The Laurel Springs Emergency Response Team Series

VOLUME ONE: RANSOMFROM THE TEXT MESSAGES OF RANSOM THOMPSON & NICK KEPLERN: Can you make it any more obvious?R: Can I make what any more obvious?N: You were checking out Stella hard core today at The Café.R: Yeah? I think maybe she was checking me out too.N: Ummm, negative ghostrider, I know my sister. She wasn't checking you out.R: One day, my friend, one day. I haven't put on twenty pounds of muscle since I started working with Rambo for nothing.N: I'm glad to see your dreaming big.R: Go big or go home, isn't that what everybody says?N: Yeah, if they're giving like a mother fucking TED talk, Ransom.R: Don't talk down to me, Nickolas.N: I just see you missing out on all the chicks who look at you like they'd blow you before they even knew your name.R: Not missing out, Nick. I'm focused. Focused on what I really want.N: You sure about that? What if she never sees it?R: She will. One day she'll need a hero, and I'll be right there. I know my

StellaAs I get into my car, I sigh as I turn on the aerated seats. It's hot as fuck in Laurel Springs right now, and this has been a shit-tastic day. I got puked on, felt up by a man old enough to be my father, and then the doctor I work for asked me out. Not for the first time, I might add, but he's so not my type. He's not rugged, he's not manly, and I'll never forget the way he ran out of the clinic when I was in the room with a guy packing a gun.I don't want to be with the man who runs away from danger. No, I want to be with the one running to it. Like Ransom Thompson. A little smile plays across my face as I think about him saving me that day. He and I, we've known each other since we were babies, and he's always flirted with me, from the time we were old enough to know what flirting was up until now. The issue is, I never took it seriously. Until about eight months ago, when I started noticing that Ransom had grown up. Maybe it was the fact we'd both gotten to the "other si

Ransom"He pulls hard." Stella digs her bare heels into the yard, trying to stop her body from moving as Rambo growls playfully tugging on the toy in her hand. She finally gets it away from him, throwing it farther than I expect her to. She's breathing heavily as she comes back up on the deck, grabbing the beer I brought out for her."Yeah, he doesn't fuck around with his tug toys." I laugh as he picks it up, shakes it, tosses it in the air, and then completely rips it apart. "Which is why they don't last long."Setting my beer down, I go over to the side of the deck, where I have a tennis ball and launcher. Those last longer. Using it, I rear back grunting with the force it takes to get it all the way to where my fence is. It hits the wood with a thud, before Rambo runs after it. "There." I watch as he lays down in the shade of a tree. "Looks like he's tired himself out.""How's he doing? Didn't you say he got shots?""Good." I take a drink of my beer, watching her as she si

RansomS: Thank you so much for the flowers! They were completely unexpected, but greatly appreciated. Kels said she's never known you to send anyone flowers before. I'm feeling pretty special.R: That's because you are! S: I know you've got a busy day, and we're slammed here. So I'll let you go. Just wanted to say thank you.R: I wanted you to know I had a great time with you last night, and no matter how busy we are, I want to make this work.S: I do too! See you tonight! XOXOI've pulled up to the property my family owns and shut my SUV off. I'm amazed at the number of cars that have showed up. It looks like there are members of the tri-county SWAT team, State Troopers, the rest of the MTF, our K-9 trainer, and some of the Laurel County Sherriff's Department. I park while Rambo makes noises in the back, scratching to get out."Not yet, bub," I say to him. "I gotta see what's going on first."Getting out of my SUV, I walk over to where some other members of the MTF s

RansomTurning the shower off, I sigh as I step out, letting the steam surround me. I'm almost positive a shower has never felt so good before. I'm a little reinvigorated, but I'm also hungry as hell and want to spend this time with Stella. I make quick work of wiping my body off, running the towel through my hair, and putting on a pair of sweatpants. "Hey." I smile at Rambo who lays outside the door to my room. "Did you decide to come hang out with me?"He whines before laying his head on his paws and then looking up at me with the most pitiful look I've seen him give in a while. "I know, you're hungry, but if you eat when you're too hot, you puke – and bub, tonight we gotta keep impressing her."It's funny, since I was paired with him, I've always talked to him like he's another human being, and I swear, sometimes he understands what I'm saying as if he is one. Tapping my hip, I whistle low. "Let's get you some food."Turning the corner into my kitchen, honest to God, my c