Marital Bitch (Men with Badges) - By Jc Emery Page 0,94

moves to stand between me and the front door. James is behind me and being blocked from going outside and giving me a look that brokers no argument. We have to go.

"Wait!" Colleen yells. I stare at her like she's grown a second head. And hell, she might have. She's started to grow a second ass lately. Not that I'm complaining, she's always been too skinny. "I said I love you!"

What?

So many things happen at once. My heart speeds up as my ears finally register that she is telling me she loves me. She places her hands on her hips, looking put out and ticked off with the burglary around the corner. And James is standing beside me, huffing away. I hear a commotion outside and then screaming; it's faint, but still close by. Fuck. I say the first thing—and probably worst thing—I can think of.

"Yeah, I heard you, crazy. Now, I have to go!" I push past my pretty girl and run out the door and toward the screaming, James on my tail. As we race down the street, I can't help but smile. She said it.

"I'm going to kick your butt when you get home, Bradley Patrick!" Colleen screams from the doorway. I spare a moment to look back at her. She's shaking her fist wildly. She really grew some balls in the last few minutes and it's about fucking time. My pretty girl loves me.

We turn the corner and arrive on the scene in time to see a late model Cadillac pulling towards us. James and I draw our weapons and order the car to stop. The driver, a haggard old drunk I recognize from a few busts years ago, looks panicked and slams on the gas.

My head is only half in the game as the rest of me is still with Colleen. She loves me. The distraction proves costly and I rush forward just as the car jerks toward me. The driver swerves and knocks me to the ground with the force of the bumper.

Next thing I know James is calling the incident in as an "officer down." I'm lying flat on my back, panting, afraid to move. I can feel my legs and arms. Nothing is numb. My right foot is killing me. The throbbing is out of control. And then the dizziness sets in and everything goes black. In the background I can hear James shouting at the driver and his accomplice. James may be a lot of things, but he's a damn good cop. I know he'll keep them in the car until backup arrives.

The next thing I know I'm in an ambulance, James's at my side, and he's on the phone telling someone I've been hit by a car. He's making it sound much worse than it actually is. In my foggy state, I decide that James has the ability to be a bit of a drama queen. I don't think anything is broken. I'm fairly coherent, and the paramedics aren't freaking out trying to resuscitate me. I'm fine. I try to tell him this but my words are slurred.

"Sir, please just relax," the paramedic orders me. My body is heavy and it's difficult to move so I take her advice. We get to the hospital and they whirl me through the E.R. and a doctor is at my side immediately. James is nowhere to be found. They run all kinds of tests, checking for internal bleeding and broken bones and anything else that might be wrong with me. They find that the big toe on my right foot is broken, but nothing else. When the fog clears and I'm able to talk to the doctor, he determines that I have a mild concussion and the one broken toe; otherwise I'm fine.

It feels like hours later when I'm finally settled in a hospital room. They plan to discharge me in a few hours as long as I don't show signs of any complications. Not a minute after they get me propped up in bed does Colleen come bursting through the door. Her face is bright red and she's covered in snot and tears. My heart falls, realizing how worried she must have been about me.

I open my arms wide and she runs into them, sobbing all along the way. My body is sore and a little uncomfortable with the strength she's using in clinging to me, but I can't bear to let her loosen her grip. Colleen crawls up in the bed