Page 29 of Judgments of Fire and Desire

“I’m a little congested. I’ll be fine though.”

I grabbed the back of my neck and rolled my head in circles to loosen me up. I’d been working out nearly every day, and my bones were stiff. I hadn’t been soaking like I normally did, so that was probably why. Plus, I’d been lifting heavier weights.

“You still pining over the judge?”

“I miss him, Micah. I mean… I never thought this was how we would end up. I know I have to move on, but it’s hard.”

“I know it is. Well, I have news to share with you.”

I frowned slightly as she sat across from me. “What’s up?”

“I’m pregnant.”

“Heifer!” I screamed then covered my mouth. “Are you going to continue to work?”

“Yes… until I can’t.”

“So umm…”

“Yeah, it’s Kevin’s baby. I gotta pay for that joyride to hell.”

I laughed loudly as Bransford walked in on our party. Micah huffed loudly, and I rolled my eyes as he turned on the TV. The chief was on the news, announcing his retirement at the end of the year.What the hell?He could have given us a heads up that he was going to announce it. I was more than sure Bransford knew. That was how he knew to turn on the TV. I was going to have to have that talk with AJ sooner than later.

I couldn’t believe the chief was cosigning with Bransford to be our new chief. He had to be smoking something if he thought Bransford was anywhere close to leadership material. There was no way in hell I would work for him. I’d transfer out of here quicker than they could blink. Leadership was important to me, and I refused to be led by someone with a skewed vision. Just as I finished my coffee, the horn blared.

“There’s a wreck on Gladys and the freeway.”

That was definitely close to us… maybe only a mile away. We quickly put on our gear and loaded up. Micah hopped in the driver’s seat, and I got in back. It took us all of thirty seconds to get there. However, when I saw the SUV, my heart started beating fast. It looked like Kyrie’s Escalade. I hopped out, quickly running to the SUV. There was no other car involved. He’d hit a telephone pole. The wires were down, and this could become deadly.

When I looked inside the SUV, I saw he was alert. There was a little blood trickling down his face, but he seemed to be okay otherwise. He turned to me and winced. Maybe he wasn’t okay. “My brakes went out. I figured it was better to hit the pole than another car.”

I nodded and went to his side of the vehicle to see if I could open the door. Bransford and Micah joined me when I couldn’t open it with the jaws of life. His vehicle was smoking a lot. I went to get a straight board to make sure we didn’t injure him even more than what he already was. When I rejoined them, Bransford smirked at me. I assumed he knew about Kyrie’s and my past involvement. I rolled my eyes and asked Kyrie, “How fast were you going?”

“Only about thirty miles per hour. I wasn’t in a hurry.”

“Why wasn’t a cop with you?”

He dropped his head back to the seat and shrugged his shoulders. I was pretty sure he knew why. He just didn’t want to tell me. Once they got the door open, we carefully pulled him out. “What hurts, Judge Patrick?” Micah asked.

“Just my head and neck right now. When I hit the pole, my head hit the window.”

I thought he’d just put his window down, but his head had hit it and broken it. He probably had a concussion. He could have also injured his neck. We were sure to be gentle with him. I really hadn’t spoken to him, other than to ask how fast he was going and why he didn’t have a cop with him, but my heart was bleeding. I wanted to kiss him and tell him everything would be okay, instead of treating him like a stranger.

The ambulance finally joined us and came to him to strap him down. When they lifted him to the gurney, Micah and I backed away. His eyes met mine, and I could still see the love he had for me in them. That only made me hurt more. After a wrecker came and towed his vehicle, I started thinking about the accident. He said his brakes went out. Someone had clearly done that to his vehicle. His Escalade was probably only a couple of years old. There was no way the brakes had gone out.

I got back in the truck as I watched the police take a report. Thankfully, the wires that were down were no longer live. All was handled, and it was time for us to get back to the station.

“Are you leaving to go be with your man?”

My eyes narrowed as Bransford chuckled. I wanted to take a piece of metal and hit him across the back of his head. With as emotional as I had been, I knew he knew we were no longer together. I hadn’t received flowers nor food in over two weeks. I refused to answer his question. When he turned in his seat to look back at me, I averted my gaze to the passing scenery, like I had never seen it before.

Surprisingly, he didn’t say anything else. That was best, because I didn’t know how long I would be able to restrain my words of malice. I just wanted to know if Kyrie would be okay. My mama had his mother’s number, and as far as I knew, they talked occasionally. Our breakup had more than likely been a topic of discussion.

When we got back to the firehouse, I hopped out and went to take off my gear. Micah was right behind me. She lightly rubbed my back. “I know that had to be hard.”

I nodded. “The hardest.”

“Well, I’m here if you need me.”

---