Joe

Kelley put the mask back over her mouth and took a few more puffs. She could feel tears run down the sides of her face and go around the mask as the cold night air made them feel like ice cubes. Finally she was able to move the mask down and she told the paramedics everything.

Linda had come running out of Matt's as soon as she heard the wailing of the siren and the popping noise, because she lived in a rough part of town she knew the popping noise was a gun shot. She still had the cordless phone in her hand as she ran out the door making sure the pretty young girl was not hurt. She had Patrick's leather jacket in her hands and she held it around Kelley as the handsome young man bandaged her gunshot wound and gave her some medicine to help with the pain.

"So you say that there were two of these 'paramedics'?", the young man asked Kelley as he finished up with the wrap on her shoulder.

Kelley moved the mask down and looked him in the eyes, she wanted to read him before she answered. She saw trust, more than anything safety, in his big brown eyes. She could sense a feeling of goodness when his hand touched her arm when he helped her up off of the ground. "Yes. Two men, one big mother and one small bastard," she immediately blushed right after the last part of her answer came out of her mouth. I can't believe I just swore like that in front of him, she thought.

He was not expecting to hear that come out of her mouth, so Brad could not stop his surprised little laugh from escaping his mouth. When he smiled Kelley could see how handsome he truly was, he had a darkish tint to his complexion, dark black hair that was close cut to his head. He had an intense stare that was comforting, yet intimidating at the same time. "Well, I don't want to tell the police that we are looking for a 'big mother and a small bastard' are you able to give me more of a description?"

Kelley could not believe how much like a little girl she was feeling to herself just because she thought this man in front of her was cute, women that acted like she was then always made her want to puke. She could not help but look at his eyes and notice how the lights of the ambulance seemed to sparkle off of them, it was almost as if they were a beacon for her to follow in the night. She wanted nothing more than to feel his bottom lip in her mouth as she playfully nibbled it, feeling his large, strong hands around the middle of her back holding her close to him.

She closed her eyes and shook her head just a little bit to clear these thoughts from her mind, she had to give him the description of what she saw. "I know that this is going to sound utterly ridiculous, but I can only tell you that the 'big mother' was a black man, about thirty or so, and the 'small bastard' was white and looked to be about thirty-five. The big one had no hair, the little one had some hair, but not much."

Brad gave her an inquiring look when she said some hair, he raised his one eyebrow and just looked at her, waiting to hear more. "He had a big bald spot, almost as if his hair line started in the middle of his head. He tried very hard to make it look as if he had more hair than he really does. His eyes were hazel, he had an angular nose, and he had a dark goatee."

"Did you happen to see a name of the hospital they were from on their uniform? Or even a name tag of either one of them?" Brad was hoping that he would be bale to give the police something for their report, but this was a shot in the dark, he knew it, but he was hopeful all the same.

"I wish I did, their uniforms looked just like the one you're wearing, however I did not see a tag like I do on yours," she said this while pointing to his name tag, she had to stop herself from stroking his chest, she just wanted to touch him so bad.

Brad could sense she was looking at him more than a normal, it was almost as if she were sizing him up. He tried to get through the questioning as quick as possible, he always felt uncomfortable when someone would look at him like that. He thought he would try a different approach with this woman. "I need to ask you just a few more questions before the police arrive, they should be here really soon, first of all, what is your name?"

Kelley felt an immediate flush all over her body when she saw his smile looking down at her, she was going to throw herself at his body and have her way with him she knew. Stop being such an idiot girl!, her mind screamed at her. She was able to stammer out her name. "Kel...Kelley Guiness."

Brad's smile widened when her heard her last name, "Like the book?", he asked.

"Yes, yes. Like the book," she was genuinely surprised to hear that question, she usually got the question, "Like the beer?", from each and every guy that ever heard her last name.

"Do you have a phone number that I can reach you at in case I need any more questions for you Miss Guiness?" It was now Brad's turn to feel the rush of embarrassment come over him, he never asked this of anyone he had ever helped. He usually had a phone number forced into his hand from the girl that he was loading into the ambulance, always written on anything that they could rip apart. One time he had a number giving to him that was jotted down on a piece of the sheet the girl had torn off, how she cut he didn't know. He will always remember that number, not because he hooked up with the girl, but because she used her own blood from her leg wound to write her number down.

Brad always had numbers given to him, his friends would sometimes get angry with him if they went to the bars. Not because he was flashy and went asking for all of the numbers or attention from the girls in the bar, but because they always flocked around him. He hardly ever went on dates with any of the numbers that he was given, nor did he give them to his friends and let them pretend to be him over the phone or Internet. Even when they were pleading with them to give the numbers over he would just smile and hold on to them until he got home and then the would throw them away.

Something about this girl in front of him, Kelley Guiness, grabbed a hold of him as he ran up to her. He was glad that he chose to come to her aid and had Joe run into Matt's and take care of the inside. As soon as he saw her face and her eyes, sparkling, blazing, green staring at him he was frozen in place. As soon as he touched her skin and felt how soft it was he felt tingles all over his body. When he heard her voice caress his ears he was immediately hooked, he wanted to hear her talk all the time, no matter what she was saying. He would normally never try to get as much information from a person before the police showed up, but this time he wanted to , just to hear her talk. Her voice was intoxicating to his ear. He started to feel really strange just then, he never had these kind of feelings this quickly about anyone before. Why her? He knew then that he needed to get to know her more, that was why he had asked for her number. "I'm sorry, if that seemed rude, but I just want to make sure that we get everything that the police need."

Kelley flushed when he asked for her number, however she tried to show that she was not at all embarrassed by asking with a smile, "Do you make it a habit of asking all of the girls that you rescue for their phone number?" She was very surprised to see the redness creep over his face, she thought it was the cutest thing she had ever seen.

Brad was completely humiliated, he realized now how that must have sounded and looked to her. He responded as quickly as he could, "No...no. I...I didn't mean it like that. I just wanted to....I have an idea. Here is my number, if you feel like you need to give me a call. It's my cell, so if I don't answer right away leave a message. I will always call you back."

Right after he said that he realized how that must have sounded. He wanted to crawl under a rock and disappear, however once he felt the warmth of her fingers on his hand as she grabbed the written number on the piece of paper he forgot all about his embarrassment.

Brad seemed to feel her touch all the way back to the hospital. He honestly felt like he knew her from somewhere, but he could not figure out where. He was hoping that he would get a call from her soon, he really wanted to see her again. As always Joe felt the need to tease him. "How soon before you're in her pants?"

Brad turned to look at his partner's wolfish grin, he smiled and said, "Shut up asshole."

"I was just wonderin', cuz the way the two of you were looking at each other right then I thought that maybe we was gonna see somethin' that I normally have to pay lots of money for."

"You really are an asshole Joe, you know that?"

"Your words are nothing more than a buzzing in my ear," he paused and then finished with, "dickhead".