“Hey there, Officer,” a woman nearby offers as she looks me up and down. There’s a dude standing next to her with no shirt on and I’m not sure why. This doesn’t really seem like the place for it.
Just as I get closer to the unicorn I see Chief blast her back end with the fire extinguisher and the flames from the tail dissipate. It’s then I finally see her face fully and just as soon as we lock eyes she bursts into tears.
Suddenly the scene isn’t so comical anymore and I have this need to go to her and make it okay. I rush straight up to her and she practically falls into my arms as the crowd of people around her just stare.
I’m angry that not only were they just looking at her while her costume was on fire, but no one is offering to comfort her while she’s obviously in distress. Who the fuck are these people?
“Clear out!” I shout to the crowd and it only takes a second before they start to back away. “Shh, it’s okay,” I say as she releases big, heaving sobs against my chest.
“What’s the situation?” I hear from beside me. The EMTs are on the scene.
“Possible burn injury on her…um—”
“Her ass,” Chief says as he sprays her once more with the fire extinguisher.
“What the hell, Chief?” I say, waving away some of the foam, and he just shrugs.
“Miss, what’s your name?” the EMT asks as they try to assess the damage.
“R-Rosabelle,” she stammers as she continues to cry against me.
Her body is so soft and small against mine, and I rest my cheek on her forehead and wrap both of my arms around her. I just have this overwhelming need to protect her and make her feel better. She sniffles a little as I rub her back and I think the immediate shock of what happened might be over.
I look around and recognize one of the EMTs nearby. “Hey, April, can you grab me a blanket? I think we can do this in the back of the truck.”
“Sure thing,” she calls out and pulls one out of her bag.
I grab it with one hand and open it up to drape around Rosabelle’s body. She leans her head back to look up at me and her dark brown eyes are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. They’re like hot cocoa on a winter night and as I look at her, I wonder what it would be like to cuddle her in front of a fire.
“Rosabelle, I’m April. I’d like to take you over to the ambulance so we can check you over. Okay?”
The words cause her to break eye contact and it startles me. What the hell was that? It felt like I was falling down a tunnel or going on a roller coaster. The way she looked at me made my stomach drop but in a way that thrilled me. Jesus, my cock is hard and I’m sweating and I think I feel faint. Maybe I should go in the ambulance too.
“Can he come with me?” Rosabelle asks softly, echoing my thoughts.
“I’m not going anywhere, little unicorn.” When she looks up at me through her wet lashes I smile reassuringly at her.
“Sure he can,” April says as she helps put an arm around her and then winks over the top of Rosabelle’s head to me. “But don’t let his good looks fool you. Blaze here is a real piece of work.”
“What?” I pretend to be offended but I’ve worked with April a long time. She’s what I imagine my mom would have been like if she were still alive. Tough as nails with a side of sass.
“He spends all his time working,” April complains.
“Don’t listen to her. She’s the one that won’t go home to that husband of hers,” I whisper to Rosabelle and I see a smile tug at her lips.
“Frank can heat up his own damn dinner,” April grumbles as we get to the ambulance and I help Rosabelle into the back.
There’s a cot inside and April gets in with her while I stand outside. There’s still a crowd of people having what looks like a party at the park, but they’re far enough away and the door is blocking Rosabelle as much as possible. I turn around and face away from her to give her some privacy, but I’m not ready to leave her. Besides, she did just ask me to stay, didn’t she?
“Okay, Rosabelle, lie back on the cot and tell me what happened. I’m just going to check you over and make sure you don’t have any injuries,” I hear April say from behind me. “Tell me if you’re hurting anywhere, okay?”
“I think it’s just my pride at this point.” Her voice is so soft but the way she speaks is like a melody and I’m straining my ear to catch every syllable.
“I’ll tell you something, honey,” April says, speaking quietly. “I’ve seen a lot of shit in my time, so no matter how bad you think this is, I’ve got a hundred stories to top it.”
“I think my coworkers were trying to prank me by telling me this was a costume party. Long story short, my tail caught on fire.” She sounds so sad when she says it and I glare at the crowd, trying to find out who would do this to such a sweet person.
I hear material ripping from inside the ambulance, and then April says, “I don’t think we can save the leggings, but I can give you something to cover up with until you get home.”
“Nothing feels painful. Does everything look okay?”
“Surprisingly, it’s just the tail and you didn’t get any damage from the sparks.” There’s more rustling and then I hear April lower her voice. “You know, if I was about thirty years younger I’d chase down that cutie outside waiting on you.”
“Oh?” Rosabelle says, and I lean closer to
