Page 27 of Sinful Seduction
“You have to stay here, okay?” I gesture Lori over, knowing I’m running out of assistants. “She’s to remain on the floor until the ambulance arrives. Tell them she was unconscious for about a minute, maybe two. Dehydrated, but not fried. Her pupils are responsive, and she knows who she is upon regaining consciousness. Don’t let her stand up, even if she says she wants to.” I grab Lori’s hand and drag her down so she can replace me. “Even if she cries, even if she begs, even if she swears she can do cartwheels and dance, she’s to stay down here until the paramedics take her.” I push to my feet and meet Dad’s eyes. “Let her sip a little water if she wants it. Just a little. And only while she’s sitting up. She has to be able to do it on her own. Don’t force it down her throat.”
“Thank you, Doctor. I really…” He hiccups. “I really appreciate it. I don’t know what would’ve happened if?—”
“It’s gonna be fine. She’s gonna be okay now.” I lift my chin to summon Fifi, but I move to the door, where the sound of honking horns grows louder and the shouts of angry commuters turn more aggressive.
“Yeah, Chief?” She comes to a stop just two feet away, her hand rubbing smooth, rhythmic circles against Mia’s back. “What a freakin’ mess, huh?”
“You saved that little girl’s life.” I clap her shoulder—good game—and swing the door wide. “You found your patient and demanded medical attention. Heat stroke is a silent killer, and if you’d left her to rest, she might not’ve woken up again. Well done.” Heat blasts in from outside, swallowing up the remaining cool air. I know I have to close the door and leave them behind, but I sweep Mia’s hair aside and find her splotchy-faced and with a trembling lip. “You’re being extra brave, Moo. I’m proud of you for being so strong.”
“I’m not strong. I’m just crying a lot.”
“You think that’s bad?” I wrinkle my nose and inch closer, as though to tell a secret. “There’s a fully grown woman outside who is screamingsoloud, she made my ears sting.” I tap her button nose and wink. “You’redoing just fine, pretty girl. And you’re giving Miss Fifi the nicest hug ever. Maybe I could get one of those later?”
“Okay.” Her jaw quivers. “Promise. Maybe after I give Daddy a hug first.”
“Sounds like an excellent plan. Why don’t you sit with Cara and see if she wants to make friends?”
Her eyes light up. “Really?”
“Really. But she’s not allowed to get up. So try to think of a game you could play sitting down.” I stroke her cheek and coax a smile that travels most of the way to her eyes, then I turn on my heels and head back to the bullshit. Back to the heat, to the guy who caused a car accident because of a heart attack, and then the half dozen cars behind, too distracted to stop before they hit the one in front of them. “Aubree?” I pass families packed into SUVs, with their windows up and their air conditioning blasting while they watch the carnage outside, and I pass other cars, not so up-to-date with the windows down because their cooling sucks. “This is gonna be at a standstill for a while.” I stop by an elderly couple and wait for their attention to swing my way. “There’s a medical emergency a little further up, so you won’t be moving for a while. Hop out and find some shade, or you’ll end up as a medical emergency, too.” I rap my hand against their roof and continue through the mess. “Aubree?”
“Over here, Chief!”
I step around busted-up cars and through a gap between vehicles, only to come upon Aubree exactly where I left her, sweat pouring from her brow and her hands pumping Teddy’s chest.
His wife is on the ground, too, her knees up and her head pressed down by the girl I made eye contact with earlier. She shakes and heaves for oxygen, but she holds the old woman and clutches the phone between her shoulder and neck.
Kneeling across from Aubree, I study Teddy’s slack face and understand what she already knows.
“He’s gone?”
She nods, shifting her gaze toward the old woman. But she continues to compress, and every twenty seconds or so, she gives the man her breath. “I’ll keep going till ambos arrive, but…”
“Please don’t die.” Donna rocks under the girl’s touch. “It’s not time, Teddy.”
“I’ll take over.” I gently brush Aubree’s hands away and continue for her. “You need to rest for a second, Aubs. Get some water before you kill yourself.”
“What happened with that kid?” She drops onto her butt, her destroyed wedding gown black from the road and torn at the hems.Jesus. I forgot she was in her gown. Heaving for fresh air, her chest lifts and falls, and her hair sticks to her brow. All that extra fabric, all the extra weight from her dress, only making her hotter than it already is out here. “She okay?”
“Yeah.” I time my hands with the rise and fall of our conversation. With the natural rhythm of chatter. Teddy’s gone, but until the ambulance arrives, Donna needs to know we kept trying. “She was close to catastrophic, and smaller than Moo. It could’ve been bad, but Fifi caught it early and we got her back.” I look out at the crowd that gathers. The looky-loos, happy to brave the heat, all to get a look at a dead man. And then I lock eyes with a guy and a camera.
Not a phone camera. Not something a tourist would tote around. But something much larger and far more serious. “Fuck. Eyes down.” I drop my gaze, but I peek up to make sure Aubree does the same. “We’re gonna be on the news in three, two, one…”
ARCHER
“Imagine being a kid and having a fucking shootout in the street, and yet, we can’t find a single witness to speak about it.” I stride through the hospital emergency room doors and swipe the dripping sweat from my brow. My jeans cling to my legs—sweaty—and my shirt sticks to my back—alsosweaty.
Is this how Minka feels when literally anyone touches her?
Too much contact. Too much touching. Too much everything.
“I’m more impressed with whoever ran from the scene.” Fletch walks beside me, forced closer by the heavy emergency room traffic. Countless people are sick or sore or need help today, and there are not enough nurses and doctors to go around. “Were they Molly and Benjamin’s friends? Or the shooter’s friends?”
“Where’d the weapons go?” I inch between a rolling bed and the wall, plastering my back to the stucco. “Ben’s dead, and Molly’s unconscious. The number of shots going off implies more than one shooter, so…”
“Mayhem and death reigned supreme in Copeland City today.”Miranda fucking London sits upon her throne at some low-bit news station, her hair perfect and her makeup flawless, despite the filthy heat outside. From a tiny television perched in the corner of the ER, she stares me in the eyes and smirks. “With a record-breaking high of one-oh-eight, the city sweltered, and its residents suffered. But we would be remiss not to show the heroic actions of our very own chief medical examiner, Minka Mayet.”
My temper alights, and oxygen clogs in my lungs, because Miranda’ssmug face makes way for footage ofmywife in an elegant gown, but she’s on her knees and sweating over a man who looks like Santa Claus himself.
