He straightened his back and squared his shoulders.No, he wasn’t going to yell at Austin.Austin was doing his job, and Caleb had known about it before he’d decided to date him.It wasn’t his place to tell Austin what to do or not do when he was on the job, but he could remind him that whatever happened during these fires, he’d be waiting for Austin to come back to him in one piece.Hopefully, that would give Austin a better incentive to look after himself, and if it didn’t, well, Caleb would let West take care of it.
He had more experience dealing with Austin, anyway.
Chapter Five
Austin had been pokingaround social media, and he finally had a name.He probably would have found it sooner if he’d told Caleb about this because he suspected that Caleb was much better than him at research, but so far, he didn’t have anything except a firefighter standing there during a fire.That wasn’t enough to investigate the firefighter or to give Caleb hope.
Austin rubbed his face with his hands and stared down at his phone.Give Caleb hope?Hope of what?This was afirefighter.Austin shouldn’t suspect him, of all people, to be an arsonist, yet here he was.There was nothing to hope about except finding the arsonist, whoever they were, but Austin prayed it wasn’t this guy.
Eric Tate was with station one twenty-eight.Austin stared at the picture of the guy standing there with a beer in his hand as he talked to someone.He was in a backyard with a grill in the background and more people.Austin recognized the guy Tate was talking to—another firefighter from the same station.Maybe he should reach out and find out more about Tate?He wasn’t sure how he’d justify it, though, and he didn’t want people to find out what he was thinking.
Hell, he wasn’t even sure there was anything to worry about.He was suspicious because he’d seen Tate standing around and staring at a fire twice.It could be a coincidence.It could be anything.Tate didn’t necessarily have anything to do with the fires, and Austin wasn’t quite sure how to find out if he did.
He was a little stuck, which was probably why he did something pretty stupid.
He decided to spy on Eric Tate.
To Austin’s defense, there was no one around to supervise him.It was his day off, and Caleb was working until later, when they had a date planned.West was with Jonathan at the tattoo shop, and while Austin knew he’d be welcome there, he didn’t want to intrude.Besides, he doubted they’d stay there for long.They’d be back at Jonathan’s apartment before the afternoon was over if Jonathan was done with his appointments.
What was Austin supposed to do?He had a suspect and nothing to do, so of course he left his apartment and headed to his car.He wasn’t sure where to find Tate, but he decided to start at the one twenty-eight station.If Tate wasn’t on shift, well, Austin would come up with something else.Hell, he might even go and bother Caleb.
He got lucky.He didn’t have to bother Caleb because just as he was parking his car on the other side of the street from the station, he noticed Eric Tate coming out of the building.He watched as the man made a beeline for a car parked in the lot.He opened the trunk, grabbed a backpack out of it, and turned around to leave.
He didn’t lock the car.He closed it, but Austin didn’t see him lock it.
Austin stayed where he was and watched the station.Should he actually do this?Eric Tate’s trunk was unlocked as far as he knew.That didn’t mean Austin would find anything in there, but maybe he could take a peek?It wouldn’t necessarily tell him much about Tate, but it might also give him clues.
Or it might get him arrested, but that wasn’t something he wanted to consider.He wasn’t sure he could afford to think about the consequences.The fire at the community center had touched him more than he’d expected, and he wanted the arsonist stopped.If there was anything he could do to ensure that happened, he was going to do it, even if it meant risking jail.
But he could be smart about it.He was a firefighter.One of the reasons he was still alive was that he was smart.Well, that and the fact that he was a dragon shifter, but he wouldn’t have graduated from the academy if he didn’t have at least a little brain.
He wondered if Eric Tate was human.Probably.He’d never noticed another firefighter who was a shifter, and he would have if he’d crossed paths with one.No, Eric Tate was probably human, but if he was responsible for the fires, he had to know about shifters.It made Austin wonder why he was doing this.He didn’t really care because in the end, it didn’t matter, but he wondered.Had a shifter done something to Tate?Was he getting revenge for that by hurting others?Or was he just an asshole who thought he was better than shifters?Austin didn’t know, but he needed to find out.
The alarm went off.He could hear it even from where he was, and he leaned back in the driver’s seat of his car and watched as the station doors opened.The engine drove out, and Austin watched it disappear down the street.He waited a little while longer, knowing someone had been left behind.He didn’t want them to notice him when he snuck into the parking lot.
But he didn’t have that much time to waste.He didn’t know how long the call would be, which meant that he had to get into Tate’s carnow.
