“What arsons?” I demanded.
He parted his mouth to respond but then closed it.
“Exactly. The only person who would know anything about the arsons, besides us, is the one responsible for it.”
“No, it wasn’t—”
I socked him in the mouth. “Lie to my face again and you’ll find out there’s a hell of a lot more where that came from.”
“You son of a bitch,” Kyle groaned, holding the side of his face. “I think you chipped my tooth.”
His words came out slurred.
I started for him again because I hated the sound of his damn voice. Looking at him made my fingers twitch. I wanted to pound his face in more than anyone I had in my life.
“Easy, Don,” Carter said, grabbing me from behind. “We still need to get a confession out of this guy.”
I glared at him over my shoulder. “Let me go. I’m gonna fuck his shit up.”
Carter tightened his grip on my shoulder. “Not yet.”
I snatched away from Carter but didn’t go after Kyle again.
“You two need to get out of here, or I’m calling the police,” Kyle warned, doing his best to look threatening, I supposed. Too bad he still held the side of his face, which started to swell.
“You sound like your uncle,” I said.
His eyes widened.
“Yeah, you didn’t think he would keep your secrets, did you?”
Carter brought a wooden chair from the corner of the room over to the side of the bed. “The police will be here soon enough.”
I took a seat in the chair and planted my elbows against my knees, getting eye level with Kyle. “I didn’t come here to fuck with you, Kyle. You threatened my woman, and that’s grounds enough for me to light your ass on fire right here and right now.”
His eyes ballooned as he looked from me to Carter standing behind me, and then back to me again. He shook his head adamantly. “I didn’t.”
Grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt, I pulled him so close our faces were only inches apart. “Lie to me again, and you’re going to find out what it’s like to be burned alive.”
He sputtered and looked behind me to Carter like that was going to help him out.
“Don’t look at him. He hates you almost as much as I do. We both were the ones who carried Corey out of that fire. A fire you started.”
“I-I didn’t. I swear. It wasn’t me.”
An immense urge to crack his jaw wide open overcame me, but something in his voice prevented me from acting on my anger.
“It wasn’t me. I promise.”
“Then who was it?”
“Ben.”
I wrinkled my eyebrows. “Who the hell is Ben?”
“Y-you don’t know him? Of course not. You Rescue Four jocks never remember any of the rookies by our first names.”
“Not until you earn the right to be called by your name,” Carter said.
