Page 72 of Tough Justice

“Yeah, I know.” Evan held out his hand, and Thor curled his lip back. “Easy, Thor,” he said in a low, soothing tone. “I know you think you’re protecting him, but you have to work with us here. Okay, pal?” Thor’s lip fell back into place. “That’s it. Easy does it.”

Tori held her breath, glancing from Thor to Deck. His neck and torso twisted as he endured the pain. “Please, Evan. Hurry.”

“Good boy.” Slowly, Evan reached for Thor’s head, resting his hand between the dog’s ears. “That’s it. Release. Release.”

The moment Thor backed off and sat, Brett snapped a leash on Thor’s collar and drew the dog away from Deck, wrapping the leash twice around a nearby tree trunk.

Getting him to a hospital was becoming more essential by the second. She was about to order one of the patrol units to transport Deck when an ambulance pulled onto the grass near the copse of trees.

“He has a dislocated shoulder and a punctured lung,” she informed the paramedics as soon as they were within earshot. “He’s refusing pain meds.” Beside her, Deck jolted. “You may have to strap him down,” she said in a shaky voice.

“Are you a doctor?” one of the medics asked, placing an oxygen mask over Deck’s face.

“Yes. ER.”

The medic nodded, and her panic diminished fractionally as she observed the pair expertly hustling through standard field protocol. One readied the needle they’d use en route to the hospital to release the air collecting in Deck’s pleural cavity.

When it was time to load Deck into the ambulance, Brett came up beside her. “Do you want to go with him?” he asked when she didn’t automatically follow the stretcher.

Did she? For her, Brett’s question was loaded with so much more meaning than just accompanying Deck to the hospital. Being with him and potentially getting that horrible call again… She didn’t know her heart could hurt so much and still be beating at the same time.

“Tori?” Evan said.

At first, she didn’t realize what she was doing. Shaking her head.

As the ambulance doors began to close, she took a step then stopped.

The paramedics were more than competent. They didn’t need her.

And in the depths of her soul, she knew Deck was right.

She should just leave. Leave his life.

Slowly, the ambulance rolled away. She continued staring as it turned onto the road and drove off. Only then did she collapse onto the grass, shaking as tears rolled unchecked down her face.

Deck was the wildcard in her orderly, protocol-based life. She loved him with everything that she had, but being with him, knowing she could lose him any day of the week, was too far outside her comfort zone. Even in his pain-fueled state, Deck knew that. He understood and gave her an out.

Emptiness yawned inside of her. She’d follow up on his medical condition, but anything beyond that would be more than she could endure.

It was over between them.

Chapter Twenty-Four

“What’s the prognosis?”

“Fractured rib, punctured lung, dislocated shoulder. The rib should heal on its own. Traction to reset his shoulder…complications. Some of the fibrous tissue…severely stretched. There may be nerve damage.”

“Whatever they gave him, he’s really out of it.”

Words blurred together, but Deck easily identified the voices. Brett, Evan, and his boss, ASAC Rivera.

He tried opening his eyes, but they stuck together as if someone had glued them shut.

He managed to squint. Images wavered then slowly took shape. His friends sat in chairs on one side of the bed, his boss in one on the other.

“There he is,” Brett said. “Sleeping Beauty awakes, and we didn’t even have to kiss him.”

“Sleeping Beauty, my ass.” Evan elbowed Brett’s shoulder. “He might have been pretty once. Now, he looks like shit.”