Page 26 of Hard as Steel

“Nine-one-one, what’s the nature of your emergency?”

“My fiancé just dropped. I don’t know if he’s having a heart attack or what. His lips are turning blue. Plus, his breathing is rapid.”

“Do you know the address where you are?”

“Yeah.” Steel ran his fingers through his hair, trying to think. “Um, four-nine-seven Beach House Boulevard.”

“Okay, sir. We have an ambulance on the way. I need you to stay calm. How old is your fiancé?”

“Fifty-two.”

“What’s his name?”

“Krystof Svoboda. Please hurry. I don’t know what to do. I can’t lose him.” Every inch of Steel shook.

“Just stay on the line with me, okay? The ambulance is about a block out.”

Steel rubbed Krystof’s chest. “Come on, baby. Open your eyes. I need you to take a deep breath.”

“Is he conscious?”

Steel wanted to scream at all the questions. He was facing losing the only thing that mattered. Steel didn’t want to chitchat.

“Sir, what’s your name?”

“Um, Steel. It’s Steel.”

“Okay, Steel. Is Krystof conscious?”

“No. Well, I can’t really tell. His eyes won’t open. Yeah, yes, he’s unconscious.” He was so panicked that he couldn’t think clearly.

“Do you hear the sirens? They should be arriving now.”

Steel forced himself to listen. “Yeah. I hear sirens. I think they’re here.”

“Okay, Steel, since the paramedics are there, I’ll leave you in their care. You need to let them in.”

Steel shot to his feet and ran for the front door. Men rushed in. Steel headed back to the kitchen. “He’s in here.”

Back in the kitchen, a pajama-wearing vicious Rottweiler stood over Krystof, guarding him. She growled and barked, poised to attack.

Steel snatched her off the floor. “Come on, baby. They’re here to help Daddy. We have to let them work.”

When the paramedics surrounded Krystof and got to work, starting lines and calling out for things Steel didn’t know what they were, Buttercup stilled in his arms, as if waiting to pass judgment. Her gaze never left Krystof.

Steel bobbed her up and down like a baby. “I know, darling. We can’t lose him. He’ll get better. He has to. Someone should call Kuba. Fuck, I guess that’s me. Do I know his number? Where is my phone?” Steel rambled as if he had lost his mind, but really, he had. Without Krystof, his life wasn’t worth a thing. Steel froze. His life would be nothing. So, why hadn’t he acted like it?

Chapter Ten

The sound of whooshing air, timed like breaths, keeping his father’s body alive, drove Steel insane. Why hadn’t they unplugged him yet? Damn, he hated the way his dad always turned him into a bad person. Even brain-dead, he pissed Steel off. He didn’t want to be here, waiting for the inevitable flatline. Honestly, he didn’t know why he had come when his cousin called to tell him the news: massive stroke. No brain activity. Maybe Steel had to see him die. If he didn’t watch his dad’s heart stop, it was possible a part of him would always wonder if the evil bastard still walked the earth somewhere. His mother hadn’t once looked his way. Each moment that passed, Steel got angrier by the second. He didn’t need to see this. In fact, why had he given any of these motherfuckers the satisfaction of seeing him here? What if they thought he had regrets? Eww. He knew his father had turned him into a bastard. You didn’t win love by beating the emotions out of someone.

Steel couldn’t take it anymore. He leaned forward and looked at his father’s lifeless face. “I hope you roast in Hell.”

His mom gasped.

He looked her way. “That goes for you too.”

She started tripping over her words, throwing words out like repenting and the Lord’s forgiveness. Steel didn’t stick around to listen. Maybe the Lord had forgiven them. Steel hadn’t and never would. By the time Steel made it to the truck the rental company had given him, he was too furious to drive. He desperately needed someone to talk to, but no one knew him like that. The number of people who knew what he had been through he could count on one hand and have fingers left over. Steel growled and started the car. It didn’t take him long to get to the hotel where he planned to stay for the night. Now Steel thought he might look for an earlier flight home instead. There had never been anything here for him. Five minutes after settling into his room, someone knocked on his door. Steel was on his feet in an instant, storming across the room. “I swear to God, if this is you, Mom, I will spit in your face. I’ve never been so over anything in my whole fucking life.” He ripped the door open.