Chapter 19
One day someone’s going to hold you so tight that you will no longer feel broken.
-Tai to Mia
Tai
“You can’t fucking be serious,” Jack growled in frustration.
I crossed my arms over my chest and studied my brother.
I’d just told him my intentions to join the SWAT team as the tactical medic, and he’d promptly lost his mind.
My brother was protective. And he hated that he couldn’t dictate how I should live my life.
Mia sat in the corner of the couch, showing Cati her phone as she pretended not to listen.
I knew she was listening.
Mostly by the way her scowl ripped into my brother’s back as he sat glaring at me with his hands on his knees.
“I’m serious,” I said. “Luke asked me, and I said I’d try out tomorrow with the rest of the guys.”
Jack’s lips thinned.
“You’re going to get hurt,” he snapped.
I sighed.
“I could,” I agreed. “But I also want to do it.”
Jack burst out of his seat and started to pace the length of his living room.
Winter watched her husband pace from her spot in the recliner, not saying a word throughout the entire encounter.
I watched my brother pace, wondering what he was thinking.
He was never one who liked change.
He hated that I had been a shit head kid who got himself into dangerous situations, and hated that he hadn’t been able to protect me, mostly from myself. And now, he hated that I was a firefighter.
This was my brother, though. An always over-reacting, sometimes smothering bastard, but a loving older brother, nonetheless
He was mine, and whether he liked it or not, he was going to have to get over the fact that I was doing this.
And I knew he would.
He wouldn’t like it, but he’d eventually accept it.
He finally stopped his pacing and turned his eyes to me as he stood in front of me.
“You’ll let me help you train,” he ordered firmly.
I nodded.
And I would, too.
I had never been in the military.
I also had never been a cop.
But I was good with a weapon, and I did have some specialized training. I was proficient in Krav Maga and Jiu Jitsu, and I practiced hand-to-hand combat techniques with some of the guys at my gym once a week. So it wasn’t like I was naïvely going into this without any sort of training whatsoever, bringing only my skills as a medic to the table.
But my brother’s skills and knowledge were more extensive, so I’d be a fool not to take him up on his offer of training.
And I appreciated the fact that he was obviously working through his worry, as evidenced by his offer of assistance instead of attempting to talk me out of it.
“You’ll go with me to train at the shooting range, too,” he said.
I raised my brow at him.
“We do that every weekend, already.” I said.
We had a standing appointment every other Sunday morning, and if I was working on a Sunday, then we went on Saturday.
Never fail, rain or shine. He had me out there, and I went because I liked to hang out with my brother.
Jack glared at me.
“You do realize, right,” Winter said, finally interjecting with her input, “that Tai is twenty-eight-years-old.”
Jack tossed her a glare, too.
Winter grinned.
“Actually,” I said. “As of tomorrow afternoon at 1:21 PM, I’ll be a twenty-nine-year-old-man.”
Mia gasped, causing us all to look at her.
“You didn’t tell me tomorrow was your birthday,” she accused.
I opened my mouth to apologize, but she bounced up on her toes.
“Tomorrow’s my birthday, too!” She squealed.
I laughed as she bounced on her toes towards me, acting much younger than the nearly twenty-eight-year-old, woman that I knew her to be.
I scooped her up in my arms and hauled her to me.
I swung her around and set her down on her feet with a laugh on her lips.
“Me next, Uncle Tai!” Adam screeched in that high-pitched squeal only a three-year-old could hit.
Mia froze, the smile sliding from her face as I picked up Adam and turned to her.
“Mia?” I asked her.
She was lost in her own little world, however, as her eyes filled with tears.
I pulled her into my side, pressing my lips to her forehead.
I could feel the cautious gazes of both Jack and Winter, and I looked up at them to see their own private hell filling up their own faces.
Jack and Winter had lost two children, miscarriages, in their time together.
Cati was supposed to be a twin, but they’d lost the second baby in utero, leaving Cati to be brought into this world alone.
They’d also lost a baby early on in their relationship that I still didn’t know much about.
Mia took a shuddering breath as Adam leaned down and rested his head on top of hers, and whatever memory it was that had a hold on her let go.
“You okay?” I asked her.
She nodded, dislodging Adam’s head as she did.
She looked up, giving Adam a tremulous smile, and he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead, much the same as I had done only moments before.
“I wuve you, Ia,” Adam said in his sweet little cherub voice.
Mia’s smile nearly blinded me.
“I love you too, Adam.”
Jack laughed at something Winter said, but it was a series of words coming from the police scanner that had my attention right then.
I passed Adam over to Mia as I walked closer to the police scanner on the table in the corner of the room.
“Tai?” Mia asked.
I held up my hand and turned the volume up on the scanner.
“Hit and run on Main Street,” the dispatcher, Merry, said. “White 1957 Ford Pickup. Thirty-five-year-old male,” she continued. “Nurse on scene says that the male has extensive injuries and recommends Life Flight.”
“Shit,” I said, standing up and listening as the report came over the scanner. “Shit!”
“Tai!” Mia cried. “What’s wrong?”
“Stay here. I’ll come back for you,” I said quickly, running out to my truck without looking back.
I didn’t let it sink in right away.
The drive to the intersection was easy until about fifty yards before the light.
I pulled my truck into the first available parking lot, a McDonald’s, and ran.
And I prayed it wasn’t who I knew it would be.
But as I got closer and got my first good look at the truck, I knew I wasn’t going to be lucky.
A few officers were busy clearing a parking lot of all the cars, and I knew it was to make room for the Life Flight helicopter to land.
I was breathing too hard when I got to the police line that was being held by Downy.
He made eye contact with me, and I felt my heart leap into my throat.
“What happened?” I asked as I turned my eyes back to the scene.
“Hit and run,” Downy said solemnly.
He knew, too.
Everyone would.
It was the truck.
There wasn’t another one around that was anything like it.
It was Fatbaby.
Fatbaby had been involved in a hit and run on the main drag in town.
Fatbaby…Aaron…he was either gravely injured or near death if they were calling Life Flight in.
“Jesus,” I said.
The sound of boots on the pavement sounded behind me and I clenched my fists as the A shift team started to use the jaws of life on Fatbaby’s restored, mint condition, truck.
“No,” PD said, devastation clear in his voice.
I shook my head, fighting the urge to go up there and offer my help.
Someone approached me on my other side, and I looked down at their hands, knowing instantly that it was Bowe.
He’d heard, too.
My breathing quickened as I prayed that Fatbaby would be okay.
Because if I was being honest, it wasn’t looking so good.
Those were my last thoughts…before the truck exploded.