Page 89 of Diamond in the Rough

Zoe hummed. “There was something.”

“What?”

“When I came out, there was a woman with the police. They were quizzing her about some maintenance guy she let into the building.”

Maddox smiled. “That’ll be Jake…what did you hear exactly?”

“That was it. She’d let him up to the apartment, and he left twenty minutes later.”

Before he could question her again, the need to cough became too much, and Maddox muffled his splutters with his bicep.

“You need someone to look you over.”

“Then look me over, Doctor Zoe.”

She tilted her head, flared her nostrils, then reached for Maddox. “How long were you in that fire?”

“I don’t know.”

Amber turned around. “It took me thirty minutes to convince the guards to hand over the keys. The fire was pretty ferocious by then.”

“I had an oxygen tank,” Maddox mumbled.

“Yeah, but when I got there, it wasn’t over your face very effectively.”

“It was enough to keep me alive.”

Zoe pressed down on the skin underneath Maddox’s eyes. “What did he look like when you got him out?”

“I thought he’d died in the back seat, His eyes looked sunken, and his lips turned purple. He was making this odd sound when he breathed in.”

Maddox rolled his eyes. “Don’t overexaggerate.”

“I’m not, Boss.”

“You need to be in a hospital.”

Maddox laughed lightly. “Well, that’s not gonna happen. What’s the diagnosis?”

“Smoke inhalation.”

“Makes sense.”

“I don’t know the severity. Red eyes, pale skin, coughing, and I imagine you’ve got a headache.”

“A big fucking one, according to him,” Amber added.

“Look, all this concern is very touching, but I’m fine,” Maddox said.

“You’re more like Jake than you know,” Zoe murmured.

Maddox narrowed his eyes. “I think you’ll find he’s more like me.”

“Stubborn, and with little regard for your own health.”

“Thanks for your help, Zoe.”

She opened the door, then hesitated. “We’re done here, Maddox. I mean it, never again.”

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