Page 63 of Fighting for Brielle
“Congrats, again, Bri. I’m so proud of you.”
“I wouldn’t have made it without you, Justice. I…” She broke off, unable to speak as she swallowed the hot emotion swelling in her throat. “Thank you. For helping me. For believing in me.”
He didn’t know what to say. The idea that he’d fallen in love with her popped into his head, but he forced it aside. Instead, he took a sip of champagne. “You’re welcome. Now, let’s eat before the salmon sprouts fins and swims away.”
What an absolutely lame thing to say!
If Brielle thought so, she didn’t voice her opinion aloud to him. She cut into the salmon and remarked on its flaky texture and flavor. After she pronounced the main course delicious, Justice surprised her with a special cake in the shape of a shield. It had her name scrawled across the top and the SWAT anacronym on the bottom. This time, when a drop of ice cream with the cake lingered on her lips, he didn’t hesitate to lean forward and lick it off. That led to a heavy round of kissing, ultimately landing them in his bedroom. On fresh, clean, and manly gray sheets.
With their lovemaking being hotter than ever, Justice didn’t want to ruin it by discussing the job, but Brielle needed to know what Hutch had told him earlier.
As they lay in the afterglow of earth-shattering sex, he said, “Bri, I found out something today. There’s talk on the dark net about aChicago Sun-Timesreporter snooping into arms deals. It might be Faith.”
Brielle disentangled herself. Without a word, she reached for his discarded shirt, hurried downstairs, and found her cell phone. Justice followed her, pulling on his pants.
“Faith, dammit! You need to call me and stop fucking around! This is important!”
Worry filled her eyes as she punched up Tex’s number. “Tex, sorry to bother you, but where’s Faith?” Tension and fear rang in her voice.
“Hold on.” A beat. “She’s on the move. Driving toward her apartment from what I can see. What’s the problem?”
“Not answering her damn phone, Tex! Has she mentioned anything dangerous she might be investigating?”
“No. Now I’m curious. Spill.”
She looked at Justice. He held a finger to his lips. “There’s something fishy going on that Justice and I are investigating, and we thought Faith might know about it.”
“Huh.”
“Just keep an eye on her and let me know if she goes off the grid.”
“Whatever you and Justice are involved in you should share with me.”
“Not now, Tex. Maybe later.” She disconnected the call before he could badger her into giving up the truth.
Brielle met Justice’s steady gaze. “Faith is investigating Axel Anderson. I feel it in my gut. She knows what’s going on and that’s why she’s been avoiding me and warning me to drop it. My God, Justice. What if Faith has all the answers? Her life could be in danger.”
Justice trusted her instincts. “What do you want to do, Bri? Fly to Chicago to confront her?”
“I can’t. Not now. SWAT is always on call. Let me try her number again.”
Just as she hit the number, her cell phone rang. “Thank God,” she muttered. “Faith…” She hit the SPEAKER PHONE icon so Justice could hear the conversation.
“We may be best friends, Brielle,” Faith addressed her in an abrupt tone of voice, “but that doesn’t give you the right to treat me like a kid. For your information I was driving home when you called, and I didn’t need to be distracted by talking to you. Now, what the hell is so important?”
Justice saw heat rise in Brielle’s cheeks. “I’m not treating you like a kid. I’m worried. You need to be honest with me, Faith. Are you investigating Axel Anderson?”
“Are we back to that?” Faith parried. “I told you the guy is dead.”
“He’s not. At least we don’t think so. Some evidence has come to light that casts doubt on what happened to him.”
“Doubt? No one knows for sure what happened to begin with. Look, I don’t know of any new evidence, but I do know this. You’re chasing a ghost.”
Brielle fell silent. Justice watched her struggle with wanting to tell Faith the truth and keeping it to herself. “Watch your back, Faith. Please,” she finally said.
“I’ve got Tex watching my back, thank you very much. Now, please stop parenting me, Bri.”
Brielle sucked in her breath. “I’m sorry. I?I made SWAT. Just wanted to share my good news with you.”
