“Ex-wife,” I correct her and hear my own voice brimming over with something venomous. I’m mad as hell. Mostly with myself for not agreeing to file that fucking complaint against her. She’d be sitting in a police station jail cell or an interview room right now. But I’m the dumbass who let her walk, and believed that handling it alone was best for everyone.

Now, look where that gets me.

“Stop playing games and tell me why you’re here,” I demand. “We know about the motel fire.”

“Playing games?” she scoffs and nods over at Hammer. “Maybe you and Hammer should stop playing with the little brunette back there. You think I can’t tell? She’s exactly both your types. I never figured you’d get this brazen though, risking your jobs by screwing your boss’s daughter.”

Fuck. She knows about us and Ember? I don’t have a comeback for that. Not with the chief within earshot. Not with all these witnesses.

“You don’t know anything about anything,” I tell her.

I’m working hard to mask the shame and downplay the accusation. But it’s out there now. Everyone around us hears it. And it’s true. Looking up at Hammer now, I see it in his face too. Not the shame about everyone finding out. The fact that he has it bad for Ember. He’s standing there, using his body as a shield to protect her from Dawn. Willing to die for her if it comes down to that.

Fuck, I’m sure the look on my face is no different. I have no recollection of when it happened, but something changed in my heart. It just came from out of nowhere, and now I have it bad for Ember.

“Well, I’ll be,” Dawn continues. “You’re not just playing, are you? You care about her.” She looks back at Hammer for a few seconds, then returns her gaze to me. “You both love the same woman. Isn’t that cute?”

“Stop it, Dawn,” I rumble out between clenched teeth. “You didn’t come all the way out here to make accusations about me or Hammer. Put the gun down and say what it is you came here to say.”

Some movement to my right catches my eye, and I turn to my side to see the chief slip by me.

“No, Chief, it’s okay,” I shout, glancing over at him for a split second because I can’t afford to keep my eyes off of that gun, not even for a moment. “Just get everyone inside. This is my mess. I’ll clean it up.”

“That’s what I am to you, Deuce? A mess?” Dawn shrieks.

“Calm down, Ma’am,” the chief says in a firm tone, extending a hand with his open palm facing up toward Dawn. “Hand over the gun before someone gets hurt, young lady. There’s still time for you to walk away. We can help you figure out whatever you’re going through.”

It’s a relief to me that he doesn’t address the part about one of us fucking his daughter or falling for her. Thank God for that. I’m pretty sure he’s smart enough to park the bullshit, but parking it is bound to be temporary. He’s got to be saving it for later. The hell storm is in limbo. He’ll rain down on Hammer and me when this crisis is brought under control. Who knows what he’s thinking right now.

“You don’t know a thing about me, Chief,” she shouts, mocking both the term and the tone that I use to address my boss. “And I sure as hell don’t need your help.”

“Give me the gun,” the chief demands and takes another step toward Dawn.

“Stop right there! Step back!” Dawn screams.

“Just put down the gun, Mrs. West.”

“Not until Deuce agrees to let me see my daughter.”

“That’s not gonna happen,” I say. “Not after you show up like this with that weapon you’re pointing all over the place.”

“Be quiet, Deuce,” the chief orders me, his eyes fixed on Dawn. “Ma’am, I promise you that he’s wrong. We can figure something out. Just give me the gun, and we’ll go from there.”

“I can’t... won’t.”

The chief takes one more small step toward her and she starts screaming.

“Stop… or I’ll fucking shoot!” she says in between a string of words that are so garbled that I can’t understand what she’s saying.

The chief doesn’t back down. “You need to understand that I won’t stand here and let you hurt anyone. Not my daughter, not my men. Not even you, young lady. Just hand it over. Give me the—”

Everything after that moment happens so fast that it’s a blur. Dawn turns to the chief, her gun leveled and pointing at his chest. Her hands are shaking so badly, probably from the drugs and the adrenaline. The chief turns his body sideways and lunges forward for the gun. He and Dawn tumble to the ground as he tries to take the weapon away.

Eyes widen.

Hammer pushes Ember further away from the melee.

Bang. Bang.

We all duck down low then freeze at the sound of two deafening shots that blast out from the gun.

Both Dawn and the chief stop moving.

It’s eerily silent, surreal.

Then we see the pool of blood forming on the ground around their midsections.

“Chief! Are you okay?”

“Dad!” Ember shouts. “Oh my God, Dad! You’re hurt!”

“Take her inside, Hammer,” I bark and hurry over to the tangle of their two toppled bodies.

“Chief?” I say more loudly and drop to my knees. “Chief?”

As I turn him onto his back, he gasps and groans, then he pushes away the gun secured in his hand. “Get London and Sewells to check her out first,” he orders, referring to the paramedics on our shift. “She’s going to need trauma surgery.” There’s a bullet-sized hole in his shirt at one side of his stomach. And blood. So much fucking blood. “Now, Deuce!”

“Get the paramedics back here!” I shout up toward Davis and shift closer to check Dawn’s injury.

Dawn isn’t moving. She’s so still as she lies there unconscious and barely breathing. The area of her shirt covering her abdomen is soaked in blood. Blood is seeping out, spreading out around her into a puddle that grows and grows. A slight lift of her blood-soaked top confirms my suspicion. A bullet hit her in the center of her stomach. People don’t come back from this type of injury very often. Dawn may not survive.

Our firehouse ambulance roll up and the paramedics jump out to help her. All I feel is guilt.

I’m responsible for all of this.

I got my chief shot.

I could’ve stopped this.

Sandy’s never going to have a relationship with her mother.

I didn’t act fast enough.

But none of this crap will make things right.