Page 2 of Burning for the Truth

“I think I’ve told you before to stop calling me that, Dean. Quite a few times if memory serves me correctly,” I snap at him.

I get up from the bench in the locker room of the gym we all work out at together. Most first responders come here along with anyone who wants to, but first responders, military, and veterans occupy most of the membership here.

The gym belongs to Greendale Valley Police Department’s receptionist, Serena Lawson, who acts like another mother to most of us at GVPD. This gym is named after her late husband, Walt Lawson. She calls it Wally’s. He was in the military and sadly passed away before they ever had a chance to have kids. So...she adopted most all of us, and we love her to pieces.

I zip my gym bag and put it in my locker after I grab tape to wrap my hands and my ankle brace. Today is what we like to call “Tap Out Thursday.” Every Thursday, whether it be morning or night, depending on which shift Dean works, we all meet here to work out together and spar. We took classes together as kids with a focus on mixed martial arts. We found it was a way to stay sharp on our skills, as well as maintaining the bragging rights that come from a little friendly competition. I may be a woman, but I’ve always held my own against him and Sterling, and Tate too.

The guys may technically be stronger than me with all the well-defined physique they’ve carved out over the years, along with their height advantage, but with my slight stature and muscle tone, I have an edge making me faster and sneakier. I tend to win by surprising them. I smile remembering just last week when Dean thought he had the upper hand and I quickly showed him he didn’t by knocking him off his feet, literally. He let his guard down, and the next thing you know, I managed to ankle pick him, shooting to my knee, grabbing his ankle, and sweeping him to the floor. He joined me on his back, on the mat with Sterling cackling like a hyena in the background. That may not have been the fairest move I’ve ever made, but I always get the last word, or hit in that case.

Dean and I have never played fair. We always challenge each other for the fun of it and have since we were kids. I walk barefoot onto the mat and slip my ankle brace on. A memory of an entirely different challenge surfaces as I secure it in place, and I quickly push it out of my mind. It’s not something I think about a lot, but in rare moments when we’re alone like now, it occasionally enters my thoughts without permission. Sometimes my heart likes to remind me it has a memory too.

Ourfriendshipwas never the same after that night. I couldn’t bear to be around him for a long time. And he forgot all about his best friend’s silly kid sister with the juvenile crush on him. I shake the remnants of the embarrassing memory from my mind and begin taping my hands.

“Is Drew coming today?” I ask without glancing up at Dean as he strides to the mat with me.

“Why would I know ifyour boyfriendis coming to spar with us at the gym, BB?” He sidles closer to me with a wicked grin. I stop taping my hands and meet his mischievous smile with a glare of annoyance.

“Oh, I don’t know, D-bag. Probably because you just got off shift with him. You see him and talk to him as much, if not more, than I do. You two have your own special‘bromance.’” I make a point of rolling my eyes again, this time theatrically.

He chuckles and the vibration of it hits me in the chest, making me lose my frostiness. “Always with the clever insults,” he laughs.

He rolls his eyes at me after a moment as I stare at him expectantly. “He said he was coming, but he’d be a little late. Chief Holden was chatting him up about some new training exercises we’ve all been working on. But Drew is the ringleader on that, hence the reason he had to stay a little longer. When duty calls…” He grins at me and winks.

I stare at him for a moment like he’s an idiot, which he is, and then begin wrapping my hands again. Dean already has his wrapped and ready to go. He bounces around, shifting his weight while waiting on me to finish. “What about Tate or Sterling?” he asks as he’s warming up.

“Sterling will be here shortly too. He and Ivie are adjusting to life with a lot less sleep since Aria was born, not to mention wrapping up plans for their wedding. Tate has too much going on when we do the morning session. You know that. Plus, since he asked Lucy to marry him, he’s not so eager to rush out of bed in the mornings if you know what I mean.” I grin and give him an exaggerated wink.

“Yeah, yeah. Remind me of all the ways I’m still living the bachelor life,” he admits with a playful twinkle in his eye.

“I’d say that’s no one’s fault but your own. I’ve seen plenty of women try to hit on you—nice ones. And what do you do? Nothing. Tuck tail and run,” I taunt him.

We’ve started circling each other now, the glint of a challenge sparkling in his stormy eyes. “You think I always run? You think I’m scared, Bree? Is that what you think of me?” His tone is playful, but his gaze reveals something else entirely. It’s something I shouldn’t examine too closely.

But I let my guard down enough, wondering about the emotion he’s trying to mask, and it allows him to get the drop on me. We roll, twist, push, and pull until he pins me to the mat with no way to move. His chest rapidly rises and falls with each breath as he stares down at me. If this were any other moment with any other man—not related to me of course—I would dare say he’s contemplating kissing me. But he doesn’t.

Suddenly, I hear the door to the gym shut loudly and it distracts Dean enough to let me twist out from under him and climb on his back, making him fall to the mat again with a thud. Lucky for me he’s so easily distracted. Unlucky for me, my ankle was under him when he landed, and even though the mat is cushioned, the old familiar pain in my ankle is triggered and I yelp involuntarily.

Dean quickly lifts his weight off my ankle and begins apologizing profusely. “Are you okay?” His eyes are wide with concern and remorse. I want to throttle him, but I know it was my fault. I always let him get to me, and if I’d been more careful, I wouldn’t have kept my ankle in such a vulnerable position.

I sit back on the mat with my lips pressed together, trying not to let tears well in my eyes. When Buttercup rolled over my ankle that night so many years ago, it was crushed, and I had to have surgery to reconstruct it. I have pins and screws in my ankle. And most days it’s fine, I mean yeah, maybe the weather affects it some, but otherwise I’m usually good to go.

He kneels next to me as we hear Sterling’s and Drew’s voices start to carry into the heart of the gym. “Here, let me take a look at it,” he begins. I start to recoil, and he smiles the same boyish grin that always seems to make my heart flutter. “I’m a paramedic, Briella. I’m not going to hurt you.”

He glances at me, seeking permission and I nod. He lifts my left foot and slides off the brace. He studies it for a moment, running his fingertip along the scar on the inside of my ankle. He slowly turns my foot, examining it carefully. “It’s probably sprained. You need to elevate it and ice it down. I think this sparring session is over for you, superstar.”

He winks and rises to his full height towering over my petite form. He extends his hand to me and helps me stand as well. “Let me help you get settled so you can watch us spar, because I know you will. But first, I’m propping your ankle up and getting you some ice.” He puts his arm around my waist and drapes my arm around his shoulder.

I stare at him as he tries to help me walk to the nearby couch set up against the wall. I start to slip my arm from his shoulder, determined to do this on my own, and he grabs my hand. “Hold on to me, Bree. Don’t let go.”

Heat fills my cheeks. I don’t know why he does this sometimes. It’s like he’s baiting me—daring me to speak of that night by repeating the same things he said back then. I have news for him. I won’t talk about it…not ever. He followed his heart, which took him the opposite direction of me and mine. I don’t care how young we were. I thought he was everything back then.

We reach the couch, and he props a couple pillows under my ankle just as Sterling and Drew walk into view. Sterling glances at us with furrowed brows. “Everything okay?” he asks with concern dripping in his tone. He and Drew are already dressed out in their gym shorts.

Dean answers before I can. “We were sparring, and I thought I had her, but like she always does, she gave me the slip and surprised the hell out of me, taking me to the ground with her ankle tucked underneath. I think it’s sprained. I’m going to get her some ice. I’ll be right back.”

Dean retreats out of the main area of the gym as Sterling and Drew reach me. Sterling glances at me through narrowed eyes filled with concern like he always does these days. A lot has happened in the last year. I’m not only his baby sister anymore—I’m a cop, just like him. I’ve had to shoot someone in self-defense, and to protect Sterling. He wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t been standing beside him that night, I have no doubt. Honestly, Tate and I—and most likely everyone else in that room—wouldn’t be here to talk about it if I hadn’t acted. Jade Lancaster had her gun trained on us, finger on the trigger, ready to fire. And recently, mere months ago, Lucy’s ex-boyfriend held a knife to my throat, using me as leverage to get to her.

I’m not going to lie, I wasn’t sure I was making it out of that one. But somehow, we all came out unscathed.Almost.My thoughts drift to Lucy and the scar she’ll always carry, and I absently touch the thin scar I have on my throat from that night—granted mine was much more superficial than Lucy’s. Since those two incidents, my big brother has been a bit overprotective. Which is both adorable and utterly annoying. “You sure you’re okay?” he asks.

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