Fly With Fire (38 page)

“God, I love you!” he had
said. She couldn’t afford to take that at face value. For one thing he had been
coming out from under anesthesia. She was on her way to the hospital to see a
man she thought she might be in love with who had been shot twice and had come
close to dying. Another what if. If everything were to somehow fall into place.
If they found a way to be together. If they loved beyond the moment’s heady
excess. How could she cope with his job?

Now she felt she was back to
square one. Sure, she could sustain an injury in the course of her job. A
serious one. But she was so highly skilled and conscious of safety; her death
was an unlikely event. The company went all out for safety. Every possibly
scenario had been thought of and accounted for. The worse that happened in the
company was the occasional broken arm or leg. She herself had never had a
severe injury. There was no foolhardy flying without a net business with La
Cirque du Celestial. Typically people weren’t murdering each other in her line
of work. Bullets flying weren’t routine. Zack’s job was filled with unknowns.
He wasn’t as exposed as a uniformed officer but there were certainly dangers.
Why did he have to be a cop? Of course if he hadn’t been she would never have
met him.

She remembered what Mayor
Tyler had told her about Zack and the mayor’s daughter. He had given her up for
the job. Might not have been the only reason but when it came right down to it
the message had been clear. He was a cop. Practically born and bred. He’d even
turned down having the path paved for him in yellow bricks. He’d worked, risen
on his own and given up two major relationships to be a cop. He was in his
early thirties. He had only been a cop for eleven years. What if he asked her
to give up what she had worked for so long? On the basis of a few weeks
acquaintance and a few nights of near insane lovemaking.

She wished it wasn’t a sunny
day. It somehow felt even more bleak. Yet when she saw the hospital her heart
raced and the car hadn’t fully stopped before she had the door open and was
racing into the lobby.

Trollie was not happy and he
fumed as he rolled his unicycle across the cable. Bitch. That bitch has them
all over me. I can’t make a move without someone breathing down my neck.
They’ve searched my hotel room and all my stuff here in the dressing room. How
am I supposed to concentrate when I know they all have their eyes on me? They
wanted me to remove my makeup. Screw them. Now they’re going to look even
harder and find out about those whores who made all that noise over nothing in
B.C. Ruined my practice. It’s not an easy thing to change your identity.
Luckily they can’t force me to give them squat. No prints, nothing. Of course
they frown on someone they deem uncooperative. I showed them what true
righteous indignation is. And surely they can tell she’s hysterical. “She
thought I was serious? It was a joke! She misunderstood. How dare anyone think
that I would hurt anyone? She has been under a lot of pressure lately.” But now
Roddy’s going to be watching. I won’t be able to go anywhere near his precious
darling without him coming after me. She costs me this job I’ll… Fuck it.
She’ll get what’s coming to her.

Zack held Mo against him as
if a tsunami might sweep them both away. Alone during the night he had been
restless with nothing to do but mull over his desires, doubts and fears. He had
worried them all like a missing tooth. As soon as he saw her he could barely
remember having done anything but wait to see her. He bathed his face in the
scent of her hair. Her skin under his fingers soothed all remembrance of doubt
away. The feel of her was a mind altering stir of bright possibility.

“I made the boys stop so I
could bring you this.” She handed him a Starbucks. “It’s decaf. Didn’t think
you needed to get revved up to lie in bed.”

“You’re all the revving I
need. But they’ve stopped pampering me. Had me up walking around at seven this
morning. Helped me bathe. I smell like hospital soap now. Enticing, huh?”

“You’ve never smelt better.”
She took the cup and leaned in for a kiss. With him she forgot the turmoil that
had her twisting her hair on the ride to the hospital. She just needed to see
him, touch him and talk to him. Everything else could wait. They had taken him
off the monitors. “That’s a good sign,” she said pointing to where they had
removed the IV.

“Well the good news is…
they’re cutting me loose tomorrow.” He gave her a serious look.

“And the bad?” Her heart
clutched.

“The bad news is no sex for
six months.” He gave her a sly grin then ran his good hand beneath her blouse.

“Oh! You!” she climbed on the
bed laughing. He pulled her against him with a grunt of pain. “Sorry, let me
down!” She tried to push herself off the bed but he held her. He looked into
her eyes. He felt himself pulled into those dark pools. How could he ever let
her walk out of his life? She had made him realize what life could be.

Mo was hypnotized by the gold
flecked emeralds she looked into. “Didn’t they let you shave?” She ran her hand
down his cheek. He was in a hospital bed with two bullet wounds and she was
getting moist over two day’s growth.

“I thought I’d leave it. For
experimental purposes. Where are those guys? If you just come…mmm…up here and
let me pull these down…”

“You are out of your mind!”
She jerked away with a shocked laugh. “That will have to wait. I wouldn’t want
to be responsible for a relapse.” But she pressed herself against him and felt
his response.

“I don’t think you can
relapse from being shot.” His lips tasted her face. Her forehead, her eyes, her
cheeks and chin; every place his lips touched was the sweetest thing he had ever
tasted. He gloried in the feel of her small lovely breasts against him. He
could visualize each detail of them. “I want to touch you so badly. Let me
touch you.” He begged in an urgent whisper.

“Zack. Stop. You need to conserve
your energy.” But she couldn’t pull herself away from the hand that slid
beneath her blouse and ran along the edge of her bra. She pressed her lips on
his as his hand unclasped her bra beneath her blouse. Tenderness was lost in
the urgency of desire.

She looked guiltily toward
the window in the hospital room door. Then she pulled away and straddling him,
opened her blouse. She felt the jolt of energy she been warning him to conserve
beneath her. She did her best to trap it with her body lest it go to waste.

It was time to go back to
Greendale. She laid her head against Zack’s chest careful of the bandages.
“What are your plans Zack? I mean for when you get out of here tomorrow, I
thought maybe I could come down.”

“Come down? No need to come
here. You don’t need to deal with this. Dino offered to drive me home.” He held
her hand and looked at her. “You need to conserve your energy too.”

“Coming from you I don’t
think I have to take that under advisement at all.” She climbed off the bed.
“You’re not going to be able to work for a while. My room has all the amenities
of your condo and more. I want to be able to keep an eye on you. Let me pick
you up and take you back with me.”

“Did you have this all
planned out when you came here. Make me vulnerable then roll over me with this
scheme. I don’t need to be taken care of.” He sat up in irritation but not
without a grimace as pain shot through him.

“Of all the gall! You knew
I’d be here. Did you SCHEEEEME to get what you want then shove me out the door?
‘Thanks a lot lady see you ‘round?’”

“Don’t be ridiculous Mo and
call off the dogs.” Mo turned to see the boys rushing in. Had they been
shouting?

“It’s okay.” She stood
glaring. “I’m just trying to have a conversation WITH THIS LUNKHEAD!” There.
That was shouting. She gave herself a proud nod as she crossed her arms. The
boys sheepishly closed the door.

Zack burst out laughing. “How
could I resist such charm?” He reached out grabbing her hand. She tried to pull
it away but he had it and pulled her against him. Their mouths melded; lips
warring and succoring in the same instant. “But you stay put. Rest tonight. I’m
making that a condition. Non negotiable.” He stroked her hair. “Promise me
you’ll take care of you tonight. You can take care of me tomorrow. A little. A
little more than today. Okay, maybe a lot more than today.  I’ll have Dino
drive me up. If I’m going to be a burden, I might as well make the best of it.”

Zack was so glad to be out of
the hospital. The ride up Lake Shore Drive was invigorating if uncomfortable.
Dino steered his Caddy like a pro taking little note of speeding laws or the
cop beside him. “I can get ya for your appointment Thursday. Jeeze Zack, I
shouldn’t na watched ‘em change yer bandages. I thought, ‘he just got shot in
the shoulder’. In the movies ya know the guys gonna live ‘cause hey, he got
shot in the shoulder. I didn’t know they put some kinda plate in there. But I
think they shoulda just put a zipper up yer side. Jeeze, dude, that’s ugly. But
if you had a zipper it would be pretty convenient. Insteada getting’ in the
bathtub you just unzip, step outta yer skin and slosh it around. You wouldn’t
have to get wet.”

“Dino, I, would be wet.
You’re talking about my skin. Guess I could throw it in the dryer. I’d be one
ugly mother ‘til the buzzer went off. That ugly, huh?”

“Yeah, but now it matches yer
face.” Dino veered toward the interstate. Traffic was moving in the middle of
the day.  “So. This a serious thing with this girl, Zee?”

“I don’t know what it is,
Dino. I wish I did. There’s a lot of…complications. We’ve only known each other
a few weeks.” Zack watched the cars as they took the ramp onto 94. Dino glanced
at him and noted the pensive expression.

“Are ya? You know?” He waited
while Zack hesitated.

“You know.” Zack nodded. “I love
her, Dino. I know it sounds crazy but I can barely breathe when I’m around her
and I can’t breathe at all when I’m not. This is not like anything, sounds
trite I know, but it’s not like anything I’ve experienced before.”

“You loved Patty. You loved
Chelsea. You and Patty always knew each other. It was like, assumed, since we
were little that you and Patty would wind up married. I think even her old man
thought so. Chelsea. I don’t think you loved Chelsea. I think you were hot for
some ideal. She was a wall you just had to breach. I still can’t figure out
what the two a ya thought you had in common. I don’t think you loved either one
like, you know, the way they write songs and poetry and shit about. This flying
lady like that?”

“She different than anyone I
know. I thought she was reserved at first but she’s really very warm and
friendly. It’s just that she’s so focused on her work.  He adjusted the
belt. The pressure on his shoulder was painful. “We didn’t exactly meet under
the best of circumstances.”

“So not like Chelsea?”
 Dino gave the middle finger salute to someone who cut in front of him.

“No, no. There was no warmth
beneath Chelsea’s cool exterior. Only an illusion I created myself. Mo is truly
warm and kind. She’s worked all her life and what she does is all she’s ever
known.  She loves the people she works with. Loves her work. She’s at the
top of her game, Dean. These next few years will set her for life. She would be
crazy; I would be crazy to ask her, to walk away from it. But I don’t think I can
walk away from her.”

“Okay, this is crazy talk.
I’m taking you back to the hospital. Let’s have this conversation the sixth
minute you’ve known her.”

“Ya think?” The emotion
strumming in Zack’s chest was even more uncomfortable than the seatbelt.

“What are ya thinkin’ bro?
You thinking about stoppin’ for a ring on the way? ‘Cause I ain’t doing it. Ask
me again when the docs don’t have ya juiced up.”

“I can’t ask her. Look at me.
They say I’ll be better, but this has screwed up my arm. The truth is I’m done
anyway.” Zack rubbed the growth on his face. The ride was tiring him out.

“What’ya mean done?” Dino
took his eyes off the road, brows furrowed.

“With being a cop.” Zack
looked out the window knowing there would be an explosion.

“Shit! What?” Dino almost
veered into another lane. “Zee. Now I know they got your head messed up. Being
a cop was all you ever wanted. You were always the cop. Always the sheriff.
This ain’t about the old man is it?”

Zack sighed, “Actually, Dino,
I think for once it’s not.”

Mo waited for Zack’s arrival.
She had skipped practice and gotten things ready. Everything had been arranged
for Zack’s comfort and convenience. She’d taken advantage of her acquaintance
with the Whitney’s to get speedy delivery of an adjustable table for Zack’s
side of the bed. She’d had a wide screen television mounted on the bedroom
wall. She’d stocked the small refrigerator with grab snacks for when she was
working. She made sure he would have everything he needed. Most importantly
she’d informed the security team that the suite was off limits. After much
grousing she had her way. After all a cop would be with her at all times she
was in the suite. She did allow that after calling they could come up the
elevator and check things out occasionally. Just to make them feel better.

She wasn’t able to allow
herself to think about the future. All she knew was Zack was okay and he’d be
there soon. She’d almost lost him. She just wanted what time they had. She knew
she’d be moving on and he would be chomping at the bit to get back to work once
he was better. They’d have a couple weeks and could think about the rest then.