Lights to My Siren (16 page)

“That’s enough, Mary. I think you need to go back to work and leave us be.” I ordered glaring at the woman I’d once called a friend.

I hadn’t been able to admit it all those years ago, but the woman was a big bitch. At first, I’d just thought it was because Mary had been grieving, but as each subsequent year passed, and Mary continued to act like this, I couldn’t allow her those feelings anymore. Hell, the woman was even married again.

“He wasn’t complaining about my curves this morning.” Baylee smiled, pressing her breasts together for emphasis.

Hard doesn’t even begin to describe my dick when Baylee said that just then. This morning had been on my list of fantasies since first meeting the woman in her bra and bike shorts, while I was taking a piss.

Reaching down, I adjusted my dick in my pants underneath the table. Baylee caught the movement and laughed. Mary caught the movement and snarled before leaving. Her stale perfume following in her wake.

“What the hell was that about?” Baylee asked.

“Mitchell Ryan Reed, a.k.a. Hell, was a hell of a man, which was where he got his name. When I first got to the town where boot camp was being held, Mary and I had a one-night stand, and I left the next day without a backwards glance. I was 18 and going into the Marines the next day. I didn’t need those type of attachments.”

I hid my grin at seeing the silent snarl on Baylee’s face. When she made the ‘keep going’ gesture with her finger, I continued.

“Anyway, six months down the road, Hell tells me he found the most awesome woman in the world, and he was getting married. Low and behold, it’s Mary. We both acted like we didn’t know each other, but I told him I’d slept with her the very day he introduced her to us. Then we were deployed, and she became the type of woman that would whine and cry every time he spoke to her. Write him sob letters about how lonely she was. Each and every time. It never stopped. Then, when he died, she blamed me because I survived, and her husband didn’t. Been that way ever since.” I finished.

“Wow,” She said hesitantly.

“Couldn’t agree more.” I nodded.

The waiter brought Baylee’s Chicken Critters and my 72-ounce sirloin shortly after, and I’d just taken my first bite when what she said made me choke.

“At least what you do isn’t illegal. I was really worried that your MC was a bunch of criminals who did bad things. It makes me feel better that you work in the confines of the law. It’ll help me get Luke off my back, at least.”

Fuck.

I never said I didn’t do anything illegal. I only said that what we did to make money wasn’t illegal.

What the hell was I supposed to tell her now?

Chapter 13

When life feels overwhelming, remember that you will eventually die.

-Life lesson

Baylee

The tones dropped, and we immediately tensed.

This week had been absolutely nuts.

There’d been three other unexplained arsons, and absolutely every one of them had the same M.O. as the first apartment fire just three short months ago.

Luckily, this one wasn’t a fire at all.

“Medic three, please dispatch to patient home at 318 Englewood Drive. Life alert was utilized. Patient fell and is unable to move.” The dispatcher called over the radio.

Winter sighed while I ground my teeth. We received many calls on the elderly. It was actually quite sad, because the majority of the calls were on men and women that literally couldn’t do anything themselves; yet they didn’t have the money to pay for the care they needed.

“Medic three responding.” I said into my mic at my shoulder.

We pushed off the picnic tables we were eating at, tossing our half-eaten food into the trash before loading into the bus.

Paramedics wasted a lot of food. Hell, only once in a blue moon was it possible for me to finish my meals without the tones dropping. Most of the time we were able to bring the food with us, but this time it was pasta, and that didn’t travel well.

The residence we arrived at wasn’t a nice one. In fact, it was downright deplorable, and it made my heart hurt to think of an elderly man living here.

I grabbed the med bag as Winter went ahead and knocked on the door.

What surprised us both was the fact that someone actually answered the door. Usually on a fall call, we had to enter the residence by force due to the person being on the floor and unable to get up. The person was most assuredly not elderly, either. At most, he was forty. He was also juicin’ by the looks of him; he was jittery as fuck.

“Hello, we received a call that someone had fallen.” Winter said by way of greeting.

“Uhh, yeah. That was me. I pressed my girlfriend’s life alert. I didn’t fall though.” He explained, while looking around warily.

Something in my brain told me this was fishy, and we should probably call PD; while Winter stepped inside, I hit the mic at my shoulder.

“Dispatch, this is Medic three. We’re going to need a couple of blue and whites out here.” I said as I crossed over the threshold.

“10-4. Dispatched. They’re about three minutes out.” The dispatcher relayed.

Somewhat comforted, I followed the sound of Winter’s questioning voice, avoiding the hoarders nest as I walked through the path. The place was one of the worst I’d seen. It was piled high with what looked to be trash.

Newspapers stood about waist high down the pathway, with old cardboard boxes and trash interspersed throughout. In the corner of the room, I could make out the faint outline of a couch, covered nearly completely with old paperback books.

In another corner was about five of those very old boxy TVs that had the wooden frame surrounding the edges of the screen, piled two and three high. Then there was the kitchen.

That was where Winter was, standing beside what I could guess was once a kitchen table, except it was covered completely with dirty dishes, and black garbage bags.

“If your girlfriend didn’t fall, Mr. Sutton, then I am unsure what exactly you needed us for.” Winter tilted her head in confusion.

Mr. Sutton’s gaze turned to me, and then back to Winter before he finally explained. And rocked our worlds.

“Well, I was pissing earlier when I saw bugs on my dick. I didn’t want them to get into my blood and start eating my heart, so I made sure they couldn’t.” He said, gesturing to his dick with a tilt of his head.

We’d be adding psychotic to the list. Gotcha.

Winter looked down where my gaze was already fastened before lifting her eyes back up to Mr. Sutton’s face. “Well, that’s unfortunate. Can I ask what you did to...um...block off the entry with?”

Now this is the point where a paramedic’s job became interesting. You wouldn’t believe the utter amount of bullshit that we paramedics have to go through on a daily basis. This was nothing for us.

“Zip ties.” He answered.

We blinked.

“Would it be possible for us to see the, um, infected area?” I asked with as straight of a face as I could muster.

“Sure.” He answered, and dropped the sweat pants that he was wearing.

Words really couldn’t explain.

“Umm, sir, can you explain your thoughts as you did this?” Winter asked as I took a step back.

The area really looked quite...agonizing. What he did was use industrial sized zip ties around his cock and balls. But he didn’t just stop at one. No, not Mr. Sutton. He went all out, being doubly sure. He had a zip tie on at least every quarter of an inch or so, spanning the entire span of his penis.

Then there were his balls. Those only had one zip tie around the base of his scrotum where the skin descended from his body.

The coloring of his balls and dick was what was most concerning. They were a deep, dark bluish purple, indicating that the area hadn’t received blood flow in quite some time.

Every single one of the zip ties were tied as tightly as they could go. He was really sure that those bad cooties weren’t getting into his blood.

The cops arrived around the time that both Winter and I were getting a clearer look at the ‘affected’ area. The two men, both beat cops, were seasoned cops. So when we sat back and let them get a look, they didn’t burst out laughing, but they did shudder.

“Holy shit. That’s gotta hurt.” The older of the two surmised.

I silently agreed.

“You can go ahead and lift your pants, Mr. Sutton. We’ll give you a ride to the hospital. Is that okay?” I asked him.

At his assurance, we left the house without incidence, and Mr. Sutton made himself comfortable on the bench seat in the ambulance. How he could sit with his dick and balls hideously bound like that was beyond me.

As we arrived at the hospital, and Winter gave the report, a crowd of ER nurses and doctors started congregating around the area, waiting for their chance to get a look at the man that had zip tied his dick and balls.

Jesus, we were all morbid.

The cops followed us to the hospital, and made a note of our concerns before following up with the man and his heart-eating bugs.

“Do you think it was because they were playing some sort of kink games in their sexcapades?” I grinned devilishly at my partner.

Winter snorted. “I really don’t want to know. Now let’s get our asses back to the station. We get off in five.”

Miraculously, we made it back to the station and our vehicles without being called back.

Which was freaking awesome since I had plans with a certain man and his son.

***

Johnny was a bundle of energy if I’d ever seen one. The boy was just nuts. He barely ever slowed down, and when he finally did, it was because he was sleeping.

The boy slept in the weirdest of places too. It’s like the need for sleep caught him during a weak moment, slowing him down long enough for him to realize his exhaustion, which, inevitably, left him sleeping the weirdest of places.

Which was why when I found the young boy sleeping on the trampoline in Sebastian’s backyard, I wasn’t surprised. Someone, most likely Sebastian, covered him up with a beach towel, and zipped up the safety nets so he didn’t roll off in his sleep.

I found my man down at the dock with a Cane fishing pole at his feet, and a beer in his hand.

“How are they biting tonight?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around his neck from behind, giving his neck a kiss.

His free hand came up and wrapped around my bicep. “Pretty good, actually. The mosquitoes, too. Spray some bug spray on real quick.” He said, pointing at the can of spray on the dock beside him.

I was like a honing beacon to all mosquitoes. I’d be outside for all of seven seconds before I sported no less than twenty bites. Which was why I’d doused myself in the car before I’d even gotten out.

“Already ahead of you.” I said, circling his chair and sitting down on his lap.

His arms lifted as I sat gingerly on his lap, and then leaned back, letting my head fall to his shoulder.

His face turned, and he ran his bearded face along my hair before kissing my temple.

“How was work?” He asked conversationally.

“Fucking awesome.” I quipped.

“Anymore fires?” He asked, tensing slightly.

He’d shared with me that he thought those fires weren’t quite what they seemed to be, and that he thought that it may be a serial arsonist.

“No. Just a guy that zip tied his balls and dick.” I confirmed.

Sebastian snorted, but it didn’t really surprise him. He was a firefighter, he’d seen just as much, if not more, than I had.

“Jesus. People these days. I got a bite. Bring him in for me.” Sebastian said, tapping my thigh urgently.

I leaned forward, and damn near did a header into the lake. I would have, too, if it weren’t for Sebastian grabbing my blue jean’s waistband before I could go over.

Then whatever was on the pole started pulling extremely hard, and I had to hold on with both hands. “Oh, my God. Take this thing from me before whatever it is pulls me down below the water and kills me.” I shrieked.

Sebastian chuckled before standing, grabbing the pole, and then setting it off to the side.

I relinquished the pole readily, and looped my arms around the beam at the end of the pier, watching in fascination as Sebastian’s muscled arms tightened as the force of the fish on his pole snapped the cane pole in half.

His quick reflexes reared their head, and Sebastian grabbed a hold on the line with his bare hand, and turned it, wrapping the line around his fist, and efficiently reeling the fish in at the same time.

It didn’t take long until he had the fish up and out of the water with the help of the net that was hanging on the beam beside my head.

He scooped the ugly monster up and grinned triumphantly.

“What the fuck is that?” I gasped when I got my first good look at the ugly thing.

“This,” he said as he held it up for my examination, “is an alligator gar.”

“Those things are in the lake I swim in?” I gulped.

“Oh, yeah.” He said, cutting the line so it wouldn’t bite his hand off at the wrist.

It fell back into the water with a large splash, and swam away into the murky depths of the water.

“How big was that thing?” I asked eyes wide.

“Three feet or so. You about ready to hit the BBQ joint I told you about?” He asked as he collapsed the rest of the cane pole and leaned it up against a tree at the end of the dock.

“Yep. Who are we meeting?” I asked as I walked with Sebastian up the sloped yard.

“Kettle and his date. We’d planned to go just the two of us last week, but the girl he wants told him the only way she’d meet him for dinner was if it was a group setting at a quiet place, and it just deteriorated from there when I had to bring y’all.” Sebastian replied grimly.

I burst out laughing, waking the sleeping Johnny with the echoes.

His little head popped up from the mat of the trampoline, and started back at his mile a minute antics.

We both watched as he started jumping, using the blanket that had been covering him as a cape, shouting to the world that he was Superman.

“Are you trying to say that bringing your girlfriend and kid with you deteriorated things?” I asked as I smiled up at him.

His mouth was set in a teasing grin as he looked down at her. “Yeah, it started out as beer and barbeque. Now it’s going to be my kid going all Joker from Batman in the place and me chasing after him...not having a beer.”