Heroes (Hollywood Heartthrobs #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

a tiny deer in headlights. Dean moved to
pull him back, but he was too far.
              Someone else
was closer. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. In a blur of blue
topped with brown someone darted off the curb and threw Alec back toward the
enclosure. It was a woman. Now she was in the path of the truck. She turned
back to the curb just as the truck was closing in. Dean reached out and grabbed
her right arm, pulling her in toward him. He had a sudden blazingly clear image
of bright green eyes meeting his. But then the truck was on her. She put her
left arm up in an instinctive, if pointless, defensive reaction. It hit. She
seemed to bounce off the front of the truck and into his arms. He could feel
the impact of the truck shudder through her arm as it hit her and he pulled.
    The
truck managed to stop about six feet from where the impact had occurred. Dean
was on the ground in front of the bus stop, the woman in blue on top of him.
Warm, sticky blood ran steadily from the wound at her left elbow down onto his
hand and sweatshirt. Someone was screaming, and Dean could hear the boys crying
desperately behind him. He didn’t move or think. Then there were panicked
voices shouting, followed shortly by sirens. He finally lifted his head to look
at the bench. Alec was sitting sobbing on the ground but apparently unhurt, Tucker’s
arms wrapped around him as he cried as well. Dean’s only thought was that the
boys were okay. He laid his head back on the concrete.
    The
ambulance arrived and Dean still hadn’t moved. Neither had the woman on top of
him. All he could see was the top of her head, brown hair falling softly around
his neck. It seemed like everything, even his own body, was very far away. It
appeared the paramedics were trying to talk to him and the woman, but neither
were answering. One was touching her neck, then his, then ran two hands along
her spine. Checking for spinal injuries, maybe? Dean wondered distantly.
Evidently satisfied, the paramedic signaled to his partner, and they lifted the
woman onto a stretcher, bandaging up her arm. The white thing sticking out of the
red would have to be a bone, right? Dean thought. Then the paramedic was
touching his neck and sides. Only then did he realize maybe he should try to
answer.
    “Sir?
Sir! Can you hear me?” the paramedic asked, loudly. He had a scar on his
forehead. Dean thought it looked something like a half moon. “Sir, if you can
hear me, I need you to answer. Are you hurt? Were you hit by the truck?”
    Dean
took in a breath. “No,” he said, with great effort. “The truck did not hit me.
It hit her.”
    “Are
you hurt anywhere?”
    Dean
had to think about that for a moment. Did anything hurt? He was not aware of
any pain. He thought about his arms, then his legs, then his back, then his
torso, then his head. His head, that hurt. Okay then.
    “The
back of my head hurts,” he said slowly. “But not very bad.”
    The
paramedic gingerly slid a hand under Dean’s neck. “I don’t feel or see any
blood. Do you think you can sit up?”
    Dean
nodded that he thought he could. He sat up, reaching back to the sore spot on
the back of his head. A lump was forming at the sore spot, but there was no
blood. He appeared to be completely uninjured. So why did he feel like his
brain, heart, and lungs had been scooped out?
    “I’m
alright.” He said to the paramedic. “What about her?”
    The
paramedic looked over to his partner, just emerging from the ambulance. “She is
going to Chicago General Hospital. You’d better come along too, even if you
feel alright.”
    “But,
the boys,” Dean said, looking over to Tucker and Alec, still sobbing but now
more quietly.
    “Are
they in your care?” the paramedic asked in a businesslike fashion.
    “Yes,”
Dean said forcefully. It was the only thing in the world he was sure of.
    “Then
they ride with the officer.” Dean hadn’t even noticed the police cruiser join
the crowd. A kindly-looking