Hearts on Fire (The Wallace Brothers #2)

Chapter One

Cullen

M Y PHONE BUZZED on my nightstand, and I groaned as I reached for it. It was my first day off in three weeks and I was exhausted. I saw my brother’s number come up and swiped my thumb over the screen. “Someone better be dead, Cade.”

“First Street’s on fire.”

“What?” I knuckled the sleep from my eyes. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Three buildings at the First Street site are on fire.”

We were currently building six luxury homes in Vancouver, Washington, three of which were close to completion.

I knifed out of bed, banging my knee on the same nightstand as I did. “Fuck! God damn it!”

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” I grumbled, rubbing my knee. “Is anyone hurt?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you know?”

“Not a whole hell of a lot yet, just get your ass down here.”

He hung up and I pulled on a pair of jeans and a clean T-shirt, rushing out the door before realizing I’d forgotten my wallet and heading right back inside again.

I slammed the door behind me and let out a frustrated growl. “Fuck!”

Dragging my hands down my face, I took a few minutes to breathe.

God, I miss you, Bethy.

It had been fifteen years since my wife, Elizabeth, had died, but I still missed her with every fiber of my being. We might have only had a few years together, but we’d made every second count. It was times like this when I missed her the most. I had the tendency to get a little scattered when I was stressed out and Beth had always found a way to get me to focus my attention.

I grabbed my wallet and headed back out to my truck.

Arriving at the building site, a crew of firefighters dousing the last remaining embers of what was clearly a four-alarm rager.

I could see two of my brothers, Cade and Cameron, speaking to a uniformed firefighter, so I parked across the street and made my way to them.

“How did this happen?” I demanded.

“Captain Rawlings,” Cade said. “This is my brother, Cullen. He’s our third partner.”

“Nice to meet you.” I shook his hand and nodded. “What happened?”

“We’re thinking it was electrical,” Cameron said.

I shook my head. “All three houses are on completely separate circuits.”

“There could have been an electrical fire that started in one house and spread to the others.”

“I wired those goddamn houses myself. There was no problem with the electrical,” I ground out, glaring at Cade.

“Worksite fires like this can be caused by any number of things. There will be a formal investigation, and I assure you, we will get to the bottom of this,” Rawlings said.

“Thank you, Captain,” Cade said.

“My office will be in contact,” Captain Rawlings said, handing Cade his card. “Give me a call if you have any questions.”

Cade nodded, and the team wrapped up just as our eldest brother, Connor, rode up on his Harley.

Connor, or as his club brothers called him, ‘Hatch,’ was the Sergeant at Arms for the Dogs of Fire MC. He wasn’t part of our construction business, but he was the eldest of our family unit, which included baby sister, Cricket, and it was as tight as a family could be.

Hatch climbed off his bike and jogged our way. “Holy fuckin’ shit. Hell, Cameron, I thought you quit smokin’.”

“Very fuckin’ funny,” Cameron snapped. “We don’t know whose fuckin’ fault it is yet.”

“Hey, who says it’s anyone’s fault?” I said. “Like the captain said, it could have been any number of things.”

“Well, fires don’t just start by themselves,” Cade said. “Regardless of how this happened, we’re fucked.”

“We have insurance,” Cameron pointed out.

“But we don’t have time,” Cade snapped. “This project was already a week behind, as is. Now we have to start from scratch.”

“Jacobs is gonna be pissed,” Cameron agreed.

“Pissed nothin’, he’s gonna shit a golden baby,” Cade said. “He over-insured. Told me so himself.”

“I’ll talk to Jacobs,” I said. “You two focus on getting the site cleaned up and ready for the rebuild.”

“I can have a few prospects come out with shovels and shit,” Hatch said.

“Thanks, brother,” Cade said.

I hugged my brothers, then headed to meet with our boss.

* * *

Helena

I’d just sat down at my desk with a fresh cup of horrible office coffee when my boss entered my cubicle.

“Lt. Bridges?” he said, handing me a file.

I glanced up at him, then at the file. “What’s this?”

“Building site fire on First Street. Happened early this morning. I want you to get right on it.”

“Those multi-million dollar homes being built across from the park?” I asked.

“One and the same,” he confirmed. “I’ve already heard from the builder, and I can tell he’s going to be a pain in the ass. I want this case closed and airtight, ASAFP.”

“So I’m not suspended?” I asked, trying to keep the sass out of my tone.

I had a habit of taking my work ‘too personally,’ according to the department. My last case involved a family home fire which resulted in the death of a six-year-old girl. All the evidence I had collected pointed to arson, but the department chiefs disagreed, pressuring me to close the case as an accident. I disobeyed direct orders and continued my investigation until I had irrefutable proof that it was arson.

Even though an arrest was made, and my initial findings were vindicated, by breaking protocol and going over my boss’s head, I had painted a target on my back.

Before that, a sushi restaurant had gone up in flames, and I knew all wasn’t as it seemed, so again, I pushed back. My captain was livid.

Now every move I made was being double and triple checked. Not that I could move much having been benched for the past six weeks, forced to ride a desk all day, all involving eight hours of paperwork and fundraising phone calls.

“Screw this one up, and it won’t be a suspension, it’ll be your ass out on the street.” He leaned in. “You got me, Lieutenant?”

I gave him a salute. “Loud and clear, Captain.”

He frowned, then let out an irritated grunt. “Then what the hell are you still doing here?”

“Already gone,” I said, standing to grab my keys and the file off my desk.

After grabbing a coffee to go from the kitchen, I headed to my government issued truck and drove out to the site.

Pulling up to the scorched buildings, I saw four men standing outside the larger of the three homes that were the most finished. I knew there were plans on file for six other homes, but the three that were now basically ash were the ones that were scheduled for final permits in three weeks.

All the men had dark hair and one of them had a full beard and long hair pulled back into a half-ponytail. The other three were mostly clean-shaven, with various levels of short hair. All were gorgeous.

Get it together, Bridges.

I squared my shoulders. I was not here to notice how handsome the men were. I was here to find out why these properties had caught fire and whether or not it was under suspicious circumstances.

“Which one of you is…” I checked my iPad, “Cade Wallace?”

“That would be me.” The one standing next to the bearded man stepped forward, his hand out.

“Lieutenant Bridges.” I shook it with a nod. “I understand you’re in charge of this building project.”

“I am.”

“Does that include overseeing the electrical work?”

“I’m the one who wired or supervised the wiring of these homes.” The taller of the three men said, stepping forward. “I’m Cullen.” He nodded to the other man. “My brother, Cameron, assisted and I can assure you, the work was tip top, fully up to code, and ready for inspection.”

I shook Cullen’s hand, releasing it quickly, lest I held on too long and perhaps knelt in front of him and offered to worship at his feet. Lordy the man was too gorgeous for his own good.

“And you are?” I asked the rough-looking biker.

“Hatch,” he said. “I’m here for moral support.”

“Ah, right. Okay.”

Cameron and Hatch hung back, so I focused back on Cullen.

“Clear to say that you don’t suspect it’s a wiring issue then, Mr. Wallace?” I asked him.

“I do not,” Cullen said, his tone one of irritation.

“Thank you for your input. As soon as I get the all-clear sign from the truck Lieutenant, I’ll begin my initial investigation of the site. My findings will all be in my report.” I forced a smile and grabbed my mag light from my truck, before heading toward Captain Rawlings to await his okay.

* * *

Cullen

“This is bullshit,” I hissed, and Hatch settled a hand on my shoulder.

“Take it down a notch, brother,” he warned. “You didn’t do anything wrong, and she’ll see that. But you gotta stay cool.”

I nodded, dragging a hand down my face. It didn’t help that the woman was gorgeous. Jesus. Dark hair, pulled back in a no-nonsense bun at the nape of her neck, and even her navy blues didn’t help cover her curves. Fuck, I could tell she was stacked.

“Jesus, did you see the fun bags on that arson chick?” Cameron asked. “I’d park my fire truck between those puppies any day.”

I hauled off and punched him.

Square in the nose.

“Jesus!” Cameron snapped, wiping blood from his mouth. “What the fuck was that?”

“Don’t be a big baby, I pulled my punch,” I said.

Cameron rubbed the side of his jaw. “I think you knocked a filling loose.”

“What the hell, Cull?” Hatch growled.

“I just don’t like the way he talks about women. I’m fuckin’ sick of it. This lady’s just tryin’ to do her job and she doesn’t need some neanderthal pawing and drooling all over her.”

“I didn’t say anything to her. It was a joke,” Cameron bit out. “Remember those things you used to laugh at? Jokes? ”

Hatch shoved me away from my other brothers. “He’s right, Cull. I get that you’re stressed, and I get that Cam can be a dumbass at times, but you’re the calm one between the four of us. You don’t just haul off and hit people, especially your brother,” Hatch pointed out with a frown. “Cricket might, but you sure as hell don’t.”

“Yeah, I get it,” I said, ignoring his comment about our sister. “Just sick of him and the way he treats women like shit.”

Hatch cocked his head. “Cameron doesn’t treat women like shit, Cull. He just likes tits. Fuck, we all like tits.”

“You think your new woman would like hearin’ you say that?” I challenged.

Hatch had just met and was falling for a beautiful, high-class, British single mother… a widow, no less, by the name of Maisie, and he was falling fast.

My brother grinned. “Maisie would probably laugh and agree that tits are awesome.”

I scoffed. “Whatever.”

He slapped my face, albeit gently, and smiled. “You better?”

I sighed. “Yeah, I’m good.”

“Clearly, you need to ride. How about next weekend?”

It was rare I got to take my Harley out and even rarer that I got time with my brother alone, so if he was offering, I wasn’t gonna turn it down.

I met his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, brother, that’d be good.”

He squeezed my shoulder and smiled. “We’ll head out to the Gorge.”

“Yeah. Okay. That sounds great.”

We made our way back to Cade and Cameron and I jabbed a finger at Cameron. “Watch your goddammed mouth.”

“Just calm down, Cullen,” Cade said.

Before I could comment, Cade’s woman, Navy, pulled up and rushed out of her car. “Is everyone okay?”

Cade wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. “Yeah, we’re good.”

“You didn’t need to come all the way down here, sweetheart,” Hatch said.

“It’s, like, five minutes from my house,” she said, as she looked up at my brother. “I was worried.”

Navy lived in Felida, in what would be considered the high-class area of Vancouver, Washington. Originally from New Zealand, she and Cade had met in high school and had been torn apart when she’d moved to Seattle. They’d just reconnected, and Cade wasn’t about to let her go again. She was a discrimination attorney and from what my brother had told us, she was really good at what she did.

“We’re all okay,” Cade said.

“Can I do anything?” she asked. “Pick up food? Something? You can all come to my place and hang for a while if you need to.”

Cade let out a quiet choking sound.

She glanced up at him. “What?”

“I keep telling you, if you feed them, they won’t leave.”

She slapped his chest. “Oh, sod off, Lumpy, they’re your brothers .”

He grinned, pulling her close as she brought levity to the entire shitty situation.

“Let’s see what the investigator says,” Hatch said. “Then we’ll figure out what we need, Navy. But we appreciate the offer.”

She nodded and leaned heavily against Cade.

We stood there for another tense thirty minutes before Lieutenant Bridges walked back toward us, a blank expression on her face.

“Oh my god, Helena?” Navy exclaimed.

“Navy?” Helena’s eyes widened, and her eyes alit with genuine pleasure until she appeared to realize where she was and locked her emotions down again. “What are you doing here? Are you their attorney?”

Navy frowned. “Do they need an attorney?”

“Shit, we need a lawyer?” Cameron asked.

“Shut up,” Cade hissed.

“Okay, let’s just take it down a notch,” Navy said, pulling away from Cade, and stepping over to Helena. “Let’s chat for a minute.”

I watched as Navy led the lieutenant a few feet away and my stomach dropped as they got into what looked like a heated discussion.

* * *

Helena

“First,” Navy started, “How are you?”

“I’m doing okay,” I said, honestly. There was no point in lying, Navy was not only my friend, but she’d also been my attorney. Helping me out of a shitty workplace hole I’d found myself in.

“Still getting harassed?”

“No. Things are better in that regard.”

She smiled. “Good. If things change, let me know.”

“I will.”

“And you got the call about Brent?” she asked.

I nodded.

“I’m going to do everything I can to make sure his release does not happen,” she promised.

“I appreciate that,” I said.

“Okay, so now for the elephant in the room,” she said. “Do the Wallace Brothers need an attorney?”

“I honestly don’t know,” I said. “From my preliminary inspection, this is most likely arson, so as long as they aren’t somehow responsible, then they don’t need an attorney.”

She glanced at the men, then focused back on me. “I can assure you, they had nothing to do with it.”

“I’m going to need to a do a full-scale investigation and get PD involved before I can rule them out, Navy.”

She sighed. “I get that.”

“Yeah, but will they ?” I asked, nodding toward the men.

Navy smiled gently. “Intimidating, eh?”

“Look, I’m not concerned about the fact they’re intimidating as hell, I’m concerned about whether or not they’re going to interfere with my investigation.”

“We won’t,” a deep voice sounded from far too close, causing me to jump slightly.

“Jesus, Cullen,” Navy hissed, spinning to face him.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said in response to her question, only he was wholly focused on me.

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from sighing. Lordy, the man was sexy.

“We’re not gonna hinder your investigation, ma’am,” Cullen continued.

“Well, the only way you can prove that is to stay out of my way.”

“Ma’am—”

“Oh, god, please stop with the ma’am business,” I begged. “Lieutenant or even Helena works just fine.”

He crossed his beefy arms. “You want me to call you Helena this early in our relationship?”

“This isn’t a relationship, Mr. Wallace, it’s an open investigation.”

His mouth went up in a slight smirk as he continued to study me.

I glanced to my left and realized Navy had walked back to the other brothers, so I squared my shoulders and focused back on Cullen.

“How do you know Navy?” he asked.

“I’ve known her for years.”

“That didn’t really answer my question,” he pointed out.

I met his eyes, returning his smirk. “I’m aware.”

“Right. So, what do you need from us so we can get start rebuilding?”

“Nothing,” I said. “But what I need you to do is stay out of my way so I can investigate.”

“Ma—ah, Lieutenant ,” Cullen corrected. “I know these homes inside and out. I can help.”

“Mr. Wallace, until I clear you as a potential suspect, you can’t help.”

“None of us had anything to do with this,” he stressed.

I sighed. “I would love to believe that outright, Mr. Wall—”

“Cullen,” he said.

“ Mister Wallace.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You got a card?”

“I’m sorry?”

“A business card,” he clarified. “You know. A way to contact you?”

“How about I reach out when I’ve finished my preliminary investigation?”

He dragged his hands down his face. “I can help.”

“You really can’t.”

“I can .”

“I mean, legally you can’t.”

He stared me down. “There has to be something we can do.”

“Actually, there is. If you could send me a list of all of your employees, past and present, that would be helpful.”

“I can do that,” Cade said, closing the distance between us.

“What else?” Cullen demanded. “There must be something else we can do.”

“My hands are tied, Mr. Wallace, I’m sorry,” I said.

“Okay, brother, let’s let the woman do her job, huh?” Cade said, settling his hand on Cullen’s shoulder.

Cullen scowled, shrugging off his touch.

I forced a professional smile and faced Cade. “I’ll be in touch.”

He nodded and I made my way to my truck, my mind spinning. Whoever set these fires wanted to leave nothing but ash, but they’d failed miserably, which meant they’d probably be back to finish the job.

* * *

Cullen

“How do you know Helena?” I asked Navy.

“I can’t disclose that, Cullen,” she said.

“Jesus, she’s a client?” I hissed.

“She’s a friend.”

“Who was, or still is, a client,” I deduced.

Navy shook her head. “I can’t discuss that with you.”

I scowled. “Who fucked with her?”

“Leave it, brother,” Cade warned.

“Enough, Cull,” Hatch warned. “How about we head down to the Gorge now?”

“This is bullshit,” I snapped.

“I’m gonna have a few prospects watch the property,” Hatch said. “I’ll get Booker on installing cameras in case anyone tries to fuck with the buildings again, and in the meantime, I’ll see if he can hack into any in the area and find anything helpful.”

“Rain check on the Gorge, Hatch,” I said. “I’m heading home.”

“We’re gonna need to watch that,” I heard Cade say as I walked toward my truck.

“I got him,” Hatch replied as I jogged across the street, getting far enough away to drown out anything else my brothers might have to say.

I climbed into my truck and pulled away from the curb, heading home, my mind on Helena Bridges and who the hell might have fucked with her to the level she’d need someone like Navy to sort it out.

I had just slid the key into the front door lock when I heard Harley pipes, and I dropped my head before turning to see Hatch pulling up beside my truck.

He grinned and I returned his grin with a scowl. “What do you want, Connor?”

He turned off the bike, slid his kickstand down, and made his way to me, sliding his helmet under his arm as he shoved his keys in his pocket. “A beer would be great. Thanks.”

“That’s not what I—”

My brother squeezed my shoulder. “Unlock your door, brother. We’re gonna have a chat.”

Connor ‘Hatch’ Wallace was not a man you argued with. When our mother died of cancer, and our father got sent upstate for murder, Connor had gained custody of all of us in order to keep everyone together. This had all gone down just as I was entering my freshman year of high school. Cade had graduated, and gone straight into the Army, leaving Hatch with three minors to raise. He was barely an adult himself and didn’t know his ass from his elbow (his words) but had done the best he could. We’d been in San Diego at the time, but he’d moved us up to the Pacific Northwest more than twenty years ago to start a motorcycle club. Cade and I’d gone into construction, Cameron straddled the line between working for us, helping out at Hatch’s auto repair shops, and then fucking off whenever the mood struck, while baby sister Cricket was still in school.

All that to say, when your brother and surrogate father says you’re gonna have a chat, you’re gonna have a fuckin’ chat.

I sighed, pushing open my front door and leading us in.