Firebreak (Jackson's Hollow #2)

Chapter 12

A/N: Just in cased you missed it, this week was a double update for Firebreak, so make sure you read chapter 11 before this one!

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A couple days passed for Jo in a complete blur of training, more training, a bit of sleep, and a few meals with her new "team." She wasn't sure what the people in charge were trying to do to her, but they seemed to want her to run on very little sleep. Sometimes Diego would let her take a nap, and once, when she fell asleep in the gym, he didn't wake her up until the intercom crackled to life. That was nice of him. But Malachi might've forced him into it.

"They're going to have to let her sleep more," the team medic was grumbling at Diego. They were all sitting at their table in the cafeteria. Jo had her arms crossed on top of the table, her chin on her folded arms. Her eyes were half-lidded as Cal bumped a tray into her elbow.

"She can't keep going like this," Malachi said.

"I can," Jo mumbled. Reaching out, she pushed the tray away and frowned at Cal. "I can take whatever they dish out."

"Including death by exhaustion, apparently," Cal said, "And you can't starve yourself, fireball." He bumped her with the tray again. "Eat."

Jo wasn't hungry at all. She just wanted to crash on the table but to get Cal to shut up, she pulled the tray over and picked up the spoon. Poking at the roast beef stew, she ignored the bread and the mashed potatoes and tried to make it look like she was eating.

"Jo, if you go ahead and cry or something, they'll probably stop," Cal said, his tone falsely casual. "Not that you have to. But they're trying to break you, so the faster it looks like you're broke, the better."

"Cal," Diego said under his breath. "Not here."

Jo glanced across the table at Diego, her eyebrows lifted. Was that actual concern in his eyes? Nahhh, no way. He was just biding his time before he dragged her back to the gym.

"It'd work, though," Cal said, shrugging. "Just saying."

Wes flicked a bit of mashed potato at Cal. "Silence, child."

Cal dipped his fingers into his glass of water and scattered it at Wes. "You're the one acting like a little kid."

"Knock it off," Diego said, his expression long-suffering. He popped a hunk of roast beef into his mouth.

"I'm going to start coming to your training sessions," Malachi said. Jo could feel his eyes on her. "Just to keep an eye on things."

"Because tired fire people are bad," Cal said. He smirked at Jo. "That's you."

Jo resisted the urge to jab her elbow into his side. Being this tired was making it hard to keep up the connection block on Ryker. She could also feel him pressing against it, like he was trying to break down her defenses. Normally he would never try to do that, not forcefully, but he was probably freaking out. Which made her feel shitty.

Sighing, she shoved the tray away again.

Diego eyed her. "If you're done, I supposed we can go ahead and get to training," he said with that deceptively mild tone that she was coming to loathe.

"Diego!" Malachi said sharply, obviously not pleased with his taskmaster personality.

Diego shrugged as he chewed on some potato. "You all are the ones saying the sooner she breaks the better." He glanced at Jo. "Let's see what causes you to break."

Jo was highly tempted to smack her tray over his head.

"I'm drinking my water," Jo said stubbornly, snatching the cup toward her. "Gotta stay hydrated if I'm sweating it out 24 hours a day."