Shit.Caleb didn’t want to offend Austin.They were in each other’s lives to stay as long as Jonathan and West were together, and Caleb suspected they’d be together a long time.He didn’t want things to be awkward or weird.“Austin—” he started.
Austin shook his head.“It’s fine.I guess you’ll learn to trust me eventually.In the meantime, be careful.We don’t know how the person behind this will react if he finds out you’re investigating this, but I can’t imagine it’ll be good.”
Austin turned, not giving Caleb the opportunity to answer.It wasn’t like Caleb had much to say, anyway.
As he walked to his car, Caleb’s mind churned with questions and possibilities.He couldn’t focus on Austin and his feelings.His community and Margaret needed him to focus on the fires and find out who the culprit was.
But for some reason, his thoughts never strayed far from Austin and the sad expression on his face when he’d realized that Caleb didn’t trust him.
* * * *
AUSTIN WALKED AWAYfrom Caleb feeling disappointed.He understood that Caleb’s mistrust didn’t have anything to do with him, but it still hurt.He hadn’t done anything to cause Caleb not to trust him.In fact, he felt that considering everything Caleb knew of him, heshouldtrust him.
He didn’t.
Austin didn’t hold that against him.He hadn’t lied when he’d told Caleb that eventually, he’d learn to trust him.In the meantime, Austin would have to deal with feeling disappointed and maybe keeping his distance from Caleb.He didn’t want to make things awkward for anyone, least of all West and Jonathan.He wasn’t sure they would understand if Austin stayed away from Caleb, and he doubted that Caleb wanted to explain to them what was going on.Austin wasn’t going to force him to.In fact, he wasn’t going to do anything but give Caleb space.If that was what Caleb needed, it was what he’d get from Austin.
Austin didn’t look back as he got to his car and climbed in.It wasn’t easy because his instinct was to check in on Caleb, but instead, he turned on the engine and drove out of the parking lot.
He wasn’t sure he’d gotten anything out of his evening.Margaret had told him about the man she’d seen around the bookstore, but considering her description, Austin doubted he’d be able to do much with it.The man sounded as generic as they came.Austin couldn’t use that, and he wouldn’t be able to use any information Caleb might have since they weren’t working together.Caleb had said that he knew the fires weren’t a coincidence and that he’d been looking into them.What had he found?Did he have any clues or suspects?
Austin didn’t know, and he doubted that he was about to find out.
The bitter taste of disappointment stayed in Austin’s mouth as he drove to his apartment.He hadn’t made plans for tonight, so he supposed he’d grab dinner and spend a few hours on his couch, watching TV.Maybe he’d watch the news about the fire.He was sure they were already talking about it.He wondered if the human journalists had noticed anything strange going on.The only reason Caleb had was that all the businesses that had burned down recently belonged to shifters, but he knew that because he was part of the community.There was no way for any human to figure that out unless they knew about shifters, and not many of them did.As far as they knew, there wasn’t a connection between the businesses, but someone was bound to notice something was wrong if the fires continued.
Austin hoped this had been the last one.He didn’t want anyone else to lose their livelihood, and the fact that no one had been killed yet was a miracle.That miracle wasn’t going to last forever.
Austin successfully distracted himself by thinking about the fires until he got home, but that was when he lost it.Once he was on the couch with the TV on and food in his lap, his thoughts went straight back to Caleb.
The fact that Caleb didn’t trust Austin wasn’t fair, but that didn’t matter.What did matter was that AustinwantedCaleb to trust him, and he wasn’t sure how to make that happen.It probably would if he waited and gave Caleb space, but did he have time to do that?If they were going to work together to find out who was behind the fires, they needed to start as soon as possible, and Austin had been convinced that Caleb would understand that.He was a journalist.Surely he had to see that working with Austin was the best way to get to the heart of this.
Austin called West before he could think better of it.The woman on the screen was talking about puppies, which wasn’t what Austin was waiting for.
“Austin?”West asked when he answered.
Austin realized too late that West was probably busy with Jonathan.He always was these days, and Austin didn’t blame him.He’d be busy, too, if he had an adorable boyfriend.
An image of Caleb flashed in his mind.Yes, Caleb would be an adorable boyfriend, but he wasn’t Austin’s, and apparently, he never would be.
“Caleb doesn’t like me,” Austin declared.
There was a moment of silence from the other side of the phone, then West chuckled.“And you don’t like that, do you?”
“I just don’t understand why he doesn’t like me.I didn’t do anything to him or to anyone, really.I’ve never hurt people.Hell, Isavepeople on a regular basis.”
The humor was gone from West’s voice when he answered.“I doubt that whatever reason Caleb has to dislike you actually has anything to do with you.”
Austin sighed.“He doesn’t trust dragon shifters in general.It’s not fair, West.I’m not Sal.I was never like him.”
“Caleb knows that.”
“Then why doesn’t he trust me?”
“Because he doesn’t know you.”
“He won’t ever know me if he doesn’t let me close.”
“Okay, what’s actually happening here?I get that you’re disappointed, but this feels like a lot even for you.”
