Dahlia's Kiss

Sterling opened one eye and leered at him. “You see the TV. Where do you think I’ve been?”

“Sterling.” I took a step away and squatted by the couch. “Please tell me you didn’t do this. I understand why you would have, but this could have made things so much worse. Especially if they link this to you.”

He sat up in a hurry. “What the fuck? You guys think I burned down the police station? Why in the hell would I have done something like that? You think it was my idea of a good time being out there all night long watching that place burn to the ground? Because, newsflash, it wasn’t. It was all hands on deck. We’ve all been tasked with trying to find the fucker who did this and bring his sorry ass in. And the worse part? We don’t have anywhere to bring his ass into. We have a mobile station set up that is our headquarters for the time being. It’s a bunch of SWAT RVs sitting in our parking lot with laptops and stuff. It’s fucking glorious.” The last bit was said with a healthy amount of sarcasm.

I put my hand on his thigh. “Please do not lie to me. If you did this, I need to know. It makes total sense that you would have. I know how you felt about them having my hair and my fingerprints, but this really wasn’t the way to do this.”

Sterling bounced to his feet, his exhaustion completely forgotten. “I didn’t burn the police station down. I wouldn’t have done that regardless of whatever evidence they had on you. I’m not that type of guy! I can’t believe you think I would do that!”

“You were supposed to come back here last night,” Cole said. “What were you doing between the time you dropped Dahlia off at her car and the time the fire started? That’s an awful lot of time to be accounted for.”

“I was doing my goddamn job!” Sterling hissed. “I don’t get a normal nine to five like most people. I have to work when there is work to be done.”

“That doesn’t tell us what you were actually doing.” Cole crossed his arms over his bare chest. His tattoos stood out in stark contrast against his milky white skin and the hard ridges of his muscular physique. “Your goddamn job could have been dumping a gallon or two of gasoline on the building for all we know.”

Damian walked into the living room, rubbing his eyes. “What’s going on guys? Why is everyone screaming? Isn’t it a bit early for that?”

Raising his voice above Sterling's proclamations of innocence, Cole summoned the story up to the sleepy Incubus. “Well, Sterling here never came back to the apartment as we’d discussed earlier in the day. That isn’t why we are yelling, but the police department burned down last night by arson. Supposedly, Sterling here was working all night, but Dahlia and I think he had something to do with it.”

Damian looked at Sterling with disappointment. “You didn’t do that, did you?”

“No, the fuck I didn’t!”

Cole looked at me and took my hand in his. “Dahlia, I know he is a bonded mate, and the desire to be with him is strong, but you really have to take into consideration what is good for you here. This guy is a loose cannon. We don’t know what he is going to do from one moment to the next. His past is suspect. Hell, he isn’t even who he told us he was. Damian and I can more than fulfill your needs. You don’t need someone here you can’t trust.”

Sterling’s face went from red to purple in an instant. “You motherfucker!”