Free Razing Kayne by Julieanne Reeves

her...”
     He paused, gasping through a wave of pain. “Tell her…I'm so sorry I wasn't a better
     husband—”
    “ Whoa. Tell her your goddamned self. You're not going anywhere!” Joe was not letting Jarred
     give up. Not yet.
    Jarred ignored him. “Had a fight. Asked for Divorce. Tried to love her; never meant to hurt her. Want her to be happy. Tell her...find
     someone...who deserves her. Not someone... like us.” Jarred made eye contact with Cody.
    And yeah, Cody was an alley cat who'd had the hots for Jess since high school. Everyone
     knew it, but Jarred had been the one to win her heart.
    “Ha! You stick around you son of a bitch, or I swear I'll make a play for her the
     moment you're gone,” Cody said.
    Jarred flipped him off, a tight smile tugging the corner of his lips. “ Someone  else ...at...accident...didn't see...only heard...ran—” Jarred struggled to put words together,
     but they made little sense. His voice trailed off, and then so did his vitals.
    Jarred coded a second time as they pulled up to the emergency entrance. They offloaded
     him, wheeling him through the doors, Joe straddling his body and doing chest compressions.
     Cody rattled off a status report while he worked the ventilator mask in time with
     the compressions. They wheeled him past the nurse’s station and a hysterical Jessica.
     Jess wasn't stupid—if she'd been standing there any length of time, she'd heard their
     inbound report and knew this wasn't his first code. Goddamnit!
    By the time Joe handed off compressions to a trauma nurse, Cody was already standing
     outside the room consoling Jess. After Cody's threat in the ambulance, seeing him
     holding Jess pissed Joe off, but he said nothing, and, a moment later, Jess moved
     away from Cody and into his arms. She'd always been like a little sister to him, and he could feel her heart
     breaking as they stood there watching. Waiting. How could Jarred have treated this wonderful, gentle woman so badly?
    Several minutes later, one of the nurses shouted, “He's back!”
    “When can that whirly-bird fly?” Dr. Mark Oberly demanded. Because of the storm, the
     helicopter had been grounded. The closest trauma and burn center was more than a two
     hour drive in an ambulance, and Jarred didn't stand a chance of making that trip.
    “They’re saying four to six hours minimum . And yes, they know it's one of ours,” the nurse said.
    “Pansy-ass-motherfuckers. This weather is nothing like what we flew through in A-stan,” Dr. Oberly muttered.
    After a string of curses that echoed Joe's own thoughts, the doctor barked orders,
     requisitioning blood, prescribing medications, dictating surgical instruments, and
     calling for an operating room. “Okay boys and girls, these wounds are no different
     than those we saw sustained from an I.E.D. So ...we're gonna do the dirty work and let the city boys pretty him up later. A dozen
     faces turned to the doctor with expressions that left no room to doubt they thought
     he'd lost his mind. Payson's hospital wasn’t equipped to deal with Jarred's injures,
     but Mark was. And those who'd ever served in the military knew that being prepared
     to improvise, adapt, and overcome created survivors.
    A woman shoved her way forward, snapping on gloves. “Five years as a trauma nurse
     at Lennox Hill—where do you need me?”
    Joe couldn’t remember her name. She'd only been in town a few weeks, and Joe had only
     ever said a word or two to her, but in that moment, he fell a little bit in love.
    Two others—the on-duty anesthesiologist and a male nurse—stepped forward, both ex-military
     too . The rest of the staff quietly backed out, refusing to meet anyone's gaze. Joe knew
     he shouldn't be angry, but, God, if this had been their husband or brother lying there,
     they'd do everything they could, to hell with the consequences.
    “Jessica?” A nurse walked up, holding the still-crying baby who was now wrapped in
     a blanket. “I need to