Solemn Oath by Hannah Alexander Read Free Book Online Page B

sorry.” Buck reached up and tugged at the collar. “Isn’t this a little tight?”
    Lauren leaned over and checked it. “It’s perfect. What did you do the other day?”
    â€œI got my model airplane stuff out of my locker and let the boys help me with it—or try to. Kyle spilled the glue, and Alex broke a wingtip, so it took us longer than I thought it would. My shift ended, but I couldn’t leave them there with everything spread out all over the table, so I stayed and worked with them a couple more hours.”
    â€œDid you call Kendra?” Lauren asked, placing the blood pressure cuff around his thick upper arm.
    â€œNo, and I sure heard about it when I got home. She just about took my head off.”
    â€œWould you have left if you’d gotten called out for a fire?” Lauren asked, pumping the blood pressure cuff.
    â€œWell, sure, but…Hey, careful with that thing. Don’t squeeze my arm off. I apologized and told her I’d never do that again.”
    Lauren let the pressure drop and watched the numbers, then wrote them down. “That’s what you said after you let yourself be talked into feeding Leonardo for Cowboy.”
    Buck reached up as if to scratch at the small wound on his chest but stopped himself before he could touch it. “Hey, this was different…and worse. At least Leonardo couldn’tfollow me out of his cage. I haven’t been able to get those kids off my tail ever since. Kyle, especially. I trip over him everywhere I go.”
    â€œHe seems nice enough to me,” Lauren said.
    â€œSo is a puppy, but I don’t want one making runs with me. I think it’s dangerous to take kids like that into a fire situation.”
    â€œBut how else will they learn?” Lauren asked. “You know, Buck, all of us had to get a break somewhere. You’ve got to be more patient. Maybe that’s why the chief put you in charge of these boys, so you could learn some mentoring skills.”
    Buck scowled at her. “I don’t even know what that word means.”
    â€œIt means you have some finely honed instincts you could use to train others, and you can’t let all that go to waste just because you don’t want to spend time with those—”
    â€œUh, Lauren,” Lukas interrupted. “Quiet for a moment, please.” He saw the sudden relief in Buck’s expression and stifled a grin. Lauren was a great nurse, very caring, but when she slipped into chatterbox mode she could shut down traffic.
    Lukas placed his stethoscope on Buck’s back and chest, listened to breath sounds and was satisfied. “Where’s the pain Kyle’s so concerned about?”
    Buck gestured to the upper left area of his chest. “Just a little cut. I can’t understand why it hurt so much, but, boy, Kyle grabbed me there when they helped me get up, and I nearly tore his head off.”
    Lukas found a very small wound just above Buck’s left nipple. With a peroxide-soaked 4x4, he wiped off some of the blood.
    Buck jerked. “Ow! Watch it, Dr. Bower. I did get knocked around a little, you know.”
    â€œIs that where your pain is located? Don’t tell me you weren’t wearing your jacket again.”
    â€œYes, I was. I grabbed it before I went back inside.”
    Lukas frowned and checked the wound a little more closely. It wasn’t even a centimeter in length, but there was no telling how deep it might be. “Tell me about the explosion.”
    â€œI was grabbing for Roxie when it hit. The manager keeps a barbecue grill back there in the storeroom to cook hot dogs and hamburgers to sell up front, and it runs on propane. It’s big enough to take out a wall if it explodes, and that’s what happened. Roxie told me she was cooking some stuff on it and had to go up front to answer the phone. When she hung up and turned around, she said she saw a lot of smoke coming in from the