Chapter Six
Austin knew that knocking on Caleb’s door was a risk.
Caleb hadn’t been answering any of his phone calls or his texts, even though Austin knew he’d seen them.
Caleb was angry, which was understandable, but Austin was floundering, and he wanted Caleb back in his life.
He wanted a lot of things, but that was number one on his list.
He raised his hands as soon as the door opened to reveal his boyfriend.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you what I was doing.
I should have because it’s what we agreed on.
I also shouldn’t have been investigating on my own, but you were working, and I wasn’t sure of anything.
I should’ve told you my suspicions, and if anything like this ever happens again, I will. ”
Caleb stared at him for a moment. Austin couldn’t tell if he was still angry, but he suspected the answer to that question was yes. He truly did understand why. He hoped that Caleb would understand why he’d kept this from him, though.
Caleb sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “Fine. I accept your apology.” He stepped to the side. “You can come in.”
Austin had to resist the urge to pull Caleb into his arms and kiss him. He desperately wanted to, but the fact that they were seemingly making peace didn’t mean Caleb would want him to. He didn’t want to risk getting his boyfriend angry again, especially before they could talk things out.
The door closed behind Austin. He looked around the apartment, curious. He’d gotten the address from Jonathan, who’d told him to fix things before he kicked his ass. That was what he’d been planning to try doing, anyway.
“I’m listening,” Caleb said.
He wanted Austin to grovel, then. Austin could do that. “I was just trying to protect you, I swear. Honestly, finding out that the arsonist is a firefighter freaked me out. I know there are bad people in this world, but for this to be a firefighter? It’s not right.”
Caleb nodded. “I agree. I also understand why you reacted the way you did, but we talked about this, Austin. I don’t want to be kept in the dark. What did you think I was going to do, go after this firefighter as soon as you gave me his name? I might want this to be over, but I’m not that stupid.”
Caleb rubbed his face. He looked tired, which made Austin feel guilty. Was Caleb tired because of him?
“I know,” he told Caleb. “I never thought you were stupid. I just panicked.”
“And since your job is to protect people, you tried to protect me.”
“Not only because it’s my job. Between one thing and the other, I didn’t do it in the best way, but I promise I wasn’t intentionally trying to keep you out of this.”
Caleb snorted. “I’d say that what you did was pretty intentional, but I get it.” He sighed. “I’m not going to hold this against you. I don’t want to fight with you.”
“Does that mean that we’re back together?”
Caleb narrowed his eyes at Austin. “It means we were never broken up. Please don’t tell me that you thought I’d left you because of this.”
“Not really, but I wondered. We haven’t been together that long, and you don’t really trust me yet.”
Caleb was already shaking his head. “That’s not true. I do trust you, but I felt like you didn’t trust me, and it hurt. Us fighting doesn’t change the fact that I want to be with you, though.”
Caleb reached a hand toward Austin, and Austin took it, relieved down to his bones.
He pulled Caleb into his arms, and Caleb came easily.
They slotted together like this was how they were meant to be.
Austin thought it was, and he was eager for them to be done with this mess and get back to a good place.
He wanted to explore their relationship and see where things could go.
He wouldn’t be able to relax until Tate was behind bars, though.
He still wasn’t sure how to make that happen, unfortunately.
He gently pulled on the hair on the back of Caleb’s head, enough that Caleb looked up at him. When he leaned down to kiss Caleb, Caleb met him halfway, a sure sign that Austin was forgiven.
“We need to take care of Tate,” Austin murmured, even though he wanted nothing more than to drag Caleb to his bedroom and spend the rest of the afternoon in bed, convincing him to forgive him.
Caleb’s eyes widened. “Is that his name?”
Austin nodded. “Eric Tate. He’s a firefighter with the one twenty-eight.”
“I’m really sorry.”
“There are bad people everywhere, including within the fire department. I just want him to pay. I want him to be stopped. I don’t know how we’re going to do that, though. Did you by any chance contact any of your friends in the police department?”
Caleb grimaced. “I did. He wants to help, but he pointed out that we don’t have anything. He’s not wrong.”
Austin let go of Caleb, but not for long.
He pulled his boyfriend toward the couch so they could sit together.
The fact that Caleb was halfway in his lap was positive, but it made it hard to focus.
Austin had to, though. “We have a little more than that. I went through Tate’s car trunk, which is how I found confirmation that he’s the arsonist. I found some rags that smelled of accelerant and a map.
All the shifter businesses that burned down were circled, and there were more. ”
“You put the map back, right?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t going to risk him noticing something was up.”
“But you took a picture.”
Austin grinned. “How do you know?”
“Because you’re smart and want this to be over as much as I do. Let me see.”
Austin took out his phone, unlocked it, and held it out.
Caleb hummed as he poked around until he found the picture, then spent way too long staring at it.
He used his fingers to zoom in, then back out.
Austin was dying to know what was on his mind, but he was a little afraid to ask. He’d find out soon, anyway.
“So, my friend in the police department said he’d look into it once we have more proof. He also said to call him if anything happens, and he was worried,” Caleb said.
“Maybe he should look into Tate himself if he is.”
“He would if he could.”
Austin wasn’t sure that was true. He’d looked into Tate, and it wasn’t his job.
Surely a police officer could do better?
Austin wondered what kind of shifter this friend was, then, a few seconds later, if the guy was just a friend or if he and Caleb had been more.
He almost asked, but he wasn’t sure he actually wanted to find out.
“Since Archer needs proof, we’re going to give him proof,” Caleb said, confusing Austin.
“I mean, you can send him the picture, but I don’t know how much proof that is. It’s just a map.”
Caleb shook his head. “That’s not what I was talking about.”
“What do you have in mind?” That didn’t sound good—at the very least, not for Austin’s heart. There was a spark in Caleb’s eyes that told him that he wasn’t going to like this, but he was powerless to stop it from happening.
Besides, why should he? The two of them were the only ones who could do anything about this situation right now. They couldn’t go to the human authorities, and Caleb’s friend didn’t seem to want to get involved until he had something more in front of him. Austin didn’t like that.
“We’re going to need some help,” Caleb said.
“That doesn’t sound good.”
“Because it’s not, at least not for Tate. West and Jonathan want to be involved.”
“West wasn’t happy when I told him about this.”
“Neither was Jonathan. It’s why I tried to keep him out of it.”
Austin arched a brow. “Is it? Were you trying to protect him?”
Caleb huffed. “You know the answer to that. Being smug does not suit you.”
Maybe it didn’t, but Austin couldn’t deny how relieved he was. He’d never wanted to hurt Caleb. He’d hoped Caleb would understand, and it looked like, in the end, he had. It had taken them fighting, but they’d fight plenty of times over the years.
Austin couldn’t wait.
* * * *
“I DON’T LIKE THIS,” Austin said.
The way he felt was obvious even over the phone, but Caleb didn’t turn to look at it where it was on the counter. Instead, he fussed with the bouquet of flowers in front of him.
He had no idea what he was doing, but he hoped that Eric Tate wouldn’t realize that.
They needed him to believe that Caleb was a flower shop owner working late all alone in the building.
Caleb clearly should’ve paid more attention to what his grandmother had tried to teach him when he’d worked at her shop, but it had been years ago, and he’d never been planning on doing anything like this for a living.
Which was a good thing because his flowers were a bit sad-looking.
“We know,” West said.
Both of them and Caleb were on speaker. Caleb hadn’t wanted to be because he didn’t want to do anything that would alert Tate that something about the situation was odd, but Austin wouldn’t let him play bait unless he agreed to this, so he hadn’t had a choice.
It had been a compromise he was willing to make, especially when he’d seen how relieved Austin was when he’d agreed.
As long as he wasn’t too obvious about being on the phone with someone, he thought it would be all right.
Besides, he wanted to know when Austin and West noticed Tate arriving.
They couldn’t be sure that he would, but they’d made it so that he knew about the shop and that Caleb would be alone here tonight.
Caleb wasn’t sure how Austin and West had managed that, but he trusted them.
They knew the shop was on Tate’s map, and it had been easy to convince the owner, a swan shifter, to go visit her sister out of town for a few days.
“I’d like to see you dealing with this if Jonathan was in that shop instead of Caleb,” Austin grumbled.
“I wanted to be there,” Jonathan piped up.