Page 41 of Rescuing Dr. Marian (Made Marian Legacy #1)

FOSTER

It had been a long time since I’d taken a punch. Long enough that I’d forgotten what it was like waking up the day after.

The radio squawked, waking me from a dead sleep, but it was my attempt to jolt upright that truly got my attention.

“Fucking fuck!” Every muscle ached. My body felt like it had been pummeled by boulders—which, of course, it had.

“Radio,” Tommy murmured next to me. I glanced down at him and noticed he was wearing a comical amount of the warm clothes I’d brought in my pack. I vaguely remembered waking up during the night to take a piss and deciding to bundle him up before stepping outside.

Now that I was freezing and mostly naked, I wondered at my reasoning. Chickie’s judgmental eyes said she wondered the same.

“Radio,” he said again without moving or even opening his eyes .

I reached for the radio hanging on one of the pegs.

“Blake here.”

“Helo inbound to your location. Ten minutes out. No need to scout a landing spot. I’m not taking any chances. Hoist or hover depending on the wind when they get there.”

“Copy that. We’ll be ready. Request K-9 harness if possible.”

I could rig Chickie to me with the webbing I had on me, but it wouldn’t be pretty.

“Already loaded. Will be good practice for your students. Let’s hope they like the two of you. Over.”

Tommy’s warm body moved against my back as he sat up and leaned forward to place a kiss on the back of my neck. “You got any extra clothes? Because I’m not willing to share. The comfy fairy visited me in the night, even though I didn’t do a damned thing to deserve it.”

I turned around and pulled him in for a real kiss. “I might beg a visit to that big family lodge of yours later just so I can soak in a deep tub with the hottest water I can stand.”

He shook his head and tsk ’d. “No submersing those lacerations for several days, Sheriff. But I promise to find other ways to warm you up. Deal?”

“Mpfh.”

He pressed a final kiss to my cheek and stood, moving to my pack to dig around for more clothes.

In the end, I was able to put my original clothes back on, surprisingly warm and dry from being hung near the stove. While I yanked on a clean pair of socks, Tommy fed Chickie pieces of his protein bar .

“She’s going to start begging at the table,” I grumbled. “People food is a bad idea.”

“Maybe if you’d packed some dog food instead of five pairs of socks, we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

The whir of rotors reached us through the drafty door and walls. We finished packing up, leashed Chickie, and made our way out to the scree field in front of the hut.

Monroe and his bird appeared within seconds, hovering a hundred feet above us. His voice came over the radio as he commanded the scene. I could see the excitement on the faces of the students as they worked together to bring down the harnesses and get us and our gear hoisted up.

“Fucking sick, dude!” Cody said, reaching out to fist-bump me.

“Easy with the victim,” Tommy said over the noise of the blades, grabbing my jacket and shoving me down onto a nearby seat. “Strap in.”

Once he fell into the seat next to me, I leaned over. “What happened to going easy on the victim?”

He grinned, his face golden in the morning sunlight. “Who said you were the victim?” He ruffled Chickie’s ears where she was tucked safely between us, scanning the inside of the helicopter with her sniffer working a million miles an hour.

When Sierra finally slid the door closed, the wind stopped stinging the skin on my face.

The ride back to the landing pad at SERA went by quickly. Trace was waiting for us when we landed and tried insisting I head to the medical clinic in town “just in case.”

Tommy shook his head. “He’s fine. Already treated him and assessed him for a head injury. All he needs is a hot shower, a decent meal, and sleep.”

As we started moving toward the main building, a large SUV pulled up, and Marians began pouring out. Ella took a flying leap at Tommy, who stumbled back as she hugged him.

I watched to make sure he was okay, but then I was quickly overtaken by my own Marian entourage. “You look like shit, Muscles,” Tilly said, frowning up at me.

Granny squinted at me. “Scars are sexy. Black eyes… not so much. Tell ’em it was a bear. Makes for a better story.”

Irene just tutted, licking her thumb and reaching for my eyebrow. I ducked out of the way before her germs made contact with my open wound.

Tommy glared at them with an anger that surprised me. “Ladies, let the man go. He’s hurt and tired. Tilly, back off .”

I suddenly remembered what she told me about Tommy’s job offer at the cookout. Had it only been the night before last? How was that possible?

Exhaustion returned with full force, causing me to feel unsteady on my feet. I locked my knees and plastered on a smile. “This is too much for me,” I murmured. And then I turned and walked away.

The rest of the walk to Cabin 8 passed in a blur. I remembered the heat of the shower on my sore muscles, the long gulps of cold water from the sink tap after I brushed my teeth… and then nothing but the soft comfort of my small bed.

I slept for twelve hours. When I woke up, it was dark outside, and there was no sign of Tommy or Chickie. I texted him, half-worried I’d hear the phone ping here in the room, but there wasn’t a noise or vibration. Neither was there a response.

I blew out a breath. I’d managed to go nearly the whole day without thinking about our confessions in the cabin the night before—a dramatic rescue followed by hours of unconsciousness were handy that way—but now that I was alone and feeling human again, Tommy was all I could think about.

The shock on his face when I’d confessed that I loved him.

The warmth in his eyes as he’d said he loved me, too.

The way my whole body trembled with the need to hold him.

The fact that I still didn’t know how the fuck we could be together without one of us taking a huge leap and giving up… well, everything.

I made my way to the SERA dining room in search of them, but I only found Jasper sitting and eating a bowl of pasta while reading a dog-eared paperback. Chickie lay quietly at his feet until she saw me.

I squatted and gave her some love before looking up at Jasper. “Hey, man, you seen Tommy?”

Jasper glanced up and gave me a hesitant smile. “Dr. Marian went on a callout with Monroe and Sierra. He asked me to watch Chick.”

“A callout?” I frowned. “For what?”

He shut his book and set it on the table.

“From what I could gather, some kids were goofing around while on a trail ride, and one of them got thrown and kicked by the horse. They were pretty deep in the backcountry, so they called for a medevac. SERA’s on the list if they’re the closest team and time is an issue. ”

I was upset I’d missed the chance to go, but I also knew that it was way more important for the helicopter seats to be filled with medical and helo specialists than a SAR guy.

“That kid’s in good hands,” I murmured. “Hope they’re okay.”

Jasper nodded and poked at his pasta. “I hate that someone got hurt, but I’m glad Tommy got a chance to get out of here.” He made a face. “Trace was kinda ripping into him all afternoon about going out alone during a storm. He was, ah… loud.”

I winced as I took the seat across from him. “I’m sure Tommy already feels bad.”

“I’m sure he does. But I get why Trace was upset, too. You’ve got to own up to your mistakes and try and do better.” He gave me a half smile. “That’s maybe the most important thing I’ve learned at SERA. Definitely worth the four times I had to apply before I got picked.”

His words surprised me—not that he hadn’t gotten in on the first try, since Trace was incredibly selective, but that Jasper had tried again, and again, and again.

When the program had started, he’d been cautious to the point of being evasive, ducking responsibility and deferring to louder voices.

I hadn’t been impressed. But Tommy had encouraged me to give him a chance, and Jasper had stepped up. A lot.

“I’m glad you stuck with it,” I said after a beat, keeping my voice even. “You’re a rock-solid student.”

“Yeah?” Jasper gave a short laugh and rubbed the back of his neck. “Shit. That means a lot. I, um… I know I wasn’t when I first got here.”

I raised an eyebrow, inviting him to continue.

“I’ve wanted to come to SERA forever. Dream thing, you know?

But then about seven months ago, just after I got accepted for the summer cohort, I was the first EMT on scene at this really bad multi-car MVA just outside Golden.

Woman’s car flipped down an embankment. Kid strapped in the back.

” He exhaled, his eyes fixed on a point over my shoulder like he was seeing something beyond the dining hall’s wood paneling.

“The mother was screaming at us to save her kid. She seemed to be shaken but mostly okay. Kid was nonresponsive, so he’s the one we focused on.

We didn’t realize that the mom was suffering massive internal injuries, and…

” He broke off and shook his head. “I let a mother’s fear dictate my response instead of protocol, and because of that, she died. ”

“I had no idea,” I said quietly.

“Nah. Didn’t exactly volunteer that info.

” Jasper hesitated, then added, “I was scared, you know? Not to talk about it, just… scared I wasn’t good enough, I guess?

Like, if I couldn’t save her, did I even belong here?

SAR’s the only thing I ever wanted to do, but it felt like my own brain was sabotaging me.

Like it was safer not to try than to fail and have someone get hurt.

Not logical, I know, but…” He tapped his temple and screwed up his face.

“Messed me up anyway. I wanted to curl up in a ball and just stay small and safe.”

Like it was safer not to try than to fail and have someone get hurt. His words hit a little too close to home.

“What changed?” I demanded.