Sudden Response (EMS #1)(37)

"Comfy?" he asked brightly as she glared up at him with all sorts of promises of pain and misery in his future. As long as she didn't go for his balls she could have her little revenge.

"What is wrong with you?" she demanded. "Let me go!"

"Sorry, can't," he said with a bored shrug. "The patients are expected to be on the stretcher at the start of the competition."

"I'm not your patient!" she snapped.

"Of course you are," he said, leaning against the open back door of the ambulance, forcing her to tilt her head back to glare at him.

"No, I'm not," she said, struggling against the restraints.

"If you're not my patient then what are you doing on my stretcher?" he demanded, cocking a brow.

"Because you're an ass?" she suggested, struggling and getting her left arm free.

"Is everything okay?" Dave asked as he walked towards them, carrying a couple of bottles of water.

"No!" Joe of course said, making Dave frown and look a little uncomfortable.

"Ignore her. It's just her time of the month," Eric explained with a careless shrug.

"You betraying bastard!" Joe hissed out and he knew the second that the competition ended that she was going for that nut shot, which of course meant that he was going to have to leave her strapped to a backboard to protect his boys.

*******

"Flip the backboard!" the announcer ordered over the bullhorn.

Joe took a deep breath, but it didn't quite prepare her for being turned over until she was facing the ground. She wished she could turn her head to glare at the bastard but thanks to the neck collar, tape and the fact that she was secured from head to toe on a long hard plastic backboard she couldn't move an inch.

As one of the refs checked each restraint she was forced to ground her teeth as she seethed with anger. She couldn't believe the nerve. First he screws her over at work and then he screws with her head and body and then ignores her only to piss her off by manhandling her. She couldn't wait for this damn contest to end. The second, the very second he let her out, she was going to beat the shit out of him and then tell him off.

When she was flipped back over and placed on a stretcher, anticipation coursed through her veins. He thought she was weak? She'd show him. She'd also show him that he couldn't push her around or screw with her head. He might be her best friend, but that didn't mean that she had to put up with archaic bullshit.

He would learn......oh, would he learn........

"What the hell are you doing?" she demanded when she suddenly found herself being placed in the back of the ambulance.

"Enjoy the ride," Eric said before the backdoors slammed shut and the roar of the ambulance vibrated all around her.

He wouldn't dare.........

He did.

Chapter 17

"Where's Joe?" Nathan asked as he pulled out a chair and sat down while scanning the bar.

"She's out enjoying a joy ride," he said, feeling his lips twitch. He idly wondered how she was enjoying her scenic drive down Old Man Mason's road, a ten mile stretch of country road that hadn't seen so much as a tar patch job in twenty years. It was one of those obscure roads that everyone forgot about, except for the kids who liked to race on the potholed, cracked mess for a challenge.

Nathan threw him a curious look, but shrugged it off as his continued to look around the bar.

"Where's Caitlyn?" Eric asked, looking around the bar for the cute little brunette.

"We broke up."

He really shouldn't be surprised by this point, but he really was. He'd only met the woman a handful of times, but she seemed sweet and perfect for his brother. Then again he hadn't met any of Nathan's girlfriends that he didn't think was perfect for him.

"Why?" he asked, taking a sip of his beer while his brother continued to scan the bar.

"It was just time," he said with a shrug, never ceasing in his perusal of the busy bar.

"You're a f**king idiot." Had he said that out loud? Based on his brother's sudden glare he would have to go with a yes on that one.

"What?" Nathan demanded, turning his attention on him.

He could apologize, but this bullshit had gone on for far too long.

"You heard me. You're a f**king idiot. You had a great girl, another great girl I might add who from what I could see adored you and was perfect for you and what do you do? You toss her aside on a whim. What the hell is your problem?"

"Stay out of it," Nathan bit out tightly.

"Sorry. Not going to happen. I want to know what the hell your problem is. You keep meeting these great women that seem to make you happy, but for some f**ked up reason you keep letting them go. I don't understand what the hell your problem is."

"Look who's talking," Nathan spat out.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Eric demanded.

"Joe," Nathan said, making Eric turn quickly in his seat to look for her. "Yeah, that's what I thought," Nathan said coldly, drawing his attention, but not before he scanned the bar once again for her.

"What are you talking about?" he asked distractedly as he turned to see if she was standing next to the jukebox since that's the first thing she always did before ordering a beer was to see if there were any new songs added to the playlist.