Jake Lockett won’t reveal whether Sam Carver and Violet Mikami

are end game on Chicago Fire, but he does know why Carver rejected

her apology during the season 13 premiere. Lockett, who plays firefighter Carver,

exclusively told Us Weekly on Tuesday, October 1, that his character spent six weeks off camera “trying to figure out how to move through this” situation with Violet (Hanako Greensmith).

During Carver’s furlough from the firehouse, he thought Violet would’ve changed — and told him straight up how she feels about him — but instead, he got the same old story from her.

“You’re sitting here trying to do the same old thing where you’re just wading through it, not really being [committed], kind of, like, halfway talking about it,” Lockett, 39, said of Violet’s actions in the premiere, which aired on September 25.

He noted that from Carver’s point of view, he’s learned he “can’t do that anymore.” Carver “put everything out there to you” and when Violet “didn’t reciprocate” and she “didn’t come after me,” Carver refuses to “sit here and play in the lukewarmness of it anymore.”

During the season 12 finale in May, Carver was shaken by a call involving an abusive father and his son, who was burned in a kitchen accident. (Carver was pushed into a bonfire by his brother when he was a kid, which is a trigger for him.)

After the incident — and telling Violet he loved her and her just standing there — he took a six-week furlough. The season 13 premiere picked up after Carver returned from Texas. At the time, Violet told her Firehouse 51 pals that she planned to tell him she does have feelings for him and apologize for her inaction, but before she got the chance, he shut her down.

Carver also surprised everyone when he was picked up from shift by a mystery woman whom he seemingly started dating in Texas.

“I don’t want to give anything away,” Lockett teased when asked about the new woman, whose name is Tori (Holly Hinchliffe). He explained that Carver’s connection to Tori is a coping mechanism after his split from Violet.

He told Us, “Sometimes it’s easier to not have to go forward than it is to, you know, deal with the person that you really [are] into.”

Lockett confessed that Carver feels a “bit of trauma” after letting Violet into his world and her not instantly reciprocating those feelings.

The lingering feelings on both sides will be a big part of episode 2, which airs on Wednesday, October 2, according to Lockett.

“Carver kind of shut down Violet when she was trying to talk to him [last week]. There’s gonna be a little bit of him trying to just avoid that situation at work, which is gonna be pretty … tough,” the actor teased to Us. “I mean, we work hand in hand.”

He revealed that during a call involving a woman hurt in the shower, Violet and Carver’s drama will “bleed” into their work relationship.

“Violet, like, those feelings don’t go away for her. She’s gonna have to figure out how to deal with that,” Lockett continued. “In weak moments, are there things that slip out? How does that become an issue? There’s gonna be some drama coming, for sure.”

He hinted that there are some “pretty juicy” episodes involving the exes coming this season. “I’m excited for everyone to watch him grow as a human,” Lockett added.

When it comes to whether Carver and Violet can make up, Lockett played coy. “In a world where they end up together, which I don’t know what that situation is — we haven’t had that in the scripts — I think he just needs someone who’s willing to meet him where he’s at,” he said. “I think it would have to be a lot more care on her part and willingness to be honest about where she’s at.”

Greensmith, for her part, exclusively told Us last month that Violet and Carver will do a “bit of a dance” during season 13. They’re “finding their footing in new situations that both include and don’t include one another.”

Lockett agreed with his costar’s analogy of a dance happening between the firefighter and paramedic. “Sometimes you’re in step and sometimes you’re tripping over each other’s feet,” he joked. “So a dance is a great way to make it an analogy for how we’re gonna deal with each other.”