Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

I t was closing in on midnight, and Annabelle couldn’t fall asleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she swore she smelled smoke. She lay there, tense in the dark, imagining flames sneaking through the building. The fear only abated once she’d tiptoed over to the door between the panic room and her apartment, opened it wide, and checked for any sign of fire. Then, feeling reassured and a little foolish, she climbed back into bed. She had about five minutes of peace before the cycle started all over again.

Quietly, so as not to wake Noah, she eased back the covers and crept toward the door. Again. Telling herself that she’d check just one more time, and then everything would be fine.

“You okay?” a deep voice asked from the doorway she shared with Noah.

Annabelle spun around to see him leaning against the doorjamb, softly silhouetted by the light of the streetlamps that filtered through the sheer blinds behind him.

“I’m just…” She hesitated, unable to explain her constant need to check the building and feeling foolish for having it.

“Scared?” He stepped into the room. “I get that. But there are extra smoke alarms all over the place, and the triplets are standing guard. We’ve checked the warehouse from top to bottom, and there are no smoldering embers anywhere. You’re safe.”

“I don’t feel safe,” she whispered as she twisted her hands in the bottom of her Wonder Woman pajama top. “Worse, I don’t feel like you and your team are safe either.”

“You spoke to your psychiatrist earlier, didn’t you? What did she say?”

Annabelle had made the call not long before turning in for the night. “That I’m still in alert mode. That I have to remind myself that the danger’s passed and we’re all fine now.” She stared up at him, silently pleading for him to understand. “I know all of that logically, but as soon as I lie down, all I can think about is that I need to check the building and make sure we’re all safe. I get more and more wound up until I have to get out of bed and see for myself that we’re okay. Then I feel relieved until I get back into bed, and it starts all over again. I’m going crazy here.”

“Would it help if I sat with you until you fell asleep?”

His voice was a low tease across her skin, and Annabelle answered before pausing to think about it. “It’d help if you were in bed beside me.”

Noah jerked slightly and then froze.

She rushed to reassure him. “Just to sleep, I mean.”

Although…

No.

The last thing she needed was for her brain to go there tonight. She was tired and terrified, and now she was worried that she’d pushed Noah a step too far. She held her breath, waiting for his reply. Praying he’d understand that she needed him.

“I’m taking the side nearest the open door,” he said at last, ripping his gaze from hers.

“We could close both doors,” she offered, knowing she was pushing her luck.

“Get into bed, Bella,” he rumbled as he ducked back into the spare room.

She didn’t have to be told twice.

Annabelle climbed into bed on the side furthest from the guest room, careful not to take up too much space. Once she’d settled, Noah appeared again and got into the other side of the bed. The mattress dipped and the covers moved as he made himself comfortable. At last, they were both in bed—with a chasm between them.

Which was fine.

She’d just wanted him closer so she’d feel safe. So she could sleep. It wasn’t like she’d expected him to snuggle. Still, the situation was a whole lot more awkward than she’d expected.

“You don’t need to stay here,” she said softly, because it was night, and they were in bed, and you were supposed to speak softly. Somewhere, she was sure, there were rules about proper bed etiquette, and whispering in the dark would definitely be one of them. “I’m worried I forced you to do this, and now it’s awkward. You can go back to your room. I promise I’ll stop getting up to check for smoke.”

He let out a sigh. “No, you won’t, and we both need to sleep. This is fine.”

“It’s not fine. I can’t relax. It’s weird. I’m afraid to move in case I touch you, which means I can’t sleep because this bed isn’t big enough to ensure I won’t accidentally roll into you while I’m out cold. Maybe we should get some cushions and build a little wall down the middle of the bed?”

Noah muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like a prayer for patience. Next thing she knew, he reached out, wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and rolled her into his side. There was nothing she could do but put her arm around his waist and rest her cheek on his chest. Honestly, it would have been rude to do otherwise.

“Better?” he demanded.

She considered her answer before giving it. “You’re still tense, and it’s contagious. Are you sure you can relax lying like this? There’s always the cushion-wall idea. We could try that.”

“The tension will pass. It’s just …” Noah paused for a beat before shaking his head. “I haven’t slept beside a woman since my wife died.”

“Oh no!” Annabelle tried to push away from him, but he held her tight. “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have forced you into this just because I’m a walking, talking ball of anxiety. This is awful. I feel awful.”

“Stop talking, Bella.” He tugged her back down to his side. “If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t. It’s just… another first.”

He didn’t have to explain. There had to have been many firsts in the years since his wife died—first birthdays without her, first Christmas, first vacation, first everything.

They lay in silence for a few minutes, and even though Annabelle’s mind raced with a myriad of different concerns, she soon relaxed against him. He was so warm. So solid. So safe. Being close to him chased away the fears that plagued her. All she wanted was to sink into him and be at peace forever. His heartbeat was a steady rhythm in her ear, better than any white noise machine she’d ever used. Cocooned and protected, she lay there in the darkness, breathing him in.

“I’m glad I’m your first,” she whispered.

“Go to sleep, Bella.” His voice sounded gruff, but she thought she detected a hint of a smile.

And then she did exactly as he’d ordered and fell asleep.

Noah was instantly awake the second he heard movement at the panic room door. He reached down to the floor beside the bed, where he’d stashed his gun.

“Don’t shoot,” Abasi whispered. “It’s go time.”

“I get it now,” Rodrigo whispered. “This must be another one of those ‘professional cuddles’ Violet was worried about.”

Noah was too busy extricating himself from the bed without waking Annabelle to flip the smart-ass off. Instead, he shooed them into the guest room and tucked Annabelle in.

Violet was sitting on the end of his bed. “Don’t ask. Don’t tell,” she said solemnly. “I’m just here to guard her. I don’t care about anything else.”

“She was too scared to fall asleep,” Noah explained, unable to stop himself.

Rodrigo nodded. “Me? I’d have given her a sleeping pill. But, hey, you do you. I’m sure climbing into bed with her worked too.”

Noah glared at him and gestured toward the panic room and the sleeping woman they didn’t want to disturb. Rodrigo prodded Abasi, and they both headed out of the guest room and into the loft. Noah grabbed a change of clothes, his boots, wallet, phone, and weapon before leaning down to whisper to Violet, “Don’t let anything happen to her.”

She just stared at him as though he’d said something incredibly dumb.

Noah took that as an agreement and went out to meet Abasi and Rodrigo—after getting changed in the small bathroom between the guest rooms.

“Who’s monitoring the security feed tonight?” Noah asked as they made their way down the stairs to the front door.

“Violet. She’s doubling up with watching Annabelle.” Rodrigo grabbed a duffel from the bottom step on his way past. “Harris is taking the first shift on building patrol. We waited until he hit the roof before we got you. We’ve got a couple of minutes before he heads this way. By then, we’ll be long gone.”

Noah reset the alarm and locked the front door behind them. Together, they jogged across the road and down the alley to the parallel street, where they’d left the SUV they’d need for the night’s mission. Abasi tossed the keys to Noah, who got into the driver’s seat. Abasi called shotgun, and Rodrigo sat in the back.

“I have everything we need,” Rodrigo said as Noah started the car and headed toward South Houston. “We’re going old school on this. No tech backup. Elle’s on a job, and it would have raised too many questions if she’d siphoned off time to act as our online eyes and ears.”

Even at three in the morning, there were still cars on the road. Granted, nowhere near as many as during the day, but enough to notice if the SUV did something out of the ordinary, so Noah made sure to obey every sign and never exceed the speed limit.

“First up,” Abasi said as they drove into the night, “Elle stumbled on a drug house. She hacked some texts saying it was full, and the residents needed to check out soon.”

“In other words”—Noah stopped for a red light—”they have too much product and need to ship some of it out.”

“Si,” Rodrigo said as he unzipped the duffel and started taking out weapons.

“Do we know what they’re dealing?” Noah asked. “I don’t want to walk into a meth lab.”

“It’s high-grade coke.” Rodrigo checked a weapon before handing it to Abasi. “Well, it was. Who knows what it is now, they could have cut it with anything. They’ve got a pipeline straight from Colombia and an exclusive deal with the Alvarez cartel, one of the smaller but smarter drug producers in the country. The Demons and the Alvarez cartel are known by reputation as being deadly and unstoppable. It’s a very profitable partnership for both parties.”

“Hopefully, not so much after tonight.” Noah kept his eyes on the road. “If we can sow the seed of doubt about the Demons being trustworthy, we might be able to disrupt their supply chain. That should give Eddie something else to worry about.”

“It’s not enough, though.” Abasi drummed his fingers against the passenger door. “One drug house is small potatoes for this gang.”

“But that’s not the only thing we’re hitting tonight, is it?” Rodrigo said.

“Nope,” Abasi said. “There’s a long-haul vehicle we need to intercept before dawn.”

“Just remember, no killing,” Noah said firmly. “We’re going to gift wrap what we can for the local cops, disrupt the Demons as much as possible, and then disappear. Got it?”

“Which reminds me.” Rodrigo rummaged in his bag of magic tricks and pulled out two bundles of zip ties. “Don’t worry about circulation when you cuff these guys,” he said cheerily.

“We need to keep this operation tight and fast.” Noah drove over one of the wide, multilane motorways that wound around Houston. He glanced at the other two men. Both were skilled and deadly and, like him, were dressed for the night in black. But there were only three of them against an army of Demons. “Maybe we should have included the rest of the team in this,” he said worriedly.

“We’ve been over this. The boss would have grounded us, and the triplets would have got us killed.” Abasi eyed Noah, his gaze cold and assessing. “Right now, I’m more worried about you than anything we’ll face. You sure you’re up for this? It isn’t some by-the-book police raid with plenty of department backup. Things will get dirty.”

“I can handle myself,” Noah said evenly.

“I’d settle for you not getting me shot.” Abasi stared out the window, watching the lights of Houston’s skyline flicker as they passed.