A sob burst from my chest, and I let my forehead fall to his chest as I shook my head back and forth. Brody held me until I was able to compose myself again, the entire time telling me how sorry he was and pressing soft kisses to the top of my head.

With a hard kiss to my lips, Brody got out of bed and collected his clothes. My body and heart felt numb as I watched him prepare to leave me again. Once his clothes were on, he looked at me with the most devastating expression and leaned in to kiss me one last time.

“One day, Kamryn, I swear to you. All of this will be behind us, and it will just be you and me.” With that, he turned to leave and I continued to stare at the empty space he’d just been occupying.

Tears slipped down my cheeks again as I realized I no longer believed his words.

A knock sounded on my door not even ten minutes after Brody left, and I cautiously left my bed and walked to the front door. It was late, I didn’t know anyone other than Brody who would show up at this hour . . . but he used the garage. And seeing as how he’d just left, I doubted it was him.

Making my steps as quiet as possible on the hardwood floor, I held my breath and looked through the peephole.

“Lee?” I gasped and hurried to unlock the door. “What are you doing here? It’s late. Are you okay?” I grabbed her in a hug when I saw her pale white face.

“Jace and I were on the phone when the sirens sounded for a fire. It’s all over the news, it’s a huge fire at an apartment complex. They’re calling trucks from other cities to come help, and knowing that he’s there is freaking me out.”

“He’ll be okay. Come on, let’s go hang out in the kitchen. Do you want ice cream?”

She nodded, but looked at the living room. “I want to keep watching the news, but I can’t watch alone.”

“’Kay. Go get comfortable, I’ll bring you something.”

Part of me was relieved Brody had left, the other part was screaming at me to tell Kinlee about our relationship. She could have gone to anyone on a night like tonight, and she’d come to me. She’d helped me more than she’d ever know when I moved here, and I cherished our friendship . . . but I had to be the worst friend ever since I couldn’t seem to do anything but keep my real life from her.

I walked back into the living room to see Kinlee’s face whiter than when I’d opened the door. Turning to look at the TV, I almost dropped the bowls of ice cream when I saw it.

Oh, Christ.

Kinlee hadn’t been lying. This wasn’t your average call for the fire department, nor was it one of the more intense structure fires I’d ever seen on the news. But this fire was out of control. The news reporter let out a yelp and ran toward the camera when the noise behind her startled her, and her soft words echoed my thoughts. Part of the first building had collapsed on itself, and as the reporter tried to straighten herself out she said the words no one wanted to hear.

“We won’t know for some time if anyone was still in the building . . .”

Kinlee and I watched the news in horror for the next three hours as firefighters worked relentlessly on the nine buildings in total that ended up catching fire. The entire time I kept her hand clasped in mine and wondered if Brody knew what was happening. Did his time in the Army, and now as a police officer, have him always prepared for situations like this? Situations where the lives of his brother and friends were at stake and the outcome unknown.

Once the fires were put out, we both held our breath as we listened for the reporters to say anything about the lives of the firemen and residents. Just before the reporters came back on the air, Kinlee’s phone went off and she grabbed it. A relieved cry left us both when we read the words.

Hubby:

Love you, baby. See you in the morning.

14

Kamryn

July 4, 2015

“IS THERE ANYTHING else you need help preparing or setting up?” I looked around Kinlee’s kitchen and living room covered in food, red, white, and blue, and prayed to God that was it. I didn’t know if the house could hold much more.

“No, I think that’s everything. Thanks for bringing the cupcakes and puffs.”

I glanced at her and laughed. “You say that like I wouldn’t normally.”

“True. Hey, Aiden!”

“Hi, Kinlee. Need help with anything?” I stiffened when I felt his arm go around my waist. “Hey, Kace, you look beautiful,” he mumbled into my ear.

“Thanks.” Guilt ate at me, but what else could I tell him? He knew how I felt—he knew my heart belonged to someone else. I felt horrible, and I hated that I couldn’t give Aiden what he wanted. But Brody had my entire soul.

“How’ve you been?”

“Pretty good. I heard about your rescue of that little girl. That’s amazing, Aiden, you saved her.”

Aiden’s cheeks went red, and he looked down at the floor as he shook his head faintly. “Any one of the other guys would’ve done the same thing.”

I doubted that, but that was typical Aiden—he didn’t want to be seen as a hero. The night of the fire, when Kinlee had come over, they’d all been told they couldn’t go back in the first apartment building because the fire had already done too much structural damage, but Aiden pushed his chief away and ran inside and up the stairs. He’d saved a four-year-old girl’s life seconds before that building had collapsed. And he’d gotten written up, but that part didn’t matter to him.

“But they didn’t.”