“All three of you are monsters. You always have been. So, this is my final warning.” I stepped forward until I was in Matt’s face. He didn’t step back, and his body pressed against mine as I leaned in, brushing my lips against his ear. He smelled intoxicating. I hated him for it. “Keep my name out of your mouth, Matt, and you can tell your fucking cronies the same. It will rain hellfire if I ever have to deal with you again. Is that understood?”
Matt said nothing. He didn’t even pretend to take me seriously. Instead, he reached out and touched my cheek. Smoldering embers burned through me, creating a fire deep in the pit of my stomach. His smile was sinister as he stepped towards me, threatening, and that dangerous fucking smile was the last thing I saw before I reeled my arm back and slammed it into his nose with as much force as a freight train. Blood spurted from Matt’s face as he stumbled back, nearly falling. Ignoring the horrified students around me, I shook my head and scoffed at him.
“I’ll take that as an agreement.”
Chapter 2
Renee
“Lyon, we’ve got a two-car collision. Three injured victims and one DoS. ETA, five minutes out.”
“Got it.” I took the last bite of my apple and tossed it into the garbage pail behind the desk before following my attending physician, Doctor Shaffer, into the ambulance bay. Pulling on a pair of medical gloves, I grabbed a gurney and wheeled it through the doors just as the ambulance pulled up, lights flashing.
“What have you got?” Shaffer asked one of the female paramedics.
“Daniel Carter. Six-year-old child, massive head trauma. He was sitting up front when their car was hit, hitting the dashboard before the airbag deployed. He’s been in and out of consciousness.”
“Get him stabilized and straight to CT,” Shaffer told one of his nurses. Before I could consider what kind of treatment this poor kid needed, a second ambo pulled up, and another patient was wheeled out. This patient was screaming—no,wailing. It didn’t take me long to figure it out.
“Kim Daniels is the little boy’s mother,” the paramedic, Julia, said. “She has a chin laceration and a periorbital hematoma. Otherwise, stable.”
“Ma’am, my name is Renee,” I said, gently taking the woman’s hand. “I was an EMT and an RN in training. We’re going to take care of you, okay?” I forced a smile and rested my hand on the woman’s abdomen. She had a cut on her chin and a bruise over her eye, but at least she was conscious.
Not like her little boy.
“Daniel,” she moaned. “My baby. Where is he?”
“He’s being taken to CT for a scan. Doctor Shaffer wants to make sure there’s not an intracranial hemorrhage.”
“Oh, Jesus,” the woman moaned. “What does that mean? Is he going to be okay?”
“We need to make sure he didn’t have a brain bleed,” I clarified, keeping my tone as soothing as possible. I hoped she couldn’t hear my voice tremble. “Could you tell me what happened?”
Julia turned around and vanished into the break room, returning a moment later with a glass of water for Kim.
“Someone side blinded us out of nowhere,” Kim said with a sob. Mascara streaked down her face, and wild tendrils of hair clung to her red, wet cheeks.
