Page 23 of A Sudden Response

Just as she prepared herself for another strike, Adam released a cry of pain and was slammed down to the floor with his arm twisted behind his back. She absently wiped at the hot liquid running down her face as she watched Eric place a knee in the middle of Adam’s back, ignoring the smaller man’s cry of pain as he leaned down and whispered near his ear.

“If youevertouch her again, I will fucking kill you,” Eric said in a cold, lethal tone that sent chills down her spine. “You so much as look at her and I will fucking kill you.”

Adam squeezed his eyes shut so that he wasn’t looking at her. She might have laughed if she wasn’t truly frightened. She’d never seen Eric like this before and she was a little worried that he might actually do it.

“I got him,” Tyler said, gesturing for Eric to move over. After a slight hesitation, Eric moved off Adam but kept his arm pinned against his back so that he couldn’t move. He looked over at her and frowned.

“Joe?”

“Huh?” she asked in a daze seconds before she passed out.

CHAPTER 10

“Iwant him written up!” the social worker demanded again.

Eric ignored her as Bill tried to calm her down. He didn’t give a rat’s ass what they did to him. The only thing he cared about at the moment was behind those double gray doors.

He rubbed a shaky hand over his face. She’d really scared the hell out of him tonight. Over the years, they’d been in more fucked-up situations than he could count, but nothing like tonight’s.

When that little bastard went after Tyler’s gun, he swore his heart stopped. The only thing he could think about was getting Joe out of there before he pulled the trigger. Any other woman would have made a run for it, but not Joe.

Not only had she stayed when he told her to run, but she just had to risk her fucking life with that asinine move. That damn gun could have easily gone off when she’d decided to use her body to force it out of Adam’s hands.

Slowly exhaling, Eric dropped his head in his hands. He didn’t want to think about how close he came to losing her. What the hell had she been thinking? It was fucking selfish that’s whatit was. She could have gotten herself killed tonight and left him. Did she even think about what her dying would do to him?

No.

It was so fucking important to her to be one of the guys that she never once stopped to think about how it would affect him if something happened to her. If something happened to her, he would-

“The three of them attacked him! He was forced to defend himself,” the social worker yelled, drawing the attention of everyone in the crowded waiting room.

“Ma’am, you don’t know the full story,” Bill said, keeping his tone polite, but Eric knew the man was pissed. Not even an hour ago, he’d been in the nurses’ break room when Bill stormed into the room after seeing Joe and slammed the door shut. Then, for good measure, he’d kicked a few chairs across the room.

After a loud shouting match between the two of them and two nurses running away from the room in a panic, they’d calmed down enough for him to tell Bill what went down. Hearing what happened only seemed to enrage the man more and set off another bout of chair kicking.

Eric would have joined him if the doctor hadn’t shown up at that moment to ask about Joe’s closest relative, nearly taking twenty years off his life. After explaining that they needed permission to treat her because she was still unconscious, he’d reluctantly explained that she didn’t have any relatives.

He definitely didn’t count her mother since no one had seen or heard from her in almost fifteen years. When the doctor refused to explain what was wrong with Joe, he’d lied and told him that he was Joe’s medical proxy. Technically, it wasn’t a lie since they’d filled out the paperwork. They just hadn’t gotten around to have it notarized yet.

It took a few minutes of arguing and Bill flat-out lying to back him up to convince the doctor to listen to him, but he’dfinally relented. They’d already ruled out a spinal injury as well as a skull fracture, but he was positive that she had a concussion and they required permission to treat the deep gash along her temple. Eric quickly gave it and had obediently followed a nurse to the waiting area to fill out paperwork.

The paperwork hadn’t provided the distraction that he needed. In less than five minutes, he had it filled out and returned to the triage station. He’d hoped it would take longer so he didn’t have to think about Joe being in there all alone.

“I know that three so-calledprofessionalstook it upon themselves to gang up on a helpless man,” she said with an indignant sniff. “Thanks to their brutal tactics, that poor man is in there getting his broken arm fixed.”

Yeah, he broke the little bastard’s arm. Did he care? Not one fucking bit. He knew without a doubt that if the little bastard had gotten his hand on the gun that he would have shot them and everyone in that house. Throw in the fact that he’d attacked Joe when she was bleeding and down and would have probably killed her with his bare hands if Eric hadn’t grabbed him, then he would say the guy was lucky.

“If they’d done their jobs, my client would not be-”

“And if you had done your job,” Eric snapped as he got to his feet, sick of her bullshit, “then you would have known that facility wasn’t providing him with proper care and that he needed a medical intervention. If you had done your fucking job, we wouldn’t be here right now, and my partner and an officer would not be stuck in this hospital getting patched up thanks to your fucking incompetence.”

Tyler had suffered dozens of bites, scratches, and punches requiring god only knows how many stitches and shots. By the time backup arrived, he’d looked like he’d gone ten rounds with a tiger.

“Eric,” Bill said tightly, “I’ll handle this.”

“How dare you?” the social worker hissed. “It’s not my fault that my client was attacked. He has several neurological problems and you were well aware of that fact. You knew that he has bipolar and schizophrenia! Knowing that, you should have-”

“I’ll be sure to tell his family that you took the time to announce his private medical information to a roomful of strangers. I’m sure they’ll appreciate that,” Eric drawled, cutting her off. He ignored her outraged sputtering and headed for the double doors of the emergency room. He was tired of waiting.

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