Page 76 of What Hurts Us

She looked almost embarrassed as she said, “You’ve got a little…”

Before she could get the words out, Shane was pointing and laughing. “What's up, Officer Glitter? You channeling your inner sparkling vampire today?”

I looked down at the uniform I pulled from the dryer this morning. Layla had been thoughtful enough to toss it in with some of her things while she was…

Making fucking glitter pumpkins.

Over nearly every inch of my dark blue uniform, silver flecks danced in the midday sun, making me look like a human disco ball.

Lauren bit back a laugh. “Sorry, I didn’t notice it before we left the station this morning.”

I growled under my breath and banished her to traffic duty, then walked over to Elijah as he directed the firefighters heading into the blaze. Dense smoke filled the air. Charred ash floated around us like demented snow. The acrid scent of burning fiber, drywall, and wood bit at my eyes and nose. “Mitchell’s handling traffic. What’cha need from me?”

He tugged off a thick glove and wiped the sheen of sweat off of his face. “The burn seems to be contained to one third-floor unit, but we have two entrapments and one resident unaccounted for. The rest of the residents were at work or school.”

That was one of the things that I loved about small towns. Everyone knew everyone. In a situation like this, if we couldn’t get up with every resident, someone on site would know where they were or know their phone number.

“Hutch and the Band-Aid Box called in the medicopter just in case. We’ve got Odin landing across the street.” He pointed to the vacant lot in front of a defunct gas station advertising unleaded gas for less than a dollar per gallon.

As if he conjured it, the rhythmicthump-thumpof helicopter rotors filled the air.

Odin did a pretty three-sixty as he set the bird down on cracked asphalt.

The side door rolled back, and the double door beneath the tail popped open. Layla, decked out in her navy flight suit and crisp white helmet, hopped out, dropping the gurney onto the ground. She had added a little decal to the back of her flight helmet. A set of wings with ‘WW’ in the middle.

Elijah snickered under his breath as he caught Layla pulling off her helmet and smiling at me.

“Don’t know how the hell you managed to land that one,” he muttered, shaking his head.

With only a few gawkers and not much in the way of vehicle traffic at this time of day, Lauren was fine on her own. I crossed the apartment parking lot, weaving between EMS and firefighters to get to the helicopter.

The moment I was within spitting distance, Layla’s eyes widened to saucer proportions, and she clapped her hands over her mouth.

I wagged a finger at her. “You’re in big trouble, Mousavi.”

AB, Layla’s counterpart for the day, nearly doubled over. “Well, shit!” She was heaving through her laughter. “This makes up for you not being in the auction tomorrow. I sure was looking forward to seeing BJ in a tizzy over you, but this is better.”

Layla had the good sense to look sorry. “I’ll take it to get dry-cleaned.”

A sharp whistle cut through the chaos. Firefighters, decked out in bunker gear, were carrying out two soot-streaked residents.

“Let’s roll, lovebirds,” AB clipped, grabbing a bright red bag out of the bay.

Layla blushed. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’ll make it up to you tomorrow.”

My hand brushed hers as we crossed the parking lot. I gave it a brief squeeze before dropping it. “You having a good day?”

She nudged my shoulder. “Better now.”

Shane and his crew jumped into action, receiving the victims in the back of the ambulance. AB peeled off to assess with Shane while Layla headed toward the structure in the event that there were any more patients. Shielded by the back of the fire engine, I grabbed her, pulling her into a tight hug. “Stay safe, honey.”

“You too,” she murmured into my collar.

I released her to go be a badass, laughing to myself as I watched her walk away, covered in glitter.

* * *

“Morning, honey.”I met Layla on the front porch, holding a mug of coffee that was shaped like a frog on a lilypad. Crisp fall air whirled around as leaves skittered down the drive. I traded the coffee for the duffle bag she had on her shoulder. “How was your night?”

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