Page 71 of Fighting for Brielle
On the last Saturday before Brielle returned to duty, Finnigan, Macklin, two other members of SWAT, and Justice’s team from the LBPD gathered at her house for a barbecue. Justice grilled a slab of ribs and everyone else brought side dishes and desserts. After gorging themselves on the delicious food, the guys removed their T-shirts and headed down to the beach for a game of football while Brielle and Tawny lounged on the deck and sipped frosty glasses of lemonade.
When she noticed Tawny watching Finnigan as he played football, Brielle remarked, “Just go out with him.”
Tawny gaped at her. “Are you serious? I can’t stand Finnigan. He irks me to no end.”
“I couldn’t tolerate him, either, in the beginning. But I’m glad now he didn’t make things easy for me. And we worked out our differences. Yes, he’s an arrogant jerk sometimes, but maybe you should give him a chance.”
Tawny’s gaze returned to the beach. “What’s with Finny’s tattoo?” Tongues of fire ran down the left side of his bare chest and across his heart. “He probably thinks he’s pretty damn hot. A real lady-killer. Flaming Hot Finnigan.”
Brielle raised her eyebrows. “His dad was a firefighter with the LAFD and died last year when all those wildfires broke out.”
Tawny’s eyes grew wide. “Oh no! So…Flame is Marcus Finnigan,Junior. I thought his name sounded familiar.” She turned to stare at him again. “Maybe Ihavebeen too hard on him.”
“Ya think?” Brielle teased.
It was almost ten o’clock when the group started to leave Brielle’s house. As Finnigan passed by Tawny on his way out the front door, she stopped him.
“I’m free tomorrow if you want to go out…Finn.”
His deep brown eyes raked her figure with a cold intensity. “Nah. I’m not that…hard…up yet.”
Justice guffawed at the double entendre which earned him a sharp jab in the ribs from Brielle. Color shot into Tawny’s face as she rushed past them and jumped into her car.
“Now why did you have to do that?” Brielle demanded.
“Because it’s time for phase two,” Finnigan declared, a triumphant grin on his face.
“Phase two?” Justice repeated.
“Yeah. Pretend she doesn’t exist, and then when I’ve driven her crazy, reel her in like a prized catch.”
Brielle shook her head. “Good luck, Flame. You’re certainly going to need it.”
“A long rod might, um, help,” Justice joked with a wicked sense of humor.
They burst into laughter. Brielle just rolled her eyes.
* * *
Brielle eased back into her duties the following week, dealing with a couple of drug busts at first. Commander Mattox wanted to make sure she could handle being back in the field after being shot. He needn’t have worried about her. She was on top of her game. As always.
The busy week took its toll on her, though, and by the time she arrived home on Friday, she just wanted to spend a quiet evening with Justice. During dinner he complained that they weren’t making any progress on their case, and what’s more, they’d lost track of Gage’s yacht. To ease his frustration, Brielle suggested they watch a movie after dinner.
As they watched a mindless comedy on Netflix, someone pounded on Brielle’s front door.
“Brielle! It’s Tex! Open up!”
Justice and Brielle looked at each other in confusion as they rose to their feet and hurried toward the door. “What in the world…” Brielle muttered.
She yanked open the door, and Tex brushed past her, looking wildly around the vast, open living room.
“Is she here?” he demanded, his voice resonating with fear and concern. “Faith. Is she here? Please tell me you’ve seen her.”
Brielle’s stomach flipflopped. “Tex, no. What makes you think Faith is here?”
Tex reached into his pocket and thrust out his hand. In his palm lay the delicate gold bracelet Faith wore that concealed a tracker in it. Broken.
Brielle stared at it in shock. Her face turned pale, and she grabbed Justice’s arm. “Oh, my God, Tex. Where did you find her bracelet?”
