Page 96 of Sterling Heat

“I need to take a statement,” Stone says.

“I already told you what I saw.”

“Not from you. From Enya.” Stone nods at her.

Andy slowly limps around the house, rubbing at his thigh. “Sir, with all due respect, I should press charges.”

“For what?” I bark. “I should press charges on you for holding a gun on me.”

“I heard the gunshots,” Enya’s breath is heavy with fear. “I thought . . .” She shudders against me, and I hold her tighter, pressing my lips to her head again. She buries her face against my chest, wrapping her arms as tightly around me.

“You have a history of breaking and entering,” Andy continues. “How do we know it wasn’t you?”

What a fucker. “Breaking and entering would be pretty hard to do considering I was with Enya when it was happening.” We weren’t in her car together, but I couldn’t possibly beat her to her place. Nor would I have any reason to break into her house. I have the fucking code. Not to mention, there isn’t anything in there I’d want to steal. Everything important to me is in my arms.

“Where’s Adara?” I whisper to Enya.

“She’s in the car, sleeping.”

“But your truck is here, separate from hers,” Andy continues.

“Right. Because I parked in the front driveway to break into the back door of the house.” How is this man even on the force?

“Alright.” Stone holds up a hand. “Andy, that’s enough of this nonsense.” He turns to me. “Sebastian, I’m certain you have a perfectly good alibi.”

“Are you kidding me, right now?” I glare at my brother. Un-fucking-believable.

“He was with me,” Enya interjects. “We’d just left his apartment. Your brother Knox is there now and can attest we’ve all been at Sebastian’s for hours. Plus, I got here first. Sebastian arrived less than five minutes after me.”

She glares at Andy who takes the dressing down by lowering his eyes.

“I saw lights flash across the living room window from the inside and called Sebastian first.”

“Why didn’t you call 9-1-1?” Andy admonishes.

“Andy, shut the fuck up,” I growl.

“Sebastian,” Stone warns.

“I called 9-1-1 after Sebastian entered the house to see who was inside.”

“Is anything missing?” Stone asks.

“I haven’t been inside yet. Sebastian told me to wait in the car. Then you arrived and said the same thing.”

“So he was in your house a few minutes before us?” Andy asks, implication in his voice. “Knowing you have a history here—”

“That’s enough, Deputy Sheriff Whitehall. You can head back to your vehicle now.”

Andy glances up at Stone, staring at his superior with both shock and hurt before he hobbles toward his car.

“Why the fuck do you let men like him work for you?” I demand of Stone, squeezing Enya tighter.

“Enya,” he addresses her, ignoring me. “Let’s take a look inside.”

“Is there anyone else in there?” Her voice is weak, trembling even.

Fuck. “I didn’t look around,” I explain to Stone. “I only chased one person out the back door. I have no idea if there was more than one.”