Page 143 of Controlled Burn
Jake finally looked up. Smirked. “Relax. Just grabbing my shit.”
Dean’s jaw tightened. “You’re on suspension.”
“No shit,” Jake said, snapping the zipper. “That doesn’t mean I can’t get my gear. HR cleared it.”
Dean didn’t answer. He just stared.
Jake grinned. “You hear about Watts?” he said casually. “Filed a statement about how Talia abandoned her in the stairwell during the fire.”
Dean’s throat went tight. “That’s not what happened.”
Jake shrugged. “Doesn’t matter what happened. Just matters who’s watching. Brooks sent the footage to Stark already.”
Dean stepped closer. “You’re full of shit.”
Jake looked him dead in the eye. “Am I?”
The smirk never left his face.
Dean snapped. The punch came before he even thought about it—a clean, brutal right hook straight to Jake’s cheekbone.
Jake stumbled back, cracking into the lockers. His gym bag spilled to the floor.
“What the fuck—” Jake lunged.
They grappled, limbs clashing against metal. Dean shoved him back again, fist tightening, ready for another blow.
“Don’t talk about her,” Dean snarled. “Don’t you dare talk about her.”
Jake wiped blood from his lip. Grinned again. “Ohhh. So it’s true. You fucked the rookie.”
Dean lost it.
He slammed Jake against the locker, forearm pressed to his throat. “I should’ve fired you the day you started.”
“Yeah?” Jake coughed. “Too bad you were too busy watching her walk away.”
Someone shouted. Footsteps. McKenna’s voice rang sharp and furious from the hallway: “Hey! HEY! What the hell is going on?!”
Dean froze.
Jake dropped to the floor, coughing.
McKenna stormed in, eyes wide. “Dean—back off. Now.”
He stepped back. Hands shaking. Chest heaving.
Jake stayed on the ground, hand pressed to his bleeding mouth, eyes sparkling like he’d just won.
Two hours later, Dean sat outside the chief’s office.
His fists were bruised. His badge sat on the table beside him.
The HR rep hadn’t looked at him once. Neither had McKenna.
When Chief Stark finally walked in, she didn’t sit. “You’re done,” she said. “At least here.”
Dean’s stomach bottomed out.
