Billionaire On Fire: The Complete Series (A Bad Boy Alpha Billionaire Romance) (9 page)

"Looks like she might
have taken something," Leslie commented as she pulled up Liz's eyelids and
checked her pupil reflexes. "But then again, she might be sick. We’ll run
some tests and see what shows up. Do you know of anything she might have
taken?”

"No, I don't ," I
said shaking my head. I turned to Liz and asked, "Liz, are you on
drugs?"

"Drugs? What the hell?"
Liz said a little more coherently. "Jesus, I told you, I’m just tired.
Would you all back off?”

"She's been saying that
since I found her in the hallway," I shrugged. "No idea what it
means."

"She'd better be
careful," Leslie warned. "If Frau Rikka finds her--."

"She already did,"
I sighed. "She ordered me to bring her to find out what's going on."

"Aww, shit," Leslie
said shaking her head slowly. "There's gonna be a report about this, and
you're going to have to most likely answer a ton of questions. And if Liz has
been doing drugs it’s likely she’ll be expelled from the program."

"Shit," I muttered
under my breath.

"Indeed," Leslie
nodded. "Rikka is a hard ass about rules and she rarely does anything that
doesn't completely conform to them. She's a bitch in heels and she runs a tight
ship."

"What can I do?" I
asked. "How can I help Liz?"

"Well, the good thing is
that Rikka has made so may enemies in every department, that we'll have a
fairly good chance of thwarting her with a proactive approach," Leslie
said as she looked out from behind the curtain trying to find the resident.
"The second thing is that we've got time on our side. No investigators
will be in until morning, so if we can stall the resident, then we can give Liz
a chance to recover a bit. I'll hook her up to an IV line and we'll see if we
can't flush her system out a bit just in case she did take something."

"Just tell me what to
do," I said as I watched Leslie wipe Liz's arm with an alcohol pad and
then quickly slide the needle into her vein. She hooked up the IV and slipped
the bag onto the stand.

"You stand guard,"
Leslie said. "I'm going to clear out the rooms and get things quiet around
here again, then we'll see how Liz is doing and get the resident in here to
examine her."

I nodded as I watched Leslie
disappear into the bustling ER. I turned and looked at Liz. She looked so small
lying on the bed and she was unusually pale, even for her. For the next hour, I
watched her like a hawk as Leslie did her best to steer everyone clear of the
curtain.

"Liz," I whispered.
"You're going to have to tell me what's going on when you wake up."

"Back the hell off,
Pierce," Liz said in a sharp tone that she’d never used with me before
now. “I’m just tired.”

It took Leslie two hours to
clear the ER, and by then Liz was back on her feet and declared she felt fine.
 

"You're kidding
me," I said looking at her skeptically.

"Nope, not at all,"
she said. "I told you I just needed a nap. Let's get this needle out and
get back to work. I'm sure they could use a hand or two about now."

"Liz, you're going to
have to be checked out," I said as she tugged on the needle in her arm
trying to decide if she was going to pull it herself. "Mrs. Rikka didn't
give you a choice. You have to be seen by a doctor."

"Oh bullshit," Liz
said sticking out her tongue. "That old biddy has no idea what I
need."

"Liz, can you at least
wait until Leslie comes back and pulls the IV?" I pleaded as I held her
arm and hoped she'd listen to me.

"Fine, whatever,"
Liz sighed. "But get her back here soon to get it out, would you? I can't
stand the way it feels in my arm."

I helped Liz back to the cot
and to find Leslie who was in Trauma 1 finishing up the paperwork on another
gunshot victim. There was blood all over the floor beneath the table, and I
asked if she wanted me to clean it up.

"Nah, housekeeping will
get in here when it's this bad," she said waving me off. "You can't
clean blood as well as they can."

"Liz is up and around
and she wants the IV line out," I said. "She was trying to pull it
herself and I stopped her. I...I...I..."

"You what, Alex,"
Leslie said in calm, kind voice.

"I don't know what's
wrong with her!" I said as the tears flowed down my cheeks. "I'm
worried about her, but I don't know what to do. She's been acting weird for
weeks, but she swears there's nothing wrong."

"Classic addict
behavior," Leslie nodded. "If you're not an addict or been involved
with one, then you have no idea what it looks like."

"But I've known her for
years and I've never seen her take drugs," I insisted. "I'd know if
she was using drugs!"

"Oh sweetie,"
Leslie said shaking her head. "No, you probably wouldn't. C'mon, let's go
check on her."

When we got back to the cot
where Liz had been we found it empty. The bloody needle was lying on the floor
with the IV fluid spreading out in a puddle around it. I shook my head as I quickly
stopped the flow and did my best to mop up the mess with paper towels.

"Where do you think
she's gone?" Leslie asked then said, "Never mind, I bet I know
where."

Leslie took off without
another word, and I stood staring at the mess my best friend had left wondering
what in the world was going on with her, and why she felt she couldn't tell me.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

Cam

I
couldn't stop thinking about Alex as I walked
Tesla and got ready for work. The soft curves of her body invaded my every
waking thought and I felt my body responding to the desire in a way that I
hadn't felt in years.

But the more I thought about
Alex, the more I also thought about Quinn. It was as if the awakened feelings
were triggering a return to the guilt I'd felt after Quinn had died, and with
every wave of pleasure there was an accompanying wave of sadness and guilt. I
drove to the station, trying to figure out how I would cope with the competing
feelings.

"Hey, Connor, you look
like something the dog dragged in!" Mike called as I walked through the
door. Tesla wagged her tail and ran over to him as he grabbed a dog treat out
of the cabinet and made her sit. Once she'd gotten what she wanted, she pulled
her bunny out of the toy basket and walked over to her bed where the flopped
down with a loud, "Woof!"

"Thanks, Kelly," I
called as I walked to the locker room to drop my backpack off. "Always
count on you for a morning lift!"

The locker room was empty and
I stared at the photo of Quinn hanging on the door. It was a photo I'd taken
just after we'd moved into the house. She was lying on the front lawn with her
books open studying for an exam as I'd cut the grass in the backyard. I'd come
around the corner to find her laying on the fresh cut grass in the front of the
house. Her books were spread out, but she was lying on her back with her arms
spread and her face to the sun. She looked like an angel bathed in sunlight. An
instant before I'd snapped the picture, she'd opened her eyes and looked right
at me smiling. Later, I'd threatened to make it the photo on our wedding
announcement. Quinn had simply laughed.

I slammed the locker shut and
standing behind it was Victor Vangel.

"What do you want,
Vangel," I said in a flat voice.

"You know what I want,
Connor," he said menacingly. "I want you to take your name out of the
running and I want your vote for Squad Lieutenant."

"Go to hell,
Vangel," I said. "I have nothing to do with the process of choosing
the next Lieutenant and you know it."

"You putting in a good
word for me could help sway the decision, though," he said as his eyes
narrowed. "And if you’re not trying to get promoted, I have a much better
chance. Is there some reason you don't want to do that?"

"You know damn well why
I don't want to do that," I said as I turned and spun the lock and then
pulled to make sure it was sealed. "I can't stand you, Vangel. I think
you're a weasel and a lousy firefighter, and I can't imagine you ever earning
the loyalty of the men you lead. How you’ve managed to fool everyone else, I
have no idea."

"I see," Victor
said quietly. "Well, then I guess I'm going to have to pull out the big
guns and use what I have to get what I want."

"You can't blackmail
me," I said. I knew he could cause a great deal of damage before Leo and I
released the information about my ownership of CSC, but I didn't want him to
know that. "I know about you and just because you got the top score on the
lieutenant exam doesn’t mean you’re competent, Victor. You're a hot-head who is
a danger to everyone around you."

"You son of a
bitch..." Victor said. "You're going to be sorry you said that,
Connor."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah,"
I said waving him off. "Promises, promises."

Victor turned and stormed out
of the locker room without another word. I followed hoping that today was not
going to be the day he decided to spill the news about my involvement in CSC,
but preparing myself if he did.

Back in the community area,
Victor was nowhere to be seen, so I breathed a sigh of relief and sat down to
breakfast with the guys. Danny and Mike teased me about my date with Alex as
they tried to get more information about it out of me. I didn’t want to reveal
too much since I wasn’t sure where this was headed and definitely didn’t want
to be humiliated if or when Alex decided it wasn’t working. The guys groaned as
I kept my cards close to my chest, but eventually let it go.

Around noon, we were called
out on a medical emergency that turned out to be nothing much, so I persuaded
Mike to stop by the flower shop near the hospital so I could run in and pick
something up.

"Can't you just do what
the rest of us do and buy them at the gas station, Connor?" Newsome yelled
as I returned to the truck with a dozen pink roses in a large gold box.

"And you wonder why
you're still single," I laughed shaking my head. I left the flowers in the
engine, knowing we'd probably be stopping by the hospital at some point and
helped Mike do an equipment check that took the rest of the afternoon.

"New girl, eh?"
Mike asked after I'd tucked the box under the seat.

"Yeah, well, she's
nice," I said trying not to let on how much I liked Alex.

"Hey, you know it's okay
if you fall for someone else, don't you?" he asked as he pulled out the
checklist and began reading from it as I checked the supplies and gear.
"No one would think any less of you if you fell for someone. It doesn't
take anything away from what you had with Quinn."

I was quiet as he spoke. None
of the guys had ever talked to me about the fire or losing Quinn because I'd
shut it all down. There was no room for anyone to ask me anything aside from
whether I was okay or not, and I hadn't wanted to talk to any of them about it
once I'd returned to work.

"It's just...," I
began not knowing how to talk about this. It had been ten years that I'd kept
the feelings bottled up, and in that time I hadn't met anyone who I'd wanted to
open up to. Sure, I'd slept with a handful of women on the nights when getting
my physical needs met outweighed the feelings of guilt that would flood over me
the next morning, but I hadn't fallen for a single one of them. "She's
different."

"I can tell," Mike
said as he focused on the list. "And that's okay, Cam. The guys from
opposite shift said she’s cool. You should bring her around the station
sometime and introduce her to the people you work with. ."

"I don't know..." I
said trailing off.

"Does she know about
Quinn?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, I think that's why
I'm so drawn to her," I said. "It's like she doesn't dwell on the
sadness, but she doesn't want to force me to put it all behind me and
forget."

"Oh, she's a keeper,
man," Mike nodded. "Grab her and hang on with everything you've
got."

"Yeah," I murmured.
"Yeah."

We finished the equipment-check
as the guys were staring dinner, so I jumped in and cut up vegetables for the
salad. Victor had returned and was studiously ignoring me from the other side
of the room. Danny shot me a questioning look and I simply shrugged and said,
"No idea."

#

We
didn't
go out again for the rest of the night, so the next morning I drove to the
hospital before going home. I knew that Alex had worked the night shift because
she'd told me that she'd volunteered to help out in exchange for additional
internship hours.

"Be a good girl for ten
minutes," I said to Tesla who tipped her head and woofed softly as I
grabbed the flowers from the backseat. "I'll be right back."

The ER was quiet, but I
didn't see Alex anywhere. The charge nurse looked up when I walked in and
smiled.

"You looking for a
patient?" she asked.

"No, actually, I'm
looking for Alex Pierce," I said. "She's a nursing student, an
intern?"

"Oh, I know Alex,"
she smiled as she picked up the phone and called for Alex over the intercom.
"Hold on, she's around her somewhere."

I nodded as I stepped out of
the way and waited. A few moments later, Alex came striding down the hall
carrying a laundry basket full of towels and linen. Her long blond hair was
pulled back in a high ponytail and she looked much younger than her twenty-four
years. She was singing something under her breath as she did a little dance
step with the laundry, but when she saw me standing there, she stopped and
blushed bright red.

"Don't stop," I
smiled as I walked toward her holding out the box. "Just switch with
me."

"Cam, what are you doing
here?" she asked as her eyes moved from my face to the gold box I held
out.

"I wanted to bring these
to you last night, but just my luck we didn't have any calls," I said as
she set the basket down and took the box. I grabbed the basket and followed her
to the nurse's station where she set the box down and opened it.

"Oh Cam!" she
gasped as she saw the roses. "These are beautiful!"

"I'm glad you like
them," I smiled. "I was wondering if you'd have time to grab some
breakfast with me, or maybe dinner tonight is better?"

"I'd love to have dinner
with you," she said as she ran her fingers over the soft petals and I felt
myself responding knowing all too well how her fingers felt on my skin.
"I'll pick you up at seven. Dress up, we're going somewhere fancy!"

"Cam! You don't have to
do that to impress me, you know," she said. "I like you just
fine."

"I know, but I want to
take you somewhere special tonight," I said as she tucked the tissue back
into the box and put the lid on. Then quickly changing the subject before I got
too carried away, I asked, "Do you need a ride home this morning?"

"No, I'm good,
thanks," she said as a small frown flickered across her lips. "I've
got to stay a while longer and wait for Liz."

"Everything okay?"
I asked as I marveled at how fresh she looked despite the fact that she'd been
on duty all night. I rubbed my chin realizing he scruff had popped up and knew
I'd have to shave before our date.

Just then, three young women
all dressed in matching blue scrubs walked into the ER.

"Well, if it isn't Cam
Connor!" the tall brunette said. "It's so good to see you, Cam."

Alex looked back and forth
between me and the brunette with a surprised look. I shrugged as I tried to
figure out how this woman knew me.

"It's Violet," she
said lightly laughing. "Violet Metzler? You know my father, Richard."

"Oh, yes, of
course," I said suddenly feeling a wave of dread wash over me. If Violet
outed me as the owner of CSC before I'd told Alex about it, there would be a
lot of explaining to do. "It's good to see you, Violet."

I held out my hand and the
woman took it, but instead of shaking she pulled herself in close and
whispered, "Oh come on, you can do better than that, certainly," as
she hugged me.

I saw the dark look cross
Alex's face as I was pulled into Violet's forced but polite hug. I looked back
at Alex and shook my head trying to covey the fact that I had no idea who this
woman was.

"Have we actually ever met?"
I asked as Violet stepped back and looked up at me. She was a pretty girl, but
there was something about her that felt slightly off.

"Oh you silly guy!"
she laughed a little too loudly as she swatted my shoulder. "You know my
daddy, Richard Metzler! You should know me, too!"

"Ah, I see," I said
without commenting further. I knew that to address this issue here and now
would bring up a lot of questions that I wasn't ready to answer. "Good to
see you, then."

"You should come out
with us sometime," Violet said. I knew she was after something other than
a date with me because there was a hard look in her eyes as she issued the
invitation.

"Yeah, well, my
schedule's pretty booked these days," I said looking over Violet's
shoulder and trying to catch Alex's eye again. Alex refused to look up from the
chart she was reading, and I knew I was going to have to do some explaining
later. As a polite afterthough, I added, "But thanks for the invite."

"I see," Violet
said narrowing her eyes then remembering she had an audience, laughed lightly
as she said, "Well, if you change your mind, we'll be over at Ricky's
Diner for breakfast later."

"Uh huh, thanks," I
said as I moved around the three girls and headed toward Alex. I stood behind
her and quietly said, "I can explain all that. I don't know her, but I
have done business with her father. It's nothing."

"Hey, no big deal,"
Alex said with a forced smile. "You gotta do what you gotta do."

"Alex, don't be like
that," I said as she turned back to her file and ignored me. "I'm
still picking you up at seven, so dress up, okay?"

"Uh huh, sure, I'll be
ready," she said as she picked up the file and moved behind the desk
pointedly ignoring me.

"Fine, if you're going
to be that way, then it's going to be a quiet night for us both, but I'm still
picking you up at seven!" I said a little more loudly than I'd intended
causing the staff behind the desk to look up.