Chapter 16
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
I THINK SHE WANTS US TO FOLLOW HER.
Dash
With Juniper still asleep in the truck, Sterling leads me to the side of the building where outdoor showers are located. A few lights flicker along the building, bugs swarming to their glow as Sterling moves around keys on his ring until he finds the right one.
“Gonna pop inside and grab us some clean clothes, and start the incinerator,” he says, nodding toward the door not far down from the showers.
He disappears inside and I turn on two of the spouts, leaving the third off. For a moment I stand there, cold water spraying all over my filthy sneakers, wondering if I should have turned on the two farthest from each other?
Shaking the concern free, I begin disrobing, yanking off my t-shirt, working on the button on my jeans. As I’m stepping out of my pants, Sterling reappears, his broad back facing me as he closes the door slowly so as not to disturb Juniper. Turning around, he doesn’t even glance at my now nude body as he stacks towels and clothes on the ground nearby.
I know I shouldn’t focus on him. I should focus on scrubbing homicide off my body and nothing else. But I can’t look away as he peels off his t-shirt, exposing his bearlike broad chest to me. His nipples are hard beneath the icy stream, but the cold water doesn’t seem to faze him. Lifting his chin, he opens his mouth, filling it. Why my mouth falls open as he spits it out, I don’t know. Quickly, I turn my back to him and close my eyes, ruffling my hands through my hair under the stream.
I scrub and wash until I feel as clean as I can considering, turning to snatch one of the towels from the ground nearby.
My timing couldn’t be worse.
Sterling is washing his groin, not touching himself at all, just merely soaping the area. Despite the shadows of night, movement from him, and the heavy stream of water, my eyes go straight to his hands. He’s got the kind of hands that make the winning catch under the bright lights on the last, most important game. The kind of hands that take control of someone’s body just by gripping their shoulders. The kind of hands that curl into fists as big as a kid's head. Ominous, powerful, arousing.
Watching him use those hands to wash himself while soft and unbothered in the moonlight is so arousing that I have to turn my back again. Making a show of washing under my arms, I make sure to have my efforts take longer than his. With the squeal of the metal handle, the water ceases, and from my periphery he takes a towel from the ground.
Washing my chest for the hundredth time, I count to twenty-five in my head, and turn, hoping to find that Sterling is nearly dressed. Instead I find that he isn’t just dressed but he’s back at the truck, saying something to Juniper through the rolled-down window. She looks past him, her eyes finding mine as I reach up and turn the water off.
I bring my hands to my crotch, and not because I’m naked. But because I’m hard, and a naked Sterling was just a few feet from me. I may not be good at math, but the equation that got me to an erection is pretty obvious. Her eyes fall to my hands cupped to my junk, and a moment later, Sterling wanders off, likely checking the incinerator.
Incinerator. We’re burning clothes because they’re evidence.
As much as I’ve told them I’m okay with it all, the reality still makes my head spin just a little. A few days ago I was just another small-town cop and now I’m here, naked at a sanitation plant at three in the morning, burning my clothes while my two best friends are here with me, in the same boat.
After toweling the cold water off of my skin, I pull on the spare clothes and make my way back to the truck. The cab is warm, despite the fact the windows are down. When I look back to where I was just standing a moment ago, my dirty clothes are gone and I see Juni’s feet are bare. “He’ll be right back.”
Large plumes of smoke rise up from the building as we peer out of the windshield, watching. Bleeding and blending, the smoke disappears into the haze of clouds. We sit quietly, just staring up at the sky as we wait. Sterling slides into the cab a few minutes later, passing us each a bottle of water.
We make the drive toward Juniper’s place but halfway, Sterling stops the truck.
“She’s out cold. I’m thinking we take her back to our place, in case she’s upset when she wakes up.” He shrugs. “So she’s not scared.”
Nodding my head, I agree. Juniper’s head falls onto my shoulder as we make the final turn near our place, and I enjoy being close to her the last few minutes of the drive. I use my key to unlock the front and Sterling carries Juniper in behind me, taking her down the hall to his bedroom.
On his heels, I watch as he lowers Juniper to the bed, carefully pulling a sheet up around her before smoothing her hair off of her face.
We head out of his room and both of us gravitate toward the circle table in the kitchen. He takes the seat he always takes when eating, and I take my usual, the one directly across from him. Sterling looks at his watch. “Beer or coffee? At this hour I can’t decide.”
I scrub my hand down my face. “Coffee, I think.”
“You gonna try and get some sleep today?” he asks as he moves to the kitchen from his chair and begins rinsing the carafe.
“Gonna call out. But I don’t think either of us is gonna be sleeping for a while,” I tell Sterling as he scoops ground coffee from a can into the hopper. With one eyebrow lifted he asks, “How so?”
“We have to go back to the other sites and get them cleaned up, as soon as possible.”
Knowingly, he nods. “Yeah, we do. I think we power through until we get all the sites cleaned up, then we crash.” He retrieves two mugs from the open-air cupboard above him, lowering them to the counter quietly. “Coffee is our only hope with that.”
“As soon as Juniper’s up, we’ll go. She’ll have to ride with us so we know where to go, specifically,” I add, trying to avoid watching Sterling’s hands gripping the coffeepot.
“Sounds good,” he says, lowering his voice to add, “from what she said, I think the other sites are gonna be way easier to handle.”
I stare at the ripples on the surface of my coffee. “Except the one she dumped in the well.”
Sterling sucks in a breath through his teeth. “Fuck, I forgot about that one.” He stares at his coffee for a moment too. “It’ll be fine,” he decides. “We’ll get through it.”
“I’m so sorry,” a soft voice grips us, causing us both to face the hallway. Juniper, in nothing but a t-shirt she likely dug out of Sterling’s drawer, stands there, one hand gripping the wall, the other on her heart. “I’m so sorry I dragged you guys into my stuff. That you had to see the bad I’ve done, I’m so embarrassed and ashamed and…” She shakes her head, bringing both hands to cover her face as she cries. “I’m just so sorry.” Yellow Dog lays at her feet, attempting to comfort her by nuzzling his snout against her calves.
Energy courses through me, so I get to my feet, watching as Sterling takes her in his arms, embracing her in a way that makes my chest tight. With his chin on top of her head, he softly reassures her that everything is going to be okay, and that she is perfectly okay.
She peels herself off of him, weaving their hands together as she reaches for one of mine.
With one of her hands in his and one in mine, she looks between us with wide, wet eyes. Slowly, she steps into Sterling, keeping her hand in his as she rocks to her toes and places one slow kiss on his lips.
I’m transfixed by how natural it is to watch her kiss him, and how good they look kissing each other. But when she’s done, she faces me, her tongue sweeping along her bottom lip as if to collect the final traces of him before it’s my turn.
On her toes, she brings her mouth to mine, sealing our lips together in a slow, soft kiss. Traces of her tears leave my cheeks damp and when she breaks the kiss, her bottom lip wobbles. “I don’t want to sleep alone,” she whispers finally, tugging at our linked hands. She looks at her exposed legs and bare feet, then between us, seduction lining her expression. “I don’t want to sleep at all.”
“No?” I croak.
She shakes her head to say no, then turns, abandoning us where we are as she slowly walks down the hall.
“I think she wants us to follow her,” I whisper hoarsely to Sterling.
He moves past me to lock the front door and turn off the porch lights and then I’m following him down the hall, into his bedroom.