Dead on Arrival

Dead on Arrival by Lori Avocato Read Free Book Online

Book: Dead on Arrival by Lori Avocato Read Free Book Online
Authors: Lori Avocato
Tags: Suspense, Fiction/General
loud
crack
!
    The scene became a madhouse of screaming (me), shouting at me (ER Dano), longshoremen-type cursing (the guy), and the woman on the floor kicking at him with her shoeless foot. When Dano grabbed my arm to shove me to the side, the guy took the gun and aimed straight at Dano’s chest—and I suddenly thought of Jagger.
    Not really thought about him. In reality it was more as if I felt him, his presence , and I reached beneath my scrubs and yanked out the pink locket Jagger had given me a few cases back.
    This time I shoved my hip into Dano’s side to get past him, aimed, pressed the pump dispenser, and let the pepper spray do its job while the guy screamed and cried like a girl.
    Despite Dano telling me to get the hell out of there, I grabbed the gun from the guy, held it toward his…legs…despite the fact that I had no idea how to shoot it.
    â€œOh shit,” Dano murmured, stepped back, and leaned against the counter more nonchalant than I think Jagger would have been.
    Thank goodness I didn’t have to shoot because what seemed like hours had passed, and while sirens blared guys in blue stormed into the hallway aiming their guns at me!
    Dano knew all the cops and made it clear that I was not the whacko even though I held the shotgun—but I swear he hesitated first.
    Dano called into TLC’s dispatch after we’d safely dropped the poor phone lady off at the hospital, and the rest of the trip was silent. A few times I turned toward him to say something but only got the cold shoulder and decided to keep my mouth shut. I wanted to say that was a rude way to treat someone who had just saved his life—and then it hit me.
    ER Dano was pissed that I, a woman , had saved his life!
    I couldn’t help but smile.
    At the stoplight, he turned and glared at me.
    Yikes.
    I bit my tongue so as not to ask “what?” which I would have done to Jagger. Although a hunk, ER Dano was a bit more…frightening…to me than Jagger ever was.
    We pulled into the driveway of TLC and went directly to the gigantic garage that housed the ambulances.
    Dispatch had cleared us for the day, and I couldn’t wait to get home.
    Dano shut off the ambulance after pulling into a space, opened his door, turned to look at me and said, “Hose her out and replace the supplies.”
    My mouth often dropped to near chest level when I was surprised, shocked, or merely astonished.
    This time it almost made it past my waist.
    I shut my mouth faster than Dano had spun around and started walking out the door!
    Shoving my door open and jumping out, I ran after him—and made the mistake of grabbing his arm.
    He swung around and I knew, just knew, if I were a guy, I’d be splayed out on the floor beneath Dano’s feet right now. Instead he yanked free and said, “What?” in such a gruff voice that I jumped back.
    But I recovered quickly, straightened my shoulders, and said, “What? What? It’s my first day! I’m not cleaning out the ambulance!”
    He leaned really close.
    Oops.
    I swallowed and ran self-defense maneuvers through my mind even though, in reality, I never felt a second of fear for my life. “Yeah, I’m not doing it, Dano. Not alone,” I ended, using my smarts, so I wouldn’t let him get the upper hand. Or at least that’s what I was telling myself.
    He moved closer, looked closer, and said really closely, “Hose is on the wall, scrubbers next to it, soap’s on the shelf, stocking is self-explanatory for a nurse.”
    My mouth dried at the same time my brain froze and not like when you eat ice cream. For some reason, and help me to understand this here, St. T, but having Dano so near and talking that way had some kind of mesmerizing effect on me.
    Hot was the first word that came to mind.
    Damn, the second.
    And thirdly, I came back to reality and said, “Fine, but you owe me a drink then.” With that, and as if some

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