Newbie paramedic Dakota knows that the other
EMS workers like to call him by his nickname,
Status Dramaticus. But it’s not his fault, honestly.
Okay, so maybe he got into a huge, overblown
breakup with one of his boyfriends while they
were on the job. And maybe he’d crashed the rig
once or twice or…so, but that could have
happened to anybody. The exploding oxygen tank
incident was another innocent mistake, too, so
why do his co-workers keep hassling him? All
Dakota wants to do is make a living and a new life
for himself in Flint.

When Charlie is transferred to the Flint Police

Department, he’s ready for a change of scenery.
While he liked his old city, he was ready to leave
all the drama from his family and exes behind. So
when he finds himself strangely fascinated by the
most dramatic guy in all of Flint, Charlie is both
annoyed and at a loss.

Then Dakota finds himself in trouble and

Charlie knows he has no choice but to help. Will
they survive long enough to find true love, or will
the drama meet a sad, sudden end?

The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
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infringement, including infringement without
monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is
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fine of $250,000.

Please purchase only authorized electronic editions,
and do not participate in or encourage the electronic
piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the
author’s rights is appreciated.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents either are products of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is
entirely coincidental.

Status Dramaticus

Copyright © 2012 Stephani Hecht

ISBN: 978-1-77111-119-5

Cover art by Martine Jardin

All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the
reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in
part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden
without the written permission of the publisher.

Published by eXtasy Books

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Status Dramaticus

EMS Heat

By

Stephani Hecht

1

Chapter One

hit! Fuck! Damn!” Dakota cursed as he
glanced down at the clock on his car radio.

He was late for work…again. That would be the

third time in less than a month and he knew that
his manager was going to be pissed as hell. Not
only that, but so would Dakota’s partner Bertha.

Squat and mean, Bertha was the one partner

that nobody wanted, yet Dakota drew the last
straw and so had to saddle with her. Wider than
she was tall, she had short dark hair and an even
shorter temper. Especially when it came to
Dakota.

Why oh why hadn’t they given him a more

understanding partner? As a rookie medic, he was
expected to make mistakes, but under her beady-
eyed stare, he always seemed to fuck up more.

Yet, everybody always liked to point their

fingers at him and say it was his fault. That he was
the one always causing all the drama and trouble
around the station. As if! He was just a rookie
trying to start a new life in the city of Flint of all

“S

Stephani Hecht

2

places.

He pressed on the gas pedal a bit harder,

praying that he wouldn’t get caught speeding.
Since it was a back road and it was still pretty
early out, he didn’t figure any cops would be out.
He’d rather risk getting a ticket than face Bertha’s
wrath any day.

Just as he was rounding a curve, the sound of

The Jonas Brothers started to blare through
Dakota’s speakers—the ones he’d paid over seven
hundred dollars to install.

Ah, hell no!
His twin Houston must have been fucking

around with Dakota’s playlist again. That little
punk.

“I’m going to strangle him with his own

entrails,” Dakota huffed.

Even though he knew better, he took his eyes

off the road and began to fiddle with his iPhone,
desperate to get another song on. He’d just found
something more suitable when the sound of a car
horn came from behind him. Startled, he looked
up just in time to see himself gazing into the blank
eyes of a deer.

“Not Bambi!” Dakota yelled as he slammed on

the brakes.

It was too late, his car slammed into the poor

animal. He closed his eyes as he heard a loud
thud, followed the sound of crunching glass and

Status Dramaticus

3

metal.

His car fishtailed to the right before he

managed to gather his wits and straighten it out.
Shaking and with his heart racing, Dakota pulled
off to the side of the road.

For a second all he could do is sit there, his

body trembling in fear. He even felt a bit sick to
his stomach, and he really didn’t want to vomit.
He’d eaten the last of the AppleJakes and it would
be a damn shame to waste them that way.

He heard a car stopping behind him and

Dakota glanced into his review mirror in time to
notice the driver getting out. With fumbling
fingers, Dakota undid his own belt and got out to
greet him.

“I never saw the deer come out,” he defended.
“I’m not surprised with the way you were

swerving around,” the driver growled.

Dakota finally got a good look at the other man

and instantly wished for a hole in the ground.
Maybe then he could jump in it and disappear for
a while.

Just when he thought that things couldn’t have

possibly gotten worse, it had to be Charlie who
was now chewing him out.

The only saving grace was that Dakota

seriously doubted the police detective even
recognized a rookie medic like him. Still, there
was no way in hell that Dakota could ever forget

Stephani Hecht

4

Charlie. While he’d only seen the man once before,
that was all it took to fuel more than a dozen of
Dakota’s wet dreams.

A few years older than Dakota, with short

blond hair, do-me blue eyes and a lickable body to
die for, Charlie was Brad Pitt and Ryan Reynolds all
wrapped up in one big bow. The only things
missing were a pair of tight leather pants and a set
of fur-covered cuffs and then all of Dakota’s
fantasies would come true.

Unfortunately at that moment Charlie didn’t

look too pleased with Dakota. The detective
narrowed his gaze. “Are you even listening to
me?”

Ah, no. I was too busy drooling over you and

imagining how it would feel to have you fuck me into

the mattress.

“Of course I’ve been,” Dakota lied.
“Then answer my question.”
“What question was that?”
“The one I just asked you.”
“Would you please repeat it?”
Charlie let out a sigh as he pinched the bridge

of his nose. “Have you been drinking or
something?”

“Of course not. It’s much too early for that.”
“Then why were you swerving all over the

road?”

“The Jonas Brothers made me do it.”

Status Dramaticus

5

Charlie slowly lowered his hand and glared.

“Did you just accuse a boy band of making you hit
a deer?”

Dakota let out a gasp. “Shoot! I forgot about the

deer!” He ran off to the woods that were on the
opposite side of the car.

“What in the hell are you doing?” Charlie

asked.

“I have to find the deer. I may be able to still

save it.”

“Seeing as how there is a piece of it embedded

in your front bumper I don’t think that’s going to
happen.”

Dakota glanced back, wincing when he saw the

bloody, hunk of flesh hanging from his car. Well,
that was a bit gross.

“I can still save it,” Dakota insisted.
He spotted the deer and ran up to it. Kneeling

down, he put his head to the animal’s chest, his
heart sinking when he detected no signs of life. He
still didn’t allow that to deter him though.
Running back to his car, he opened the door and
began to rummage around his glove box.

“What are you doing now?” Charlie demanded.
“I’m looking for my CPR mask,” Dakota

replied, not looking up from his task.

“Why do you need that?”
Dakota paused long enough to shoot off a duh

look. “Because there is no way I’m going to do

Stephani Hecht

6

mouth-to-mouth with a deer without some kind of
barrier.”

“You’re going to try to resuscitate the deer?”
“Of course I am. It’s my fault he’s dead.”

Dakota accidently pulled out a bottle of lube, his
face burning with embarrassment. He gave a tiny
smile and an oopsie before tossing it into the back
seat.

“I thought you said it was The Jonas Brothers

fault,” Charlie said. “Are you sure you haven’t
been drinking?”

Having found the mask, Dakota straightened.

“No, I already told you, it’s much too early. It’s
not like I’m my Aunt Clair or something. Because I
don’t care what she says, a Bloody Mary or a
Mimosa still has alcohol in them, so they don’t
belong on the breakfast table.”

Charlie walked up to the deer and held its

head. “You broke its neck, so, no amount of CPR is
going to bring it back.”

For some reason that announcement was the

icing on his sucky day cake, and Dakota’s heart
sank. Leaning against the car, he let out a sigh.
“Well, shit.”

To his utter dismay and horror, he saw a patrol

car and a rig pulling up. Damn it all, if Dakota
didn’t know all the arriving EMS workers, too.
“Well, double shit. Why are they here?” Dakota
demanded.

Status Dramaticus

7

“I called them. At first, I didn’t know if you

were hurt or not.”

The cop sauntered up, a dark-haired guy

named Hank. He was only a year or two older
than Dakota, which put him at twenty-five and on
the two occasions they’d run into each other while
on the job, the guy had been a first-class
douchecopter.

“Well, look at that. If it’s not Status

Dramaticus.”

Dakota barely resisted the urge to flip the guy

off.

Charlie tilted his head in confusion. “Hank,

what are you talking about?”

“You mean you don’t know about the new

medic’s nickname? They call him that because he
can’t seem to stay out of trouble. What’s worse is
there’s two of him. He has a twin named Bagged
and Tagged.”

“His name is Houston,” Dakota snapped.
He let out a soft sigh of relief when the medics

approached. Since it was Matt and James, they
were going to give Dakota a hard time, but it
would be in a friendly kind of teasing way. Not
only that, but if Hank got too mean Dakota knew
Matt wouldn’t hesitate to tell the cop to back off.

Matt smiled, his ever-present sunglasses

covering his twinkling blue eyes. His blond hair
was slightly spiked, the messy style meshed

Stephani Hecht

8

perfectly with his fuck-it-all attitude. “Dakota,
dude. What in the hell did you do to Bambi?”

“I didn’t mean to,” Dakota said.
“He claims it was The Jonas Brothers fault,”

Charlie added, studying Dakota carefully.

“Houston changed my playtrack on my iPhone

and I only glanced away from the road for a
second to switch it back.”

Charlie was now really glaring at Dakota. “So

you really are a medic?”

“Yeah, I just graduated from class a couple of

months ago.”

“And in that time, how many car accident

scenes have you been to?”

Dakota swallowed hard, already knowing

where the conversation was heading. Damn if he
could find a way of dodging it though. “I’ve been
to more than a few.”

“How many of them were because one of the

drivers was distracted by say…oh, their iPhone?”

Charlie was really getting into it now, taking a

step forward with nearly every word he spoke.
Dakota back peddled a couple of steps until he
was pinned against his car. That still didn’t stop
Charlie as he kept on coming until they were only
inches apart. His eyes were bright with anger, a
vein throbbed at one temple and his jaw was
clenched.

It should have scared the hell out of Dakota.

Status Dramaticus

9

Instead, it did the opposite. Desire shot through
his body, and to his horror, he found himself
growing hard.

Shit, this was so not what he needed at the

moment. Giving Little Dakota a down boy, he
pressed himself more firmly against the car and
said a silent prayer that his coat was long enough
to hide all the discriminating evidence.

“I know, it was stupid of me,” Dakota

admitted, his voice cracking just a bit.

A snicker of laughter sounded and Dakota

didn’t have to look to know that it came from
Matt. He made a silent vow to find some way to
pay the dork back for thinking the situation was so
amusing.

“What if you had swerved into the other lane

and hit another car head-on? If you had killed
somebody there wouldn’t be enough I’m sorrys to
bring them back,” Charlie lectured.

Guilt shot through Dakota. “You’re right. As a

medic, I should have known that better than
anybody. I was lucky it was just a deer and not
some kid that I hit. I won’t do it again. Not even if
Miley Cyrus comes on the radio.”

The corners of Charlie’s lips twitched for a

second and Dakota thought that he’d finally get a
laugh from the guy, but then Hank had to ruin
everything by adding his two cents.

“You may as well save it. This one is too dumb

Stephani Hecht

10

to learn anything.”

Those words echoed what Dakota’s own father

had said so often that he found himself wincing in
response. Which was stupid since Hank and
Dakota’s dad didn’t look anything alike. While his
father may be a jerk, at least he wasn’t carrying
around fifty extra pounds and a comb over that
would make Homer Simpson laugh.

Matt stepped forward, his lip curling up as he

faced off against Hank. “Don’t talk about the kid
that way. He just made an honest mistake. I’ve
seen you do the same thing countless times.
Although, with you, it’s usually a burger or some
skin magazine that is distracting you.”

“Really? He looks at magazines while he’s

driving. I didn’t know anybody ever actually did
that,” Dakota blurted.

Matt gave one of his snide smiles. “They only

do it when they’re trying to hide their reading
habits from their wives.”

Hank glared at them all. “I should have known

that you would stick up for him. Your kind always
protects each other.”

With those parting words, he spun around,

went to his car and began to fill out the report.
Dakota sucked in a breath as he waited to see how
Charlie would react to that statement. It was
already a known fact that Matt and James were
gay. As for Dakota, he and his ex, who was a

Status Dramaticus

11

firefighter, had a very public, melodramatic
breakup and that had blown his secret. While that
alone usually wouldn’t be the cause of gossip,
they had the misfortune of having the incident
happen while they were on the scene of a car
accident.

Hey, call Dakota possessive, but when he heard

another firefighter calling his boyfriend sweetie, it
had made him a tad pissed. How was he
supposed to know that Peter would start yelling
and calling Dakota all kinds of names?

Charlie turned back to Dakota. “Do they really

call you Status Dramaticus?”

“Yeah, but it’s not because he’s gay. It’s just that

the kid always seems to find all the trouble and
drama,” James answered.

Dakota felt good knowing that he had at least

two allies in what had become a cluster-fuck of a
morning. Charlie glanced down at the CPR mask
that was still in Dakota’s hand and finally
laughed.

It was so worth the wait, too. Warm, like

whiskey mixed with honey, it ran over Dakota’s
body, making him all hard again.

“Somehow, I don’t have any trouble believing

that you’re always in the center of trouble,”
Charlie said.

“I don’t mean to. It just kind of seems to

happen to me all the time,” Dakota admitted with

Stephani Hecht

12

a sigh.

Charlie smiled at him and darn if it didn’t make

Dakota forget to breathe for a second.

“That’s okay. I think the trait is kind of cute.”
He then turned around, leaving Dakota as

frozen as the poor deer had been right before its
demise.

Matt chuckled as he came up and began to

palpate the back of Dakota’s neck. “You can forget
it.”

“Why? Is he straight?” Dakota asked, still

watching Charlie.

Damn, if that guy didn’t have an ass made for

eating off of.

“No, worse. He’s good looking and he knows

it.”

James gave Dakota a sympathetic glance.

“From what I hear, he goes through guys faster
than Cher.”

“So…maybe all I want is a quick hook-up?”
James rolled his eyes. “Yeah because you’re

such a player. Ever since Peter, you haven’t even
tried to talk to another guy.”

Irritated, both by the news of how Charlie was

and by their mothering, Dakota batted Matt’s
hand away. “What are you doing?”

Matt nodded over to Dakota’s very dented car.

“You were just in an accident. We need to assess
you and then get your skinny hide to the

Status Dramaticus

13

hospital.”

“Don’t be crazy. I don’t need to go anywhere

but work. If I don’t get my ass there soon, Bertha
is going to be so pissed that I’m going to look like
that deer over there.”

Dakota closed his eyes and said a silent prayer

that the rest of his day would go better. After all,
what else could possibly go wrong?

Stephani Hecht

14

Chapter Two

harlie sat at his desk trying to concentrate on
his paperwork, but was having trouble

focusing. It wasn’t because the precinct was busier
than hell and one of the local hookers was
presently chewing out Charlie’s new partner Rich
either.

No, it was because Charlie couldn’t stop

thinking about a certain, over-dramatic medic. In
fact, ever since their little meeting over the dead
deer incident two days ago, Dakota had played a
starring role in most of Charlie’s musings.

What in the hell was it about Dakota and how

had he managed to get under Charlie’s skin?

Dakota was everything that Charlie had vowed

to stay away from. Sure, he may be hotter than
hell with his spikey dark hair, big brown eyes and
sweet smile. He was even tall and thin, just the
way Charlie liked his guys built. Therefore, it
wasn’t what was on the outside that was an issue.

No, it was all that was going on in the guy’s

C

Status Dramaticus

15

scattered mind that should make Charlie want to
run for the hills. Not only did Dakota live up to
his new nickname and then some, but the guy
couldn’t seem to keep a coherent thought for more
than two seconds.

Charlie flashed back to the way Dakota had

glanced up from under his lashes, with just a hint
of a five-o-clock shadow playing on his jaw
despite the early hour and all of a sudden Charlie
was hard pressed again to remember the guy’s
faults.

“Thanks for the help on that one,” Rich said as

he took the desk opposite of Charlie. “I thought
Mags was going to tear my hair out and shove it
down my throat.”

Charlie glanced over at the hooker who was

currently being led to booking. She had her hands
cuffed behind her, but that didn’t stop her from
shooting Rich a dirty look, then spitting an
impressive sized loogie in his direction.

“So how are you liking Flint so far?” Rich asked

with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

With dark hair, brown eyes and high-cheek

bones, Rich had an exotic kind of good looks
about him. He’d once confided that his
grandmother had been full-blooded Cree and had
grown up in Canada before moving her family to
Flint years ago.

“Just fine,” Charlie answered, his thoughts

Stephani Hecht

16

going immediately to Dakota.

“Really?” Rich cocked a brow in disbelief.
“What’s so bad about Flint?”“
Rich began to tick off on his fingers. “Let’s see,

we have the high crime rate, massive
unemployment, a budget that’s not big enough to
run a lemonade stand and more abandoned
houses than a ghost town.”

“Ah, but you also have Halo Burger, The

Planetarium and the Sloan Museum. Besides, it’s
pretty much the same situation I faced in Pontiac.”

“God, if it weren’t for the fact that my whole

family lived here, I would have moved out of state
years ago.”

“Michigan isn’t that bad. Sure, it’s taken some

hits, but it’s getting better.”

Rich gave a snort of laughter. “Now you sound

like Clint Eastwood.”

“Hey, don’t knock that commercial. It wasn’t

that bad.”

While Charlie had been partnered with Rich for

a while, he suspected the cop had other reasons
for wanting to move and it had nothing to do with
the current economic situation of the state either.
There had been rumors that Rich had just gotten
out of a really bad relationship. While the
information Charlie had heard was scant, it
sounded like it had been a pretty violent one, too.

Since things were becoming uncomfortable and

Status Dramaticus

17

Charlie needed to change the subject, he decided
to go with what had been on his mind. “Hey, do
you know anything about a new medic by the
name of Dakota?”

Rich smirked. “Oh, you mean Status

Dramaticus.”

“Why is it everybody knows about this guy but

me?”

“Probably because you’re always too busy

looking at your reflection in the mirror to notice
anything else,” Rich teased.

Charlie idly tossed an ink pen at him in

retaliation. Rich always liked to tease that Charlie
was vain. Normally, the ribbing didn’t bother him,
but there were other times where it niggled
Charlie a bit because he knew there was some
truth behind it.

“Well, there was that huge, loud, messy fight he

had with that firefighter,” Rich started.

“I already heard about that.”
In fact, Charlie had asked quite a few people

about Dakota and they had all seemed eager to
share the outlandish tales.

“Okay, how about the time he crashed the rig?”
“The first, second or fifth time?” Charlie asked,

smiling.

“Well, in Status’s defense, the fourth and fifth

really weren’t his fault. The poor guy just has a
way of always being in the wrong place at the

Stephani Hecht

18

wrong time.”

“Yeah, I kind of gathered that.”
“Okay, did you hear about the exploding

oxygen tank?”

“The one that shot across three lanes of traffic?

Yeah, I know all about that one, too.”

Rich narrowed his eyes. “Why are you so

interested in him?”

Charlie gave a shrug. “I met him the other day

while he was trying to give mouth-to-mouth to a
dead deer and I was just wondering what his story
is.”

Rich laughed. “It doesn’t surprise me that he

was trying to save a deer. One time, he had all of
Flint Fire pissed at him because he ran into a
burning building to save this ugly-ass cat.”

“Did he at least manage to get the cat out

alive?”

The thought of Dakota racing into the building

to save some mangy stray was endearing for some
strange reason.

“Not only that, but he adopted the thing and

took it home.”

“He really is something else, isn’t he?”
“Status and Bagged are both pretty good

looking in that lost, doe kind of way,” Rich said.

“I haven’t met his twin yet. Do they look the

same?”

“Not really. Bagged tends to be the more

Status Dramaticus

19

mellow of the two, plus his hair isn’t so wild.
Some days, Status has so much gel in his hair, he
could use it as lube in an emergency situation.”

“Dakota,” Charlie corrected absently.
“What?” Rich blinked in confusion.
“He hates his nickname.”
“Well, of course he does. It wouldn’t be fun

ribbing him with it, if he liked it.”

Rich’s desk phone rang. He picked it up,

listening for a few moments before he shot off a
couple of yeahs and then scribbled down an
address. Hanging up, he glanced at Charlie,
“Looks like we may have something. Some medics
responded to a possible overdose and they found
out it’s an abandoned crack house.”

“Do they think it’s one of Teddy’s places?”

Charlie asked, already getting up.

They had been trying to nail one of Flint’s

bigger dealers for a couple of weeks now. Teddy—
and what kind of gangster name was that—had a
strong hold on the crack market in the city and he
wasn’t shy about throwing his weight around. As
it was, they already suspected him of no less than
a dozen murders.

“Why do they think it’s Teddy?” Charlie asked

as they rushed out of the building.

“The overdose victim is his cousin.”
“Which one?”
“Dane.”

Stephani Hecht

20

Charlie groaned. “Great, if this wasn’t

accidental, then the city is really going to light up.
Dane and Teddy are supposed to be really close.”

They got into the unmarked car and raced to

the scene. As they pulled up, Charlie noticed a
couple patrol cars and an ambulance were already
on scene.

He went over to one of the uniformed officers

and asked, “Where is the ambulance crew?”

“Inside, working on the patient. Although it’s

more for show than anything else. The guy looks
pretty gone to me.”

“Great, I just love it when an EMS crew fucks

up a crime scene,” Rich groused.

They walked into what had once been a nice

home. Now all the windows were either boarded
up or broken and the hardwood floors were
warped and cracking. The paint on the walls was a
yellowish, decaying color and there were cobwebs
all over the place.

The floor was littered with needles, crack pipes,

empty junk food wrappers and mattresses that
were so filthy, Charlie couldn’t imagine touching
one, let alone sleeping on them. The entire place
reeked of drugs, urine and filth.

He looked over in the corner and his heart

skipped a beat when he spotted Dakota and
another medic Charlie thought was named Bertha
crouched by the patient.

Status Dramaticus

21

Going by the way Dakota’s lips were pressed

together in a tight-line as he glanced over the
monitor didn’t speak very well of the patient’s
outcome.

He walked over, having to dodge a puddle on

his way. “So is it an overdose?”

Dakota glanced up at him. “I may still be new

at this, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it
was something else.”

He then pointed to a puddle of blood and brain

matter that was partially hidden by what was left
of Dane’s head.

“Shit, this is not good at all,” Rich breathed.
“Tell that to this guy,” Dakota replied.
“Make sure you put him in the body bag inside

here. I don’t want anybody from the
neighborhood to know that this wasn’t an
overdose, yet,” Charlie ordered.

Bertha rolled her eyes. “What did you think we

were going to do? Parade him around the block or
throw a parade for him? Of course we’re going to
bag him in here.”

Dakota let out a short laugh that he tried to

disguise as a cough.

“What’s so funny, Status?” Rich demanded.
“Ah…nothing,” Dakota stammered. He stood.

“I’ll just go out to the rig and get the body bag.”

“Yeah, why don’t you do that,” Bertha said as

she glared at Rich.

Stephani Hecht

22

Once Dakota had left, the medic stood up to her

full five feet worth of height. “Don’t ever do that
again.”

“Do what?” Rich demanded.
“Demean the boy that way. He’s trying his best

and if you all would lay off him, he has the
makings to be a great medic.”

Charlie was shocked when Rich actually took a

couple of steps back. “I didn’t know it was such an
issue. We all have nicknames for each other.”

“Yeah, but we don’t throw them in each other’s

faces like everybody has been with Dakota. He
may have made a few mistakes, but it’s nothing
worse than any of us did when we were still
green.”

Rich gave her a smile. “You like the kid, don’t

you?”

She grunted. “Let’s just say he doesn’t annoy

me as much as most people do.”

“You’ve grown soft.”
“I have not, and if you go around saying

otherwise, I’ll cut off your balls and feed them to
my pit bulls.”

Charlie winced at that thought. He made a

mental note never to get on the female medic’s
bad side. Bertha may be small, but she was damn
scary. Maybe they should send her after Teddy.
The guy would probably get so scared he would
turn himself in.

Status Dramaticus

23

Dakota came waking back in, the neatly folded

body bag in one hand. “Here, I have it. We need to
restock though, this is our last one. It’s been a busy
month.”

“Did you use one for the deer?” Charlie teased.
That comment earned him a sweet smile. “I

didn’t have to. Some hunter came along after you
left and asked if he could take the deer for the
meat. Since I hate to see anything die for nothing, I
told him to go ahead.”

They had to wait around for several long-

drawn out minutes while the crime scene people
did their thing, taking pictures and gathering up
what little bit of evidence hadn’t been
compromised. While Charlie knew that Bertha
and Dakota had to get back on the road, they were
stuck for the duration since they both had to give
reports of what they found when they had first
arrived on scene.

Finally, it was all over and they could take the

body away. Charlie waved a hand at Dakota.
“Okay, you can come get the body.”

Since Flint didn’t have an official coroner’s van,

it was left up to the ambulance crews to pick up
any dead bodies in the city. Dakota nodded and
began to walk back over to Dane.

Dakota had taken exactly three steps before a

loud cracking sound filled the room. Charlie tried
to yell out a warning, but it was already too late.

Stephani Hecht

24

The floor gave out and Dakota fell through, falling
into the basement.

Bertha yelled out her partner’s name as they all

rushed over to see if Dakota was still alive.
Looking down into the now-gaping hole in the
middle of the room, all Charlie could see was
darkness.

Rich grabbed a flashlight and directed the beam

down. Charlie let out a sigh of relief when he saw
Dakota sitting on the ground down below them. It
looked like he was dazed and there were a few
scratches on his face, but otherwise he seemed
okay.

Glancing up into the beam, Dakota said, “Ouch.

That kind of hurt.”

“Are you okay?” Bertha yelled.
“Yeah, I just have a bruised ego.”
Dakota then looked to his left. His eyes grew

wide and he then let out a scream so loud they
probably heard it from two blocks away.

Status Dramaticus

25

Chapter Three

here was a dead body. Not the one that
Dakota already knew about upstairs. This one

was right next to him. Worse yet, it was much
bloodier, stunk even worse and grosser.

Not caring that he was living up to his hated

nickname and then some, he let out another
scream before jumping to his feet. His back and
ankles hurt, but he didn’t give two flips about the
pain at the moment. All he wanted to do was to
put as much distance between him and the body
as soon as possible.

He took off running for the basement steps,

ignoring Rich’s yells about him ruining even more
evidence. To hell with the po-po and their
evidence. If they wanted it so badly, then Rich
could come down and cuddle with the corpse.

He burst through the door at the top of the

steps, coming to a painful stop when he ran into
something hard. Looking up, he noted it was
Charlie.

T

Stephani Hecht

26

“This house is worse than Gacy’s,” Dakota

shouted.

He was shocked when Charlie wrapped him in

a tight embrace. “Are you okay?”

“I just fell on top a dead, rotting body. What do

you think? Seriously, who just leaves decaying
corpses lying around like that? What kind of
people used to live here?”

Dakota buried his nose into Charlie’s chest,

hoping the spicy scent of the man’s cologne would
wash away the scent of death. Nope, no such luck,
no matter how hard he inhaled, all Dakota smelled
was rot.

“I would think that as a medic you are used to

all kinds of gross things,” Charlie soothed.

“I’m usually prepared for it, but on the other

hand, it’s not like I’m always falling into the laps
of dead men either.”

Charlie ran a hand down Dakota’s back. “How

about live men?”

“Sure, but then at least they throw me a couple

of hundred bucks for the lap dance,” Dakota
teased back even as his body continued to tremble.

Mindful of his reputation of being the king of

drama, he pulled away from Charlie and cleared
his throat. “Well, I guess we better call in another
rig since we used up our last body bag.”

Bertha came up, her gaze looking over Dakota’s

body. “I already called another rig, but it’s for

Status Dramaticus

27

you.”

“Why?”
She gave him the same exasperated expression

she always shot him whenever he asked as dumb
question. “Because you just fell through the floor
down one story and hit a concrete floor.”

“I’m fine.”
Even as Dakota issued that protest, he felt a

trickle of blood begin to run down this face. He
started to reach up to touch it, only to have Bertha
bat his hand away, “Don’t! God only knows what
you touched down there.” She turned to Charlie.
“Will you go get our first aid bag? I can bandage
this while we wait for the other crew to arrive.”

As soon as Charlie left, Bertha stunned Dakota

by reaching out and hugging him. “Don’t you ever
scare me like that, you little shit.”

“I’m…sorry?” Dakota hedged.
He wondered when Bertha had found some

sympathy and why she had chosen then, of all
times, to display it.

She gave him another pat before stepping back.

“I think I’m going to keep you.”

“Sorry?”
Dakota felt sure he was missing some part of

the conversation, but at that moment, he was too
shaken, hurt and upset to figure it out.

“I put in the request this morning for you to be

my permanent partner.” She beamed at him as if

Stephani Hecht

28

she’d just delivered him a giant, six-foot check for
a million dollars.

“Yay,” Dakota replied with a forced smile.
Luckily, she didn’t notice. “I know. We’re going

to make a great team.”

Charlie came back with the bag and somehow

they managed to find a chair for Dakota to sit on.
Bertha leaned in, hissing as she looked at his
forehead. “That’s going to need stitches.”

“I guess there goes my dream of acting on a

soap opera,” he teased back.

“Don’t worry…you still look as cute as ever,”

Charlie said.

Both Dakota and Bertha slowly turned to gape

at the cop.

Charlie flushed, cleared his throat and then

jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Well, I better
get back and help Rich out.”

After he left, Bertha pressed her lips together in

a hard line. “You watch out for that one. I’ve
heard rumors about him.”

“Really? What kind?” Dakota couldn’t resist

asking.

She pulled out a gauze pad and pressed it to his

head wound. “Just that he likes to sleep with a
different guy every night and that he’s never
dated anybody twice.”

“Oh,” Dakota replied.
That was the second time that somebody had

Status Dramaticus

29

basically told him the same thing about Charlie. So
why in the hell did Dakota find himself more
attracted to the guy than ever?

It was three days since Dakota had fallen

through the floor of the crack house and he
thought he was going to go crazy if his brother
didn’t stop hovering over him. Dakota somewhat
understood him being upset at first since they
were really the only family that each of them had
anymore. Yet, it was getting to the point of
ridiculous. Houston even wanted to help Dakota
to the bathroom in case he got dizzy and fell
down.

“Will you lay off,” Dakota huffed as he sat back

down on the couch. “You were there when they
discharged me from the hospital. I just have a
small concussion, a sprained ankle and the few
stitches. It’s not like I went three rounds in the
Thunderdome or something.”

As always, Houston didn’t react to Dakota’s

outbursts. Were it not for the fact that they didn’t
look so much alike, one would almost forget they
were twins. Whereas Dakota was outspoken and
always making a mess of things, Houston always
had his shit together and never got mad.

Houston settled down next to him. “Mom

called last night.”

Dakota’s heart thudded in reaction. Ever since

Stephani Hecht

30

they’d had the stereotypical, I-won’t-allow-any-
gays-under-my-roof confrontation with their
parents, they hadn’t spoken to them. That had
been three years ago. “What did she have to say?”

“That Dad is dying and we’re not to come to

the funeral.”

Damn, that hurt—much more than falling

through any floor or any other accident that
Dakota had been in.

As much pain as he was in though, he knew

that Houston felt it ten times over. For while
Dakota had never held anything in, his twin
always kept things bottled up.

Knowing that Houston would never seek out

the comfort, Dakota took the initiative. Scooting
closer to his brother, Dakota laid his head on
Houston’s shoulder. “That’s okay. We look shitty
in black anyway.”

As predicted, that got a small laugh from

Houston. It wasn’t much, but it sure beat tears.
“You’re right about that. With our hair color, we’d
look like a couple of Goth wannabes.”

After a few moments of silence, Dakota asked,

“Did the cancer come back?”

Houston nodded. “This time it’s not just in his

lungs either. It’s traveled to his lymph nodes and
even his spine.”

“Did she say how long he had?”
“A month or two, at most. He’s in Hospice right

Status Dramaticus

31

now.”

Damn their parents for being so bigoted. With

their training, he and Houston could really be of a
help to their father. Instead, the bastard would
rather suffer alone and then die without even so
much as a final fuck you to his sons.

“You know what we should do tonight?”

Dakota declared.

“Watch movies and stay in,” Houston offered,

although going by the defeated expression on his
face he already knew he was going to lose the
argument.

“No, let’s go to the bar. I hear that there’s this

one place where some of the more rainbow-driven
EMS workers hang out at. We should check it
out.”

Houston shook his head. “I’m not in the mood.”
Undaunted, Dakota got up and tugged on his

brother’s arm. “Come on. If getting a phone call
like that isn’t reason enough to get shit-faced
drunk, then I don’t know what is.”

“You can’t drink. You took a pain pill earlier.”
“I’ll be the designated driver. Come on. Let’s go

have some fun for once.”

Since he fully expected his brother to keep

resisting, Dakota was shocked when Houston
nodded and stood. “Okay, it’s all re-runs on TV
tonight anyhow.”

“That comment alone is proof that we need to

Stephani Hecht

32

get out more. We sound like an old married
couple or something.”

As they scrambled for something suitable to

wear out, Dakota realized just how boring they’d
become. All they had were either work uniforms
or really casual hang-around-the-house kind of
junk. They were finally able to scrounge up some
jeans and shirts that didn’t look too bad.

When Dakota tried to style Houston’s hair, his

twin drew the line. “There is no way in hell you’re
going to put that junk in my hair.”

While Dakota made a big show of rolling his

eyes, he didn’t push the matter. He knew just
getting Houston to agree to go to a bar in the first
place was a huge step so he wasn’t about to press
his luck.

Dakota hurried Houston out of the door before

he was able to change his mind and they drove to
the bar. Since Dakota’s car was still in the shop,
having deer parts scraped off it, they had to take
Houston’s truck, which was much older and
louder, but it got them there.

Once they pulled into the parking lot, they both

paused, looking at the door. The place looked to
be packed and well…a bit overwhelming.

“It’s times like this that I hate we were so

sheltered as kids,” Houston admitted.

They’d grown up in a farm town and their

graduating class had consisted of thirty students.

Status Dramaticus

33

So while Flint may not be as big as say New York,
it was still a huge change in scenery for them.

“This isn’t going to exactly be the first time I’ve

been in a bar,” Dakota pointed out.

Houston gave him a droll look. “That one time

you had a call to treat a stripper who fell from the
pole doesn’t count.”

“It was her own damn fault that she crashed

onto her head. I don’t know why she had to grease
her body up so much.”

Houston gave a snort of laughter. “It took you

forever to get the stains from that stuff off your
uniform.”

“Yeah, they teach us how to get blood out, but

nobody ever taught us what to treat stripper oil
with.” Dakota sighed. “So how much longer are
we going to put this off?”

“Fine.” Houston opened the car door. “But if

we get in there and don’t see anybody we know,
we’re only staying for one drink and then we’re
leaving.”

“Deal.”
They got out of the car and approached the

building. As soon as they entered, Dakota
despaired at finding a friendly face. It was so
crowded, he felt lost. He was about to give up.

“Hey, look! It Status and Bagged!”
Looking over, Dakota saw Matt and a whole

bunch of his EMS and hospital worker friends.

Stephani Hecht

34

Matt waved them over. After exchanging shrugs
with Houston, they went over and managed to
squeeze into the booth.

Dakota was relieved to note that he at least was

acquainted with everybody at the table. While he
may have only exchanged hellos with a few of
them, there weren’t any strangers so he found it
easy to relax.

“First round is on me, what do you guys

want?” Matt offered.

“Just a Coke for me. I’m driving,” Dakota said.
“I’ll take a whiskey, straight up,” Houston said.
Dakota blinked in shock. “Are you sure about

that? You’ve never had anything stronger than a
wine cooler before.”

Houston gave a firm nod. “In fact, make it a

double.”

Matt cocked a brow, but he put in the order.

While they were waiting for the drinks to arrive,
Dakota busied himself by people watching. When
he spotted Charlie by the bar, his heart did a little
skip of excitement.

Then he noticed the cute, hot guy who was

practically hanging on Charlie, and Dakota’s
hopes did a dive bomb. Crap, the little tramp was
so close to Charlie they may as well have been
glued together.

“You know what I think?” Matt said.
Dakota jumped for a second. He’d been so lost

Status Dramaticus

35

in his little fit of jealousy, he’d forgotten that he
was surrounded by a table full of co-workers.
“What?”

“I think that Charlie has it way too easy.”
“How’s that?”
The other guy ran his hand up Charlie’s chest

and Dakota felt a lump build up in his throat. He
tried to shake it off. After all, they’d only met a
couple of times so he had no right feeling
possessive over the cop.

“All Charlie has to do is snap his fingers and

guys fall over him. Now, if somebody were to say,
turn him down or act like he’s not so special, I’ll
bet it would drive Charlie crazy.”

The only problem was that as far as Dakota

could tell, that would never happen. Who in their
right mind would be able to resist the charms of
somebody as hot as Charlie?

As if answering Dakota’s unspoken question,

the tramp stood up on tiptoe and playfully nipped
on Charlie’s earlobe.

A burning pain hit Dakota in the center of his

chest and it suddenly became too much. Muttering
an excuse that he doubted anybody could hear
over the noise of the bar, he got up from the table
and raced off to the bathroom.

Maybe it was a move that only served to make

him look more dramatic than ever, but it sure as
hell beat just sitting there and watching Charlie

Stephani Hecht

36

get pawed up.

He heard somebody calling his name, but

Dakota didn’t turn around. He just shoved his
way through the crowd. Once he got to the
bathroom, he pushed open the door, relief
flooding through him when he found it empty.

He rushed over to the sink and began to splash

cold water on his face.

Get it together. You can’t become unglued just

because the first guy you really like doesn’t even know

you exist unless you’re in the middle of some disaster.
You need to move on.

The door opened and Dakota turned, fully

expecting it to be Matt or Houston. When he saw
Charlie, all Dakota could do was gape in shock.

“What do you want?” he finally managed to get

out.

Instead of answering, Charlie came over,

grabbed Dakota by the front of the shirt and
dragged him into a nearby stall. All but shoving
Dakota inside, Charlie locked the flimsy door
behind them and turned back to Dakota.

“What the he—”
Whatever Dakota was going to say, Charlie cut

it short when he moved in and crushed their lips
together.

Status Dramaticus

37

Chapter Four

harlie moved in, pinning Dakota’s thinner
frame against the back of the stall. Dakota let

out a gasp of surprise and Charlie relished the
reaction, but then again, he was finding himself
enjoying pretty much anything that Dakota did.

At first, Dakota tensed, no doubt shocked by

the attack, but he soon became pliant, his body
sagging against Charlie. For some reason though,
Dakota insisted on keeping his lips pressed tight
together.

Impatient and wanting to get a real taste of the

man, Charlie nipped on Dakota’s bottom lip. The
medic yelped in surprise and Charlie took
advantage, sliding his tongue in to explore every
inch of Dakota’s hot mouth.

Fuuuuuuuuuck….Dakota tasted sweeter than

anything Charlie had ever sampled. His lips were
so soft and tempting, too. They proved to be a
perfect contrast to the hard muscles covering
Dakota’s thin build perfectly.

Dakota slipped in his own tongue, his move

C

Stephani Hecht

38

tentative and a bit shy at first. He must have liked
what he found though because he let out a moan
and began to return the kiss in earnest. He even
spread his legs out a bit so Charlie could get in
closer.

The move made it so their erections brushed

against each other and Charlie couldn’t stop
himself from rocking against Dakota, the friction
sending spirals of pleasure down Charlie’s spine.

It wasn’t enough because Charlie soon wanted

more. Well, what he really wanted to do was pin
Dakota against the wall and fuck him senseless.
Still, even in his lust-filled stupor, Charlie knew
that wasn’t a good idea. That didn’t mean they
couldn’t have fun though.

Reaching down, he slowly lowered Dakota’s

zipper.

Dakota let out a gasp of surprise as he broke off

the kiss. “We can’t do that in here.”

“Shhh…we’re just going to have a little fun.”
Dakota’s eyes grew so wide that it was almost

cute. “Somebody could come in at any moment.”

After giving Dakota’s bottom lip another nip,

Charlie said, “That’s half the fun.”

That must have placated Dakota because this

time, when Charlie reached for his zipper, there
was no protest. As he began to kiss Dakota again,
Charlie undid both their pants and pulled out
their cocks, wrapping his fingers around both

Status Dramaticus

39

their shafts.

Dakota moaned, their lips still just inches apart.

“Oh, God. That feels so good.”

Charlie glanced down, reveling at the sight of

their cocks pressed so tightly together. He didn’t
have any lube handy, but since they were both
leaking pre-cum, he had a good substitute.

Dakota put his hands on Charlie’s shoulders

and began to thrust up into his hand. The sweetest
sounds passed through Dakota’s lips before he
tilted his head slightly to the side.

The temptation proved to be too much to resist

and Charlie began to lick, nibble and suck at the
exposed flesh. He knew he would be leaving
behind a pretty decent sized love bite and, for the
first time ever, that gave Charlie a bit of a heady
feeling.

He’d never wanted to be tied down to one guy.

He found that none of his other previous
relationships had been worth the bother.

For some reason, he found himself wanting

Dakota to wear proof that he belonged to Charlie
and nobody else. That if anybody were to even
dare touch his medic, they would know that there
would be hell to pay.

“Shit, I’m going to come.” Dakota panted, his

fingers digging in harder.

Charlie began to stroke them off faster, at the

same time sucking on Dakota’s neck. After a few

Stephani Hecht

40

more passes, Dakota let out a shuddering sigh as
his cock shot off, semen splattering over Charlie’s
hand.

The sensation sent Charlie over the edge and he

closed his eyes as he came, too, his spunk mixing
in with the mess that Dakota had already made.

For a second, neither of them moved. While

Charlie had stopped sucking on Dakota’s throat,
he peppered the red flesh with soothing kisses.

Dakota tried to move away, but Charlie

tightened his grip with his clean hand. Raising the
other one that was covered with cooling cum, he
said, “Aren’t you going to do something about this
mess?”

Charlie hadn’t thought it possible, but Dakota’s

doe eyes managed to grow larger in shock.
“What…how…uh…”

Raising his fingers to Dakota’s lips, Charlie

ordered, “Lick them.”

For a second, he thought Dakota would refuse.

The medic even drew back a bit, but then his
tongue darted out and gave Charlie’s fingers a
tentative lick.

“It doesn’t taste bad at all,” Dakota mused,

before he went in for another sample.

“Haven’t you ever swallowed when giving a

guy a blow-job before?” Charlie asked.

Dakota glanced up and the innocence in his

eyes slammed into Charlie.

Status Dramaticus

41

Oh, fuck no!
“Have you ever done anything with a guy

before?”

Running his tongue over his lips, Dakota gave a

timid smile. “Just what I did with you now. I’d
never even kissed anybody before.”

Charlie felt like the biggest jerk in the world.

Here it was Dakota’s first time doing anything and
it had been in the bathroom of some dive bar.
What’s worse, Charlie had all but attacked the
poor kid.

“Zip up your pants,” he ordered softly.
A flash of hurt passed over Dakota’s face. “Are

you mad at me? I know I probably wasn’t as good
as that guy who was all over you a few minutes
ago, but I’m sure I could improve.”

Running his finger over the hickey, Charlie

soothed, “You did just fine.”

Dakota glanced down and Charlie could almost

see the wheels working in the brat’s mind.
“Maybe I should take a page from your book.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well, everybody says that you’re never with

the same guy twice. If I did the same thing, then I
would be experienced in no time at all.”

Rage filled Charlie at the thought of anybody

else touching Dakota. “Who told you this?”

“Well, Matt, and then, Bertha may have

mentioned something, too.”

Stephani Hecht

42

Charlie was so going to strangle Matt. Leaning

down, he growled in Dakota’s ear. “You’re not
going to do anything with anybody. Now zip up
and let’s get washed up.”

A spark of anger came to Dakota’s eyes and

damn if it didn’t make him look all the hotter.
“You have no right telling me what and who I
can’t do.”

“You wanna bet?”
Once they’d zipped up and washed their

hands, Charlie all but dragged Dakota back to the
table. Nodding over to the annoying guy who’d
been flirting with Charlie earlier, Dakota sneered,
“Isn’t your boy toy going to miss you?”

“No because I’m holding on to him now.”

Charlie pointedly looked down at his fingers,
which had a firm grasp on Dakota’s wrist.

Dakota let out a loud sound of protest. “I am

not your boy toy!”

Charlie nearly burst out laughing when the

entire table turned to look at them. Matt started
laughing his ass off and Houston just blinked
blearily while the rest of the table appeared to be
in shock.

“The huge-ass hickey on your neck says

otherwise,” Matt gasped. “Way to play hard to get
there, Status.”

“His name is Dakota,” Charlie growled.
Since there was only space for one more in the

Status Dramaticus

43

booth, Charlie sat down and pulled Dakota into
his lap. Of course, brat that he was, Dakota had to
try to get away. Charlie gave his thigh a slight
slap. “Sit still.”

Dakota let out a yelp, but surprisingly he

obeyed.

“Why don’t you go back over to Sir Lick-A-

Lot,” Dakota hissed.

“Because it’s not him that I want.”
To prove his point, Charlie ground his cock,

which had already grown hard again, against
Dakota’s ass. Dakota let out a small gasp that soon
morphed into a moan. “Did it ever occur to you
that maybe you don’t always get what you want?”

“No.”
Charlie reached up, brushing the backs of his

fingers over the mark on Dakota’s neck. While he
knew they had an audience at the moment, he
didn’t give a damn. All that mattered to Charlie
was the hot man sitting in his lap and all the
things Charlie planned on doing to him.

“You do know that my brother is a virgin,”

Houston slurred.

Dakota let out a choking sound as his face

turned red.

Charlie glanced over at Matt. “Just how many

doubles has that kid had?”

Matt shrugged. “Just the one. Dakota wasn’t

kidding when he warned Houston to take it easy.

Stephani Hecht

44

The rookie is a real lightweight.”

Houston ran a finger over his now empty glass.

“I think I want another one. It makes me feel so
warm and fuzzy inside.”

Dakota flashed the table an apologetic glance.

“I should probably take him home and get him
into bed.”

“We had a rough day,” Houston slurred. “Our

dad is dying and we aren’t invited to the funeral
because we are abominables.”

“What?” Matt gave a slight shake of his head.
Much to Charlie’s disappointment, Dakota got

up and went to his brother’s side. “He means
abominations. Our family is really religious so you
can pretty much guess how they took it when both
of their sons turned out to be gay.”

Dakota reached out to grab his brother, but

Houston dodged him. “They kicked us out with
nothing but the clothes on our backs. If it wasn’t
for Dakota’s savings account, we would have had
to turn tricks in order to survive.”

Dakota rolled his eyes. “I don’t think it would

have come to that.”

“Maybe, but that was the money you’d saved

up for college. You always dreamed of being a
doctor and now that will never happen.”

A flicker of pain crossed over Dakota’s face. It

was so fleeting that Charlie almost missed it, but
damned if the sight of it still didn’t cut him deep.

Status Dramaticus

45

Dakota gave an embarrassed grin before he

said, “Yeah, and you wanted to be a rodeo clown,
but you were allergic to horses, so that didn’t
work out either. We both have to live with our
disappointments.”

He gave his brother another tug, and this time

Houston went along. Standing up, then falling
into Dakota, almost knocking them both over. It
was only because Charlie got up to help that they
remained standing.

When Charlie took over, practically carrying

Houston out of the bar, Dakota followed,
protesting, “I can get him to the car on my own.
You don’t need to help.”

“I know,” Charlie replied, but he still continued

to navigate Houston to the door.

Dakota must have realized there would be no

winning the argument because he rushed ahead
and opened the door for them before running
ahead to unlock the truck. Charlie carefully put
Houston in the front seat, even going so far as to
buckle him in.

Wrapping his arms around himself to ward off

the still slightly cold spring night air, Dakota said,
“Thanks. He doesn’t handle his liquor very well.”

Charlie smiled. “I’ll say. I’ve never seen

anybody get drunk that fast before.”

“He’s always been that way. That’s why I tried

to tell him to take it easy earlier.”

Stephani Hecht

46

“So do you two always look out for each other

this way?”

Never before had Dakota looked smaller, which

was somewhat weird. In fact, there was only an
inch difference between them. As he looked over
at the medic all hunched over, his gaze looking so
forlorn, that was the only word that came to mind.

“Usually, it’s the other way around. I’m always

getting us in trouble. That’s why they call him
Bagged and Tagged because they say that one day
I’m going to be the death of him,” Dakota
confessed.

It was a common practice for EMS workers to

give each other nicknames. Usually they were
made in jest and didn’t have any malice behind
them and, going by the way the others acted
toward the twins, Charlie was willing to bet that
had been the case with their monikers. It was
pretty obvious the brothers were well liked. That
still didn’t stop Charlie from wanting to go inside
and punch some sense into the others.

‘They don’t mean to hurt you. In fact, by giving

you a nickname, it means they actually like you,”
he explained, resisting the urge to go over and
wrap his arms around Dakota.

“I know. Bertha told me that the other day.”
Dakota gave a little shrug, which rather came

off as awkward since he still had his arms
wrapped around himself. It made him look more

Status Dramaticus

47

vulnerable, and Charlie could no longer resist.
Going over, he wrapped his arms around Dakota.

When Dakota let out a small sigh and rested his

head against Charlie’s chest, it felt so
right…almost too right. Here Charlie had thought
he’d left all complications and drama behind him
when he moved from Pontiac. Yet, here he stood,
holding the most dramatic guy in all of Flint, and
Charlie found he never wanted to let go.

Dakota was the one who finally pulled away. “I

should get Houston home. Not only is he going to
pass out on me soon, but I have work tomorrow.”

“Well, maybe we’ll run into each other.”
Dakota smiled up at him. “Maybe.”
Reaching down, Charlie brushed away a lock of

hair that had fallen into Dakota’s eyes. “For what
it’s worth, they’re wrong. From what I’ve seen,
you do nothing but take good care of Houston.”

“He’s all I have left in life.”
“That must be so hard.”
“You get used to it. How about you? Do you

have any family?”

Ouch! Leave it to the brat to pick on that touchy

topic. “Let’s just say that they were part of the
drama I wanted to leave behind in Pontiac.”

“Did they have an issue with you being gay?”
“No, they just didn’t like that I never wanted to

settle down and get my life in order.”

Dakota smiled. “So they didn’t care that you

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48

were gay, they just hated that you were a tramp.”

“I just never found anybody who I saw myself

staying with for any length of time.”

Until I met you.
As soon as that thought hit him, Charlie wanted

to push it away. He’d vowed never to settle for
one guy, yet here, he found himself wanting to
take Dakota and keep him forever, and they’d
only known each other less than a week.

Dakota glanced back at Houston. “Well, I better

get the lush into bed before he decides to puke in
his own truck.”

He started to walk away, but Charlie reached

over and grabbed him by the arm. Tugging
Dakota in close, Charlie pressed their lips together
in a soft kiss that left both of them breathless.

Oh God help me, but I’m falling for him so hard and

fast.

Dakota gave Charlie’s chest a pat, then walked

away. “I’ll see you around.”

Charlie watched him start up the loud-as-hell

truck and pull away. As he watched the taillights
disappear into the night, Charlie knew he was in
trouble.

The guy who had vowed to never to settle for

one guy found himself wanting one thing only
and it was Dakota. The only question remaining
was would Dakota trust him enough to really
lower his barriers and let Charlie in?

Status Dramaticus

49

Chapter Five

he next day, Dakota found himself cranky and
exhausted, which wasn’t really surprising

since he hadn’t done much sleeping the night
before. After spending a couple of hours in the
bathroom, watching Houston puke, he’d tucked
his twin into bed. Then Dakota had gone to his
own room where he’d spent most of the night
tossing and turning as he thought about Charlie.

Damn it, if Dakota hadn’t been so gaga over the

guy, he’d be pissed at Charlie for turning his life
into one big knot.

Before Charlie, life had been so much easier.

Dakota worked, did his best to stay out of trouble
and only had to worry about Houston’s wellbeing.
Now, however, all Dakota found himself focusing
on was the cop and whether or not he might
actually like Dakota or if he just saw him as
another quick bathroom hook up.

Dakota let out a little snort. Of course, that’s all

Charlie saw him for. After all, what in the hell did

T

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50

Dakota have to offer? He was just okay looking.
His job didn’t pay too well. He had nothing more
to his name than a deer-dented car and a few
clothes. Hell, he couldn’t even afford to live on his
own. So why was he even entertaining the idea
that somebody like Charlie would ever like him?

“What is up with you?” Bertha demanded from

behind the driver’s seat.

Dakota rolled his head to look at her.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit. You have been a moody brat all

morning. Plus, don’t think I haven’t missed that
massive hickey on the side of your neck.”

“It’s nothing. You’d just be bored by the story.”
“Try me.”
He debated a second, then realized he had

nothing to lose by confiding with her. After all,
half of the EMS community had seen him in
Charlie’s lap last night so it was only a matter of
time before the rumors started flying around.

“I went out last night and I may have kind of

kissed Charlie when we bumped into each other
in the bathroom.”

Giving his neck a pointed look, Bertha said,

“That looks like a lot more than just kissing.”

A heat covered his cheeks. “Other things may

have happened, but we didn’t go all the way. It
was pretty close though.” Dakota buried his face
in his hands. “I can’t believe I just told you that.”

Status Dramaticus

51

“Why not? We’re partners now so we can share

anything.”

Dakota wasn’t certain that he wanted to know

all of Bertha’s secrets, but he left that unsaid.
Instead, he looked up at her and confessed, “The
stupid part is I think I really like him.”

“And given his reputation, you’re scared of

being hurt?”

“More like humiliated. He’s smart, good-

looking and experienced. The last thing he’s going
to want is some stupid, virgin, farm-boy like me.”

Bertha reached over and popped him on the

knee.

“Ouch! What was that for?” Dakota asked,

rubbing away the hurt.

“I am sick of hearing you talk down about

yourself. You’re a lot smarter than you give
yourself credit for.”

“If that’s the case, then why am I always

messing things up?”

“You just have bad luck.”
Dakota threw his hands up in exasperation.

“Are you kidding me? I’m a walking disaster
zone. I mean who else would land on top of a
dead body.”

Bertha gave him a tight smile. “Welcome to

Flint, kiddo. We’ve all had our run-ins with
bodies.”

That thought made Dakota shudder. The worst

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52

part was that he’d heard that both the bodies from
yesterday had been the work of the same drug
dealer. He’d always thought that kind of thing
only happened in movies. But no, it was real and
now he was knee deep in the carnage.

“Look at it this way, at least things are never

boring,” Bertha offered.

Dakota did have to give her that. Since he’d

started working as a medic, he hadn’t had a day
where something hadn’t gone down.

The radio squawked to life, the voice calling out

their rig number. Picking up the mic, Dakota
answered, “Alpha 623 here.”

“You have a GSW victim, priority one.”
The dispatcher went on to give the nearest

crossroads to the call. Since GSW was short for
Gun Shot Wound, it didn’t surprise him when
they were directed to one of the rougher areas of
Flint.

Bertha turned on the lights and sirens and they

arrived at the scene in under five minutes. Dakota
grabbed his first aid bag and gloves before making
his way to the patient. The kid, and it was just a
kid because he didn’t look to be much over
eighteen, was lying in the road and there was
already a crowd of lookie-loos surrounding him.

Dakota pushed his way through and knelt

down by the patient. He had to be careful where
he planted his feet since there was so much blood

Status Dramaticus

53

on the ground. Dakota did a quick visual
assessment as he snapped on his gloves.

Even without cutting away any clothing, he

could clearly see two wounds—one to the chest,
the other to the kid’s left femur—better known as
a thigh bone. Both wounds could be fatal if they
didn’t get him to the hospital quick.

“Where’s PD?” Dakota asked as Bertha joined

him.

Technically, they weren’t even supposed to get

out of the rig on a shooting call unless police were
already on scene, but there was no way that
Dakota as going to sit inside his rig and watch his
patient bleed to death.

“Who knows,” Bertha replied. “They are

stretched so thin it could be an hour before they
get here.”

Dakota

scanned

the

growing

crowd,

apprehension building in him. “I think that we
should make this a scoop and run. I can do the
assessment and IV in the rig.”

A scoop and run was just that, you grabbed the

patient and scrammed from the scene. Dakota was
just getting into position to lift the top of the
patient when a movement from the side caught his
attention.

His heart jumped into his throat when he saw

another young kid walking up, only this one was
holding a gun in his hands.

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54

Shit! This was not good. Without even thinking

of his own wellbeing, Dakota dove over and
tackled Bertha, shielding her as best he could.

Screams filled the air as the gunman stood over

their patient and fired off a volley of shots. A
white-blinding pain hit his right hand, but Dakota
refused to move, too afraid that if he did it would
only call attention to them. Then they could very
well find themselves the next targets.

Even though it seemed to go on for hours, it

was only moments before the incident was over.
Thankfully, the gunman didn’t seem to care about
two cowering EMS workers because he turned
and left without giving them a second glance.

“Oh shit, Bertha! Are you okay?” Dakota asked

as he sat up.

“I’m fine. Thanks to you.”
Dakota glanced over at his patient, seeing that

thanks to the fresh wounds to the kid’s head there
would be no saving him now. “Damn it, we lost
him.”

Bertha glanced down at Dakota’s hand. “Oh my

God. You’ve been shot!”

Dakota looked down, seeing that his hand,

which had been hurting like a mother scratcher,
was indeed covered with blood. Letting out a
weak laugh, he said, “Oh, wow. You’re right.”

Then his eyes rolled back in his head and the

darkness overtook him.

Status Dramaticus

55

* * * *

Charlie rushed into St. Michael’s ER. His heart
was racing and he didn’t know if he was pissed or
scared or both. He did know one thing, he was
going to be strangling a lot of people, starting with
a certain brat medic who didn’t know how to
follow protocol.

The ER was buzzing as he walked in. Most of

the people were EMS workers, which didn’t
surprise Charlie. Whenever one of their own was
hurt, they always rallied around each other. He
spotted Matt and went over to him.

“How is he doing?”
“He’s fine. It was just concrete and stuff that

flew into his hand, not the bullet. It still earned
him a few more stitches though. At this rate, he’s
going to end up like Frankenstein.”

“Has anybody called Houston yet?” Charlie

asked.

“Dakota won’t let us. He says he doesn’t want

to stress his brother out.”

Charlie clapped a hand on Matt’s shoulder.

“Thanks for calling me and letting me know he
was here.”

Matt gave him a crooked smile. “After seeing

the way you were looking at him last night, I
knew that you’d want to be here for him.”

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56

“I’m that transparent?”
Matt nodded over to a male nurse named

Lucas. “Yeah, it’s the same expression I get
whenever I look at him.”

“What room is Dakota in?”
“Two doors down on your left.”
Charlie nodded his thanks, then went to the

room.

As he walked in, he was relieved to see Dakota

was awake and sitting up. He appeared to be a bit
pale and there was a thick, white bandage on his
hand, but otherwise he seemed okay.

Dakota gave Charlie a wary glance. “If you’re

here just to yell at me for breaking protocol, you
can save it. I’ve already had my ass chewed out by
a few different people.”

“Let me guess…you would still do it again?”
As expected, Dakota jutted his chin out

defiantly. “Of course I would. If somebody needs
help, it’s my job to help them.”

“I don’t know whether to kiss or spank you?”
Dakota shocked the hell out of Charlie by

shooting him a coy look. “Can’t I get both?”

The tension broke in the room as first Charlie,

then Dakota laughed. Once they sobered, Charlie
strode over and pulled Dakota into a tight
embrace. “You scared the hell out of me. Don’t
ever do that again?”

“You were scared? I was the one that found

Status Dramaticus

57

myself in the middle of an OK Corral shoot-out.
Okay, maybe that’s overstating it a bit since there
was only one gunman, but it was still something I
never want to repeat.”

Mindless of the fact that they were both

technically on the job and that somebody could
come in at any moment, Charlie began to pepper
kisses all over Dakota’s face.

“When they called and told me that you had

been shot, I was so terrified I’d never get to see
you again,” Charlie confessed.

“I didn’t know that you wanted to,” Dakota

replied even as he tilted his face up to give Charlie
more room to work.

“Are you kidding? You’re all I can think

about.”

“But I thought that you didn’t do

relationships,” Dakota moaned, his one good hand
going to Charlie’s shoulder.

“That’s what I thought, too, and then I met you

and everything changed.”

Dakota’s breath hitched as Charlie kissed over

the hickey. Charlie loved that it was still there.
More so, he loved the fact that everybody knew it
was him that put it there and that Dakota
belonged to him now.

“I’m sorry I messed up your life so much,”

Dakota said.

“Babe, you didn’t mess it up. You made it so

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58

much better.”

“If you keep talking like that, I’m going to let

you fuck me right here on this very uncomfortable
examination table.”

Charlie chuckled. “It does have stirrups on it.”
Dakota gave his arm a playful swat. “That’s not

what they’re supposed to be used for.”

“You know what they say…Improvise…Adapt

…Overcome.” Charlie punctuated each word with
a kiss.

The sound of somebody clearing their throat

made them jump in shock. Turning, Charlie saw
Lucas standing at the door, a very amused look on
his face. “As much as we’d like the entertainment,
why don’t you two save the kinky stuff for the
bedroom?”

Dakota let out a groan as he ducked his head,

his cheeks turning bright red. Charlie bit back a
laugh. He loved how Dakota had that innocent
streak running through him. In a world full of so
many jaded people, it was a refreshing trait and
Charlie prayed Dakota never lost that part of him.

Lucas waved a chart. “I have your discharge

papers here. Do you have a ride home?”

“I can take him,” Charlie offered.
He’d already called the precinct and told them

that he would be gone for the rest of the day.

Pleasantly enough, Dakota didn’t offer up any

objections. He just shrugged and took the papers.

Status Dramaticus

59

His signature looked sloppy, showing that he was
right-handed. Since that was his wounded hand, it
was going to be hard for him to take care of
himself. Lucky for Dakota, Charlie was more than
happy to play the role of caregiver.

Lucas handed Charlie a small slip of paper.

“This is a ‘script for pain meds. I’m giving it to
you because I know how bullheaded medics can
be. Dakota is going to say he doesn’t need
anything for pain, but you need to ignore him and
make him take the pills anyway.”

Dakota shot them an aggravated look. “I’m not

stubborn.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Yeah, then why were

you trying to get the docs to clear you to go back
to work tomorrow?”

“Because I can do my job just fine.”
Lucas glanced down at the sloppy signature.

“Yeah, I can see that. I would love to watch you
start an IV with your hand in that condition.”

Dakota frowned. “Fine, I’ll take some time off—

but only a few days. I don’t want Bertha to get
stuck working with some jerk.”

The newfound protectiveness would have been

cute had Charlie not heard that Dakota had
thrown himself over the woman in order to shield
her. While it was a brave and noble thing to do, it
had also left Dakota way too exposed for Charlie’s
liking.

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60

He gave a shudder as he realized just how close

he’d come to losing the medic. Taking Dakota
firmly by his uninjured hand, Charlie told Lucas,
“Don’t worry. He won’t be going back to work
until he’s fully healed. If I have to, I’ll tie him
down to the bed.”

“There you go with the kink again,” Lucas

teased.

Charlie couldn’t hold back his laughter this

time when Dakota began blushing again. Giving
his arm a tug, Charlie said, “Come on, let’s get you
home.”

Status Dramaticus

61

Chapter Six

nce they got to Dakota’s apartment, he was a
bundle of emotions. First off, because of all the

wonderful things that Charlie had said back at the
hospital. Plus, Dakota knew that once Houston
found out that Dakota had been hurt, his twin was
sure to freak.

True to his prediction, no sooner had he opened

the door than Houston’s gaze honed in on
Dakota’s bandaged hand.

“What in the fuck did you do this time?”

Houston demanded as he sprang to his feet and
rushed over.

Dakota glanced up at Charlie. “And yet

everybody calls me the king of drama. If they
could see Houston sometimes, they’d switch our
nicknames for sure.”

Houston narrowed his eyes, clearly offended.

“Since when have I been dramatic?”

“How about the time Sophia came out of the

barn on The Walking Dead?”

O

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62

“Anybody with half a heart would have been

upset about that. What’s sadder than a little girl
turned zombie?”

“Okay, then how about when they cancelled,

The Sarah Connor Chronicles?”

“That show was truly underappreciated.”
“Or how about the time you got mad when that

eBay seller didn’t send you the Chris Angel
Mindfreak magic kit? You got so mad you kicked
the coffee table and cracked it.”

Charlie let out a snort of laughter. “Why didn’t

you just go to the store and pick one up? I see
them at Walmart all the time.”

Houston cocked his head to the side. “Really?

Hmmm…I never thought of that.” He then gave a
shake of his head and pointed to Dakota’s hand.
“You still haven’t told me what happened to you.”

Dakota sighed. So much for distracting his

brother from the topic. “I was treating a shooting
victim when somebody showed up and decided to
finish off the job. It didn’t seem to bother the
shooter that Bertha and I were there at the time
either.”

Houston’s eyes grew huge and he let out a

curse word, or rather what he considered a curse
word, “Well, crap on a cracker! What were you
thinking? Did you wait for PD to show up, or did
you go out all half-brained like you usually do?”

Dakota glared at Charlie when the detective

Status Dramaticus

63

gave a soft golf clap.

“The patient was bleeding out. I didn’t have a

choice,” Dakota defended.

“And going by the looks of your hand that

choice was soooooooo wise,” Houston drawled
out. “Don’t you ever think twice before you do
anything?”

Dakota knew his brother expected him to lash

out so instead, he just flashed the most innocent
smile he could manage. “Now what fun would
that be? You never get anywhere in life unless you
take risks.”

Houston pointed to Dakota’s hand. “Taking

risks gets you shot and into confrontations with
deer and falling onto dead bodies and…”

His twin continued to go on, but Dakota

blocked him out, instead grabbing Charlie by the
hand and leading the man to his bedroom.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Houston

demanded.

“To take another risk. You should try it

sometime. I had the best orgasm of my life last
night in the bathroom, thanks to a little bravery on
my part.”

Houston’s mouth dropped in shock and it gave

Dakota great satisfaction to shut the door in his
brother’s face. Turning to Charlie, Dakota slid off
his coat and then grabbed the hem of his t-shirt.
Since his work shirt had been covered in blood, it

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64

was now in a biohazard bag back at the hospital.

A tiny smirk came over Charlie’s face as he

cocked a brow. “What do you think you’re
doing?”

Taking off his shirt, Dakota tossed it to the side

before crouching down to unlace his work boots.
“Like I said, I’m taking a risk. I’m sick of being a
virgin and I want you to take care of that for me.”

Charlie shook his head. “That’s the pain meds

talking.”

Taking off his boots and socks, Dakota

straightened and ran a hand over his own cock,
which was pressing against the zipper of his
pants. “Funny, it seems to me that something else
is doing all the talking.”

“The fact that you would use that kind of porn-

worthy line just proves how loopy you are.”

Unzipping his pants, Dakota allowed them to

fall to the ground along with his underwear. Now
completely naked, he reached down and stroked
his cock. “I may be loopy, but I’m also horny as
hell. Now, are you going to do something about
this, or am I just going to have to stand here and
jack off while you watch?”

Okay, so maybe Dakota was a bit loopy,

otherwise he would have never had the courage to
speak so bluntly. Still, he wasn’t so out of it that he
didn’t know what he wanted and, at that moment,
it was Charlie.

Status Dramaticus

65

“Damn it! How can I resist that kind of

temptation?” Charlie asked.

He then slowly began to undress.
A whimper of need slipped past Dakota’s lips

as he watched inch after beautiful inch of skin
being revealed. When Charlie was finally nude,
Dakota paused a moment to take in his fill.

It was obvious that Charlie put in some hours

in the gym, but not so many that he was overly
muscular. In fact, if Dakota had to use one word to
describe Charlie’s body, it would be, perfect.

Charlie crooked a finger. “Get your sweet ass

over here.”

That was an order that Dakota was more than

happy to follow. He rushed forward and threw
himself at Charlie, their lips meeting together in a
kiss so hard that their teeth clicked together.

“Easy, babe. We have all the time in the world,”

Charlie soothed as he guided Dakota over to the
bed.

Once there, he gave Dakota a slight shove in the

center on the chest, pushing him down on the
mattress. This time it was Charlie who paused, his
gaze hungrily drinking in Dakota. After a few
moments, Dakota felt a bit uneasy.

Charlie had been with plenty of other guys and

most of them no doubt looked way better than
Dakota. He knew that he was too skinny and that
he wasn’t movie star gorgeous so he probably

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66

paled in comparison to some of Charlie’s past
lovers.

Then Charlie ran a finger down the center of

Dakota’s chest and said, “So perfect.”

The pure reverence in Charlie’s tone convinced

Dakota that the other man meant what he said.
Dakota relaxed and allowed himself to bask in the
glow of the compliment.

Charlie got onto the bed, straddling Dakota’s

hips, and leaned down to give him a kiss so hot
and intense that Dakota had to fist the bedding to
stop from thrusting up against the other man.

“We’re going to take this slow. I don’t want to

hurt you,” Charlie said.

While Dakota appreciated his concern, another

part of him was frustrated, too. After waiting for
so long, he wanted to get to the good stuff right
away.

Charlie reached down and began to stroke

Dakota’s cock, and all of a sudden the urgency
fled. Dakota even allowed his lids to flutter shut as
he began to let out a series of soft moans.

Charlie’s voice barely broke through Dakota’s

lust-hazed mind. “Please, tell me you have some
lube somewhere.”

“Nightstand,” he groaned, still thrusting up in

Charlie’s hand.

Dakota didn’t even want to think about how

embarrassingly full the bottle was. He’d bought

Status Dramaticus

67

the bottle, along with a box of condoms, when
he’d first moved to Flint and nearly forgotten
about them.

Charlie pulled away long enough to grab the

items. Looking down at the bottle, he let out a
chuckle. “You bought the most expensive brand?”

Dakota gave a small shrug. “I figured that if I

ever got a chance to do this, I may as well make
sure to go with the best.”

After popping open the bottle, Charlie

squeezed some over his hands before he leaned
down and began to kiss Dakota with such an
urgency that it made Dakota tremble. At the same
time, Charlie used one slicked hand to stroke
Dakota’s cock.

When Dakota felt a cool finger probing at his

hole, he tensed for a moment before remembering
that he wanted this. He then let out a deep sigh
and relaxed, being rewarded when Charlie slid a
finger inside.

It felt somewhat weird, but it wasn’t

unpleasant. In fact, by the time Charlie added a
second digit, Dakota was letting out those moans
again. Then Charlie added a third finger and the
pleasure was so intense that Dakota nearly came
off the bed.

“Mmmm…my baby likes that,” Charlie

crooned, doing it again.

Dakota knew enough about human anatomy to

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68

know that Charlie was brushing against his
prostate. Dakota had even heard that it felt good,
but he had never expected it to be so mind-
blowing.

Just as Dakota felt himself reaching the crest of

his pleasure, Charlie pulled his fingers out. The
sound of the condom being opened filled the air
seconds before Dakota felt the blunt edge of
Charlie’s cock pressing against him.

“Breathe out,” Charlie directed.
Dakota did and Charlie slowly pushed inside at

the same time. Once he was fully seated, Charlie
waited, giving Dakota time to adjust.

It wasn’t until Dakota nodded his permission

that Charlie began to fuck him in slow, measured
strokes. No, fuck wasn’t the right word for what
they were doing…they were making love and it
was more tender than Dakota could have ever
imagined.

Charlie must have felt the same thing because

he gazed down at Dakota and said, “This is what
I’ve been missing my whole life.”

Dakota was too emotional to speak so he just

nodded to show that he felt the same way.

Charlie began to thrust in harder and faster as

they both grew closer to their pleasure. Dakota
reached out to stroke his cock, but Charlie batted
his hand away and began to take over the task
once more.

Status Dramaticus

69

“Charlie, I can’t hold it back anymore,” Dakota

warned.

“That’s okay, come for me,” Charlie replied, his

fingers digging so hard into Dakota’s thigh that he
was sure to have bruises the next day.

What was it with this guy and having to leave

behind marks? If Dakota didn’t find the trait so
sexy, he would have been annoyed.

Then again, bruises or not, he didn’t care,

because his orgasm slammed into him so hard that
Dakota nearly forgot to breathe. Somehow, he still
managed to rasp out Charlie’s name before
shooting off, ropes of semen covering both their
stomachs.

“Damn, if you only knew how beautiful you

look when you come,” Charlie panted.

He then gave one final thrust before he found

his release, too, his cock pulsating as it filled the
condom.

Afterward, Charlie collapsed on top of Dakota.

While the other man was a bit heavy and the cum
was sure to get sticky, Dakota was too happy to
care. He just wrapped his arms around Charlie
and let out a happy sigh.

They stayed that way for a few minutes before

they got up and shared a shower, taking extra
long since they had to make sure that every inch
of each other was clean. They had just snuggled in

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70

bed when Charlie’s phone rang.

Since Dakota knew that it would be part of the

price of being with a cop, he just waited patiently
until the conversation was over.

“Was that Rich?” Dakota asked.
“Yeah, they caught the kid who shot your

patient. He has connections to Teddy, the same
drug dealer who ran the crack house you had so
much fun in.”

Despite the morbid topic, a small giggle slipped

through Dakota’s lips. “I still can’t believe that the
meanest guy in Flint is named after a bear.”

“Yeah, don’t let anybody else hear you say that.

I’ve heard that he’s killed people for less than
that.”

A shiver ran through Dakota and he threw his

arms around Charlie. “I don’t like the idea of you
going after somebody that mean.”

“It’s my job. Just like it’s yours to help people in

need.”

“I know. I just wish I could keep you safe,”

Dakota hesitated, hoping he wasn’t pushing
things too fast. “You mean a lot to me.”

Charlie gave Dakota a kiss on the top of the

head. “I feel the same way about you.”

Shocked, Dakota glanced up. “Really?”
“Yeah, I’m not going to insult what we have by

saying I love you since we just met, but I can tell
that I’m getting to that point and pretty fast, too.”

Status Dramaticus

71

A warm sensation built up in Dakota’s stomach

and he knew that he was probably smiling like
some kind of goof. “I think I’m going to be there
pretty soon myself.”

They shared a kiss and were silent for a few

minutes before Charlie added, “Besides, I
wouldn’t worry too much about me. I have Rich
backing me up. Something tells me we’re going to
be seeing a lot of him outside of work, too.”

Perplexed, Dakota asked, “Why’s that?”
“He asked if Houston was around.”
“Yeah, so?”
“He also asked if Houston was dating

anybody.”

Dakota let out a small laugh. Houston and

Rich? He had a funny feeling that things were
about to get a lot more interesting.

About the Author

Stephani Hecht is a happily married mother of
two. Born and raised in Michigan, she loves all
things about the state, from the frigid winters to
the Detroit Red Wings hockey team. You can
usually find her snuggled up to her laptop,
creating her next book.

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