Lucky in Love (23 page)

And she’d believed in him, no questions asked.

This didn’t help her now, he knew. Because someone
had
taken the meds under her watch. It could have been anyone. Only Mallory knew the truth, and Ty knew by just looking at her that she
did
know. She knew who it was, and she didn’t want to say.

Even now she was trying to save someone.

It slayed him.
She
slayed him. “If you know I wasn’t the one who took the pills,” he said, “then why didn’t you turn over the list of people who’d been inside the building?”

For some reason, this pissed her off. He watched as temper ignited in her eyes. Standing up, she stabbed him in the chest with her finger hard enough to make him wince. “Do you think you’re the only one I care about?” she demanded.

“Uh…”

“No,” she assured him. “You are not.”

She was as mad as he’d ever seen her, in sky blue scrubs with a long-sleeved T-shirt beneath—
his
shirt, if he wasn’t mistaken. There was a mysterious lump of things in her pockets and someone had drawn a red heart on one of her white tennis shoes. She still had chocolate on one corner of her mouth, her hair was completely out of control, and she was ready to take down anyone who got in her path.

She’d never looked more beautiful. “Mallory.” He knew how much her job meant to her. How much the HSC meant. How much Lucky Harbor meant.

He was leaving, but she wasn’t. Her life was here, and in that moment, he made his decision, knowing he could live with it. “I took advantage of you,” he said, making sure to speak loud enough for all the eavesdroppers to hear. “Complete advantage.”

Two stools over, Matt groaned. “Man, don’t. Don’t do it.”

Mallory hadn’t taken her eyes off Ty, and she was still pissed. “
What are you doing
?”

“Attempting to tell what happened,” he said carefully.

“Now you all just hold it right there.” Mrs. Burland was suddenly right there, pointing at Ty with her cane, almost sticking it up his nose. “Yeah, you little punk-ass,” she said. “I’m talking to you.”

Little punk ass?
He was a foot and a half taller than her and outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. He stared down at her in shock.

Everyone in the place sucked in a breath and did the same.

Except Matt. He grinned wide. “Little punk ass,” he repeated slowly, rolling the words off his tongue in delight. “I like it.”

Ty gave him a look that didn’t appear to bother Matt at all. It’d been a hell of a long time since anyone had gotten in Ty’s face, even longer since he’d been called a little punk ass, and by the looks of her, Mrs. Burland wasn’t done with him yet.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” she demanded.

“I’m trying to have a conversation,” he said. “A
private
one.”

Lucille leaned in. “There’s no such thing in Lucky Harbor,” she said helpfully.

Clearly tired of the interruptions, Mrs. Burland slammed her cane onto the floor three times in a row, until all eyes were back on her. She glared at Ty. “You have no right to confess to a crime you didn’t commit.”

Apparently, as well as being curmudgeonly and grumpy and mean as a snake, Mrs. Burland was also sharp as a tack. “Stay out of it,” he said.

“You’re trying to be the big hero,” Mrs. Burland told him. “You think she’s protecting someone, and you don’t want her hurt.”

Mallory turned to him. “Is that what you’re doing?”

Ty opened his mouth but Mrs. Burland rose up to her full four feet eight inches and said, “It was me.
I
took the meds.” She eyeballed the entire crowd. “Not a teenager. Not a drug dealer. Not any of the crazy Quinns. And not this—” She gestured toward Ty, and her mouth tightened disfavorably. “
Man
. He might be guilty of plenty, not the least of which is messing with
your
reputation, Mallory Quinn—not that you seem to mind—but he didn’t take the pills. That was me.”

“No.” A young woman stood up from a table across the room. Ty recognized her as Deena, the clerk at the grocery store. “I was at the HSC yesterday,” she said. “For birth control pills.
I
took the Oxycontin.”

“That’s a lie.” This was from Ryan, at the far end of the counter. “We all know I have a problem.
I
took the pills.”

Mallory’s mouth fell open.

Nothing surprised Ty, but even he could admit to being shocked. The entire town was rallying around Mallory in the only way they knew how. He’d never seen anything like it.

Amy banged a wooden spoon on the counter to get everyone’s attention. “Hey, I was there, too. I took the pills.” Her eyes locked on Matt’s, whose jaw bunched and ticked.

Mallory gaped at Amy. “You were not there—”

“Oh no you all don’t!” Mrs. Burland yelled. “Listen you…you egocentric, self-absorbed, narcissistic group of
insane
people. Don’t make me smack all of you!” And with that, she pulled a small box from her pocket.

A sample of Oxycontin.

“See?” she said triumphantly. “I have them. I have them all. I took them because I thought they were Probiotics for my constipation. They’re the same color box. My insurance is crap, and even if it wasn’t, I hate to wait in line at the pharmacy. I’ve spent the past decade waiting in stupid lines. A line to see the doctor. A line to wait for meds. Hell, I even had to wait in line to go to the bathroom a minute ago. I’m over it, and I’m over all of you.”

“You don’t need Probiotics,” Lucille said. “All you need are prunes and a blender.”

“
You
got Mallory fired?” Amy asked Mrs. Burland.

“No, Mallory’s big mouth got her fired,” Mrs. Burland said.

“I didn’t get fired,” Mallory said. “I quit.”

Lucille tried to lean in again. “Excuse me, dear,” she said to Mallory. “But—”

“
Not now
, Lucille.
Please
.”

“Yes, but it’s important.”

“
What’s more important than this
?”

“The candles.”

They’d come back to life again, blazing good this time. The cake had been scooted back against the pile of menus, and several had fallen too close. The menus went up in flames just as Ty leaped toward them, grabbing Mallory’s glass of water to dump it on the small fire.

The flames flickered and went out.

Except for the middle one, the largest candle. Which turned out to be not just a trick candle but some sort of bottle rocket, because it suddenly shot straight up and into the ceiling like…well, like a bottle rocket.

The fire alarm sounded, and then there was the
whoosh
of a huge pressure hose letting loose, and the sprinklers overhead came on.

And rained down on the entire diner and everyone in it.

Strength is the ability to break up a solid piece of
chocolate—and then eat just one of the pieces.

M
allory was shocked at how fast total chaos reigned. Instantaneously, really. As the overhead sprinklers showered down icy water, people began yelling and screaming. Everyone pushed and shoved at each other to get out.

Adding to the insanity, the decorations hanging from the ceiling soaked up the water and began to fall, pulling down ceiling tiles with them. A papier-maché elephant hit Mallory on the head, along with the attached ceiling tile. For a second she saw stars, then panicked. Someone was going to get seriously hurt. She tried to blink through the downpour to check the crowd for anyone who needed help. She could hardly see two feet in front of her but it appeared that
everyone
needed help. People were either running or down for the count. It was utter mayhem.

Mallory gulped some air and shoved her hair out of her face. Her hand came away bloody. Her cheek was bleeding, but before she could dwell on that someone grabbed her, tugged her up against his side, and began to steam-roll her toward the door.

Ty.

“Let me go,” she said, banging on his chest, which was completely ineffective.

“No. I want you safe outside,
now
.”

“Forget me, get Mrs. Burland and Lucille!”

“You first, goddammit.” Then, still holding her tightly against him, Ty scooped up Mrs. Burland, too. Lucille was nowhere to be seen. Through the sprinklers, Mallory saw Matt grabbing Amy and Grace, shoving them out the door, and going back in for others. Ty dumped Mallory near them and went back inside.

Mallory went to leap in after him. Ty blocked her.

“I’m going in,” she said. “People are hurt, Ty. I can help.”

His jaw ticked but he stepped aside. The fire alarm was blaring, water from the sprinklers still pouring down. Mallory got several more people outside before she ran into Ty again. He had two of Lucille’s posse by their hands but he dropped one and stopped to stroke the wet hair that wouldn’t stay out of Mallory’s face, ducking a little to look over her bloody cheek, then into her eyes. He was checking on her, making sure she was okay.

But he must know by now. She was always okay. Not that
that
stopped the warmth from washing through her from knowing he cared. It was in every touch, every look.

And he was going to leave.

He had a job; she got that. She’d never want to hold him back from what fueled him, whatever that might be. But she’d sort of, maybe, just a little bit, wished that
she
could be what fueled him.

By the time the fire department came, they’d gotten everyone out. Several people were injured enough to require several ambulances, which arrived right behind the fire department. Mallory was helping those lined up on the sidewalk. Near her, Matt was assisting the paramedics. Ty, too, looked just as comfortable in a position of medical authority. He had Ryan, who’d somehow gotten a nasty-looking laceration down one arm, seated at the curb. Ty was crouched at the vet’s side, applying pressure to the wound, looking quite capable.

Josh pulled up to the scene and hopped out of his car. Ryan was closest to him, so he stopped beside him first.

“He’s in shock,” Ty said quietly.

It was true. Ryan was shaking, glassy-eyed, disoriented. Definitely in shock. Josh went back to his car and returned with an emergency kit. Ty and Josh wrapped Ryan in an emergency blanket to get him warm, then made sure he was breathing evenly and that his pulse wasn’t too fast. Mallory took over then, sitting at Ryan’s side, holding his hand as she watched Josh and Ty work together in perfect sync on other victims.

When the paramedics were free, they took over Ryan’s care and Mallory moved toward Ty and Josh.

“The least you can do,” Josh was saying to Ty, “now that you’re cleared and still sitting on your ass, is hire on. You know there’s that flight paramedic opening out of Seattle General. That unit runs its ass off, no shortage of adrenaline there. And hell, look at how exciting Lucky Harbor can be.”

Ty ignored him and crouched at Lucille’s feet. “You okay?”

“Oh, sure, honey.” She patted his arm. “You’re a good boy.”

Ty smiled, and Mallory didn’t know if that was at the idea of him being a boy, or good. Then he straightened and turned to Mallory.

She wasn’t surprised that he’d known she was standing behind him. He always seemed to know where she was. “Wow,” she said with what she thought was remarkable calm. “Look at you.”

His eyes locked in on her cheek, and he touched the wound. With a wince, she batted his hand away.

He pulled her away from all the prying eyes and ears. “You need that taken care of,” he said. “Let me help—”

“No.” She needed more help than he could possibly imagine. “It can wait.” She didn’t know where to start, but she gave it the old college try and started at the beginning. “How is it that a mechanic knows how to treat trauma victims?”

His gaze never left hers. “I was a medic in the SEALS.”

“A medic. In the SEALs.” She absorbed that and shook her head. “That’s funny, because I could have sworn you told me you were a mechanic. A navy mechanic, who was doing similar work now.”

“No,” he said. “Well, yes. I work on cars. Sometimes. But that’s for me, for fun.”

“For fun.” She paused, but it didn’t compute. “I pictured you working on ships, maybe on helicopters and tanks. Not bodies. Why didn’t you tell me?”

He responded with a question of his own. “Why does it matter what I was?”

“Because it’s not what you were, Ty, it’s who you
are
.” How could he not see that? Or hear her heart as it quietly cracked down the center? “You’re going back,” she said. “You’re only here waiting to be cleared…” She stared at him as Josh’s words sank in. “Except you already
are
cleared.” Oh, God. He could leave now. Any second. “How long have you known? And why would you hide so much from me?” But she already knew the answer to that. It was because they were just fooling around.

Nothing more.

And she had no one to blame but herself. Horrified at how close she was to breaking down, she took a step backward and bumped directly into Sheriff Sawyer Thompson. He’d strode up to the soggy group and now stood there, hands on hips. “What the hell happened here?”

Everyone was still there. No one wanted to miss anything. Every able body in the pathetic, ragtag-looking group immediately gathered ranks around Mrs. Burland, the mean old biddy who’d never done anything nice for a single one of them. In fact, she’d made their life a living hell in a hundred different ways. But they all started talking at once, each giving their story of the drug theft, and how they’d ended up being dumped on by the diner’s sprinkler system.

Once again protecting one of their own.

Mrs. Burland still wasn’t having any of it. She stood up, wobbled with her cane toward the sheriff and held out her wrists. “Arrest me, Copper. But don’t even think about a strip search. I have rights, you know.”

Sawyer assured her that he had no interest in arresting her, because then he’d have to arrest everyone else who’d confessed as well. Looking disgusted and frustrated, he started over, talking to one person at a time.

The crowd began to disperse.

Mallory sank to the curb and dropped her head to her knees, exhausted to the bone and far too close to losing it. Ty, holding so much back from her…How was that even possible? She’d given him everything she’d had.

He wasn’t going to change now, and God help her, she was going to be okay with that if it killed her.

And it just might.

Two battered boots appeared in front of her, and she felt him crouch at her side.

Ty, of course. Her heart only leapt for Ty. He ran a big, warm hand down her back, made a sound of annoyance at finding her still drenched and shivering, and then she felt one of the emergency blankets from the firefighters come around her.

“I’m fine,” she said.

“Yeah.” He sat at her side and pulled her in against his warmth. “Extremely fine. But that’s not what’s in question here.”

“What
is
in question?”

“You tell me.”

“Fine,” she said, and lifted her head. “I don’t get the big secret about being a paramedic.”

“It wasn’t a secret.”

“It feels like a secret,” she said. “That day you came to the hospital to get your stitches out, you could have done that yourself.”

“I wanted to see you.”

Aw.

Dammit,
no
aw. “Okay, then what about what happened next?” she asked. “When that patient coded out? You got pale and shaky, almost shocky, as if you’d never seen anything like that before.”

Ty was still balanced on the balls of his feet. He lowered his head and studied his shoes for a moment, then looked her right in the eyes. “Do you want to know the last thing I did as a SEAL trauma medic?” he asked, voice dangerously low. She wasn’t the only one pissed off and frustrated.

“I dragged my teammates out of the burning plane,” he told her. “Tommy was already dead, but the others, Brad, Kelly, and Trevor…” He closed his eyes. “I did everything I could, and they died anyway. Afterward, I couldn’t do it. I tried, but I couldn’t go back to being a first line trauma responder.”

Her gut wrenched for him. “Oh, Ty.”

“I was honorably discharged, and when I got work, it wasn’t as a medic. I turned down anything like that for four years. Four years, Mallory, where I didn’t so much as give out a Band-Aid.”

Until he’d come to Lucky Harbor. “Amy’s knife wound,” she whispered.

He nodded grimly. “The first time I’d opened a first-aid kit in all that time.”

And then today. Again, a situation that fell right on him, and he’d stepped into the responsibility as if into a pair of comfortable old shoes. She wondered if he realized that.

“My turn,” he said. “Your job? You lost your job?”

“Not lost.
Quit
.” She took a moment to study her own shoes now, until he wrapped his fingers around her ponytail and tugged.

She lifted her head and met his gaze. “Mallory,” he said softly. Pained. “Why?”

Why? A million reasons, none of which she wanted to say because suddenly, it was all too much. The job, the HSC, the diner, knowing how she felt about Ty and realizing he was going to leave anyway. Her head hurt, her cheek hurt. And her heart hurt, too. When her eyes filled, he made a low sound. Hard to tell if it was male horror or empathy. But then he wrapped his arms around her, and she planted her face in the crook of his neck.

She should have known he wouldn’t be uncomfortable with tears. He didn’t seem to be uncomfortable with much, when it came right down to it.

Except maybe his own emotions.

How had things gotten so out of control
? All she’d wanted was to stretch her wings. Live for herself instead of for others. Try new things. She’d done that, and she’d loved it.

She loved him
.

And therein lay her mistake. “The whole HSC drug fiasco is
my
fault,” she said into his chest. “No one else’s. I screwed up there.” She sucked in a breath as once again her eyes filled. “As for everything else, I always wanted to go a little crazy, but as it turns out, I’m not all that good at it,” she whispered.

He made a show of looking at the utter chaos of the diner. “I don’t know,” he said. “I think you’re better at it than you give yourself credit for.”

She choked out a laugh, realizing that no matter what she did, he had her back. He’d been there for her, one hundred percent. It was in his every look, touch, kiss. “I just wanted something for myself,” she said softly.

“And you deserve that,” he said with absolute conviction, warming her from the inside out. From the beginning, he’d treated her like someone special, from before they’d even known each other’s names. He’d shared his courage, his sense of adventure, his inner strength.

Once, she’d been a woman terribly out of balance with herself and her hopes and dreams. That had changed.

Because of him.

She was in balance now but even that wasn’t enough. Loving him wasn’t enough. It wasn’t going to get her what she wanted. Nothing was going to get her what she wanted—which was Ty. She really needed to cut her losses now before it got worse, but God. How could she? “Ty.”

He pulled back to look into her eyes, his own going very serious at the look in hers.

She cupped his face. “I’ve screwed up. I’m falling for you.” She gently kissed his gorgeous mouth so that he couldn’t say anything. “Don’t worry, I know you won’t let yourself do the same.” She kissed him again when he went to speak, because it was in his eyes. Sorrow. “I can’t do this anymore,” she whispered past a throat that felt like she’d swallowed cut glass. “I’m sorry.”

“Are you dumping me, Mallory?”

Was she? The truth was that
he
was the one going, and yet he hadn’t. She’d have to think about that later, but for now, for right now, what she had with him wasn’t enough for her. “You were never mine to dump,” she said.

Something crossed his normally stoic face, but he nodded and lifted a hand to her jaw, stroking his thumb over her lips in a gentle gesture that made her ache. She started to say something, she had no idea what, but someone tapped her on the shoulder. “
Mallory Michelle Quinn
.”