Dahlia's Kiss

WELL PLACED ANGER

There was a veryangry detective leaning against my apartment door when I returned home a short time later. His boots were crossed at the ankles, and his biceps bulged through his short-sleeved polo shirt as he glared at me. “Mind telling me what the fuck you were thinking, Dahlia? Your phone shows you haven't left, but two hours have passed with nothing but a meow from the other side of the door. If you’d been gone any longer, I was about to bust this door down to make sure you weren’t dead inside.”

“I was thinking that my comings and goings are none of your concern.” I motioned him out of the way to unlock the door. “Knowing that you were tracking my phone didn’t give me any warm and fuzzies, so I left the fucking thing here.”

“Your cat could have been eating your corpse in there as far as I knew. Why is it such a bad thing to know where you are in case something happens?” He followed me inside, pushing Bean away from the door with the toe of his boot.

“Be careful,” I said over my shoulder. “I heard that thing is a vicious flesh eater. Don’t want to get your foot too close to him. He’ll take it right off.”

“It’s not the time for jokes.”

“What’s going on?” Cole stuck his head in the door before Sterling could close it all the way. “I heard you guys from my living room. Sterling sounds mad. What did you do, Dahlia?”

“When doesn’t he sound mad?”

“I guess that’s true,” Cole chuckled. “What’s he mad about this time?”

“You know I’m standing right fucking here, right?” Sterling puffed his chest out. “You could just ask me.”

Cole snickered, closing and locking the door behind him. “Okay, Sterling. What is it exactly that has your panties in a bunch?”

Sterling grinned. “Odd choice of words from a panty thief.”

“You guys are already exhausting me,” I said from the kitchen. “Can we have just one moment where you aren't bickering about something? One of my friends was just killed. Among all the other bullshit in my life right now, I’d rather not go down this rabbit hole again.”

“Sorry,” Cole shrugged.

Sterling said nothing but glared angrily at the other Incubus as if my displeasure was entirely his fault.

“Sterling is mad because I decided to leave my apartment and did not take my cell phone with me. Instead of waiting for me to come home like a normal person, he camped out at my door because he realized he couldn’t track me. Not that he should have been able to in the first place, but yay me for shutting that shit down immediately.”

My phone buzzed on the counter. Why did I have to be so popular right now?

I looked at the screen and Damian’s message scrolled past on a preview. “Fantastic. Damian is downstairs. He will be up in a second.” I buzzed the door to give him access and watched the faces of the other two men. “Guess we’re having a party, then!”

“Why are you in such a bad mood?” Cole asked. “Did something happen while you were out?”

“No,” I lied. Sterling squinted at me. “Okay, yes. My boss asked me to come by with the pretense that he was upset about CeeCee. What he really wanted was to tell me he is in love with me. I got out of there so damn fast. I don’t know how I am going to face him at work tomorrow. I should probably start submitting my resume elsewhere.”

Cole pulled the door open when Damian knocked. “What’s up, brother?”

Damian mumbled a response. It was clear he still wasn’t too keen on the Incubus.

“This is exactly why you should carry your damn phone with you,” Sterling announced, not interested in greeting Damian. “What if that fucker had tried to do something to you? None of us know where he lives. We wouldn’t be able to find you or help you if a situation arose. Please stop being stupid, Dahlia. Once we bring down this murderer, I’ll take the tracking software off your phone.”

“Whoa, what did I miss?” Damian asked.

“Some human thinks he’s in love with Dahlia,” Cole told him.

Damian’s head swung around to look at me. “Seriously? How many times did you fuck him? That doesn’t usually happen.”

I shrugged. “He’s my boss. He was always available when I didn’t have time to go out to find a meal. I probably used him more times than I should have, but he was always so arrogant. I never thought I would have an issue with him. Guess I was wrong.”

“You know it’s dangerous to take pleasure from a human more than three times, right? Anything after that causes an infatuation on their side that is incredibly hard to break.” Damian schooled me on knowledge I should have known and lived by. I was ashamed to admit I’d gotten lazy and believed everything would be fine. I’d lost track of how many times I’d fucked Drake. It was definitely more than three times. This was all my fault.

“Any chance this human could be behind what’s happening with the deaths?” Cole asked, turning his attention to Sterling, who scratched his chin, deep in thought.

“I don’t believe so,” he finally said after a full minute of silence. “I’ve smelled an Incubus at every single scene. I wouldn’t be able to identify a particular human’s smell if they were there, but there is no mistaking that one of our kind was involved. I still haven't ruled out the possibility of you two having some part in it. Maybe both of you.”

“We are going to keep playing this game, aren’t we?” Cole asked. “I haven’t done a single thing wrong, but you’re never going to stop suspecting me of shit. No one here is totally clean, not even you Sterling.”

Sterling crossed the distance and put his face in Cole’s. “Not a single thing wrong, huh? Let’s hear the story again about how you stole Dahlia’s underwear. Tell me about how you were following her to work like some kind of weirdo.” With an open hand, Sterling pushed Cole hard, sending his body backward into the wall.

“Can you guys not damage my walls? I’ll have to pay for that shit later, and I don’t want to explain it to the landlord.” I tried to get between the two men, to no avail. They were simply too big and too mad.

“You’re worried about me following her to work when you have a fucking tracker on her phone?” Cole screeched. “It’s the same damn thing! Just because I’m not a cop and I don’t have access to all the fancy shit doesn’t mean I wasn’t doing the exact thing you were trying to do!”

“She doesn’t need you following her. She has me!” Sterling bellowed. “I just need you all to stay out of the way so I can conduct this investigation and find out who the enemy is so I can make sure they never come near her again. If you’re so fucking innocent, then why do you both keep acting so guilty?”

I turned my back on the men and put my hands to the sides of my head to drown out the arguing. I couldn’t take much more of this blame game. Bean ran for the bedroom as the voices escalated. I wished I could follow him and hide under the bed as well.

“I haven’t been acting guilty!” Cole roared over the other man. “But Damian—” His voice trailed off.

I turned around when I realized the screaming stopped to see them both looking around confused.

“Where the fuck did Damian go?” Cole asked. “How did he leave with no one noticing?”

I hadn’t seen him leave either. Perhaps he’d simply had enough of the accusations and decided to see himself out. I grabbed the phone and dialed his number, only to get his voicemail. “He’s not answering,” I told the other two.

“There,” Cole spat. “You want to point the finger at someone acting guilty. It doesn’t get more suspicious than ducking out without saying a single word then not answering your phone. He’s probably out getting rid of evidence he forgot until now. Or even taking another victim. If another body turns up, it’s your fault for not paying attention to what was right in front of you.”

Cole leveled a finger at Sterling, who ignored him completely. He picked his keys up from where he’d tossed them on the counter and walked out the door, slamming it behind him. My hair stood on end as the vibration traveled up my spine. Where the hell was Sterling going in such a hurry, and where had Damian gone before that? There were so many questions I wanted answers to and none of them were forthcoming.

Cole looked at me from the front door. His usual easy smile was replaced with a grimace, his brows low over his eyes. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, Dahlia, but I have the feeling that both of those two assholes are wrapped up in this somehow. I don’t know how to protect you, but I’m going to do my damnedest to try. Even if I have to sleep on the floor outside your door, I’ll do it.”