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Not his Harrison exactly.
Detective Inspector Harrison Black.
Senior investigating officer.
He stood at the centre of organised chaos while uniformed officers, firefighters and detectives moved around him. People approached him constantly. Questions. Updates. Problems. And Harrison absorbed them all without missing a step, making decisions with a calm certainty that settled everyone around him. A brief instruction here. A quick redirect there. Then he was moving again, already thinking three steps ahead.
The entire operation revolved around him.
It was oddly fascinating to watch.
And Christ, it did things to Jake he wasn’t prepared for.
The man was devastating enough in bed. Watching him command an entire emergency response operation was doing things to Jake that he couldn’t explain. Luckily, he was in an ambulance because he was so spectacularly screwed he might need medical attention.
Not trapped-in-a-ceiling screwed.
Emotionally screwed.
Maybe oxygen deprivation had caused permanent brain damage.
“How long were you struggling to breathe?”
Jake blinked away from Harrison to the paramedic above him. “Hm?”
“Any dizziness?” The paramedic checked the dressing on Jake’s palm.
Jake pulled the mask down. “A bit.”
Though Jake suspected that had less to do with oxygen levels and more to do with watching the man he was sleeping with casually coordinate half the emergency services in Yorkshire.
“Leave that on.” The paramedic pushed the mask back into place before clipping the pulse oximeter onto Jake’s finger again. “Any nausea?”
Jake shook his head.
“Chest pain?”
“Only emotional.”
The bloke looked up. “You’ve just fallen through a maintenance hatch and you’re complaining of rib pain. I’m going to need a slightly more useful answer than that.”
Fair point.
Jake took a careful breath and immediately regretted it. “Right side. Hurts when I breathe deep. Worse if I move.”
The paramedic nodded. “And the shoulder?”
“Fucking kills.”
“Ankle?”
“Also fucking kills.”
“Very useful diagnostic scale you’ve got there.”
“Happy to help.”
The paramedic checked the pulse oximeter. “Any numbness or tingling in the arm? Fingers feel normal?”
