Page 4 of Betrayed

“Yes.”

“But just like, as friends?”

He drew her back to him. “More.”

Her eyes gleamed in the light of the flashlight reflecting off the wall. “I was hoping so.”

He brought his hand to the back of her head and directed her face closer to his. “Please confirm that what I said to Miles was the lie I believed it to be. You aren’t saving your first kiss, are you?”

“I was saving it for you.”

He couldn’t get his heart to settle enough to make his voice work, but finally muttered, “Same.”

Leaning in, he met his lips to hers. He didn’t know what to do. Neither did she. They’d figure this out together. He moved his lips, and she responded in kind.

He released her lips and opened his eyes. Her bright blues shone back at him.

His best friend. His first kiss. His only love.

He was just a kid. It was foolish to think too far down the road. They had so much life ahead of them, but he didn’t want to do it with anyone else. He wanted to grow old with her. He wanted to promise her forever.

Present Day—Mid-August

Saturday afternoon, Officer Logan Jackson jumped from his squad car and ran toward the corner gas station at the edge of downtown Hazel Hill where two other squad cars were already parked. A man lumbered from the building. Daryl.

Logan stopped short of the slightly taller man. Every muscle in Logan’s body constricted, but he refused to let Daryl see it. How had he forgotten this was the station his former friend owned?

Daryl snarled at him. “You.”

“What’s the call? Where are the other officers?”

Daryl shook his head as if to break his train of thought. “They went that way. The thief ran out the door about the time the officers arrived.”

“Thanks.”

Daryl nodded.

Logan ran down the street, cut into an alley between the houses, and spotted Zara with her gun drawn. She pointed around the corner and motioned for him to go around from the other side.

He passed her and rounded the other corner. They nodded to one another and darted around the garage.

Logan’s heart thundered. The call had indicated the robber was armed. Logan was a cop; the reality was that at any time he could face down death at the end of a barrel. Some days he thought that would be easier than facing the rest of his life.

But at the same time he wasn’t sure he was ready. Life wasn’t what he’d dreamed it would be, not even close. And he wasn’t right with the Lord, even if he faked it pretty well for those around him.

He swallowed hard and turned the next corner.

Zara came around the opposite side. They both lowered their weapons to not point them at one another.

Will came out from around a fence, pushing a heavily tattooed man in cuffs. “I got him.”

“Well done.” Logan nodded to his friend.

The radio crackled and reported a motor vehicle accident only a few blocks from where their squad cars were parked.

“That’s really close. I’ll go, if you two have this under control.”

Zara nodded. “We got it. Go.”