“I love you,” he whispered in her ear, and she didn’t go still like he thought she might the second the words slipped out.
Instead, she hugged him tighter. “I love you, too,” she said without hesitation.
He pulled back to look at her, and she stared into his eyes. Declaring their love for one another should’ve been so much more thrilling. AJ would’ve planned the first time he ever said it to any girl, if his telling her hadn’t been so unexpected.
“If it weren’t for the circumstances, I’d be making love to you already,” he said with a smile that felt as bittersweet as that moment did. “I’d tell you over and over just how in love I am with you while I did it too.”
She smiled, touching his face again. “I’ve always known, even before I met you, AJ, I could easily fall in love with you. That thing everyone calls rage, I always called passion. I love your passion. It’s undeniable in everything about you: your love for the game, your family . . . me.”
“You and Clair,” he whispered, taking her hand and kissing her fingers. “I think I fell in love with that little girl the moment I met her. She’s something else, and when I met her mother, I knew why. You’re amazing—”
His phone dinging broke their moment, and he moved away from her, rushing to pick it up. It was another text from Nathan.
He’s got a neck injury, but they don’t know the extent yet because he’s still unconscious. His leg is broken in a few places, but that’s all we know for sure. Could be a spinal cord injury.
“Fuck,” AJ whispered, feeling something grip his wind pipe. “Possible spinal cord injury?”
“Positive thoughts, Andrés,” Addison said, kissing his arm, then hurried around the bed to get her things together.
~~~
When they reached the hospital, they were told Isaiah had finally woken up but he’d complained of neck and back ache so they gave him morphine. By the time AJ was able to go in and see him, he was out again.
“What did they say about his spine?” AJ asked as he stared at his big brother looking so helpless in a neck brace and tubes all over.
“Well, the fact that he was in pain is actually a good thing,” Nathan informed him. “He can feel his legs. Mostly the pain is in his broken one.” Nathan shook his head. “I don’t know, man. This could be it for him.”
AJ jerked his head up to gape at Nathan, the fear searing through him as Addison squeezed his hand gently. “What do you mean?”
“I mean this may do it,” Nathan explained. “His knee was already giving him shit ever since that last injury. They had him on light duty for months and he hated it, remember? He said if he were ever put on permanent light duty, he’d quit. This may just do that.”
“Good,” AJ said as the blissful relief replaced the brutal fear that had just shot through him. But it was fleeting. Instantly, he felt the familiar heat chase the bliss away. “I’ve told both of you there’s no need to continue putting yourselves in this kind of danger. I hope to God this does mean permanent light duty so his stubborn ass will finally quit. I just hope it doesn’t take something like this for you to finally listen too.”
Nathan shrugged with a frown as Liv and Emi entered the room. They hadn’t been there when AJ arrived, and both wrapped their arms around him, bringing back the emotion he’d been so overcome with back at the hotel.
“We were so scared,” Emi said, a bit teary-eyed.
Livi nodded, wiping tears away from the corner of her eyes. “I heard about it on the news,” she said, taking a deep breath. “When they said several firefighters had been injured and what area they’d been in, I thought I might pass out.”
“He’s gonna be fine,” Nathan said, rubbing her back. “You should go home, Liv. We’ll keep you posted. Being around here all tense and stressed can’t be good for you in your condition.”
Livi rubbed her big belly. “Yeah, we’re leaving soon. I don’t want to impose too long on Rosie. She’s watching Enzo for us.” She turned to AJ. “Romero and Uncle Manny are here again. They were here the moment they heard about it. And the Morenos have come by too. But Romero, Manny, and Max left once they cleared Isaiah of any spinal injuries and he fell back asleep.”
Since it appeared Isaiah would be out for a while, they all stepped out to walk Livi out and talk to their cousin and uncle. The waiting room was abuzz with family members and firefighters still in uniform, all there waiting to hear more about Isaiah and their other fallen comrades.
Manny looked to be wiping tears away as he spoke to Lorenzo. “I tell you ever since these kids moved out here from Dallas it’s felt like they’re my kids. God damn scare this one gave us today.”
AJ swallowed back the emotion as he greeted his cousin and uncle. The family had had their share of tragedies already, but this one had hit AJ harder than any of the others. Ever since his parents had divorced when he was still just a kid, Isaiah had stepped up as the man of the house, and AJ felt an extra-special bond with him. He was their rock. When his mother passed away so suddenly, Isaiah kept it together for all of them. Then when their dad passed, he was the one that got it all together for them and moved them all to California.
Looking back now, the pressure to keep the family together and assure them everything would be fine must’ve been huge for such a young guy. Even now that things were all good—his sisters were happily married and money was no longer an issue—AJ had no idea what they’d do without Isaiah. He didn’t even want to think about it.
Nathan explained to them what they knew so far then mentioned what he’d told AJ in the room about how maybe this was it for Isaiah. AJ pecked Addison when she excused herself to go to the ladies’ room.
“Well, maybe this was a blessing then,” Manny said, raising his voice. “It probably is better if he quits before something worse happens. If anything, you twos are gonna give me fucking heart attack one of these days. Every God damn time I see something on the news about a fire—”
“Hey, man!” Romero said, motioning his hand downward. “Bring it down a notch. We’re in a hospital.”
Uncle Manny continued in a slightly lowered voice that only got louder again with each word about how his heart wasn’t able to take too much more of this shit.
“Alright, Drama, relax,” Romero said with a soured face then turned back to Nathan. “Didn’t he used to do security before he got into the academy?”
“Yeah,” Nathan said. “He was a bouncer at a few different clubs in Dallas.”
“And he’s way bigger now that he was then, right?” Romero said with a gleam in his eyes, as both AJ and Nathan nodded. “There you go. Worst-case scenario he can come work for me.”
“Hell no,” AJ protested immediately. “He ain’t going from fighting fires to putting his life in danger protecting someone else. No offense, but I got a much safer job for him, handling all my publicity and merchandising shit. That’s a full-time job right there.”
“Your brother just said Isaiah would rather quit than sit at some desk, paper pushing.”
“It’s not just paper pushing,” AJ began to argue but was distracted at the sight of Addison plodding back from the ladies’ room then stopping to finish the conversation she was having on the phone.
Romero continued explaining how most of the jobs he had were harmless, something about his clients being more high-end now. AJ only caught bits and pieces of Romero’s attempt to sway him about his security position for Isaiah.