Page 14 of Playing with Fire

“Where are we going?” Zack asked from the back, raising his voice to be heard over the roar of the engine.

“Need to swing by the elementary school,” I hollered back. “Izzy had trouble with the car at drop-off.”

I didn't miss Adam's smirk in my peripheral vision. Fucker.

Pulling into the lot, I cursed Izzy's existence once again. Maybe it was May and already in the seventies, but did that mean she couldn't wear actual clothes? After barely holding it together this morning, I had almost forgotten about the crop top she was wearing. Now I had Adam already suspecting something was up, so I had to school my reaction and force myself not to stare at the smooth tan skin of her stomach.

The SUV was parked in a spot near the entrance, and Izzy leaned against the back right side, engrossed in her phone. She looked up as I pulled the truck to a stop not far from her. We all climbed out and made our way the short distance to her.

“Ah, Izzy.” Zack smiled, wrapping his arm over her shoulders. “How's my favorite Mitchell?”

A growl bubbled up my throat and tumbled out through my lips before I could stop it. Zack's eyes widened. Guess I had no choice but to address it. Besides, I was seeing red.

“Stop flirting, Stoer.” I narrowed my eyes. “Or Jay will kick your ass.”

He smirked, and I fought the urge to punch him.

“Nah, he knows I'm harmless.” He tipped his chin at me. “You, on the other hand?—”

“Don't,” I warned. “Let's take care of the car situation so we can get back to the damn station. Not like we don’t have jobs or anything.”

I ignored Adam’s snicker, but I didn’t miss Izzy’s eye roll. Zack still had his arm around her, and he continued to smirk at me like he knew he was riling me up.

Thankfully, Izzy moved away from Zack with a placating sigh and waved toward the open back door. “Like I said on the phone. It's stuck.”

“Stuck?” Zack asked.

“Yup.” She took two steps and swung the door shut. But it bounced back. “See.”

“That's weird.” Zack mimicked what she did, but slowly, as we all watched it not latch.

“Are the child locks on?” I asked, stepping forward and waving Zack out of the way. I didn't have them on because I trusted my girls not to open the doors until we were parked. Maybe Izzy didn't have the faith in them that I did?

But taking in Izzy's bewildered expression, I didn't think she had a clue what I was talking about. “Child locks?”

“Yeah.” I pointed to the switch on the door. “This turns it on and off.”

“Oh, that.” She giggled. “Yeah, I tried flipping that on the other door, but then that one got stuck too.”

I yanked the handle on the outside of the door hard until I saw the latch disengage, and then shut the door.

Izzy's mouth fell open in surprise. “Wait, how'd you do that?” She slammed her fists onto her hips. “I swear I tried the exact same thing.”

“Brute force,” I joked. “But I think it had something to do with the child locks.”

“Not supposed to do that, I'm assuming?” Adam asked, stepping up next to me.

“No. Probably not. I'll need to take it to Randy at some point. Get it checked out.”

“See?” Izzy smiled. “Totally wasn't my fault.”

I raised an eyebrow and pointed to the door I just shut. “That one wasn't.” I walked around the back of the car and pointed to the other open door. “This one was, though.”

She shrugged. “How was I to know the switch thingy would get it stuck too?”

She shifted her weight, popping her hip out to the side. I tried not to track the movement. Tried not to let my gaze wander down to her bare belly. But I failed. And I was sure everyone saw it. Was wearing clothes that barely covered her stomach going to be a thing? Because it would be my downfall.

Adam cleared his throat, and I turned toward the open door. After closing that one, I headed back around the car and gave Izzy a nod. “See you tonight.”

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