Page 16 of Protect

“In my defense, I burn a thousand calories a day,” I say, which earns another laugh from her.

“I’d love to have that problem. It would be nice to eat whatever I want and never worry about how many calories are in it. Your metabolism is enviable,” she says, turning to walk toward the parking lot as she looks down at her figure.

The fuck?

“What the hell are you talking about, Vi?” I ask, shuffling in front of her. She stops walking and gulps as I invade her space. She says nothing, she just looks up at me in question, so I continue, “I just mean…you look great.”

She laughs and starts walking again. “Thanks, but I don’t wear rose-colored glasses. I’m okay with how I look, I’ll never be stick thin like Kyleigh Miller or her crew of Barbies,” she says as we make it quickly back to my mom’s SUV that’s parked in the conservation parking area.

We climb in and I turn to face her, really wanting her to hear this, so she remembers it in case some idiot doesn’t appreciate the way she looks someday.

“Yeah, about that, just so you know, most guys want softness. Curves are a good thing, Vi.”

She looks up at me, a soft pink blush creeping up her neck to her cheeks.

“Well, thanks, that will help me sleep better at night.” She laughs, nudging me playfully with her elbow. The air thickens and I watch how she takes her plush bottom lip between her teeth whenever she’s the slightest bit nervous. I think I like thatImake her nervous.

“Next up, the sewer plant,” Violette says, shifting the mood.

“My favorite way to spend a Friday,” I tell her in a laugh as I start the SUV. But the thing she doesn’t know is, this has been the most fun I’ve had in a long time. She reaches into her bag and pulls out nose plugs, holding one out to me.

“I come prepared,” she says with a laugh. “King?” she asks.

I try to answer but I can’t.

“King…stay with me,” she says, her eyes are growing concerned and her tone is off.

I try to speak but I can’t?—

“King, keep looking at me,” I hear again but it’s no longer Violette’s voice. The light in Violette’s eyes fades as another fills my vision. The sun? I think I’m moving. My arms are over someone’s shoulders and whoever it is, is holding me, tight.

“Thank Christ he had those fire rated chaps on,” the familiar voice echoes.

“The chopper will be here anytime. Think those are seconds?”

That voice is Sup’s. He was three hundred feet away from me, how is he with me now? Seconds? As in second degree burns? The moment it registers, I feel it and howl. I try to focus on my left leg, it’s dragging along the ground as the guys pull me forward, they’re definitely taking me to the medevac site.

“My fucking leg…” I manage to get out, my teeth are chattering so fucking hard. I’m a trained medic in the off season so I know immediately that I’m in shock.

“I know, bud. Did yourself real good, but you’re so fucking lucky. Stay with me here, you passed out,” Cap says. “We’re almost to site, chopper is already inbound.”

“We got you out in less than ten seconds,” Caleb says.

It’s all coming back to me as I look down to where I can feel my calf and part of my thigh are burning. I look down at my arm, my yellow Nomex is burned through and there are blisters on my left upper arm, a fuck ton, but no black.

I let my head fall back, by the look of the burns they’re seconds, Cap is right.

“Thank fucking Christ you were right there,” I say to Caleb and Cap, and nausea washes over me with the stench of burned flesh and hair.

We make it to the site with my guys carrying me over the rocky terrain. The medic is waiting; he tells me his name, but I don’t remember because the pain is fucking terrible. I’m set down on a small stool at the medic tent. Another wave of nausea washes over me. I turn my head as my stomach lurches and I vomit.

“Just hang on bud, you’re going in real soon,” Cap says gruffly as he pats my back.Going in.To the hospital. Looking down at my arm I know I have no choice, and right now I could use some fucking pain meds. I haven’t been burned in a long time.

“Almost forgot the feeling,” I say to the part of my crew that surrounds me—just Sup, Caleb, and Cap. Everyone else continues working, because even though I’m injured the blaze doesn’t care.

The medic asks all the usual questions and gives me a shot of something for pain. “How did this happen, what is my painlevel on a scale of one to ten?”I think I answer them. My vitals are taken. I’ve been in this game long enough to know they’re monitoring me for how badly I’m in shock. My clothes are cut from me and I’m wrapped in a Mylar blanket to conserve my body heat. Over the course of the next several minutes, the nameless medic works to gauze me as I bite down on a rag Cal hands me.

Motherfucker.

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