Page 146 of GAF Factor

“Where are you going? It’s too early to run errands. Come back to bed. I’m cold.”

I grabbed my tie and wrapped it around my neck, concentrating on each loop instead of the smell of her on my skin. “I have to leave for a few days. I’ll leave the keys to my house in case you need anything. There’s cash in my safe and the combination is your birthday. The security system?—”

“Wait. What do you mean you’re leaving for a few days?” I heard her get up and pull the blanket around herself. The anger in her voice was so undeniably fierce that I nearly broke and told her. “IKE, you just got back. You said this was over.”

I turned to her, my face cold and unyielding. “I told you the job with Shawn was over. I still have work to do.”

Her brows crinkled as she took a step back in confusion. “But…wait, you’re going back to…you’re going to do…that?”

I grabbed my suit jacket and swung it around, slipping my arms into the sleeves. “What exactly did you think I was going to do?”

“Um…anything but that.”

“Well, there are things to take care of.”

“Can’t you take care of it later?”

“No, I’ve put them off long enough.”

She snorted at that, giving me a sarcastic scowl. “Killing someone can’t wait a day?”

“Not in my world.”

“My parents are coming into town in two days.”

Shit. It was very unlikely I would be here to meet them, and I knew this was important to her. “I won’t make it.”

“IKE…after everything that’s happened, I just wanted to tell them I’m okay and that I have someone?—”

“You should tell them you’re fine and you’re standing on your own two feet. That’s what they need to hear,” I argued, even though I wanted to be here, to tell them I would always protecther and take care of her. But I didn’t know that it was true. I wasn’t sure I would return or if I would ever get the chance to see her again. And I wasn’t about to make her empty promises.

“IKE—”

“I have to go.” I turned for the door, desperate to get away before I decided to say fuck it and stay with her, and to hell with the consequences. But that wouldn’t end well for either of us. As it was, I was already on borrowed time.

I reached for the doorknob, but she slammed the door shut and shoved her body between me and my exit. The look on her face made it clear that I wasn’t going anywhere.

“You’re not going anywhere without telling me exactly what is going on.”

I ground my teeth together and took a step back. “What’s going on is you’re blocking my way.”

“Because you woke up an entirely different person!

“I woke up exactly who I’ve always been.”

She scoffed at that. “It’s like you’ve gone back in time. You didn’t even kiss me goodbye. Are you going to start smoking again, too?”

“And if I do?” I asked, narrowing my eyes at her.

Her throat bobbed like she was holding back tears. I knew this was killing her, almost as much as it was killing me. I needed to leave. Now. “Is this because of what you said last night?”

“What?”

“About the spark?”

“What—” She read into what I said. Isla was anything but stupid. This woman would never let me get away with anything for the rest of my life.

“That’s it, right? I knew it last night. It felt like something was wrong. And now you’re leaving.”

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