Hearts on Fire 9: Her Shadows of Light(17)
“A bit banged up but fucking alive. We need to get the fuck out of here. This isn’t right. Two fucking explosions,” Reece said to him.
Rusty placed his hand on his shoulder. “You guys head out to the paramedics. We’ve got more men coming in now and around the back, too.” Rusty heard creaking, and everyone stood still.
“Everyone out!” Rusty yelled, and they dropped the line, and they all ran from the storefront. Rusty grabbed onto Reece, and they were the last ones to exit the doorway when the building began to slowly collapse from the back roof to the front. They all tumbled into the roadway as the sky and area around them filled with gray smoke and debris. It was a fucking mess and a half, and definitely suspicious if Reece knew anything about fire.
* * * *
Everyone was talking about the huge fire and the explosions that rocked even their building more than two blocks away. As they headed outside of the insurance office to see, they kept their distance and prayed that everyone was okay. Brighid felt her heart pounding as she worried about the first responders and any customers who could have been in the storefront. Little bits of information, gossip, or hearsay filtered through the crowd of people. They said multiple police and firefighters had been injured and that the building had collapsed and now they were trying to control the damage and fire so the adjacent storefronts wouldn’t go up in flames, too.
After a while, as she kept glancing at her phone, she saw and heard a series of ambulances go by in the direction of the hospital. She was sick with worry as the office staff headed back inside. When she sat down at her desk, she couldn’t concentrate. She tried being rational and telling herself that she couldn’t react this way every time there was a fire. She would be a constant nervous wreck, and it could piss off her men and make her annoying.
But then her cell phone rang. She saw that it was Tobin.
“Hello?” When she answered it, she heard how frantic her voice sounded and how loud she had answered. Everyone in the office nearby looked at her.
“Brighid, there’s a bad fire going on a few blocks from your office.”
“I know. We heard the firetrucks and then explosions. Is everyone okay? What the hell is going on?”
Now the rest of the staff was walking closer. She looked at them and felt the tears in her eyes. It was as if she knew something was wrong.
“Pat was the first on the scene as he was patrolling by. He got people out, but the first explosion went off, and he got hurt.”
“No. Oh God, is he okay?” she asked, gripping the phone tighter.
“He’s at the hospital and so are Reece and Rusty, plus about five other firefighters. It’s a mess.”
“Reece and Rusty got hurt too? How badly?”
“They’re okay, Brighid. Just some debris and glass. Pat is cut up a bit, and they need to be careful removing the shards of glass. Reece hurt his arm, and Rusty banged up his knee and leg as they evaded the collapse.”
“The building nearly collapsed on them? Oh God. What can I do? What do you need from me? Should I go to the hospital?”
“Sweetie, they’re okay. You can head there. I need to stay on scene.”
“Is it safe, Tobin? I don’t want you getting hurt, too. This is scary enough.”
“Brighid, it’s our jobs, baby. I need to go. It’s a fucking mess.”
“Okay. Be careful. I’ll go to the hospital now.”
She disconnected the call.
“Brighid, who was that?” Ray asked her as he joined the other staff near her desk.
“My friends were hurt in the fire and explosion. I need to go to the hospital.” She felt numb and shaking, and as she grabbed her bag, she knocked over her files.
Ray gently took her arm. “I’ll drive you. You’re shaking and could have an accident getting there. Come on.”
They all told her they hoped her friends were okay. Before she walked out the door, saying thank you, she spotted Lenny by the front desk. He looked concerned to say the least, and her gut clenched again, but then Ray was pulling her along with him as he opened the front door and they headed out.
* * * *
“Come here, baby,” Rusty said to Brighid as she stood by the doorway afraid to come any closer, arms crossed and looking so fragile and scared. There was a gash to his arm that needed stitches, and they were waiting to hear about Pat and Reece. The nurse gave her a smile.
“You can come sit right next to him. I’ll go check on your brothers, Rusty,” the nurse, Catalina, told him as Brighid walked closer.
Rusty pulled her onto his lap instead of onto the chair. When she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, he knew she had been so scared. He had been worried, too. About Pat and Reece and the others. The scent of her shampoo and the feel of her feminine body in his arms and on his lap eased his worry. She healed him, made him feel whole, good, and lucky to have found her. He kissed her neck and chin.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m fine. It’s just a cut.”
She pulled back, and he could see the tears in her eyes.
“You needed fifteen stitches. That’s not nothing,” she scolded him. He raised one of his eyebrows at her, and she immediately blushed and lowered her eyes. His dick got instantly hard.
“I’m sorry. I was scared from the moment I heard the firetrucks and sirens go by the office. Well, even before that, I was thinking about you and the guys and worrying about your professions. I’m not used to this. To feeling so close to anyone and worrying. I’ve been on my own for a while now. I mean I have my friends, but this is different.”
He chuckled and kissed her chin.
“Baby, of course it is because of what we shared over the weekend. You’re part of us, and we’re part of you. Making love was special, and the bond is deep and strong.”
He caressed her hair and her cheek as she held his gaze with those gorgeous green eyes of hers. He squeezed her hip, loving the sexy business dress in small black and white polka dots she wore today. When she’d walked into the emergency room, wearing those high heels and looking so sexy and sophisticated, catching everyone’s attention, he’d been jealous and proud. His buddies left them alone to go check on Reece, Rusty, and the others.
She hugged him again and then stood up and pressed her hands down the material of the dress.
“How long before I can check on Reece and Pat?” she asked.
“Reece is in x-ray, and Pat is right next door, giving everyone hell. Perhaps the two of you could go in and calm him a bit?” Catalina said to them as she came back into the room.
Rusty stood up and took Brighid’s hand.
“Come on, baby, sounds like Pat is being a baby,” he teased.
“You said x-rays for Reece? Why?” Brighid asked.
“He injured his arm, and it’s all bruised up and swollen. The doctor wants to make sure there’s no fractures. He isn’t too happy either, but he’s cooperating,” Catalina told them.
As they entered the other room and saw the doctor shaking his head, Rusty knew that Pat was being resistant.
“Well, Mr. Uncooperative, I have some visitors that may make you a bit calmer about this situation,” Catalina said and then motioned for Brighid to come closer.
Pat was lying on the table, his pants cut up and blood oozing along the bit of skin. He had shards of glass sticking out of him in different spots.
“Jesus, Pat, you look like a fucking porcupine,” Rusty teased, and Brighid let go of his hand and went around the front of the table.
“Fuck you, Rusty,” he barked. “Heard you needed stiches. Pansy.”
“Pat,” Brighid scolded, and Pat turned to look.
“Brighid?” he whispered, and to Rusty’s ears, it sounded like shock and thrill in his brother’s voice.
“We need to cut his pants and get a clearer view of the damage to make sure nothing is too deep or in need of stitches,” the doctor said.
Brighid leaned over in front of Pat. She clutched his cheeks between her hands.
“I was so worried. Let them work so I know that you’re okay.”
“I’m not okay with a bunch of fucking people looking at my naked body while I lie here helpless.”
“You can keep the underwear on. There’s nothing on your backside,” the doctor said to him.
“Come on, Pat, and do it. I’m worried.” She then kissed him.
Rusty smirked.
“Fine, do it and get this shit over with. I said I’m fine,” Pat barked. But a few minutes later, after the uniform pants were cut from his body and the view of the shards of glass were clearer, even Rusty cringed.
Son of a bitch, that looks like it hurts like hell.
* * * *
Pat tried focusing on Brighid’s green eyes and not the sharp pain he felt as the doctor began to slowly take out the shards of glass. The doctor would warn him when the deeper ones were being pulled. He needed a few stitches here and there to keep the skin closed to heal better. But they were the kind that would disintegrate as the cuts healed, so they weren’t so bad. By the time the doctor was finished, Pat felt exhausted. He was trying so hard to not show pain and keep a smile on his face because Brighid looked about ready to cry. It was an odd sensation to have these feelings, to have a woman, their woman, by their side like this when they got injured on the job. He’d bet she was scared now about their professions. He hoped it didn’t make her want to pull back and out some distance between them. They would have to talk about it together and help her to deal with being a first responder’s woman.