Page 45 of Hearts Storm

“Bull fucking shit,” he growls. “You spent a whole weekend with her, Lo. Two fucking days. And you’re going to sit there and pretend⁠—”

“That’s enough.” Logan’s voice drops into a low and dangerous growl, making the hair on the back of my neck stand at attention.

Eyes blazing, they lock onto Brex. “What happens between you and EMT Winters on your own time is your business. But when you’re here—on shift—you keep your hands to yourself. And for the love of God, don’t let the rest of the crew catch wind of what happened between you two.”

“Or what?” Brex challenges, crossing his arms again. “You’ll what, Logan? Ship her off to another station?”

My stomach drops. The tension in the room is so thick I can barely breathe.

Logan’s chair scrapes against the floor as he stands. He’s massive—his broad frame blocking out some of the light streaming through the windows behind him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know you had her first,” Brex fires back. “I know you got to spend all that time with her and then acted like she never existed. And you might try and come off like you don’t give a shit, but I know you’re pissed about Portland.”

“You mean when you had your dick down her⁠—”

“Hey!” I stand so abruptly my chair nearly topples over. “Do you think you two could stop acting like a couple of Neanderthals for half an effing second?”

The expressions on their faces are almost comical as they both look at me in shock. Almost as if they forgot I was still here.

Brex grimaces, looking sheepish.

Logan looks pissed, shoving his hands in his pockets as he glares out the window.

“Logan’s right.” I sigh. “Now that we’re working together we need to keep things professional.”

Neither of them says a word, which makes me shift uncomfortably on my feet. “Look. I get that this is... complicated. There’s history between all three of us. None of which any of us really knows how to navigate. But I’m not some fucking conquest for you two to argue over. Understood?”

“Not once have I ever thought of you as a conquest,” Logan murmurs.

My heart flip-flops.

But before I can respond to that shocking revelation, he squares his shoulders and clears his throat. “Your first official shift starts tomorrow at seven a.m. sharp. You’ll be riding with Dave. I expect you to be on time and ready to work.” He closes the folder with a definitive snap. “Any questions?”

Well, yeah. I have like a thousand of them, none of which are appropriate for this conversation, so I just shake my head. “No, sir.”

As soon as those two words fall from my lips he stills, shooting me a heated look before quickly extinguishing it.

When I sneak a quick glance at Brex, he’s tapping his fingers against his mouth, lips twitching in amusement. As if he knows something I don’t.

“Good,” Logan says, collecting the remaining folders. “EMT Calloway will go over the rest of the protocols with you. Dismissed.”

“Fucks sake, Lo.” Brex shakes his head, moving to stand beside me as Logan strides out of the room without another word.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.” My voice wobbles. “I deserved it. He’s still pissed at me.”

“He’ll get over it. Eventually.” Brex grins down at me. “We’ll just have to work together to break him down.”

“What are you saying?” I ask, voice catching.

His grin widens as he leans against the conference table. “That underneath all that broody captain bullshit, Logan still wants you. He’s just too stubborn to admit it.”

I shake my head, snatching my folder off the table. “He made it perfectly clear where we stand.”

“Logan has always been like this.” Brex’s voice softens. “After what happened with his ex in college, he built his walls so thick, a nuclear bomb couldn’t take them down. Until you came along.”

“Doesn’t seem like it matters now,” I mutter, clutching the folder to my chest.