Chapter Four
There was a bounce in Austin’s step as he locked his car and headed to the coffee shop. He felt a little guilty about how excited he was, considering the string of arsons he was here to talk about, but it didn’t dim how eager he was to see Caleb.
Austin needed to be careful with that. Caleb might have agreed to work with him, but that didn’t mean he wanted more.
Hell, he might not even want them to be friends once all of this was over.
They needed to be civil to each other for West and Jonathan’s sake, but there was a wide gap between that and friendship, let alone more.
But for now, Austin didn’t want to think about that.
He was about to spend the afternoon with Caleb so they could go over what each of them knew about the arsons.
He hoped that by the end of it, they’d have at least an inkling as to where to look, but he knew how unlikely that was.
From what he’d seen of the fires, the arsonist knew what they were doing, and they probably hadn’t left any trace of their presence at the fires.
Caleb would probably have better luck since he’d been looking into everything else, and Austin was impatient to know more.
He wasn’t surprised to see that Caleb was already there when he walked into the coffee shop where they’d agreed to meet.
It wasn’t the one near the station because neither of them wanted the people Austin worked with to wonder what they were up to—instead, they were meeting close to Caleb’s apartment.
Lisa and Jeremy wouldn’t hesitate to tease Austin if they were to see them, and he didn’t think that Caleb would be comfortable with that.
It was a small miracle that he’d agreed to do this with Austin to begin with.
Caleb didn’t notice Austin, which gave Austin the opportunity to watch him as he waited in line to get his order in.
Caleb’s computer was on the table in front of him, and he was fully focused on the screen in a way that made Austin both wonder what he was reading and if he’d be that way in bed, too.
He could imagine all too well what it would be like to be the center of Caleb’s focus, and it made him shiver.
He placed his order and waited for it, but Caleb never looked up.
Austin had found it cute initially, but now, it made him slightly uneasy.
They were investigating an arsonist. Surely Caleb had to realize that he might be in danger.
So far, they hadn’t found anything that could lead them to the person behind the fires, but they might, or even if they didn’t, the arsonist might think they’d be able to find them.
It would be too easy to attack Caleb when he was this distracted, even though he was a shifter.
Austin walked between the tables until he reached Caleb. He cleared his throat, not surprised when Caleb jumped and pressed a hand over his heart before scowling at him.
“Was that really necessary?” he asked as Austin slid into the empty chair in front of him.
Austin couldn’t see the computer screen, but he was sure Caleb would tell him everything he needed to know. “You realize that what we’re doing is dangerous, right?” Austin asked instead of answering Caleb’s question.
Caleb frowned. “How? We’re in a public place. I don’t think anyone would dare to try to do anything to me here.”
“Probably not, but you can’t be a hundred percent sure, and even if they don’t, they could be waiting for you to leave.”
“Well, it’s good that I won’t be leaving this place alone then.”
Austin arched a brow. “You make it sound as if we’re on a date.” And as if Austin would get lucky later. God, he wished.
To his surprise, Caleb didn’t deny it right away. Instead, he cocked his head and watched Austin for a moment as if he was trying to read him. Austin stayed still. Whatever was going on in Caleb’s head, he didn’t want to make him change his mind about whatever he was about to say.
Unless he was about to tell Austin to fuck off.
“I wouldn’t be opposed,” Caleb eventually said.
Austin blinked. “Opposed to what?”
“To this being a date. I mean, I don’t usually investigate a string of arsons during my dates, but you know. We could do both.”
Austin had no idea what was going on. Initially, Caleb hadn’t even wanted to work with him. He didn’t trust him. Why was he agreeing to a date, then? What had happened between his visit to the station and now?
“Unless you’ve changed your mind,” Caleb added.
Austin couldn’t let him believe that. “I don’t think I ever told you that I wanted to date you,” he pointed out.
Caleb’s cheeks flushed. “Do you, though?”
Austin couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. So this is a date?”
“Probably the weirdest date I’ve ever been on, but yes. It’s a date.”
Austin got to his feet and pulled his chair closer to Caleb. This way, he could see the computer screen and be closer to his date. “Should we start with the getting to know each other bit or with the arson bit?” he asked, leaning into Caleb’s space.
Caleb’s cheeks were still pink, but he didn’t seem to mind Austin’s presence.
“I don’t know about you, but I don’t have anything new about the fires.
I’ve been looking into the businesses that burned down, including the restaurant, and their owners, but it looks like the only thing they have in common is that they’re shifter-owned businesses.
I don’t even know how the arsonist found out about that. ”
Since shifters weren’t out to humans, it wouldn’t have been easy. “So either they’re a human in the know, or they’re a shifter themselves?”
“Could be, or maybe they somehow found out about shifters.”
“Knowing about shifters isn’t a good enough reason to set their businesses on fire, though.” Not unless whoever was behind this wasn’t in their right mind.
Caleb shrugged. “I’m sure that to some people, it is. You know humans. You know how scared they get when they’re confronted with something they don’t understand.”
That much was true. Austin had seen enough in his line of work to be aware that whatever the arsonist’s reason was, it probably wouldn’t make sense to anyone else. It could be fear or disgust. It could be something more logical like money, but also hatred.
It didn’t have to make sense to Austin, though. He just wanted to stop the person doing this, and he didn’t really care why they were doing it.
Caleb suddenly closed his computer before leaning back in his chair. “Why don’t you tell me about yourself?”
Austin liked where this was going. “What about the arsonist?”
“They’ll still be here after this date, unfortunately. Anyway, I don’t know much about you except that you’re West’s best friend and a firefighter. Care to tell me more?”
Oh, yes, Austin really liked where this was going.
“I think that the most interesting thing about me is being a firefighter, honestly. I had a happy childhood, I still talk to my parents, and there’s nothing traumatic in my past. I have two younger brothers, my parents are still happily married, and I want what they have eventually. ”
Caleb arched a brow. “With me?”
“I don’t know. It is what I’m looking for, though. I’m done with one-night stands and flings.”
Caleb nodded. “Me, too. I’ve had enough of those in the past few years.” He leaned forward. “I like that I won’t have to hide what I am from you.”
“I like you.”
Caleb blinked, then laughed. “That’s good.
Well, as you know, I’m an only child. My parents are still married, although I’m not sure it’s happily, and I’m too afraid to ask, and it’s not really my business.
My grandmother passed away a few years ago.
” He paused and took a sip of coffee. “Listening to myself, I realize I’m not that interesting, especially not compared to you.
I’m sure you have dozens of stories to tell me. ”
“That goes with the job. We deal with serious emergencies, but also with people getting stuck in trees because they were trying to reach their cat and forgot that cats are much better than humans at climbing trees.”
Caleb chuckled. “Yeah? Why don’t you tell me about that?”
Austin relaxed. This wasn’t what he’d expected from today, but he couldn’t say he minded—in fact, he very much didn’t.
* * * *
CALEB FELT GUILTY. He wasn’t supposed to be enjoying himself, instead of investigating the arson. Sure, it wasn’t his job, but he’d still made promises, and he intended to keep them. One way or another, he would find the arsonist, and he’d make sure they never hurt anyone ever again.
But he was also enjoying his time with Austin. He hadn’t expected this meeting to turn into a date, but when he’d seen the opportunity, he’d grabbed it. He wanted to get to know Austin better, and what better way to do that than listen to him tell stories about his job?
“It was obvious the guy wanted to impress his girlfriend,” Austin was saying as he gestured with his hands. “I don’t blame him. She was looking at him with stars in her eyes just because he’d climbed into the tree.”
“I suppose I’d be pretty grateful to anyone who rescued my cat from a tree,” Caleb agreed.
“Except that the cat didn’t need to be rescued.
It’s a cat. It would’ve come down eventually.
” Austin grinned. “Which is exactly what it did. The guy kept yelling that he had everything under control and continued moving toward the cat. At that point, I thought we were going to have to send two people up, one for the cat and one for the guy. When the guy reached the cat, though, the cat gave him this disgusted look, stepped away, and climbed down. We all watched, and if I hadn’t been a professional, I would have started laughing.
The cat sauntered over to the girlfriend, rubbed against her legs, and asked to be picked up.
I swear it looked up at the guy in the tree with disdain.
If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought the thing was a shifter. ”
Caleb grinned. “Cats.”
“And humans trying to impress their owners.”