new new new!
Eeeeee yay, new book!
Torquere Press put out an anthology today of four stories under the title To Serve and Protect. There are stories by Chris Owen, CB Potts, Alexa Snow, and me!!
Y'all missed Chance and Tucker, I know you did. ;;)
They sat under the shower spray for a long time, long enough to lose the hot water. When Tucker’s skin turned cool and they both started to shiver, Chance got them both up off the floor and into warm towels. Tucker dried off without a word, though most of the previous anger he held seemed to have dissipated. Chance watched him out of the corner of his eye as they both dressed in clean clothes, and when Tucker sat down with a heavy sigh on the bed, Chance joined him there.
“Can you tell me?” Chance asked quietly, lifting a hand to brush Tucker’s wet hair from his forehead.
Tucker eyed him. “You gonna give me a lecture?”
“No,” Chance said.
“Really?”
“… maybe,” Chance admitted, and Tucker snorted. “I’ll try not to.”
Tucker sighed in defeat. “You’re gonna find out anyway,” he muttered. “Got suspended for a shift.”
Chance blinked. Shift suspension was uncommon; it usually only happened if the firefighter in question had done something fairly serious. “Okay,” he said carefully, his mind already running through any one of a number of scenarios.
“So we go on this call for some guy who’s dehydrated, right? He just started some fuckin’ exercise program, and since he weighed almost three hundred pounds, looks like he needed it.” Tucker shook his head. “We get to the house and the guy’s wife says the doctor didn’t tell him he needed to drink more water if he was gonna sweat so much.”
Chance rolled his eyes. He had no doubt Tucker was telling the truth. Chance had been on his own share of medical calls that were caused by general ignorance or stupidity. “All right, so?”
“So Chris was off yesterday, and I had an overtime medic with me. Chuck Moore, you know him?”
Chance nodded. Chuck was a tall, African-American fireman that he’d worked with before. Good guy and a good medic. “Yeah. Chuck.”
“Chuck kneels down next to him to start some saline in his IV. I’m standin’ up, talkin’ to Rich about whether or not we should just load him up and take the guy in, when the guy has a goddamn tirade about Chuck stickin’ him with a needle. I think maybe he’s got a needle phobia or whatever, but no.”
Tucker stopped and Chance could see the anger start to creep back in. “And?” he prompted, now having no idea where this was going.
“And so the guy’s a fuckin’ bigot, Chance. Used the ‘N’ word and everything. He didn’t want Chuck to touch him.” Tucker shook his head and stared at the carpet in front of him. “Didn’t even phase Chuck at all, but you know what I thought?”
Chance watched him. “Tell me,” he said softly, knowing this was more than what it seemed like.
“I thought, ‘if this asshole don’t like black people, then he prolly don’t like fags either.’ And what would the fucker say if he knew that I sucked cock? Huh? Would he let me touch him? ‘Cause he sure wasn’t havin’ none of Chuck, I’ll tell you that. Set up a huge fuss until I finally just grabbed the saline from the box and stuck the asshole myself.”
“Uh huh,” Chance said, trying to follow him. “And then?”
“Wasn’t saline,” Tucker muttered. “Was morphine. I grabbed a thing of morphine by accident ‘cause I was thinkin’ about what this guy would do if he knew I took it up the ass.”
Chance opened his mouth to say something and then snapped it shut, trying to process. Giving the wrong drug to a patient was a potentially fatal mistake. Not so in this case, fortunately, since the small vials of morphine that were kept in the drug boxes were only big enough to dull a patient’s pain, not substantially reduce it. But it explained why Tucker had been sent home and was suspended for his next shift. “Christ, Tucker,” Chance finally said.
***
There is DRAMA and SEX and it's all good, people. All good. Plus, it's also available in print omg. Go give it a look. You won't be disappointed, honest.
TO SERVE AND PROTECT
Torquere Press put out an anthology today of four stories under the title To Serve and Protect. There are stories by Chris Owen, CB Potts, Alexa Snow, and me!!
Y'all missed Chance and Tucker, I know you did. ;;)
They sat under the shower spray for a long time, long enough to lose the hot water. When Tucker’s skin turned cool and they both started to shiver, Chance got them both up off the floor and into warm towels. Tucker dried off without a word, though most of the previous anger he held seemed to have dissipated. Chance watched him out of the corner of his eye as they both dressed in clean clothes, and when Tucker sat down with a heavy sigh on the bed, Chance joined him there.
“Can you tell me?” Chance asked quietly, lifting a hand to brush Tucker’s wet hair from his forehead.
Tucker eyed him. “You gonna give me a lecture?”
“No,” Chance said.
“Really?”
“… maybe,” Chance admitted, and Tucker snorted. “I’ll try not to.”
Tucker sighed in defeat. “You’re gonna find out anyway,” he muttered. “Got suspended for a shift.”
Chance blinked. Shift suspension was uncommon; it usually only happened if the firefighter in question had done something fairly serious. “Okay,” he said carefully, his mind already running through any one of a number of scenarios.
“So we go on this call for some guy who’s dehydrated, right? He just started some fuckin’ exercise program, and since he weighed almost three hundred pounds, looks like he needed it.” Tucker shook his head. “We get to the house and the guy’s wife says the doctor didn’t tell him he needed to drink more water if he was gonna sweat so much.”
Chance rolled his eyes. He had no doubt Tucker was telling the truth. Chance had been on his own share of medical calls that were caused by general ignorance or stupidity. “All right, so?”
“So Chris was off yesterday, and I had an overtime medic with me. Chuck Moore, you know him?”
Chance nodded. Chuck was a tall, African-American fireman that he’d worked with before. Good guy and a good medic. “Yeah. Chuck.”
“Chuck kneels down next to him to start some saline in his IV. I’m standin’ up, talkin’ to Rich about whether or not we should just load him up and take the guy in, when the guy has a goddamn tirade about Chuck stickin’ him with a needle. I think maybe he’s got a needle phobia or whatever, but no.”
Tucker stopped and Chance could see the anger start to creep back in. “And?” he prompted, now having no idea where this was going.
“And so the guy’s a fuckin’ bigot, Chance. Used the ‘N’ word and everything. He didn’t want Chuck to touch him.” Tucker shook his head and stared at the carpet in front of him. “Didn’t even phase Chuck at all, but you know what I thought?”
Chance watched him. “Tell me,” he said softly, knowing this was more than what it seemed like.
“I thought, ‘if this asshole don’t like black people, then he prolly don’t like fags either.’ And what would the fucker say if he knew that I sucked cock? Huh? Would he let me touch him? ‘Cause he sure wasn’t havin’ none of Chuck, I’ll tell you that. Set up a huge fuss until I finally just grabbed the saline from the box and stuck the asshole myself.”
“Uh huh,” Chance said, trying to follow him. “And then?”
“Wasn’t saline,” Tucker muttered. “Was morphine. I grabbed a thing of morphine by accident ‘cause I was thinkin’ about what this guy would do if he knew I took it up the ass.”
Chance opened his mouth to say something and then snapped it shut, trying to process. Giving the wrong drug to a patient was a potentially fatal mistake. Not so in this case, fortunately, since the small vials of morphine that were kept in the drug boxes were only big enough to dull a patient’s pain, not substantially reduce it. But it explained why Tucker had been sent home and was suspended for his next shift. “Christ, Tucker,” Chance finally said.
***
There is DRAMA and SEX and it's all good, people. All good. Plus, it's also available in print omg. Go give it a look. You won't be disappointed, honest.
TO SERVE AND PROTECT