Page 59 of Smoldering Nights
Travis: Awaiting arrest.
Noah: Escalating behavior, monitor full-time.
Sadie: Safe house.
Izzy: Relocate temporarily?
His pen hovered over the last item.
“I’m not leaving you,” Izzy said quietly behind him, reading over his shoulder.“Don’t ask me to go somewhere else.”
“I wasn’t going to ask.”He turned to face her.“I was going to suggest we leave together.Temporarily.Just for a few days.”
“Leave town?”
“Until we’ve got Noah in custody and Travis under pressure.Until this shitstorm dies down and I’m not waking up wondering if today’s the day someone gets to you.”
She was quiet for a moment.“Would that help or make us a bigger target?”
“It would force him to move faster,” he admitted.“Desperate people make mistakes.”
She rested a hand on his chest.“Then let’s do it.If it’s safer.But only if Sadie’s okay.”
“She is,” he said.“Jayson checked in an hour ago.She’s at the safe house.Locked down.We’re the next priority.”
His phone buzzed again.A text from Fielding.
Warrant is executed.Delilah’s salon contained product, packaging, and burner phones.Travis picked up at home.Interview pending.
Mitch stared at the message, then looked up at Izzy.“Delilah’s salon was dirty.Full takedown.Travis is in custody.”
Izzy let out a long breath.“Then it’s just Noah.”
“And he won’t get another chance,” Mitch said.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close, and felt her exhale shakily against his chest.His thoughts churned.This was almost over.But Noah had just made it personal, and Mitch wasn’t about to let anything happen to the woman who’d already become so important to him.
If he didn't hear from Fielding or Jayson soon, saying they were watching Noah, he and Izzy would pack up for a bit and get out of town.The best-case scenario would be for Noah to make a mistake and get busted.Or, for Jayson to find out Noah's connection to Travis and Delilah.With the drugs found in Delilah's, to be able to tie Noah to them would be perfect.
He kissed the top of Izzy's head and softly said, "Pack a few things in case we have to leave quickly."
She chuckled slightly."I only have a few things here.Remember?"
Yeah.She'd been in limbo for a while now.That always felt like shit.But she handled it well.Priority number one was getting Izzy home where she felt safe and wasn't under constant security.That thought made his heart hurt, though.He liked her here with him.He liked sleeping next to her, curled up into his side.He liked eating every meal with her.He liked the way she smelled and looked and felt.Thinking of this place without her in it felt terribly sad.He hoped she felt sad about it too.But first, her safety was everything; his feelings were last.
Chapter30
Izzy sat on the edge of the bed, staring at the small duffel bag she’d packed.A few tops, jeans, underthings, her phone charger, her meager toiletries, the journal she hadn’t written in for two weeks, and a worn sweatshirt from college that somehow still comforted her.It felt strange to pack like this, not for a trip, not for a vacation, but to run - again.
Not that she was truly running.Mitch had made that clear.They were being strategic.She just hated how it felt.
She zipped the bag and stood, moving to the window.Mitch was in the other room on the phone again, probably with Jayson or Chief Fielding.She could hear the edge in his voice, the way his calm dropped into that deeper register whenever he felt things closing in.Not the sexy richness of his voice when he made love to her.That voice she loved.
Outside, the street was still.Peaceful even.But it didn’t feel peaceful.It felt like the stillness before a storm.No birds chirped, no animals scurried around playing.Stillness as if even the wildlife knew there was trouble afoot.Wasn't it said they knew it before humans?
Her hand went to her stomach, not from nausea, but from nerves.She hadn’t felt this unsettled since the morning after her parents’ accident.That same dread was building again, only this time it wasn’t grief, it was fear.And anger.
She wasn’t just scared of Noah.She was furious.Furious that he’d made her shop feel unsafe.That he’d turned a place filled with light and laughter and eucalyptus into something she had to escape from.That he watched her like she owed him something.
