Love You In The Dark

Chapter 1

Maverick

“Mav! Get over here you rookie bastard, did I ever tell you about the time–”

“Leave the guy alone, he’s hardly a fucking rookie, he’s probably got more hours than you.” Larry, the most senior of our crew, tossed a stress ball at the head of the resident dickhole of our team. “And don’t ever let him tell you about any time–trust me–no good can come from his old stories.”

I laughed, ducking out of the line of fire just as the call light lit red.

“Hey, Mav!” Sherry, the call operator on shift tonight ducked her head into the break-room. “Elevator is acting up at The Clifton again, one of their guests is stuck on the second floor right now–it’s not an emergency but if you could go see if there’s anything you can do until the repair man arrives, that’d be great.”

“The Clifton, only the high-end p–”

“Randy, watch your mouth in front of the rookie, would you?” Sherry’s eyes glinted as she pretended to chastise the other EMT on shift tonight.

“You two are both going to hell for the shenanigans you pull around here,” Larry laughed. “You might need a good set of ear plugs to work here, son.”

I shook my head. “Nothing I haven’t heard before.”

“Well, I’ll be gone by the time you’re back.” Sherry waved. “Good luck at The Clifton. Have a good night, boys.”

“Night, Sher.”

“Good luck at The Clifton is right,” Randy mumbled under his breath. “Nothing good can come out of you showin’ up to rescue someone stuck in an elevator–they should replace that old antique thing, it’s not safe as it is.”

“Can’t wait to find out–” I circled around the front of the ambulance bumper. “No need for back-up on this one, Randy–you’re welcome to hang here and–”

“Perfect, last call I took at that stodgy old place was a little old lady who begged me to resuscitate her seventeen-year-old chihuahua. You’re on your own with this, brother, may the force be with you.”

I didn’t bother replying, only slammed the door in Randy’s ponchy face before starting the engine. Thankfully, the loud rumble was enough to drown out his weaselly voice in my head. By the time I was backing out of the garage with the nose of my ambulance pointed downtown, thoughts of Randy were long gone in favor of the work I still had to do at home. I had a shit ton of unpacking, for one, after spending almost all of the last decade with doctors without borders. I’d seen enough pain and suffering to last me a lifetime.

Quiet calls from the nutjobs who lived at The Clifton were just fine with me.

It had been almost ten years since I’d set foot in this town, since the night of my high school graduation, before I’d headed to south Florida for training and then Nairobi for work in poverty-stricken villages.

I’d only been back in town for a week, and already the slower pace was settling in my bones like a favorite old blanket. I’d had more than a handful of seeds to sow when I left this town, and now that I was back, it felt like maybe I’d left a few things unfinished after all.

There’d been a lot of things I’d been running from then, the biggest was a sassy little princess that I still couldn’t get my mind off of. But the past belongs in the past, so I refused to let the memories rattle me now, even though they tried to all of these years later.

The truth was, with my parents gone and not a nickel left to even buy myself into a rental agreement, I made a promise to myself I wouldn’t set foot in this place again until I had a life I could be proud of.

Well, it may have taken a decade, but I had everything now I’d never dreamed I’d wanted as a kid–including a stable income with enough to put down a down-payment on my own house. It was big and sprawling, and I’d gotten it at a great price because it sat perched on the edge of town.

The Clifton was the fanciest piece of real estate in our town, and most of its residents were made up of city hotshots looking to escape the city for the summer. By the time I was pulling in two minutes later, Randy’s warning about the residents of the old hotel was haunting my mind.

“Oh, thank God you’re here, I can’t stand the crying another second.” The valet opened the driver’s side door of the ambulance with a curt nod. “You’re not a moment too soon.”

“Excuse me, did you say crying?”

“Sure did, Sir. You may need ear plugs for this one.”

“You know, that’s the second time I’ve heard that today.” I hopped out from behind the wheel, bag of basic tools and first aid in hand.