapel out in the desert, but it’s the way it all worked out. It’s not all been a bed of roses, but I wouldn’t take back a single day of the thirty years we’ve had together.”
They exchanged a meaningful look so deep, that I reached out and took Caleb’s hand.
I finally understood why he acted the way he did with me and where his protective and devoted behaviour had been learnt from. He had grown up watching his aunt and uncle respect, love and cherish each other wholeheartedly. It was the same type of relationship I had grown up watching my parents share.
Between both couples, they had managed to set some pretty high relationship goals for us to aim for.
Catching the look I exchanged with Caleb, Addie groaned. “Please don’t tell me you guys are going to become one of those insufferable, touchy feely, makes you want to barf when you see them together kind of couples.”
“Munchkin, you do not have a romantic bone in your body, I can’t wait for the day that some young man sweeps your feet.” Debbie laughed.
“I don’t want a man who sweeps me off my feet.” Addie said with a look of mortification on her face “I just want one who knows how to make me….” She trailed off looking at her uncle and brothers “Never mind.”
“Yes. Thank you for not finishing that sentence, Peanut.” Jeremy said looking comically horrified.
“All I’m saying is, as functioning members of society, there should be rules or guidelines if you will, that I think people should follow when they embark on a relationship or falling in love or whatever. Or as I like to call them ‘Addie’s Five Official Commandments When In A Relationship’.”
“And what, I ask you, would those be?” I said curiously.
Caleb groaned next to me. “Really, babe? You had to ask her to explain? This is Addie you’re talking to. You’d be better off getting relationship advice from Trudy’s fish.”
Addie threw a pillow at Caleb, missed completely and ended up hitting a napping Josh in the face instead. It woke him with a start; he moved suddenly and fell out of the armchair.
“Nice aim, Princess.” Alex said laughing, before being pinched Addie. “HEY! Addie, your nails are sharp!”
“And it would serve you well to remember that, the nex
t time you decide to piss me off.” Addie grinned.
“Anyway, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted. The Five Commandments When In A Relationship; Number one. Thou shall not turn into a cringeworthy sap, by partaking in activities such as the dreaded couple baby-talk. Number two. Thou shall not forget that you are your own person and have a brain of your own. You do not merge into a single entity and can actually be apart from your significant other without it causing either of your deaths.”
She took a deep breath, pushed her glasses up her nose and continued. “Number three. Thou shall not indulge in extreme Public Displays of Affection and disgust innocent bystanders. This includes not inundating the poor public with unending couples selfies; no one needs to see eight different obscure pictures of you rolling around on your bed together; you’re having sex, we get it, congrats.”
“Number four. Thou shall not talk obsessively about your relationship to others, who most likely do not give a shit if your boyfriend did or did not take out the trash when you asked him to. And lastly. Number five. Thou shall not start doling out relationship advice to other couples or single people or decide to start playing matchmaker; you’re in a relationship… you haven’t morphed into a relationship guru.”
“Wow Addie. That seems like a lot more than five commandments. You should get those printed and laminated or put on a t-shirt or something.” I said with laugh as Caleb just shook his head next to me.
She sighed deeply “I know. The world would be a better place if I were ruler.”
“More like it would be a terrifying fuckin’ place.” Alex said before he was promptly pinched yet again.
Chapter 27
Caleb
“How was your New Years?” Mik asked as we were walked around the fire truck.
“Good. How come you didn’t show up?” I asked looking up from the sheet I was holding.
“The other shift was short on men, so I did some overtime to help out.” he said vaguely.
I nodded and scanned his face, noting that he seemed off “Everything okay with you, man?”
He hesitated and was about to answer when a call came in.
Truck 53. House Fire, 78 Westpark Terrace
“We gotta go. But we’ll talk later, okay?” I told him firmly. Mik nodded.
We pulled on our boots and protective trousers, secured them with the attached suspenders and the rest of our personal protective equipment.
Once everyone was loaded in the truck, Mik got behind the wheel, switched on the sirens and lights and started the drive to Westpark Terrace.
As we pulled up to the street we saw black smoke billowing from the roof.
We all jumped and walked up to the house, as a teenage girl came running down the stairs.
I heard an ambulance pull up to the house and saw Bryan and Denise jump out with all their gear. They came running up to the house.
As Denise check the girl over Bryan asked Andre “Do we know how many victims yet?”
“No.” Andre replied. He turned to the teenager who was coughing next to him. “Is there anyone else inside?”
The girl nodded, tears streaming down her face as she sobbed “My parents and my brother I think they were in his room upstairs.”
“Okay do you know how the fire started?” Dre asked. The girl shook her head frantically.
“Where are there bedrooms?” Andre asked.
“Upstairs, at the back of the house.”
Andre surveyed the house “Caleb, Mik and Matt, you go in through the front for the primary search. Vinny and Jenn you go round back. See if we can get a ladder up there.”
We nodded pulling on our face masks as we entered the house.
“Fire Department! Call out!” I yelled as we walked through the blaze.
Mik and Matt started yelling too, when I tripped over something. Looking down I saw the body of an unconscious man.
“I got a body!” I bent to check on the man.
I heard a creaking overhead. Mik yelled “The ceiling is going to go, we have to get out of here.”
“I have to find the kid, Mik. Matt you get him out of here.” I said gesturing to the man, as I headed quickly up the stairs with Mik following.
“Fire Department! Call out!” I shouted again as I reached the top of the stairs.
Through the smoke, I saw a small figure lying in front of a door. “I see him!” I bent and picked up the boy handing him over to Mik.
“Caleb! We have to go!” Mik said firmly.
“Let me just do a quick sweep for the mother. Get the kid out of here.”
“I’m not going to leave you we need to-” He stopped as Vinny’s voice crackled over the radio “We have the mother, she was by the back door.”
“Copy that” I said over the radio.
“Let’s go.” I nodded at Mik and we both started down the stairs.
We were about to exit the house, when the creaking got louder. Mik was walking in front of me, shielding the boy from the flames as much as he could.
He turned to me and despite the smoke I could see the panic in his face as he looked above my head.
“CALEB! YOU NEED TO…” was the last thing I heard before I felt part of the ceiling fall on me and everything went black.
--------------------------
Maliya
“You should have left a couple of hours ago, Liya.” Cindy said as I walked past the nurse’s station.
“I had some paperwork to finish, but I am out of here. I have a plate of waffles at home with my name on it.” I yawned as I handed her the paperwork and headed over to the lift, when Patrick came running up to me.
“Well, hey there you beautiful man, I’m off for …” I stopped when I saw the look on his face. “What’s wrong?”
“I just heard from one of the ER nurses, there was a ceiling collapse at a house fire.”
My heart stilled in my chest, knowing what the next words out of his mouth would be.
“Hon, Caleb was hurt.”
The bile churned in my stomach and I supressed the urge to throw up my coffee.
“How bad is it?” I whispered, my vision rapidly blurring through the tears building up.
“I’m not sure, doll. But you should go down there.”
“When did they bring him in?” I croaked.
“Over two hours ago.” Patrick said quietly.
I nodded and ran towards the lift, pressing the button repeatedly. I got into the lift and chose the ground floor level for the ER department.
I did this… this is my fault… so much for broken fucking curses…
The breath was coming out of my body in rapid bursts as I ran to the patient waiting area and saw all of Caleb’s family sat there looking apprehensive.
As I walked up to them, Dr Turner came through the doors and started telling them about Caleb’s injuries.
“There was a lot of blood loss and he went into hypovolemic shock, which basically means his heart was unable to pump enough blood to the body. We put in an IV to replace the fluids and blood lost. The main blood loss was from a wound on his arm, some of the debris from the ceiling that fell on him pierced his arm, but it wasn’t deep. We stitched him up and he’s in recovery now. He was very lucky, there has been no organ damage from the shock. He also dislocated his shoulder, but we’ve reduced it, he’ll need to wear a sling for a few weeks while it heals. We’ll keep an eye on him overnight to make sure there’s no concussion, but he’s going to be fine.”
He’s going to be fine. Oh thank God. He’s going to be fine.
A silent sob of relief left my body. He wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for me.
Jeremy nodded at the Doctor “Thanks doc, when can we see him?”
“You can go in one at a time, but not too long. He needs rest.” Dr Tuner said gently.
“I’m going first.” Nate grunted and the rest of the family murmured their approval.
Dr Turner nodded at the family and turned to go back in through the
doors as Nate followed him.
As I got closer, Addie noticed me first “Liya!” she said sounding relieved as she hugged me. “Did you hear? The doctor said he’s going to be okay.”
I didn’t feel up to talking yet and was only able to manage a weak nod.
Addie released me and I found myself in Debbie’s warm arms, as she stroked my hair and the dam broke and the tears I had been holding back came flooding out.
“Shh… sweetheart. It’s going to be okay.”
Falling Completely (Starling Falls #1) Page 21
