in. Make it hurt. Don’t stop until you turn me into meatloaf. You know you want to.”
Reason dawned in Dutch’s eyes, breaking through the cloud of wrath. He looked over his shoulder at the crowd of employees and then back at Chad. Releasing him, Dutch stepped back.
Apparently, Dutch wasn’t a mindless Neanderthal who’d be easily baited. Too bad.
Chad would love nothing more than to have this riffraff charged with assault and thrown in jail. Guess that meant Chad would have to work a little harder to push his buttons. “When Isabel and I came close to reconnecting a few months ago,” he whispered, “behind her art gallery—”
“You mean when you attacked her?”
“She wanted me to be there. She wanted me to touch her.”
“You’re delusional.” Dutch stared at him, his narrowed eyes darkening. His jaw flexed with barely contained anger. “If you go near her again,” he said, dropping his voice to a whisper as well, “I’ll kill you.”
Isabel was his weakness. Chad’s minx had gotten under Dutch’s skin, slinked her way into his heart. “Tell my Isabel she should keep better company. Or she might get stung by something worse than a bee.”
Swift fury gleamed in Dutch’s eyes as he cocked his fist back and launched it.
The first punch smashed into Chad’s face, jarring his head. The second struck the wall when Chad ducked, his reflexes honed from training kicking in, and maneuvered to the side.
One blow was enough to do the trick. Blood poured from his nose. The pain made his head buzz. Covering his face, he hid his smile and swallowed laughter along with his own blood. He had six witnesses, a video and soon a medical report as evidence. “Kiss your freedom goodbye. I’m going to have you brought up on charges.”
“Knock yourself out trying.” Without a lick of worry in his expression, Dutch turned for the door.
Chad growled, “Maybe she needs to take a restraining order out on you since you’ve been watching her.” He rattled off the address to the vacant building where Dutch’s motorcycle had been parked.
Dutch froze. Then he pivoted. Fear, gut-wrenching fear was plastered on his face.
Chad was so thrilled he gave a mental cheer that would’ve rocked a stadium. He’d found the right thread. Now he needed to pull it until this thing between Dutch and Isabel unraveled.
“Stay away from her,” Dutch warned while pointing a threatening finger, and then he charged out of the building.
Chad looked at Jill. “Call the police. Tell them I’ve just been assaulted.”
Chapter Sixteen
With a bag of ice on his bruised knuckles, Dutch sat on the sofa in the temporary one-bedroom apartment the USMS had loaned him. He stared at the new Schuberth that had been delivered, his mind spinning while Isabel was in the shower.
Everything had turned into a disaster.
An epic disaster of career-ending proportions.
Will Draper had had a conniption when Dutch was forced to call him and explain what happened at Chad Ellis’s place of business. His boss had to intercede with the cops before a warrant was issued for Dutch’s arrest.
Dutch had never heard such foul language from a superior, not even in the army. His ears were still burning. He was worried Draper was going to have a stroke on the phone.
The fact that Dutch was a deputy marshal had become a ticking time bomb bound to explode. The satellite hub had to be shut down. Draper and Allison would have to work out of the LA field office, putting Dutch’s backup at a distance. Ellis was close to learning the truth and once he did, he wouldn’t hesitate to rub it in Isabel’s face.
Even worse, at the police station, the cops had found an ace of spades card underneath the pig’s head. A warning to Vargas that the Guzman cartel was coming for Isabel. Chad hadn’t sent that monstrosity after all and Dutch had gone off the rails over the one thing that sicko wasn’t actually guilty of.
Dutch petted McQueen who was on the leather couch with his head in Dutch’s lap.
He had to tell Isabel the truth. She needed to know that she was in danger, not only from Chad Ellis, but also the Guzman cartel because of her uncle Emilio.
Guilt coiled and tightened through him, leaving him queasy. He’d give anything to have a clean slate with Isabel, a fresh start, where she wouldn’t hate him.
Going into this assignment he hadn’t given any consideration to how he would exit.
Falling for her had been unforeseen, an impossibility he hadn’t planned