Chapter Nine
Greer tried to concentrate on the report on her laptop screen, but Coss was driving so aggressively, she thought she might throw up.
“It’s an ambulance, not a race car.”
He ignored her light quip and took a sharp left. She put a hand to the door to steady herself and ride out the turn. She missed Luke’s steady driving. She was so used to working with him that she missed everything about him. Only two days into working with Coss, she wondered how she’d survived this long.
The emergency call she’d just been on would have gone so much smoother with her former partner. Instead, it had nearly turned into a circus, thanks to Coss telling a young mother that the pea up her six-year-old’s nose would get lodged in his lung and kill him if he didn’t get immediate surgery. Meanwhile, she’d had the child blow air out of his nose as hard as he could, and the pea came flying out. The mother had given her a hug, and the little boy promised to find another way to get out of eating his veggies. Coss had given her a half-assed lecture on never overstepping his seniority again.
She brushed it off.
It had been a simple thing, but helping that child made her feel good. She hadn’t needed to use any medical skills or tools, just some quick thinking and an encouraging voice to get a good outcome. It was nice that not every emergency deserved the name.
She smiled and watched through the passenger window as the street went by. For the first time in days, her neck and shoulders weren’t tight and uncomfortable. Maybe she was starting to finally put the stress of the building collapse behind her. Or maybe the spontaneous orgasm with Luke in the laundry room had helped.
Either way, it was good to feel normal and confident again, like she really could do this job.
“Stopping for coffee.” Coss slammed on the brakes and weaved the ambulance into a parking spot alongside the curb. She held on to the dash until he’d fully stopped. He gave her a quizzical look and motioned her out of the ambulance.
“You sick? You’re pale.”
She undid her seat belt. “I’ve never ridden in the Indy 500 before, I guess.”
Coss smirked. “I think Almeda was too easy on you, newbie. You’re riding with a real medic now, so get used to it.”
“You know, inferiority complexes are proven to cause impotence.”
He gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands. The air inside the cab seemed thicker, and she had the sudden urge to bail.
“Better be careful, Greer. You think you’re Luke’s first probie? He had his fun with a few of them before the new rules went into place, and you don’t see any of those women working here anymore, do ya?”
Coss jumped out and slammed the door, giving her a wink as he walked past the windshield and into the coffee shop. He’d meant to stun her with his words, and she hated to admit that he had. Really wanting coffee, but not wanting to wait in line with Coss, she waited a minute before jumping out and going inside. Since her assignment with Coss, he’d turned from overly friendly to condescending and rude. She had no idea what she’d done to elicit the behavior change, but the result wasn’t fun.
Luke had admitted that he’d fooled around a time or two. Okay, to be real, he’d man-whored his way around the city. He’d always had a way with women, and she’d hardly ever known him without a female on his arm.
She used to want to die from jealousy over those women. They’d shared his smiles, his time, and most of them, probably his bed. For years, she’d watched Luke parade one after another past her. And then she’d finally had her chance, and he’d walked away. So, sue her if she was eager to take him to her bed now that she’d finally had him. Of course, it came at the wrong time—a dangerous time for them both. If Coss knew about them, he’d out them in a nanosecond. But she couldn’t stop craving Luke’s touch, and the feel of his body on hers. She couldn’t stop reliving the sensation of sliding her palm into his and having his fingers close around hers as if he were holding something precious.
She made her way into the crowded shop. Her stomach growled at the scent of coffee and sweets. Coss was ahead in line, thankfully. But then he turned, spotted her, and came back to join her.
She frowned, losing her appetite.
“Hungry?”
All traces of his earlier contempt were gone. Normally, she tried not to put her lawyer hat on and start questioning people’s motives. She’d learned early on in her law career that analyzing the people closest to you usually ended in resentment and disaster, and others just weren’t worth the effort. But Coss was tipping her off that there was more beneath his passive-aggressive surface than he wanted her to know.
“I was,” she clipped.
“Ah, come on, Greer. Don’t be like that.”
She straightened and smiled at someone as they walked by. She kept the smile in place, though her voice was tight with the tone that always got her noticed in the courtroom.
“I don’t tolerate pretentious assholes, Coss. Unless you have something to say that is directly and explicitly related to our working relationship, keep your mouth shut.”
“Seriously?”
“Do you need me to say it one more time, perhaps slower, so you can catch up?”
His eyes bored into hers, but she didn’t back down. His throat moved hard as he swallowed, and a small muscle twitched above his brow. Anyone could tell that he was having a hard time not running his mouth, but to her surprise, he refrained. Men like him always had to have the last word.
“Hey, uh, excuse me.”
She turned to see a young man approach. His shoulders were slumped and dark hollows played beneath his eyes. His hands were shoved into the front pockets of rumpled jeans, and he looked like he hadn’t bathed in a few days. She took a small step back. Cos moved beside her and crossed his arms.
“Help you?”
“Yeah, I think? Maybe.” The man looked around before standing in front of Coss. “Were you guys working when, um…when the building fell the other day?”
Her pulse picked up, the hunger in her gut going sour. “I’m sorry, but we’re not able to discuss calls.”
The man’s slender hands moved with a slight tremble. “I figured. I—I know. It’s just, uh…I’m trying to find out what happened. No one will tell me what happened.”
Tears shone in his eyes, the sight of them going right to her heart. The emotional pain rolling off him was palpable. Greer lightly touched his arm and stepped out of line, moving them both to the side, where there was more privacy.
“Did you know the victim?”
One tear rolled over his cheek, then another.
“Eugene. Yeah, he was my stepfather.”
Eugene. Her chest swelled. An image of the bricks piled on top of the mangled car played in her mind. She could taste the dust coating her lips.
“He and my mom were separated, you know, so no one will really tell us what happened. The cops just said it was under investigation, but that was it. I mean, why? What happened?”
“Sorry, son. We can’t help you.” Coss butted in with a tug on her sleeve to lead her away. She pushed at his hand, her attention on the young man.
“I was there. I saw it happen.”
“Greer,” Coss warned.
“I wasn’t officially on duty, but I saw the whole thing. We, my friend and I, we tried to help him, but there was nothing we could do.”
“Greer!”
She ignored her partner, instead indicating with a nod to the man that they should go outside. He followed her like a lost puppy, the tears running freely down his face by the time they stepped into the sunlight. She pulled a chair out for him at one of the small café tables and sat across from him. He listened, trying to contain his quiet sobs as she shared limited information on what had happened that day. She still didn’t know what caused Eugene to crash, whether it was a medical problem or vehicle failure.
Sometime during their conversation, the young man—Brent—had slid his hand over hers. He nodded as if he understood everything, even though she wasn’t really telling him much. The law prevented her from going into detail, so she added generalizations. He was only comprehending on the surface, probably not caring that she was keeping details from him; he only wanted someone to step up and make the effort. Maybe later he’d realize she hadn’t shared anything that could give him closure, but as he nodded and sobbed and sat quietly, she figured right now he just craved connection with someone who had been there.
Her body squeezed with small tremors she couldn’t control. The accident played back over and over in her mind as she spoke. The sound of the car hitting the wall, how the ground shook as the building fell. The taste of her own fear, and the dust and the scent of death in the air.
Her eyes were dry and burning by the time she’d said all she could think of to say. As Brent left, she realized she’d never cried over this, even though her body needed to expel the emotion somehow. Last time, she’d dealt with it by going to bed with Luke.
This time…she was on her own.
She stood on weak legs. She’d delivered bad news to people as part of her law school training. No one wanted to hear they were getting forty years in prison, or their mother’s killer was getting off with a lesser sentence. But she’d never had to describe to a grieving child how his father figure had died. She’d never been the link that connected a family to their loved one’s passing.
Despite being outside, the space around her started to get small. Greer rubbed her upper arms and took a deep breath of warm summer air. Anxiety was creeping all over her skin. She shouldn’t feel this way. She’d stood in countless courtrooms, doing countless debates both practice and real and never once did law make her feel as uncertain, as heartbroken, as helpless, as this.
“Here.” Coss sidled up to her and shoved a paper coffee cup at her. “I hope you’re ready to get your ass grilled for what you just did.”
She waved the offered cup away. “I was simply a witness. I didn’t tell him anything another witness on the street from that day wouldn’t have.”
Coss sighed and walked toward the ambulance with a shake of his head.
She smoothed her hands down her uniform shirt and fiddled with her belt. Pulling herself together was never this hard before. Not until this job.
Her cell phone rang as she opened the ambulance passenger door. Hoping it was Luke, she answered before giving the call screen a good look.
“Greer.”
Shit, it was her mother.
“Hey, Mom, now isn’t a great time.”
Marvelene made a pert, disapproving sound. “Fine, then I’ll leave you with this. You’ll be getting a job offer from Klein, Bart, and Rowe. High six figures a year, a condo in their private development, and all the benefits you’ll ever need.”
Greer closed her eyes.
“Greer, did you hear me?”
Her throat was so dry, she could barely answer. “Yes.”
Her mother went on. “If you won’t work for my law firm, so be it. Work for someone else if that’s what it takes to get you back on the right track.”
She didn’t respond.
“I’m sure Denny Klein will schmooze you up at my birthday celebration next weekend. I expect you’ll decide you’ve had enough fun running around saving people, and get back to law. It’s where you belong.”