In the Line of Duty (First Responders 2)

“You were right, Kendra. Today was…it was great. But we’re really not very well matched, are we? We both have baggage and neither of us is going to change who we are. This probably shouldn’t go any further.”

Her skin seemed to pale, but she nodded and straightened her shoulders. “I think you’re right,” she answered.

He packed up the picnic basket while she folded their towels and pulled her shorts and T-shirt back over her suit. What he hated most was how he actually felt guilty about this afternoon. Guilty for getting out and enjoying the day. Guilty for flirting with a woman when he knew it would never lead anywhere.

And most of all, guilty for forgetting. He should never forget. Khaterah—what happened to her—should never be forgotten. It was why he chose to serve the drinks rather than drink them. A man could only stay numb for so long before he had to face himself. And a constant state of numbness had dishonored her. Dishonored them all. At least with the pain, he was alive.

The drive back to the pub was quiet. Kendra sat stiffly beside him on the truck seat, staring out the window. Thankfully, it was a short drive back over the Cornwallis River and on towards Jake’s. The parking lot was empty except for her car and he pulled up beside it. There was no point in asking her in. No point in pretending this had been anything but a disaster.

Well, maybe it hadn’t been at the beginning. Or even in the middle…

“Thanks for the afternoon,” she murmured, her hand on the door handle.

He chuckled, a dry, humorless sort of sound. “Hard to know what to say, isn’t it?”

She looked over at him. “Whatever it is…I get it, Jake. I know what it’s like to not want to talk about it. You’re right about the baggage part. Still, it’d be nice to carry on without hating each other, right?”

“I never hated you,” he said, forcing himself to keep his hands on the steering wheel or else he’d be reaching for her again. Her voice was too soft and too sweet.

“I never hated you either,” she replied, and then grinned. “Much.”

He took a deep, fortifying breath. “Kendra—”

“No, don’t,” she advised, looking in his eyes. She had the most amazing blue eyes, honest and expressive and generously lashed. “There were some really good parts about today, and I don’t want to ruin that. I haven’t…” Her cheeks colored adorably. “I haven’t felt like that in a long time, Jake. I needed it. I don’t want to be sorry.”

“I’m not sorry. Just sorry I ruined it with my mood.”

“You want to talk about it?”

“Not particularly.”

She smiled again. “Me either. So…I’ll see you around, right?”

“Hard to avoid it in a town this size,” he answered, but at her disappointed look, he amended, “Not that I want to.”

But the afternoon was ending on a low note anyway. She opened her door and grabbed her tote bag. “See ya,” she said, shutting the door and going to her car.

He watched her walk away, watched her toned butt sway gently as she went to her car and unlocked the door. He was still sitting in the truck when she pulled out of the driveway in a puff of dust.

Chapter Five

Every cop she’d ever met hated responding to a possible fatality. It didn’t happen here much, being a small community and all. But tonight she’d received the call about a two-vehicle accident on the highway, just after the skies had opened during a terrific thunderstorm. It was perfect hydroplaning conditions, and she’d hit the lights and sirens to rush to the scene.

The ambulance wasn’t even there yet, so she left the lights flashing and blocked off the lane. A car was pulled over to the side with its four-way flashers blinking. At Kendra’s approach, a woman got out. Her face was streaked with tears. “I can’t get down the ditch,” she said, her voice hitching. “My hip won’t take it, but I called 9-1-1 as soon as it happened. Oh my God…” The woman started weeping noisily.

“You did fine,” Kendra assured her. “Stay here, clear of the road and the vehicles, okay?” The last thing she needed was someone else getting hurt. Heart pounding, she ran down the sloped ditch to check on the victims.

The man in the first car was injured but awake, pinned inside the vehicle and unable to get out. “Are you okay?” she asked through the window.

He nodded.

“I can’t get you out,” she called. She’d have to leave that to the fire department and paramedics. She could already hear other sirens in distance. “But help is on the way.” She went to the other vehicle, a small compact car with the front end obliterated from the head-on crash. Inside was a young woman, her body strangely twisted even though her seatbelt remained fastened.

Kendra forced herself to breathe, but when she did so she could only smell rubber and metal and something else she recognized and hated—blood. She swallowed against the sudden taste of bile and carefully opened the door. “Okay, darlin’, help’s on the way. Stay with me now, okay? You stay awake.”

The rain had stopped, and the only sounds now were the wet shush of the odd car passing them on the highway and the drip of the water from the nearby bushes. The woman’s eyes opened and Kendra felt panic thread through her veins. God, she couldn’t be more than nineteen or twenty. “What’s your name?”

The young woman’s lips opened but no sound came out. Kendra’s panic threatened to overwhelm her, and she knew she had to keep it together. “The ambulance is almost here, darlin’. You a student at the university?”