Page 44 of Full Moon Frenzy

“We’re not going back towards the city?” she questioned, the stretch of highway between Bridgeton and Cambric Creek having been the scene of every other highway call of the day.

“This is in Greenbridge Glen,” Trapp answered tersely. It was clear from her blank expression that his words meant nothing. “Between Cambric Creek and Starling Heights. It’s a lot more rural. Flat, one straight line, there’s usually not too many accidents over there, but this rain has everyone driving like it’s their first time out of the house.”

He quickly ensured that his field bag had everything necessary for advanced life support, picking through the supplies from the ambulance and tossing them into the bag before kicking off his boots. Trapp could feel her eyes on him the entire time he undressed, peeling off his uniform pants and shirt, down to his boxer briefs, catching sight of her slack jaw as he pulled his flightsuit off the shelf. He had no doubt she was able to see the thick, curved bar of his erection standing in relief, in danger of escaping his waistband. It twitched under the weight of her stare, and he was positive he heard her whimper.

“What are you doing?” she gasped out at last, his hard-on finally out of sight as he zipped up the suit. “I thought this was Medic Forty-three?”

She didn’t bother turning back in her seat as he grabbed a T-shirt from his bag, pulling the snug cotton down over his chest, slipping his arms into the flight suit, zipping it to the top.

“It is. But I’m Air Two.”

Oleg laid on the horn, silencing them both, cursing at the amount of traffic that wasn’t moving over to let them pass.

“I thought air-medic services are operated by private facilities?”

“They are,” Trapp agreed. “Everywhere else. The hospital in Bridgeton and the hospital in Starling Heights both use the same air-med dispatch. But they won’t service nonhumans. Healers bought their own chopper two years ago, hired their own pilots. They’ve got two of us at the station and two ICU nurses licensed for flight care. Oleg, if they pull me, you bring her back to the station with the rig, understand?”

Instantly, Adriana straightened in her seat, her hands closing over the strap of her trauma bag once more. “What?! No! I’m a doctor! I can be of service—”

“The only thing you’ll be out there is a liability. You’re here as an observer, Adi. That’s it. You want him to drop you off at your clinic so you can unlock the doors for intake; be my guest. That’s your job on the line, not mine. But this is my rig. I’m the attending here.”

Trapp glanced back only once, once they arrived on scene.

She was still in the ambulance, at least following that direction. Her face was practically pressed to the glass, palm flat against the window, watching him go. He had to force his feet to move, turning away from her to face the wreckage beyond. He wanted to kiss her again, taste her fury, but right now, he had a job to do.

Some other time, Trapp thought, wondering if the opportunity would ever arise.

***

He stepped out of the hospital into the ambulance bay hours later, his flight suit unzipped to the waist, the arms swinging loose around his knees. Trapp dropped his head back, sucking in a deep lungful of air. The night was cool, but it held no hint of further rain; a relief after the evening storm and harrowing transfers.

He did a double take at the vehicle just across the lot once he opened his eyes.

Across from the ambulance bay, at the edge of the back lot, sat his own truck, Adriana behind the wheel. She looked relieved when she saw him, opening the driver’s door as he crossed the bay, gravel crunching beneath his feet once he reached a broken patch of pavement.

“Did you steal my fucking truck?!”

She flushed. Her hair was down, pinned back from her face, her thick waves even curlier from being confined in a braid all day, and all he wanted to do was gather it up in his hands, testing its weight to compare to his memory. Her cheeks flushed crimson, but that did nothing to diminish her defiant look.

“I didn’t know how you were going to get home! I just thought . . .”

He laughed incredulously. “I’m still on the clock! I’m not going home for another twenty-four hours! I have to wait for Oleg to pick me up and bring me back to the station, and then maybe I can sleep for an hour or two before the next call.”

“Oh. Well, I didn’t know that, did I?”

“You stole my truck! This is grand theft auto!”

“Oh, shut up. I did not. I rescued your bag from the rig; you’re welcome, by the way. And I just happened to find your keys inside. Stealing wasn’t required.”

Trapp was still laughing. “And now you rifled through my things! Unbelievable!” She tensed when he walked around the front of the truck, opening the door to the passenger seat, retrieving the water bottle he knew was in the cup holder, and draining it in a single long gulp. “Well, I appreciate the thought, but you’re going to need to drive this back. Make sure you park it in the same spot; I don’t want any of these rookies thinking they can take my spot. You should go home for a few hours, try to get some sleep yourself.”

“I did when we got back to the station. After we did the hospital run.” She looked smug, practically crowing in her seat. “They needed an ambulance for the transport, and they let me ride with the patient since Oleg was by himself. Noncritical.” The last was said with a roll of her eyes. “I told you I wouldn’t be a liability. I can’t believe they let you all take off in that weather. Did . . . did the little girl make it?”

Trapp turned, facing the empty parking lot, sucking in the crisp predawn air. “She made it through the transport. That’s all I know. And we didn’t crash getting her there, so the weather didn’t matter. And if we had? I can’t think of a better way to go.”

Trapp closed his eyes, breathing in again deeply and holding it. It had been the worst transfer in which he’d ever participated. The steady rain that had held the whole region in a wet bubble all week finally broke up in a line of storms that began to kick up just as they were transferring out the extracted patients. The small orc he took off with was in bad shape, and he didn’t have time even to consider that he might roll right out of the helicopter as they struggled through the wind and around lightning.

Trapp jumped when Adriana was suddenly right before him, having slipped from the cab of the truck, coming around the front without his notice.