After driving around, Brittney makes her way home. Even pulling up into her parking spot, she sees that her day isn't going to go well. Over parked in the guest parking spot, she notices Jordan's truck and him getting out to greet her.

"Ugh..." she groans to herself, "I thought I told you to give me some goddamn space?"

"Look, all I wanna do is give you these and get the key back to my apartment, and I'm gone unless you want to go inside and talk for just a moment. I'm not here as an ex trying to win you back." Jordan begins with the flowers in his hand.

Against her better judgment, they walk up to her door. Inside, the cold A/C welcomes them from the high humidity. Brittney takes off her sunglasses and keeps herself from having to face Jordan.

"Go ahead, say what you want to say, and then get out!"

"This isn't easy for me, Britt. I don't know where I went wrong, but I would like to know, so I don't repeat it with say you or anyone else."

While she twirls the spare key to Jordan's place around the keyring, she stands there battling the urge to explode.

"Whoever said it was just you? I told you before we started this that I didn't want anything serious, and somehow it got there. I don't blame you for everything. I also put a lot of it on myself for never speaking up like I should have done. I do have some sort of feelings for you; it's nothing like what you feel for me. I don't regret leaving you out there. Also, this might sound harsh, but I haven't missed you since I walked out and got home."

Like a knife through his heart, Jordan stands there struggling to hold back. His mind quickly notices that she refuses to turn around as she holds the spare key in the air.

"If all that is true, then why won't you turn around and face me? You got scared, I'll give you that, and you stand there motionless, trying to pretend that you don't feel anything. To hell with that, I say!" Jordan rushes to turn Brittney around and plants his lips against hers.

She shoves him off and hauls off, slapping Jordan across the cheek with all her strength. The perfect imprint of her hand begins to glow while she loses her cool.

"You are a fucking sorry son of a bitch! How dare you make a move like that on me! I said I needed my space; granted, you need your key, I get that. To up and kiss me, I should have kicked you in the balls! Get the fuck out of here and don't ever talk to me again, you sorry sack of country shit!"

"Fuck you, Brit-Brat! Spoiled ass little princess!"

A blind rage takes control, and Brittney unloads even more on Jordan.

"Brit-Brat, Brit-Brat! I hate that nickname, you ignorant asshole! All you were good for was a place to crash in Atlanta and a half-way decent piece of ass! How else do I need to say this? You went way too fast, and I DO NOT love you! Get the hell out of my apartment before I call the cops for you harassing me! GO! GET OUT!" Brittney screams and reaches out, slapping Jordan in the chest area as tears of rage stream down her cheeks with a slight glow of rose from blood pressure.

"Fine! I'll go, but I will say this; I will be the best guy you would have ever had. You uppity spoiled bitch!" Jordan throws out, feeling his heart crumble with what's left.

Jordan storms from the apartment and gets into his truck, and peels out like a bat out of Hell. Brittney stands there with the door still cracked open. Inside of her mind, she goes back and forth over what occurred. Bits and pieces of regret over letting him get in that way, while the other side feels a bit better getting out all the fury that's been building for quite some time.

Jordan risks getting a hefty ticket on his way back to his place. Once he pulls in and parks, he slams his truck door so loud that it gets Alex's attention.

"Dude, you alright?"

"Hell no! I just had it out with that bitch, and she had the nerve to say she never loved me! I'm done with her! Man, to think I thought she was the one; how big of a dumbass am I?" Jordan says with regret churning in the pit of his stomach.

Alex waves Jordan to come inside and convince him to throw some shorts on so they can shoot some hoops. The main thing on Alex's agenda is to get his roommate and coworker to cool down before he says anything regretful.

"Ready to get your ass kicked in some one-on-one b-ball?" Alex taunts as they get in his car and drive over to the park.

It doesn't take long for either of them to work up a sweat. Jordan's determined to take out his anger on the court. It's to no avail as Alex can easily read his moves. Much to their surprise, Jordan's spent as the sweat drips from his chin.

"Yo homie, you need to get back out there to find a girl to hate fuck." Alex mentions when they take a quick water break.

"Hate fuck? Don't you mean grudge fuck?"

"No! Hate fuck, you take all that tension from your ex, and you pour it into how you hump the rebound girl. Then when you're finished, you walk away and never talk to that chick ever again." Alex advises before he continues. "A grudge fuck if when you get back at your ex. This is much better since there are no strings attached."

"Oh..."

Their attention turned back to the game; Jordan finally asserts his skills into a comeback. The back and forth action garner the attention of a couple of attractive joggers. Alex notices them in the corner of his eye and winks at Jordan after he nods quickly at them. Being the showoff that he is, Jordan charges towards Alex and jolts to the side with a drunk for the basket that leaves Alex's jaw dropped and his shoulders hunched.

"Bro! That was intense!" Alex admits with a fist bump.

"Had to shake off the court rust ya feel me. C'mon, let's go say hi to those girls." Jordan winks and smirks.

On their way over, the ladies lean against the fence, impressed with Jordan's dunk.

"Hi there..." the skinny redhead says sweetly and innocently.

"Ladies, hello, I'm Jordan, and this is my boy Alex from West Virginia. How you doin'?"

Both ladies giggle as the redhead takes her attention solely to Jordan.

"We're good, I'm Shia, and this is Cindy, and we're doing pretty good. You boys look like you worked up quite a sweat; what ya say we go grab a bite and cool down some?" Shia offers with a glow in her eyes.

"Lead the way, ladies, and we'll be right behind you," Jordan suggests

"Yeah, watching our asses, but that's fine; it's attention at least," Shia replies, then snickers with Cindy as they walk along the sidewalk to a nearby diner.

While they sit and eat, they get to know each other a little more. Jordan and Alex both realize this could be a way for Jordan to get out some more frustration. Without thinking it over, they decide to split after eating, and Shia takes Jordan back to her place.

"Not a bad little place you have here."

"Thanks, it's cozy, you know? Anyway, can I get you anything to drink?" Shia offers as she takes off her jogging shirt, exposing a black sports bra.

"Patron or Green Rose Tequila wouldn't be bad, but I'm kidding, you don't have to. I'm good." Jordan teases as he tries not to stare at Shia's thin body.

She turns the corner and returns with a couple of disposable plastic shot glasses.

"Bottoms up, Jordan," she implies as she downs the shot.

Jordan doesn't appear to be rude, and within a couple of seconds after the burn wears off, and takes Shia into his arms and kisses her. Shia doesn't attempt to pull away as she puts her arms around his neck until she breaks the kiss.

"How about I get us a couple of rounds, and we make this fun with some strip poker?" She tells him while getting a couple more disposable shot cups with tequila.

Over the next hour, the two of them end up nearly naked. Shia takes the first couple of hands of the game, with Jordan taking the next few, leaving them down to only panties and boxers.

"We both know what's about to happen, so why worry about the next hand and call it a draw?" Jordan suggests and downs the final shot of liquor.

"You read my mind!" Shia admits, then hurries over Jordan's lap to kiss him.

In no time, their bodies are pushed into overdrive. They continue to kiss while Shia barely grinds against Jordan's groin. Their bodies are more than ready to make a move, but Jordan is still hesitant to make the final notion. Something that he's not used to doing with Alex's voice in his head.

"Just find a girl and hate fuck her, man! Come on, homie, you can do this. Get laid, then ditch the girl!"

Elevating their bodies from the couch, Jordan firmly places his hands on Shia's hips to softly put her on her feet. She leads him up to her bedroom without saying anything, where she shuts the door and shoves Jordan onto the king-size bed.

"Good God, you're so hot!" She growls, looking over Jordan's muscular body.

"You're fine yourself. I mean damn baby, talk about being toned and lean."

She drops to her knees and yanks Jordan's boxers off. In a swift motion, she's taking Jordan's shaft, nearly swallowing it whole that causes Jordan's eyes to almost roll back into his head. He stops her from completing the task and tosses her onto the bed, and returns the favor.

"Fuck yes..." Shia calls out with her hands clamped to her pillow. "Get up here and fuck me already!" Shia demands, then bite at her lower lip when Jordan pauses to slip on protection and barrels into her body.

They go at it for some time, so much so that Jordan's body is spent taking everything he's felt recently out on Shia's body. She's glad he's reached his point to slow down as her body begins to ache from the force of his thrusts. She's finally able to dig her fingernails out of his back and relax enough that she grips the sheets until Jordan comes to a stop and collapses beside her.

"Holy hell, I've never been handled like that ever in my life. You're an animal!" Shia mentions before rolling over onto her side to keep from showing any pain.

Jordan lays there with his hands under his head, with guilt starting to climb in his heart. His brain catches up to what his body did to Shia's. Every moment that delivered pain from the night Brittney left him and the message, and their fight was taken out on this innocent young woman's body. As the later afternoon turns to early nightfall, Jordan and Shia lay there with very little said between them.

By the time the streetlights illuminate, Jordan rolls off the bed to get his things. Shia turns to get his attention.

"Hey, can I get your number? Maybe we can do this again once I'm not so sore?"

"Yeah, tell you what your phone is downstairs. I'll put it in that, and I'll see you soon."

It's a bald-faced lie, and Jordan knows it. He's regretting the action with Shia. He slips into his boxers and heads downstairs, where he throws on his clothes and takes a moment to make it seem like he's leaving his number.

"Alright, it's in; I'll see ya soon, later on, girl!" Jordan calls out and rushes out the door, nearly running at full strength back to the truck.

His breathing becomes hard and heavy, and his legs feel like they're weighed down with hundreds of extra pounds strapped on each ankle. His chest heaves deeply with the weight of an elephant size guilt. He doesn't waste time driving back to his place where he parks and quickly breaks down for a few minutes. He doesn't bother to get out until he collects himself.

Inside the apartment, Alex sits at his computer desk with headphones on. By the time he notices that Jordan has returned, he slides them from his ears.

"So, how'd it go? Get some shit worked off ya junk?" Alex says with an evil smile stretched across his face.

"I thought I'd be okay with it, but it's killing me! I feel so bad, I mean, I've had one-night stands before, but this was different. I've never in my life taken out how I felt through sex. I like to enjoy sex, and this wasn't that at all. This was more like hurting that girl. She couldn't even face me afterward, and all I can see is her face winching in pain."

Alex shows a bit of his cocky side with what he says next.

"Yeah, I probably should have mentioned you need to turn off your conscience to pull that off effectively. Give it time and a few more experiences, and you'll go numb eventually." Alex advises then returns to what he's watching on the computer.

They both do their own thing the rest of the night. When they report to work the following day, Jordan is beginning to feel more like himself. That morning he leaves Alex to gather their bags and equipment while Jordan checks through the midnight shift's log run to work on paperwork to prepare more for the upcoming supervisor test.

Out and about through their sector, they're called to a scene of a run and hit.

"Charlie 3-3, dispatch says there's a hit and run in your sector. Proceed to 16th and Spencer Street; information relayed that caller informed us that the victim is coughing up blood.

"This is Charlie; we're en route to 16th and Spencer, over," Alex replies with Jordan hitting the sirens.

Traffic has backed up, leaving the duo to pull up along the sidewalk. Alex and Jordan get out and quickly get the gurney and life support bag. Jordan realizes that this isn't far from Shia's, and when they get up to the scene, it's Cindy lying on the ground.

"Appears we have a possible rib fracture that's pierced her lung. Get the bag; her heart rate is dropping along with BP. We gotta load and go, now!" Jordan commands as Alex slips on the neck brace as they prepare to load Cindy onto the backboard.

"She looks bad, big J, we gotta bust ass!"

"Let's just get her loaded, and you drive! I'll start a line going on the bus!" Jordan says as they get the gurney into the air and roll Cindy back to the ambulance.

They rush to the hospital, where Alex has radioed ahead for a trauma team to be prepped with the possible injuries. A group of nurses and a doctor and surgeon wait by the ambulance doors and help rush an unconscious Cindy into the hospital.

Once the adrenaline slows, the duo collects themselves at the nurse's station. Alex's uniform has a couple of stains from Cindy's blood. While he stands there filling out the run sheet, Jordan goes out to the ambulance, where he's met by an angry Shia coming through the door.

"You bastard! You lied to me about leaving your number!" She scolds him after she sees him.

"Come with me, and you can yell at me while I clean down my bus," Jordan explains to keep everyone from hearing her scream at him.

In a deep breath, she accompanies him to the ambulance, where she pushes him into the side and turns him around, moving her finger against the tip of his nose.

"If I had known you were gonna hump and dump, I would have ignored your ass! I've never been done like that before, and you best have a damn good excuse."

Jordan goes over the things he's felt and how sorry he feels. Shia gets a good stare into his eyes and sees the pain, and backs off.

"She meant that much and hurt you like that; yeah, I can see how that pent-up aggression could make you go crazy. You still didn't have to stand me up like that."

Shia begins to cry, and the mood changes when she returns her thoughts to her best friend.

"Is Cindy going to make it?"

"I hope so; she had some pretty bad injuries when we pulled up. Here give me your phone, and I promise I'll leave you my number this time. No more games and even no more sleeping together if you want. You don't know how sorry I am, and I promise it won't happen again."

Jordan takes her phone and typed in his number, and calls it to show Shia that he's not playing any more tricks.

"Once you know anything, text me and let me know." He tells her as they walk in together to have Alex finish up the run sheets and get cleared to return to their patrol.

"I made up with Shia. I can't be like you, dude. No disrespect, but those days of me being a one-night kinda guy are over."

"All good, my dude; like I said, not everyone is built for that, and you can say this for sure. Brit-Brat changed you."

Not long after they return to duty, they get call after call for dehydrated people, and the day returns to normal as Jordan realizes that things will not be the same thanks to his heart now taking charge.