Page 17 of Burning Truth

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Severn made sure the house was as secure as it could be without a major renovation. They were going to have to talk about upgrades. At the very least, a few minor ones to door and window locks. Hell, even if she closed the curtains... He typed off a note to Bear Stevens with exactly what he needed. Not surprisingly, the man responded, even though it was almost two in the morning. None of them had great sleep patterns.

Pulling the note app up on his phone, he typed some things in. Tomorrow he would send Parker a report of everything they’d done, and warn him about the security upgrades to the house. Even if Severn had to pay for it himself, her house would be more secure by tomorrow.

He went to bed an hour after Addie did. The guest room bed was not made for someone as tall as he was, but he still managed to get a few hours of hard sleep in. Then the dreams woke him and he was up and looking for something to do. He’d brought his laptop, so he perused the internet, looking for anything that had happened in the Columbus area that might have been because of the arsonist. He saw nothing other than the normal robberies and car crashes. There’d been an Amber alert for a missing littlegirl, but they’d found her at the grandmother’s house. BrickBrak had done nothing last night.

Severn surfed through Addie’s social media. There were a ton more comments, and he was surprised to see how many were about him. Mostly from women. What the fuck... And they were mostly in reference to the amazing ‘save’ from certain death. Yes, she’d been in danger, but Ron had certainly taken some liberties with the footage.

He didn’t like being in the social eye. Totally defeated the part about being a private detective. He had the platforms, of course, because a lot of time it was easier to talk on the social platforms as a group. A few of the idiots he worked with were invested in reality stars, and they were on the platforms so much, it was a little ridiculous. Granted, he liked to scroll TikTok and Youtube, though he took steps to protect his privacy.

Gabbie had created them all random names to use, attached to disposable emails. Nothing connected to his real life.

So, he was amazed when he looked at Addie’s account and saw how many people were asking about him again. They were going to have to go public with their ‘relationship’.

Severn glanced at the clock. He needed to call Gabbie and see if she could track this guy. He sent off a text message.

‘You awake?’

Yup.

Punching the phone button on the screen, he called her.

“What’s up, Boss man?”

Severn appreciated Gabbie’s no-nonsense attitude. He told her what was going on and sent her a couple of links to BrickBrak’s comments.

“Has he contacted her on any platform other than this one?”

“Not that I know of. I can check with her, though.”

“Yeah, do that. The more access points I have, the better.”

Addie walked into the room then, and Severn looked up. Damn, she was something. Even with her eyes a little swollen from sleep and her hair a black, curly cloud around her head, she looked beautiful. He grinned as she staggered to the coffeepot and snapped a pod in.

“Addie, I’m talking to my tech person. Has he contacted you on any other platform? Email, or anything?”

Her gaze sharpened, and she turned to lean against the counter. “Definitely not with that name. I mean, I get some weird emails occasionally, but we all do, at the station. We all have an email through the station inbox.”

“Can I have access to that?” Gabbie asked, and he relayed the question.

“Yes, I suppose.” She reeled off her email and password. “It will ask for a verification code I’ll have to give you from my phone.”

Addie left the kitchen and jogged up the stairs. Severn leaned out a little to watch her ass. She was wearing little cotton shorts that were perfectly respectable, he supposed, but man they cupped her like a lover’s hands. And he didn’t think she was wearing anything under those shorts, either. The thought of peeling the waist band down to cup her ass made him hard.

“Boss!” Gabbie almost yelled.

Severn flinched and realized she’d been calling his name for a while. “What,” he snapped.

Gabbie chuckled on the other end of the line. “Parker told me about your sitch. Any chance you’re getting sucked into the story?”

Severn sighed. “Maybe,” he admitted. “The heroine is really something,” he admitted.

Gabbie chuckled again. “Well, if anybody deserves a happy ending, it’s you. And I don’t mean that in a weird massage way. I mean that in the literal sense that you should have a chanceto have your own happy ever after. I’m not gonna lie. After watching Brian fall for that cop, I’m fighting the green-eyed monster myself.”

“Yeah, I get it,” he murmured.

Brian Calvert had met Sage Harrison in Wyoming, of all places, at a wedding, and her son, a brilliant kid, had managed to get them moved to Columbus and parked them right next door to Brian. The kid, Adam, had decided that Brian and his mother would be good together, and it had actually worked out for all of them. Brian was head over heels with Sage, and he seemed to love Adam, too. Severn had shaken his head at the craziness, but he couldn’t argue with the kid’s results.

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