Heart Trouble Read Free Page A

else, flirting her ass off like she knew what she was doing. The next minute she was pushing on some stranger’s chest wall hard enough to break his bones. Almost, but not quite. He’d be lucky if he came through this with nothing but a sore sternum or a cracked rib.
    “Where is that goddamn ambulance?” she grumbled.
    “They’re on the way. Traffic is bad because of the concert at the coliseum,” a staff member said. She’d turned down two free tickets to that concert yesterday, offered by a colleague who’d had friends back out on him unexpectedly. If only … She shook off the thought, a foolish waste of energy now.
    She glanced up as Tess pressed her fingers to the man’s throat, checking for a pulse, before giving Erin a tiny shake of her head. The pacing girl sobbed harder.
    Sweat trickled down Erin’s breastbone and along her spine. Her shoulders and wrists ached from the exertion. Sirens registered through the background noise, the blessed sound of a gurney rolling across the concrete floor of the bar, the paramedics speaking to her.
    “Erin?”
    Dan Murphy, a paramedic friend, touched her shoulder. She blinked, then let him ease her out of the way so he could take over.
    “You did a great job,” Dan said, nodding encouragingly. “We’ll take it from here.”
    Had she done a great job? He still wasn’t breathing on his own. He had no pulse. Best she could tell, that spelled failure.
    Strong hands helped her to her feet, but she didn’t turn her head to see who it was. Her senses told her it was Sean. One of the paramedics split the front of the man’s T-shirt with a pair of scissors. Another attached leads from the Automated External Defibrillator to his bare skin. They administered oxygen through a handheld mask and bag.
    “He’s in V-Tach,” the paramedic said.
    Good, that meant they could shock him to try to restart his heart. Erin held her breath as they zapped him once, twice. Then Dan said the sweetest words. “We’ve got a rhythm.”
    God.
    Erin’s knees went a little weak. She bent forward, squeezed her eyes closed, and said a quick prayer of thanks. It had been a while. Maybe he would remember her.
    Someone touched her again. She straightened and opened her eyes. It was the crying girl. She flung her arms around Erin’s neck in a choking hug, sniffing, and thanking her profusely.
    When she pulled away, Erin nodded, embarrassed. “Just doing my job. They’re rolling him out. You should go too, so you can give them all his personal information. What’s his name?”
    “Henry,” the girl said with a watery smile, waving as she trotted out the door of the bar, following her loved one.
    “Henry,” Erin repeated.
    “We’re taking him to Memorial because it’s easier to get to with the concert traffic,” Dan said over his shoulder. “You look smokin’ hot by the way,” he added with a cheeky grin.
    Erin groaned and wilted a bit. Great, she’d never live the ridiculous outfit down.
    “Wow, that was intense,” Tess said, wiping her damp throat with a clean bar towel. She offered one to Erin, but she declined. “You okay, babe?”
    Erin moved her head in what she thought might be a nod, adrenaline tightening her muscles until she could barely move, let alone speak. “Could use a drink.”
    “It’s on the house, Doc,” the bartender who had waited on her earlier offered.
    Sean placed his hand in the small of her back and gave her a gentle push. “Let’s sit down.”
    “I’d rather swallow my drink and go home.”
    The bouncers were still keeping the doors blocked, so they had some breathing room. Staff members worked at cleaning up any signs of the trauma that had just occurred. Life would go on. In a few minutes the place would be buzzing with renewed energy once again, as if nothing had ever happened. Erin wished she could put it all behind her that fast.
    They stopped at the table where she and Tess had been sitting. Sean pushed the drink into her hand, and she turned