And it’s not like Indy hasn’t been taking care of me. He set me up in this cute apartment at one of the Blade and Arrow Security headquarters, which I confirmedisa reputable company after some online research. He’s been checking on me nearly every hour since I woke up yesterday, doing whatever he can to help me feel better.
Plus, he took a huge risk bringing me here. If he’d been caught, Indy and his friends would have been arrested, just like me. And his new life out on the West Coast could have been ruined.
So I’m grateful for that.
As I wander through the kitchen, my conflicted thoughts on a dizzying loop, I come to an abrupt stop by the coffeemaker. It’s one of those dual-purpose ones, with the single pod dispenser on one side and a traditional drip-style maker on the other. But the coffeemaker isn’t what draws my attention. It’s the selection of coffee beside it.
There are two bags of ground coffee, one blueberry crumble flavored, and the other, glazed donut. And next to the bags are two boxes of coffee pods to match.
They’re my favorite flavors.
Are they there simply by chance? Or did Indy remember?
Because I’m sure I must have mentioned it to him before. He was often my first appointment of the day, so I’d arrive with my coffee still unfinished, the rich aroma of blueberry or buttery donut wafting from the travel mug. And Indy would sometimes tease me; his somber expression shifting to a more light-hearted one, even if only for a few seconds. He’d ask why I needed all those fancy flavors when a true connoisseur drank their coffee without.“You’ve got to try a good Kenyan blend,”he’d tell me,“Or Ethiopian. Black. Without anything to taint the flavor.”
Another thing he shared with me back then was where his coffee snobbery came from. His old Green Beret teammate, Rhiannon, would buy the most expensive blends and share them with the team.“I thought it was silly at first,”Indy admitted.“Spending that much on coffee when I could buy it from the grocery store for a quarter of the price. But it really is better. Though I’ll never tell Rhi she was right.”
I stare at the coffee selection, my fingers grazing the lettering scrawled across the bag, wondering.
Coincidence? Or did Indy arrange for it to be here for me?
A chord in my heart twangs.
The feelings I buried deep make a bid for the surface.
Why did he bring me here?
Why take such an enormous risk? And for someone he hadn’t seen in years?
I don’t know. And I’m not sure I have the mental capacity to examine it further.
Not now, when I’m still reeling from the news of yesterday and the side effects of my concussion. Not when it was exhausting enough just to take a careful shower and get dressed in the clothes Eden thoughtfully left for me. Not when the discovery of the blood in my hair made me cry for ten minutes straight and I still can’t stop wondering if it came from me or Jenna.
Still. I open the box of coffee pods and take a blueberry crumble one from it. And before I put it into the coffeemaker, I wonder again.
Did Indy make a special trip to the store to get these for me?
Does he remember as much about me as I do about him?
Just as I’m about to start the coffee brewing, a quick series of knocks sounds at the front door. The sudden noise makes me jolt, and I whack my hand on the edge of the counter, yelping at the flare of pain.
“Bea.” The voice on the other side of the door is laced with worry. “Are you okay in there?”
Indy.
My poor, muddled emotions jump into battle with each other.
Am I glad he’s here? Or irritated?
“Bea?” His voice is louder now. “Are you hurt? I don’t want to come in without… But, shit. If you don’t answer…”
I clasp my aching hand with my other and hurry across the open living space to the front door. “I’m fine,” I call out. “Just give me a second…”
Or more like, thirty seconds. Because there are three complicated locks on the door, and since I haven’t left the apartment since I got here, I’m not used to unlocking them yet.
When I finally open the door, I’m met with an extremely worried-looking Indy.
And an extremely attractive one, not that I’m trying to notice.
