Sudden Response (27 page)

showed up or the police did.

The little boy shook his head stubbornly. "No, he doesn't want me to play with Roger. He thinks Roger is bad."

"What's your name?" she asked, already noting the name Henderson on the mailbox.

"Caleb."

"Okay, Caleb. I need to call my dispatcher and have him call your uncle. Do you know your uncle's phone number?"

He nodded.

"What is it?'

He squished up his face in thought. "It has a five in it."

Okay.......

"Do you know where your uncle lives?"

"Uh huh," he said, wiping his nose on the back of his arm.

"Can you tell me?" she asked patiently as she pulled her cell phone out and started to scroll down until she found dispatch's

phone number.

"That way," Caleb said, pointing in no particular direction that really helped her.

Biting back a sigh she dialed dispatch.

"Dispatch," Hank said in way of answer. If she'd called the emergency line he would have told her that the line was being

recorded, but thankfully she didn't have to deal with that.

"Hey, Hank, it's Joe. Um, I have a Caleb Henderson at that call you sent us on. Has anyone by chance called looking for him?"

she asked, wondering what was taking Eric so long. He should have at least given her a head's up by now.

She heard him sigh in relief. "We have police and fire scouring the town for him. Is the call his home address?"

"Yes."

"There should be a police unit there soon. Is the boy hurt?"

"Doesn't appear to be. He called for his friends. Eric's checking now I should-"

"Holy shit!" Eric suddenly shouted, startling the hell out of her. Seconds later he came running back around towards the front of

the house. He paused in his mad dash only long enough to throw Caleb over his shoulder and grab her by the hand and drag her

towards the ambulance.

"Joe? What the hell is going on?" Hank demanded, sounding nervous, which was good because that meant that she wasn't the

only one.

"Is that dispatch?" Eric asked as he ushered her and Caleb into the back of the ambulance.

"Yes."

He didn't say anything else to her as he grabbed the phone from her. "Hank? Call animal control," she heard him say as he

paced in front of the ambulance, but thankfully didn't close the doors.

"I think Roger is going to be in trouble," Caleb said sullenly.

A sneaking suspicion crawled up her back. "Caleb, who is Roger?"

"He hurt Toby," Caleb mumbled sadly.

"Is Toby a dog?" Eric asked, still pacing as he kept an eye on the house.

Caleb nodded. "He's big."

"That's what I figured," Eric said, turning his back to talk quietly into the phone.

Sick of being left out of the loop, she climbed out of the ambulance, motioning for Caleb to stay where he was and walked

towards the back of the house. She hated not knowing what the hell was going on.

Eric knew that and she had a sneaking suspicion that he was going a little overboard with trying to protect her. If he was still

hell bent on getting her off the truck after everything they'd gone through in the past week she was going to......going to.........

Why was that really thick yellow and white hose moving? she wondered.

More importantly why was it coming towards her? she wondered as she registered Eric's hand on her arm as he yanked her

away and pulled her into a run.

She swallowed hard as they ran towards the ambulance. "Was that a snake?" she asked, unable to hide the disgust in her tone.

She hated snakes, absolutely hated them, which was probably why Eric didn't tell her what it was. He knew she'd freak out.

"Yup. Looks like a twenty foot python and that large lump is probably Toby," he said, giving her a gentle push to get her to

climb back into the ambulance.

"I see." She nodded hollowly as she reached out and pulled one of the back doors shut.

"You want to stay in here until it's captured?" he asked, moving to shut the other door for her.

She gave him a "duh" look that had him wincing as he shut the other door. Joe wasted no time in locking them. Then she

scrambled over Caleb who was frowning to lock the side doors as well.

"I don't think Roger will hurt you," he said.

"Really? Why not?" she asked absently as she kept watch through the side window. She swore if she saw anything yellow or

white move towards the ambulance that she was driving off and never looking back.

"Cause I don't think he can fit you and Toby in his tummy," Caleb explained, probably thinking that he was helping.

He wasn't.

Even if they weren't dating she knew that she'd be making Eric sleep with her for the next week or so. They'd be using the same

drill as the time she found that large black spider crawling across her kitchen floor at two in the morning. Only this time he

would also have to check around the property too before checking every room in her house and doing a double check of her

room. He would also be responsible for getting up and checking her room and bathroom when she woke up during the night and

needed to pee as well as checking the kitchen when she needed a drink.

A t least she didn't have to worry about him planting fake snakes around her house since she was pretty sure that he learned his

lesson from hiding that fake spider in her cereal the last time. He may have thought it was funny at first, but when she

accidentally kicked him in the balls he'd learned his lesson rather quickly.

Granted, she wouldn't have kicked him between his legs if he hadn't fallen to the ground laughing his ass off at her the same

time the fake spider was knocked to the ground. Okay, so kick might be an understatement. It might have been more like a

stomping or two..........five times.

In her defense she had been a little too freaked out to notice his screams of agony.

Chapter 28

"Wow, I'm impressed," Jeff said and Eric knew the man wasn't talking about the way he was washing the ambulance.

He looked up at the small group of men who had gathered in front of him as he dunked the brush in the soapy water. "Impressed

with what?"

he asked, knowing that they'd keep bugging the shit out of him until he bit.

"Three months and she hasn't killed you yet," Jeff said, shaking his head in wonder. "I'm shocked."

He was too.

Three months, easily the longest relationship he'd ever had in his life. If at all possible he loved her more today than the day

she took a chance on him. She was everything to him, his partner, his best friend, his lover and his soul and he had fucked it all

up He knew this day would come, but he'd been so damned sure that he could do this with her, but he'd been wrong. He'd

obviously done something really stupid, because she was pissed at him. Well, he was pretty sure that she was pissed at him

since she hadn't said more than a few words to him since their overtime shift ended last night.

When he showed up at her door last night to take her out she mumbled an excuse, gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and sent

him on his way. This morning he came in a bit early, anxious to see her. Since they came together three months ago they hadn't

spent a single night apart and he hated not holding her in his arms last night. She was pulling away from him and he didn't know

why.

Sure, he'd screwed up along the way and pissed her off. They fought and they practically made up before they were done

arguing. She made him unbelievably happy and he couldn't for the life of him figure out how he'd fucked up. Last night while he

ignored his brother's bitching about their mother's latest setup, he'd paced his living room, taxing his brain and tried to pinpoint

exactly how he'd messed everything up. He was sure that he'd done something to piss her off, but after twelve hours of racking

his brain he couldn't figure out what that was.

This morning he'd come up with a plan. Since he didn't know what he'd done he was just going to focus on making it up to her

and hope that it was enough. He was going to do all the things that he knew she liked and a few dozen that he'd seen his brother

do for women over the years. If by the end of their shift she hadn't forgiven him then he was going to have to apologize and

promise never to do it again and hope that she dropped a hint about what he did. If that didn't work then he'd have to send

Nathan over to her house with a half dozen of those milk shakes that she loved and hope that she told his brother what he did so

that he could fix this before it was too late.

"Uh oh, someone's in the dog house," one of guys crooned.

Frowning, he looked up in time to see Joe climb into the back of the ambulance without a word to anyone. Thankfully the guys

lost interest after a few minutes of busting his balls and walked off, giving him a chance to set his plan into motion.

He finished rinsing off the ambulance the same time Joe finished checking out the ambulance. When she jumped out and shut the

doors he walked to the front of the ambulance and grabbed the large white pastry box that he hid from the guys.

"Good morning, Joe," he said, holding the box out to her and feeling like an idiot when she only stared at it. "I got you

breakfast."

"Oh," she said distractedly as she accepted the box and looked around the garage. "Thanks. Do you mind getting on the road a

little early I want to pick something up for breakfast," she explained, still not looking at him.

Feeling his lips twitch, he gestured to the box. "I picked breakfast up for you," he said, trying not to laugh since he knew that

would only make things worse.

"Oh," she said, frowning down at the box. "Then I need to grab a coffee."

"Got one in the truck for you," he said, feeling quite proud of himself for meeting all her needs this morning.

"Thanks," she mumbled, looking lost.

It was then that he realized he'd gone beyond fucking up. It was over. She was dumping him and he was helpless to stop it. He

didn't know what he should say or do, but he knew that he didn't want this to go down in front of the guys. If she was going to

break his heart then he wanted it done in private.

"Let's go for a ride," he said, gesturing to the ambulance.

With a nod she walked around the front of the ambulance and climbed into the passenger seat. A fter a slight pause he

followed. He called them on the air, half praying that dispatch had a call for them so that they could put this off for a little

longer, but they didn't. They were posted to the south side and he thought that maybe that was for the best.

For ten minutes they rode in silence as Joe absently toyed with a corner of the cardboard box. His hands tightened around the

steering wheel as he wondered how something that hadn't even happened yet could hurt so damn much. His chest ached and he

felt sick to his stomach. A ny other woman and he would have beat her to the punch line and dropped her before she could drop

him, but this was Joe.

His Joe.

He needed to hear it from her lips. He needed to know that this was what she wanted. He'd give her a chance to explain all the

ways he'd fucked up and then he'd use that newfound knowledge to fix their relationship and beg her to take him back. She had

to know that he couldn't live without her and that he loved her. That had to mean something.

"Echo seventeen on south side," he said into the mike as he threw the ambulance into park.

"Echo seventeen, received."

For a moment they sat there in silence as he did his best to prepare for what was about to happen. What he hadn't been

prepared for was Joe suddenly unbuckling her seatbelt and scrambling over the middle console to climb onto his lap and wrap

her arms around him as she buried her face against his neck.

"Joe? Baby, what's wrong?" he asked, wondering if he should feel relieved that she was clinging to him so tightly. If she was

ending things between them he didn't think she'd be reacting this way.

A t least he hoped not.

It was a little concerning that after three months he still didn't have this relationship shit down. Then again being with Joe was

nothing like dating those other women. With her he was calm, relaxed and happy. He didn't have to try hard to impress her like

he'd done with the other women and he'd only done that to get them in bed just to get off. Things weren't like that with Joe. He

touched her and did things for her because he enjoyed being with her, not because he wanted something from her.

"Nothing," she mumbled against his skin.

"Nothing, huh?"

"No."

"Then why are you on my lap?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Because you're comfy," she mumbled, snuggling deeper into his arms.

"What's wrong, Joe?" he asked softly, hating to see her upset. He almost wished that she was mad at him, which he was eighty

percent sure at the moment that she wasn't, just so he could apologize and fix it.

"Why do you think something's wrong?" she mumbled, repositioning herself until she was sitting across his lap with her back

against his door.

She laid her head against his shoulder while she absently played with the buttons on his shirt.

"Besides the fact that you canceled our date at the last minute last night and you aren't devouring the pastries I bought you?" he

asked dryly.

She shrugged. "I could have had a better offer last night."