Page 77 of Mine to Keep

“They left something behind, on the bed. Noel and I are heading to your place, Matt, to get it. We’ll be right back. We tried to track him—he had the bagger bike, but we lost him.”

“I’ll go with you.” I stood, but Nick was shaking his head.

“It’s not safe, Mattie. Let me and my brother go. I promise we won’t be long.”

“You gotta stop calling me that. Nick, if James and Nicole see you enter, they’ll have a million questions. It could be an issue.”

Noel snickered. “We got a plan for that. Nick’s gonna tell them you’re staying with him for a few days because you aren’t feeling well, and we’re grabbing a few of your things.”

That would work. “I feel like a lump. I have to do something.”

“You are.” Nick took my face in his hands. “You’re staying safe. I need you to keep doing that.”

My belly warmed at the sentiment. “I need to go into work on Tuesday. I can get away with staying here tonight and tomorrow, but Camie will have my head if I don’t show up on Tuesday for my client.”

“Okay.” He kissed my nose. “You’ll be there.”

“Can you actually grab me a few things? Nothing thattheytouched, though.”

Nick smiled. “Of course.”

After Nick and Noel left, Shep started prepping dinner. With nothing to do, I helped.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

Nick

“Landlords just got home,”Noel said as we parked across the street from Matt’s apartment building.

“If they’re inside, they likely won’t bother us.”

We got out and ran across the street. “Think it’s one of them?” Noel held the front door open for me.

“I have no idea. Maybe, but the creeper was in Matt’s place, and now those two arrive home…weird.” I hit the Up button on the elevator.

“Maybe the barista chick, or Darnell?” Noel stepped into the elevator when it opened.

“Or Trinity…hell, it could be anyone. I need more info.” I hit the number three and leaned against the wall.

“We’ll get it; we always do.”

When we were on Matt’s floor I walked over to his door, used the key he gave me, and went in. There weren’t any lights on, so I hit a switch. Nothing looked disrupted even though we knew someone had been here. I went to the window by the fire escape and locked it. Idiot had left it unlocked.

There was a faint scent of something spicy—it wasn’t associated with Matt, so I wondered if it was something the shitbag had worn.

“Got the box.” Noel had it tucked under his arm. “You wanna get Matt’s unmentionables?” He waggled his brows.

“You’re ridiculous.”

I grabbed a small duffel and went to Matt’s drawers. I wasn’t going to take any of the boxers, but I found an unopened package in one of the drawers and grabbed those. A couple of shirts, pants, and socks, and we were good. We had toothbrushes and stuff at the house. I zipped up the bag and walked out to the living room.

“We should keep some lights on.” Noel clicked the light on above the stove. “Maybe they’ll see them and try and get in again.”

“We don’t want them in here anymore.” Just the thought of someone in Matt’s personal space made my blood boil.

“Okay. But I’m keeping lights on anyway.”

“Let’s go.”

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