Chasing the Fire (Backdraft, Fully Involved, Flashover) (10 page)

“Haven’t you listened to any of my messages
or read my texts?”

“After the first ones, no.”

“Well, that’s okay. They haven’t been much
different.”

“All two hundred and seventy-seven of
them?”

“You counted?”

“My phone counts. Look, if they weren’t any
different, you have my answer from the first time you contacted me.
No.”

“Please, give me a chance.”

Her throat clogged and she cursed his ability
to reduce her to weakness. “No. Leave me alone.”

“I can’t. I tried to stay away. I
couldn’t.”

“Because you’re divorced? Now, you want
me?”

“I always wanted you.”

“Give me a break.”

“I’m going to get you back.”

“No, you aren’t. Now leave my gym or I’ll
call Jake. He’s old and crusty, but he can still throw out a flabby
doctor who doesn’t have time to exercise.”

He laughed at her totally inaccurate
description of his body. “All right, I’ll go. We still have a date
Saturday.”

“Linc, please don’t do this to me.”

But she was speaking to his retreating
back.

Shaking her head, crossing to the bench, she
adjusted the barbell poundage and lay down. But she didn’t lift the
weights. Instead she stared at the ceiling—and remembered when
she’d found out Linc had betrayed her…

He’d walked into the tiny apartment they’d
been sharing for nearly two years, with lines of fatigue on his
face. His shoulders were hunched in the blue scrubs he still wore.
Fourth-year med school could be brutal.

“Hey,” she said to him from where she was
seated at the kitchen table. “I made dinner. Your favorite—homemade
pizza. I was waiting till you got home to put it in.” She’d
prepared the meal because he’d been keeping such freaky hours. And
because there had been a distance between them lately that bothered
her. She’d tried to chalk it up to stress, but in her gut she
suspected it was more.

Without responding, he’d gone straight for
the cheap scotch they kept in the cupboard but didn’t say
anything.

“Linc, you okay?”

Turning, he faced her with glass in hand. If
possible, his face was even more drawn. He gulped back the drink.
“We have to talk.”

“Nothing good ever came after those
words.”

He took a deep breath and blurted out,
“Marcus Banning offered me an internship at United Methodist.” The
best hospital in Chicago. “He wants me to join his practice after
residency. And he’s going to pay off all my school loans.”

“Well, he’s finally made the move.” She’d
never liked how possessive the famous orthopedic doctor was with
Linc. And how he’d often excluded Lisa Beth in an invitation, when
everybody in the program knew they’d been a couple for a long
time.

“I told you before that I worry about how he
treats you…as
his
, almost.”

Linc gave a sardonic laugh. “I should have
listened to you.”

“What do you mean?”

“He’s never been crazy about you, Lisa Beth.
He thinks you’re too aggressive, wouldn’t be an asset to me in…the
big leagues.”

She rolled her eyes. “What did he say when
you told him to fuck off?”

“I didn’t. But there’s more.” He took another
heavy slug of scotch and her heart rate sped up. “I’ve been keeping
company with his daughter.”

“Princess Juliet?”

“She’s a nice person.”

Her eyes narrowed on him and cold dread shot
through her. “Define ‘keeping company.’”

“I haven’t slept with her, if that’s what you
mean.”

“No, I wouldn’t have thought you would.”

“But she thinks we’re dating.”

“She
what?
Why? And when would you get
the time, we’re so busy?”

“When I was supposed to be with Marcus, I
often saw her.”

Lisa Beth gripped the table edge. “Linc, what
are you saying?”

“I’m going to take the internship in his
hospital. Join his practice.”

“You don’t even want orthopedics. You want
trauma. We both do. We were going to”— her voice cracked—“do that
together.”

“I’ll double certify.”

It was then she’d gotten it. “Without
me?”

Waiting an interminable amount of time, he’d
finally said, “Yes.”

“And?”

“And marry his daughter…”

Now, in the gym, she had to shut down the old
memory, because conjuring it brought back all the hurt, anger and
even confusion of that time. For minutes, she was weakened by it,
deadened by it. Finally, feeling and strength came back to her
limbs. Picking up the barbell, she lifted it overhead. The strain
on her muscles felt good and distracted her from the agony in her
heart.

oOo

TWENTY-FIVE FIREFIGHTERS
wearing
bright red shirts, which were emblazoned with
Hot Stuff,
huddled in a group at the dugout of a local park. The June night
was heavy with moisture, but it hadn’t rained.

“Let’s get these bastards,” Nick Evans, the
captain on the ball field, too, told them. “The fucker we all hate
from the hospital is pitching.”

Lisa Beth dropped her glove. That could mean
only one thing. Casey Malvaso, a paramedic from a different shift,
elbowed Nick. Whispered something.

“Hell. Sorry, Lisa Beth.”

“Well, I guess I’m the only one here who
really knows what kind of a fucker he is.” The levity broke the
tension, though her words were meaningful in a way no one knew.

As Nick started out to field, Lisa Beth sat
on the bench. She usually batted fourth, but her back was still
sore, so she’d take it easy tonight and play only a few innings
later on.

Riley Gallagher dropped down next to her.
Jane was subbing as an officer again. “So, Duncan, is it true? You
gotta see the prick four times because of me?”

She turned to him. His handsome face was
earnest and she’d come to know Riley felt things deeply. “Yeah, and
don’t you forget this.”

He picked up her hand and squeezed it. “I
won’t. Anytime you need anything…”

“I will.” She turned her attention to the
field.

The top chiefs in the fire and police
departments were umpiring the game. Lisa Beth didn’t know Will
Rossettie from the police, but Noah Callahan was a great guy. She’d
heard something about him retiring soon and hoped it was only a
rumor. Battalion chiefs took the other umpire slots, though some of
them coached.

Finally, she had to turn her attention to the
pitcher’s mound. Jesus Christ, why did he have to be so sexy? Right
from that first day she met Linc, she’d wanted to jump his bones.
It happened soon after that, but who knew they’d be soul mates.
Maybe that was the worst of it, that the chemistry was spectacular,
but they’d been best friends, a lot like Riley and Jane.

Tonight, he wore a baseball cap with his
dark, wavy hair peeking out. The blue shirt of the police
department with their logo,
Blue Bloods
, would only deepen
the color of those laser-like eyes. He wasn’t ripped, but had
always had the slim runner’s body she loved, with plenty of
muscles. He’d put on some weight in ten years, but it wore well on
him.

He wound up.

Pitched the ball.

Nick swung back. And hit it out of the
park.

Well
, Lisa Beth thought,
there is
some justice in the world.

Three innings later, she took her turn at
bat. “Come on, Lisa Beth,” Mitch Malvaso, their coach, yelled from
the dugout. “Get us another hit.” The score was still one to
nothing.

The first pitch was high and she let it
go.

The second was low, but she swung at it and
missed.

The third pitch was just right. The crack of
the bat was loud, and the wood splintered. The ball bounced hard,
out…to the pitcher’s mound. Linc reached low for it, but he was off
the mark and the ball hit him in the fleshy part of his leg. He
crumpled to the ground. Grabbed his calf.

Instantly, he was flanked by doctors and
nurses. Lisa Beth walked to the mound to see what damage she’d
done. Honestly, she couldn’t say she was sorry. But when he came
into view, she regretted even the thought. His leg was already
black-and-blue. And his face was distorted with pain.

Turning away, she jogged to the dugout and up
to Riley. “Honest, I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“It’s called karma, sweetheart.”

If it
was
karma, this wasn’t nearly
enough payback.

After the game ended—and America’s Bravest
won—she entered Badges, the cop and firefighter hangout in the
center of town, with a lighter heart. The place was packed with
red-and-blue–shirted players. Lisa Beth had worried about Linc when
they’d carted him off the field. He hadn’t come back to the game
and she figured he’d gone to ER. She hoped he didn’t have to stay.
Doctors made the worst patients and he’d terrorize the nurses and
interns.

Weaving her way through the patrons, she
found Jackson McCabe at the big mahogany bar. “Here she is.” He
gave her a hug. “Buy you a beer?”

“Yeah, a Swiss Amber.”

“They still make that?”

“Uh-huh.” She glanced at his Coke. Jackson
was a recovering alcoholic and had recently gotten his five-year
chip. She’d gone to the ceremony.

She sipped her drink and shot the shit with
Jack. Finally, he brought up Linc. “He’s here, you know?”

“Shit. How can he be?”

“The docs treated him at the field, brought
him here and helped him inside. He’s limping bad.”

“He should have ice on it.”

“He does.” Jackson pointed to the corner.

Sure enough, Linc sat at a table, his leg up
on a chair. She watched as a woman brought him a fresh ice pack,
smiled and bent over. When she moved away, Lisa Beth saw her
eye-popping cleavage on full display.

I don’t care that you’re small, babe. You
fit me perfectly.
Then Linc had gotten serious.
In every
way, Lise. Never forget that.

Fuck, he’d probably been
dating
Princess Juliet then. It was toward the end.

She lifted her gaze to see him staring at
her. Purposefully, she gave him her back. A few minutes later, one
of the docs she liked—Christian Singer—came up to her. “Roberts
wants to see you, Lisa Beth.”

“I don’t feel the same.”

“He’s making noise you did it on purpose.”
Christian grasped her arm. “Everybody knows you’re his ex. You
might as well talk to him and get it over with so the gossip dies
down.” His tone was kind and his intention sincere.

Jackson nodded. “I’ll come with you.”

“No, I don’t need a babysitter to protect me
from him.” But as she crossed the room, she thought,
do
I?

oOo

LINC WATCHED HER
walk toward him with
determined strides and a furrowed forehead. She’d always been the
most naturally pretty woman he knew, and he’d loved every aspect of
her. When she reached him, he raised a brow. “Feel better?”

“What do you mean?”

“Now that you’ve maimed me.”

She shrugged. “I didn’t do it on
purpose.”

“Remember the first-year psychology class we
took from Ed Gibbons?”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it. My unconscious at
play.”

He gave her a smile. “I’ll let you make it up
to me.”

“I’m not seeing you more than the three times
left.”

“Take me home tonight and I’ll forgive
you.”

“Why on earth would I do that?”

“Because I know you. You used to feel bad
when you killed a spider.”

“I’m not that woman anymore.”

His heart clenched in his chest. “And I hope
you’ll believe I’m not that man.”

Exasperation etched out on her face. “Linc,
please, there are lots of people here to take you home.”

“Most of them left. Surgeries tomorrow, no
drinking tonight. Besides, I already told them I had a ride.”

“I’ll call you a cab.”

“And have a stranger help me into the house?”
His faked outrage almost made her smile.

He watched her. She may believe she wasn’t
the woman she used to be, but she had an inner core of selflessness
and decency that he was hoping would win out tonight.

“Jackson McCabe can take you.”

“Your paramedic buddy? He’d probably dump me
in an alley somewhere.” He frowned. “Anything going on between you
two?”

“Unlike you, Dr. Roberts, I don’t mix my
professional and personal lives.”

He swallowed back the guilt. “Touché.”

Her gaze dropped from his eyes to his chest.
“What’s the chain around your neck?”

“You know.”

“No, I don’t.”

Reaching inside he pulled out the medal of
Luke the Evangelist, the patron saint of trauma doctors.

“You kept it? All these years?”

“It’s my most precious possession.”

She swallowed hard. And he wondered if she
remembered when she gave it to him. They’d just made love…

This is for you. I’d die if anything ever
happened to you.

Oh, Lise, me, too. About you. Let’s get
engaged. Or get married right now.

If only he’d followed that instinct, none of
his abhorrent behavior would have had an opportunity to
flourish.

“Please, honey. Take me home.”

She closed her eyes. “All right. But I’m not
staying.”

oOo

THE MAMMOTH STONE
house with tons of
windows perched on a hill outside of Hidden Cove. Even driving up
to it, Lisa Beth could see its stateliness. Linc sat quietly beside
her and she knew he must be in pain. She got a good look at the
angry welt that had formed on his shin. “You always wanted a big
house.”

“It’s because I had to sleep in the attic
where I grew up. Us boys used to shoot the bats up there with our
BB guns.”

She thought about his life, past and present.
She’d always known what made him tick, but she’d never thought it
would cause him to take so many wrong turns.

Because she didn’t want to feel sorry for
him, she quipped, “You and Juliet probably had a mansion.”