“Hey, Belle, I’m gonna top up the napkins,” Trisha said as her gaze locked on a table near the cart we kept the napkins and sugar packets in. Trisha had worked here as long as I had, but I was sure she only kept the job to pick up guys.
“Sure,” I replied, but she didn’t hear me because she was already halfway there and making a beeline for the table of guys. I wouldn’t have thought you could pick up guys at a coffee shop, but even the hot college boys needed somewhere to buy their caffeine on campus.
I wiped down the counter and started to sort the display case out. We’d sold out of most of our muffins and pastries, and we didn’t have another delivery due until early tomorrow morning.
The bell above the door dinged, but I didn’t look up and carried on rearranging the display. Footsteps neared, and I could feel someone standing at the counter, but I only had one section left to—
“What’s a guy gotta do to get some service around here?”
My eyes widened, and my breath caught in my throat. I whipped my head up and smacked it off the underside of the display unit. “Fuck.”
His chuckle sounded out. “Language, Belle.”
I closed my eyes and counted to three as I tried to get my thoughts in order. What the hell was he doing here? The last time I’d seen him was moments after he’d kissed me. A kiss that I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about. A kiss which continued to drive me insane.
Rubbing the sore spot on the top of my head, I moved back and out of the display case, finally looking up at him. “What are you doing here?” I asked, not knowing what else to say. I was stumped, words escaping me, which was unusual because I was always saying or doing something, but I had no idea how I was meant to act with him standing in front of me.
“I’ll have a coffee, black.” I raised my brow and planted my hand on my hip. There was no way he’d come all the way here just for a coffee, and he was avoiding my question. It may have worked when I was a little kid, but I was a grown-ass woman now. I wanted nothing more than to ask him again and demand an answer but now wasn’t the time and place. Instead of grilling him, I spun around and made him a coffee.
I placed the to-go cup on the counter and stared up at him as he asked, “What time do you finish?”
My nostrils flared, and my stomach sank. Why did he want to know what time I got off work? And more than that, how did he even know I’d be here? “I get off in”—I flicked my gaze up to the giant clock on the wall—“ten minutes.”
“Good.” He nodded and wrapped his long fingers around the cup at the same time he threw ten dollars on the counter. “I’ll wait for you.”
I frowned, not sure what was going on, but I’d find out either way. I just needed to finish my shift first. He turned around, found the last empty table, and sat down, his gaze swinging around the store as he took everything in. I’d missed being around people who were so observant.
“Who’s the hottie?” Trisha asked as she sauntered back behind the counter.
I wiped down the machine and shrugged. “No one important.” It was a lie, but I couldn’t tell her the truth. I couldn’t tell her the man I’d had a crush on for what felt like my entire life was sitting only a few feet away from me. The same man who had kissed the life out of me and stamped the feel of his lips into my brain never able to be erased. Was that why he was here? Because of the kiss? Would he really stray from his undercover operation because of that?
As soon as the minute hand on the clock hit 12, I threw the cloth down and pulled my apron off. I walked into the back to grab my jacket and bag, then headed to the front of the store with a wave at Trisha.
“I’m finished,” I told him, trying not to look directly into his eyes. I was scared of what I’d see, or more importantly, what I wouldn’t see. I moved toward the door, weaving in and out of the students milling around.
The bell rang overhead as I exited, and I could feel Ford directly behind me. I’d always been able to sense when he was close, but it was different now, more heightened. As soon as we were both outside, I spun around and stared up at him. His hazel eyes were mesmerizing, as always, but there was a darkness behind them that hadn’t been there the last time I’d seen him.
“What’s going on, Ford?”
“We need to go to my car.” He tilted his head to signal where he’d parked, but I didn’t look away from him.
“Not until you tell me why you’re here.” I planted both hands on my hips and didn’t move my eye contact. I wasn’t the same little kid who needed protecting. I wasn’t the one person in the family who couldn’t be told what was really going on. I’d spent too much time being sheltered from the world around me, and I refused to let that happen anymore.
“Nothing is—”
“Don’t lie to me,” I fumed as I pointed at him. I knew I looked ridiculous, reprimanding a man who was at least a foot taller than my five-foot-two height, but I didn’t care. This was my home for nine months of the year, and him turning up out of the blue didn’t mean anything good. Not after what had happened at the club. He’d warned me not to go back, told me it was dangerous, and now he was here, standing a couple of feet in front of me.
“In. The. Car.”
“No.” I shook my head, refusing to move.
Ford glanced around us, and I frowned up at him. Why was he so on edge? Why was he moving closer to me as if to shield me from something?
“We need to get into my car, Belle. I can tell you what’s going on then,” he ground out, and it was the first time Ford had spoken to me like that. He was demanding, and there was no room for argument, so I huffed out a breath and stomped toward his car.
I knew full well that I was acting like a child, but I had no doubt he’d make up a story to try and protect me. It was what he, my dad, and my uncles always did. They thought I was a delicate little flower, and one puff of wind would knock me over, but what they failed to comprehend was I was half my dad and half my mom, and they were the two strongest people I knew.
Ford pulled open the door for me, and I slid inside. The smell of leather and vanilla filled my nostrils, and my muscles relaxed. It was the smell of home. A scent I only ever put together with Ford and his car.
He opened up the driver’s door and pushed inside, but kept his gaze trained out of the windshield. “Your dad said he was calling you.” He pushed his hand through his short blond hair. Hair that was turning gray at the temples but somehow made him look even better than he ever had. Why was that? Why was it the older a man got, the sexier they were?
I pulled my cell out of my bag and saw several missed calls from my dad and my mom, plus a few messages. Instead of reading any of them, I clicked the return call button and lifted my cell to my ear, all the while keeping my gaze trained on Ford.
The dial tone only rang once before my dad’s deep voice answered, “Belle.”
“Dad?” Ford’s hands grasped the steering wheel harder, and I knew he could hear Dad’s voice too. “Why is Ford here?”
“I think the question should be, why the hell are you going to a club owned by the goddamn cartel?”
My breath stalled in my chest, and my hand reached out to Ford, grasping his arm. Shit. Fuck. “I—”
“Ford told me you were there.” There was a pause, and Ford turned his head to face me. His hazel eyes swirled with something I couldn’t place, and then he glanced down at my hand and back at my face. “He told me he got you out of there.” I was waiting for him to mention what Ford had done before he put me in a cab and demanded I went home, but he didn’t. The silence rang louder than anything, and I wondered if Ford hadn’t told him everything that happened. And why had he told him in the first place? What the hell was going on around me?
“I…I didn’t know what the place was, Dad.”
Dad sighed, and Ford’s arm dropped off the steering wheel and moved to the center console, but I still didn’t let go. Ford didn’t stop staring at me, and I ate it up because I didn’t want him to look anywhere else. I wanted to have his
attention only on me.
“There’s been a development in the case, and a threat has been made.” There was some shuffling over the line, and then he said, “Ford is there to protect you.”
“A threat?” Ford tensed under my palm. “Against me?” My voice was small, and I knew I sounded exactly how they thought I was—delicate—but I was in shock. Why would a threat be made against me? What had I done to anyone?
“Yes.” Dad cleared his throat. “Ford will be staying at your apartment until further notice. He’ll be following you and—”
“So, he’s basically my bodyguard?” I interrupted. “You sent Ford to be my bodyguard?” I was getting angrier the more I spoke. Could he not trust that I could protect myself? He’d taught me how to defend myself. He’d taught me how to shoot a gun, and more importantly, actually hit my target. I’d been prepared my entire life, and now he was sending someone else to watch over me because of a measly threat?
“Yes, Belle. You have no idea the kind of people they are. You need someone looking out for you.”
I gritted my teeth. “But—”
“I’ve gotta go, Belle. Tell Ford I’ll be in touch.” The line went dead, and I pulled my cell from my ear and stared down at it. Dad had done what he always did—given me just enough information to tell himself he’d tried but still kept the majority back.
“I…I don’t understand,” I whispered, my anger quickly turning into frustration.
The silence in the car was stifling. Was Ford about to do the same thing Dad had? Would he fill me with elaborate lies, or would he not tell me anything? I blinked at Ford, hopeful that he’d trust me to know what was happening.
“I was undercover, trying to take down the cartel. The guy who was standing at the door when I…” He glanced away, and I knew what he meant—when we kissed. He looked back at me and cleared his throat. “That was Garza. The boss.” I gripped his arm harder, but I wasn’t sure whether it was because I’d been so close to a cartel boss, or because Ford was actually telling me information. “He saw you, Belle.”
My brows knitted as I replayed his words in my head. “He saw me?”
Ford nodded, and his hand covered mine on his arm. My breath caught in my throat as his long fingers wrapped around my small hand, and I was fascinated with how his tan skin looked against my pale skin.
“He asked me about you and I…I fucked up, Belle. I tensed, and he saw it, and then…fuck.” He let his head drop back on the headrest of his chair and gripped my hand harder. “He had a file on you. So we took him down, but he threatened you. He knew everything about your life, the coffee shop, your apartment, your class schedule.”
“But you arrested him, right?”
Ford rolled his head to face me. “Yeah, but this isn’t the kind of guy you let your guard down with, Belle. And I’m not taking any chances, and neither is your dad.” I bit down on my bottom lip, and it was on the tip of my tongue to ask him if he’d told my dad about the kiss, but I knew I couldn’t ask that, not yet anyway. “You okay, Baby Belle?” Ford asked, and the way he used the nickname he’d given me when I was little had butterflies swarming in my stomach.
“I…I think so,” I said, my voice small. I looked around, seeing people walking around outside, but I was on edge. Maybe I hadn’t imaged that prickly feeling the other day on campus. Maybe someone had been watching me. I knew I should have told Ford about it, but he looked tired if the bags under his eyes were anything to go by. “I’ll be fine,” I told him, removing my hand from under his. “Let’s head to my apartment.” I paused. “You’ll be okay sleeping on the sofa, right?”
He laughed as he sat upright and switched the engine on. “I’ve slept in worse places, Baby Belle.”
“I have no doubt about that,” I responded, and for the first time since he’d turned up, I smiled at him, a genuine smile.
Chapter Five
FORD
I didn’t need to ask Belle directions to her apartment.
I’d taken the intelligence Garza had on her—a whole file full of all her movements from the last week—and I also had a folder provided by Brody. You’d think after knowing Belle for all her life, I wouldn’t have needed it, but apparently, I did.
My gaze slid to Belle, and I stared down at her clutched hands in her lap. She was nervous, and if her shuffling feet were anything to go by, she felt the need to run away. I didn’t blame her. Brody hadn’t wanted me to be honest with her. In fact, he’d specifically told me to not tell her anything, but it didn’t feel right leaving her in the dark. It wasn’t like I was going to go into every little detail and tell her exactly what Garza did to the people who betrayed him, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to make her aware of what was going on.
She was twenty, an adult. I mean, Jesus, Lola had given birth to Belle when she was her age. Even though we all saw her as the little girl we needed to protect, I always knew she was so much more than that. Even before we kissed—
I shook my head and gripped on to the steering wheel tighter as I pulled into her apartment parking lot. I couldn’t let my mind wander to what had happened in the club. It wasn’t a choice. I’d needed to do something to keep her safe, and that was the only thing I could think of at the time. There was nothing else to it. There couldn’t be anything else to it.
“Not parking in the back?” Belle asked, and when I glanced at her, she had a small smile on her face. She remembered where I liked to park, with a view to see everything, but this time was different. The distance between the back of the lot and the stairs to her apartment was too far. Anything could happen in that time, so I opted to pull into a space near the stairs.
“Nope. I’m parking here from now on.” I expected Belle to comment about it, but all she did was nod and unclip her belt. I turned the engine off and grabbed my bag off the back seat, making sure I had my extra gun in there, then I scanned the area. “Let’s go.”
Her door flung open at the same time as mine, and I darted around to her side to make sure she was covered—just in case. She didn’t mention the fact I was so close as she walked up the outside stairs in silence. But Belle and silence didn’t really go hand in hand, so I knew it was because she was thinking. She needed to process everything that was happening and the fact I was here for an unknown time. Her life was about to change, but I’d do all I could to make sure it looked and felt as normal as possible.
I followed Belle as she turned at the top of the stairs and onto the walkway, which was exposed to the outside. I didn’t like how open it was, but there was nothing I could do about it. She halted in front of a door in the middle of the row, and I turned to look out onto the lot. I could see the entire lot and even part of the college campus from here, and I didn’t like it one bit.
My nostrils flared as I watched Belle insert her one key and push the flimsy door open, and my instincts to tell her we wouldn’t be safe here kicked in. “Is that all you have on this door?” I asked, stepping inside and right into the living room. It had a small kitchen attached to it, and only a waist-high wall separating the two rooms.
She closed the door behind me and shrugged. “Yeah. This block is mainly students, so we don’t need anything more than one lock.”
“You need more than one lock, Belle.” I scrubbed my hand down my face and glanced around the small apartment. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, you can’t stay here. It’s not safe.”
Belle huffed out a laugh and planted her hands on her hips. “Are you serious?” She paused, waiting for my answer, but when I just stared her down, she threw her hands up in the air. “I can’t believe you. This is my home, Ford. I’m safe here, I’ve been safe here since I moved in at the start of my sophomore year. There’s never been trouble here, and—”
“And you’ve never been threatened by a cartel boss, Belle.” I took a step closer to her and lowered my voice, trying to drive my point home. “This isn’t fuckin’ playground antics. We ain’t playin’ house here. It’s fuckin’ serious.”
“You think I don’t know that?” she whispered, and her throat bobbed. “You’re here because I came to that club. You’re here because I apparently can’t protect myself.” Her eyes welled with tears, and my shoulders tensed. If there was one thing I couldn’t stand, it was Belle upset, but I couldn’t cave. It wasn’t safe for her here. “I know you’d rather be at home—anywhere but here.” She glanced down. “I’m sorry.”
Fuck. Jesus. I was too harsh. I…
“Look…” I pushed my hand through my hair and gripped on to it. “I’ll check the apartment over and see if I can make it safe, okay?” She didn’t answer me. Instead, she moved aside and stepped past me. “Belle.” I reached out and wrapped my hand around her forearm, the exposed soft skin sliding against my palm. The touch gained her attention, and she finally looked up at me. “I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere but making sure you’re safe. Got it?”
Her blue eyes looked lighter than they ever had before, like a clear, calm ocean. “Okay,” she murmured. “I really am sorry, though. If I hadn’t come to the club, then…” She trailed off, and even though I knew she meant I wouldn’t be here, I couldn’t help but finish the sentence off in my head: we wouldn’t have kissed.
I wondered if she thought about the kiss. Did she think I went too far? Maybe touching her now was crossing a boundary? I had to keep my mind focused on the job at hand: keeping Belle safe.
“It’s fine.” I pulled my hand off her arm and clenched it by my side. “I’m gonna check the apartment.” My gaze flicked around what I could see. A central room, which was the living room and kitchen, and a hallway leading off either side. “Is your roommate here?”
“She won’t be home until later, although I’m not sure how she’ll feel about you staying over.” It was on the tip of my tongue to tell her that we may not be staying here if I didn’t think I could make it safe enough, but instead, I remained silent. “Do you need to check her bedroom too?”
“I need to check every room and every entry point.” I placed my bag on the arm of the sofa, then pulled out a couple of pieces of equipment. The first was to check if there were any bugs in here, and the second was to see how easily I could gain access to the apartment.
Bonded Duet: Ford & Belle: Torn Bond & Tied Bond (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 3) Page 6
