A man's touch (manxman)

1

Xander~

I sighed as I locked the screen to my phone and slid it back into my black cargo pants. 

"What's wrong?" I heard the voice from my partner. I frowned slightly and shut the doors to the ambulance we had finished cleaning. I climbed into the passenger seat while he climbed into the driver seat. I grabbed the laptop and pulled up our last patients name. 

"Draken is giving my mom a hard time again." I frowned and typed in the patients vital signs. He had been experiencing chest pain, so we took him to the nearest hospital, and we're just now leaving the hospital. "How do you and Zekeial do it?" I asked my best friend, and partner, Malachi. We have been working together for about five years, but have known each other since we were toddlers. Our bond had only grown stronger when we both realized that we could carry children. 

"Hadrian is a bit different." Malachi shrugged. Both his son and mine were the same age, but unlike Hadrian, Draken didn't have his "terrible twos" stage. It appears he is having it now at four years old. I ran my fingers through my shoulder length brown hair. "But Zekeial and I make through it. It gets easier, X. You're still getting used to him being in your sole care. You always had HIM with you." 

I looked away as memories surged to the front of my brain. Even though he hadn't said HIS name, it still hurt. We pulled into the base and got out. But by the time we had both used the bathroom, got some coffee and sat down, our sirens were blaring again. I sighed and threw my plastic cup into the trash then headed out. 

I climbed into the driver seat this time and he got into the passenger. I lifted the base doors and as we pulled out onto the street I turned on the lights and sirens. 

"Turn up here." Malachi said after a minute of speeding through intersections. "Its up here in front of those apartment buildings. Chief complaint is..." He trailed off looking at the screen again. "Hemorrhaging from a knife wound. Scene has been cleared by police so we can go in." I quickly pulled the rig over to the side and we jumped out pulling on our gloves. He grabbed our bag as we raced to the patients aid. 

"Hello sir, my name is Xander and I'm with EMS." I kneeled down by the patient who was grunting in pain as the officer helped put pressure to the bleeding chest wound. I heard  Malachi open up the bag and begin ripping open bandages. "Can you tell me what day of the week it is?" I asked as I pulled out my stethoscope and took a quick listen to his lungs to make sure they weren't penetrated by the knife. 

"It's friday." The man gasped. 

"That's very good, sir. Can you tell me your name?" 

"Aaron." He hissed as more bandages were placed against the wound. I quickly took his vital signs but I suddenly felt a very dominating presence. I knew Malachi felt it too only by the slight tense of his back as he continuously worked over the young boys body. I ran back to the rig and grabbed our stretcher then came back. As I made my way back my eyes landed on a tall, mysterious stranger. Half of his body was in the shadows, and you could only see half of the mans face. But from what I could see, caused my heart to stop, and for my breathing to speed up all at the same time. 

"Damnit Xander come on!" I heard Malachi yell, effectively pulling me out of my daydreaming. We made quick work of getting Aaron onto the stretcher. I hopped into the back with the man while Malachi slammed the doors closed and jumped in the driver seat. 

As I took another set of vital signs my sole focus was on this young boy. I began asking him a few questions about his medical history, and if he had any allergies we needed to know about. Before I could ask any more, we were pulling up at the hospital. 

...

I sighed and rubbed my face as I stood at the nurses desk waiting for a signature so we could leave. Malachi was standing off to the side talking to another nurse about a previous patient we had. It was always nice to know when we got a patient here in time and that they were going to be okay. 

Finally the nurse came up to the desk and sat down. I gave her my report on the boy and she signed on our laptop, showing that we had now transferred care to her. I looked over to my partner and he said his goodbyes knowing we were free to leave now. I checked my phone and saw that it was 6 in the morning. Thankfully we only had an hour left before our shift ended, and I could go pick up my little boy. 

As soon as we got to the base we sat down in the makeshift living room. The two paramedics on duty were already sitting down watching family guy. 

"Tough call?" Lane asked from the recliner. I laughed. 

"Stab wound to the chest. You guys probably should have had that call due to the blood loss, but" I shrugged. "We got him there before his blood pressure dropped too bad. He will pull through." I answered and looked to the tv. I could feel Malachi's eyes on me, but I wasn't going to look. I knew I could have cost the boy his life by getting distracted. But that man's aura had reeked of dominance and power. I could still feel the effect he had, and I had only seen half of his face. 

"Dang that sucks. We had a four-wheeler accident. The bloke thought he could jump three cars..on a makeshift rotted ramp." Jason shook his head and laughed. "Job security I guess." He shrugged. We all laughed and settled in until we heard the familiar sounds of first shift coming in. I sighed in relief and we walked out to do our shift change. 

Finally I changed out of my work clothes and into some sweats and a long sleeve black shirt. My green eyes looked almost brown as I brushed my hair out of my face. I walked out to my Honda and held back a groan at seeing Malachi standing there. He gave me a knowing smirk. 

"I'm not going to berate you too much, since I know this is the first time this has ever happened. But, I also have this for you." He handed me a crumpled up napkin. I raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, thanks?" He laughed. 

"Look at it, dummy." I slowly opened the napkin and my eyes widened slightly. 

I couldn't help but notice you. You were amazing as you worked over that young man. Please have coffee with me. 589-3726

Was written beautifully along the paper. My eyes widened even more as I looked up at Malachi.

"Who gave you this?" I asked expecting it to have come from one of the officers. 

"The man from the scene that captured your attention." He shrugged. "I guess you caught his too. I know it was unprofessional, but he slipped it to me just as I shut the doors to the rig. I figured what the hell." He shrugged again as if he had no care that a strange man had given me his number. But I couldn't help but wonder what the man could possibly want from me. We had only been able to glimpse at each other. 

As I drove to pick up my angel, I made up my mind. I wasn't going to give this man a call. It was my first time ever seeing this man, and I had my son to think about. Besides, I still wasn't ready for a relationship after what HE had done to me.