by K Swanson
I didn’t have long to wait before a familiar silver SUV pulled up ou front. Nick hopped out with a goofy grin on his face as he swaggered up to the front porch.
Hurrying to the door, I opened it before he could knock.
His grin didn’t change as he said, “Good morning, best friend!” His arms came around me in a huge bear hug. “I’ve missed you!”
With a blink, I wondered if he’d lost his mind. “You just saw me a few hours ago.”
He released me as he lifted a shoulder. “CJ said you needed me?”
The hopeful look on his face made me smile. “Yep. I need to go grocery shopping.”
His face fell. “Oh. You need my car.”
I hooked my arms around one of his, heading back the way he’d just come. The disappointment in his eyes made my stomach flip. “I’ve never been grocery shopping by myself, so I need your help finding things.” When he didn’t return my smile, I added, “And if you prove yourself indispensable, I’ll need a taste tester.”
With a tilt of his head, he held the passenger door open for me. “Taste tester?”
Seeing I had his interest, I smiled. “I’m making cookies. I was contemplating making a double batch. Half peanut butter chocolate chip, and half peanut butter blossom…”
He shut the door and jogged around the hood of the car before sliding into his own seat. “Let’s go shopping!” The happy tone was back, allowing me to breathe easier.
The trip to the store was only about a five-minute drive, and I watched out the window as Nick kept up a steady stream of chatter.
Once we made it to the front doors, Nick asked, “How much are we going to need?”
“Not much,” I replied, grabbing one of the smaller carts. “Eggs, Hershey’s kisses, chocolate chips, peanut butter, and brown sugar.”
He nodded once. “Got it.”
The doors led to the produce department, and a sales display caught my eye. I moved closer, sure my eyes were playing tricks on me. “What the heck is this?” The food in question looked sort of like a small, bright pink pineapple. Had I seen those during my trips with Min? I didn’t remember them.
“Dragonfruit.”
“Dragonfruit? What do they taste like?” I picked one up, turning it to look over all the sides.
“They have their own taste, but they taste a little like kiwi, I suppose.” He shrugged and put one in the cart.
“What’s that for?” I hadn’t said anything about actually buying one.
“To eat?” His brow furrowed as he tilted his head, as though the answer should have been obvious.
I giggled. “I know what you do with them. But it’s not going in my cookies.”
His expression cleared. “Oh. CJ would want you to try some. He actually grows them in one of their greenhouses, but since we’re here, we’ll get one for you to try.” He was silent for a moment. “Besides, I don’t think his are ready, yet.”
My heart gave a little burst of pleasure. Nick wanted me to try something because I’d expressed an interest in it?
As we passed the next display, a star-shaped fruit caught my eye. “That looks interesting.”
Nick smiled. “We’re here for cookies, not tropical fruit. I only decided you should try this”—he held up the bright pink fruit—“because everyone should try dragonfruit.”
“They should?” Other than the odd coloring of the skin, was there another reason people should try it?
“Yep. It’s dragon fruit.” At my blank look, he shook his head, sighing. “Dragons are exciting.”
“Mkay.” I wasn’t really sure what else to say to that. Nothing against dragons, but…
Nick led the way from the produce, a hand resting on the front of the cart. “Let’s get this shopping excursion started, so I can taste test your cookies.”
With a giggle, I pushed the cart next to Nick. My neck prickled with awareness. Slowly, I looked around. Everything seemed normal, and I almost turned back around.
Then my gaze caught on a face I had only seen a few times. One that sent shivers down my spine. Dark hair flopped over his right eye, but I didn’t need to see it to know it hid a jagged, white scar that ran through his bushy eye brow and ended at the slope of his nose.
Adrian.
This couldn’t be a coincidence. Was he following me? Why else would a tracker from the institute be here? Were the guys in danger? Had he been ordered to find me and take me back?
I frowned. That couldn’t be right. Adrian couldn’t get close to me. Not after the scientists made him drink some concoction that weakened him when he got too close to me. I couldn’t really complain about that, but the man had developed an unhealthy interest with me and Doctor Shane had worried it would interfere with my training.
My stomach twisted painfully. I hadn’t really thought about what would happen when they found me, and I’d known they would. They had trackers who could find almost anything.
I remembered the feel of Adrian’s hands on me as he insisted I’d been given to him for a job well done, and my arms broke out in goosebumps.
Nick’s voice drew my attention as his fingers brushed against my wrist, sending shivers down my spine for a different reason.
“Are you okay, Haylie?”
Forcing a smile, I nodded. The guy wouldn’t do anything while I was in public, would he? I tried to push him from my mind, but my skin crawled just thinking that he might have followed me.
I gripped the cool metal bar of the shopping cart a little tighter. He couldn’t hurt me. I was safe. After taking a deep breath, I slowly let it out, calming myself. Nick kept giving me funny looks but didn’t question me again as we grabbed what we needed.
Shopping didn’t take as long as I was afraid it would, and I was surprised when Nick bought my dragonfruit instead of letting me pay for it with Phil’s money. Back at the car, Nick and I loaded the groceries in the back. After making a quick scan of the parking lot, I climbed into the passenger seat.
We pulled out of the parking spot, but before we got far, Nick pulled into the end of a row, parking sideways as he dug his phone out of his pocket.
“What?”
I couldn’t hear a single thing from the voice on the other end. Seconds later, he said, “Be right there.” He dropped his phone into the cup holder and drove again.
“Apparently we’re making a quick stop at the garage to pick up Lex. Someone opened a door into his face, and he said his glasses were broken.”
Garage? Was he talking about the garage at his house? And Lex was injured? I hoped it wasn’t too bad.
Nick drove through a nice neighborhood, then another, before stopping next to a building with a large fence around it. The area between the fence and the building had cars parked everywhere. And then I recalled the text saying Lex had to work today. Did he work here?
Nick grabbed his phone and pushed a couple buttons before holding it to his ear. “Hey. We’re out front.” He didn’t even seem to wait for a response before hanging up.
“This is the garage?” I glanced at Nick to see his dark blue eyes scanning the building.
“Yeah. Lex enjoys working with cars, and he’s saving up for his own so we don’t have to share anymore.”
I spotted Lex making his way to the SUV, and I moved from the front seat to the back before Nick could stop me. No one had asked me to move, but it seemed like that would be the most comfortable spot in the car, and if he was injured, he should have the front.
“What kind of car does he want?” I asked
“Not sure. I’m not even sure he knows.”
The passenger door swung open as Lex hopped in, a cloth held to one eye. When he glanced back at me, he squinted. How well could he see without his glasses? Without them, his eyes looked brighter.
“Hey.” He gave a nod as he struggled to buckle himself with only one hand.
He pulled his glasses from his pocket and laid them on the center console. I gently took them, curious to see how badly they were broken.
“What happened?” I tilted his glasses. The glass in the left lens appeared to have shattered.
“Bent down to pick something up. As I stood up, someone opened the car door into my face.” His voice sounded muffled.
“Do you need a doctor?” That seemed to be the most logical choice.
“No. Well”—he gestured to the glasses in my hands—“eventually, but not the kind you’re asking about.” His head came up as he looked out the window. “Where are we headed? For that matter, I thought you were spending the day with CJ and his plants.”
Nick shrugged. “Haylie needed me. And we’re headed to her place.”
“You needed him?” The surprise in Lex’s voice made me frown.
“Yes, I did. And I still do.” Of course Nick was needed. Lex didn’t need to act so surprised.
We pulled up in front of my house a few minutes later. Nick and I grabbed bags while Lex trailed in after us.
Phil stepped out of his office. “Get everything you needed?” I nodded as we walked by. After putting the bags on the counter, I turned to find Phil had followed us. “Is shopping really that dangerous?” His eyes were glued to Lex.
Lex leaned against the nearby wall. “I was at work. I can’t see well enough without my glasses to be useful, so I was sent home.”
“Ah.” After sighing softly, Phil padded from the room, his bare feet barely making a sound on the hardwood. “Let me go find the first aid kit.”
After placing the groceries and change on the counter, I turned to Lex. “How bad is it?”
Lex glanced at me then slowly removed his towel. I gasped. His left eye was swollen and purple. It appeared he could barely open it.
I hopped up on the counter, trapping his hips between my legs. Lex froze. It was one of the only times I’d seen him quit moving completely. He released a breath as something I didn’t understand flared in his blue eyes.
“Nick, could you see if there are any peas in the freezer?” My voice sounded raspy to my own ears.
He did as I asked while I gently ran my finger around the purple mass. A black mark was forming on the corner of his eye and just under it were a couple of cuts. I suddenly realized he watched me intently with his one good eye, and I felt my entire body heat. How well could he see me?
“Here.” Nick’s voice brought my attention to him and the bag of veggies he handed me.
“Thank you.” I gave him a smile then gently brought the veggies up to Lex’s eye, asking him the question I’d been wondering since I saw him without his glasses. “How well can you see without them?” I gestured toward his bare eyes so he’d know what I was talking about.
He cringed. “With only one eye? Worse than normal. And reading will probably give me a headache.” He took a small step back while holding the veggies in place. “You start getting fuzzy from here.”
Phil stepped into the kitchen again, a small white box in his hand. “It looks like Haylie has things under control. Here’s the first aid kit. If nothing else, at least take some Tylenol.”
We thanked him and I pointed out his change. After taking it, he strode from the room and headed back toward his office.
Lex moved to the dining area and dropped to the floor to lie on his back. I watched him for a moment, wondering if he’d be okay.
“He’ll be fine.” Nick’s low voice made me jump, and I spun to look at him, nearly falling off the counter. “He has a hard head.”
I bit my lip, nodding.
“Let’s make some cookies!” While I had been looking at Lex’s eye, Nick had laid out the rest of the ingredients on the counter.
“What kind are we making first?” I asked.
He glanced at the directions for both. “Let’s do peanut butter blossoms. We’ll add chocolate chips after we’ve used half for the blossom things.”
“Let’s get started then.” I hopped down from the counter. “We need measuring things.”
“Measuring things?” Lex asked. “God, those poor cookies are doomed.”
“Not nice,” Nick said, frowning at Lex.
I shrugged, unconcerned. “If he’s not nice, he won’t get any cookies.”
“Sorry,” Lex muttered.
After searching cupboards, I finally found measuring cups. It took another few moments of searching to find the measuring spoons.
As we got started, I was a little surprised to see how careful Nick was as he measured everything. As soon as he plopped the flour into the bowl a cloud of dust poofed into his face, surprising him. He coughed into his arm, stepping away from the bowl. White powder covered his dark hair, and some clung to his eyelashes.
I pressed my lips together to keep myself from laughing, and his eyes narrowed at me. “You’re not laughing at me, are you?”
I shook my head and pressed my lips together until the urge to laugh was gone. “I thought you were a disaster in the kitchen.”
From the floor, Lex snorted. “He is.”
Nick frowned at his cousin. “I don’t suck at making food.” He held a measuring cup up to his eyes, making sure he had the right amount of flour. “It’s just the actual cooking it part that scares people.”
“He melted a cutting board to one of our burners. The entire house smelled like burned plastic for weeks.”
Nick sighed but didn’t reply.
“I think he’s trying to impress you,” Lex added when his previous statements failed to get a rise out of Nick.
Nick’s fingers tightened around the measuring cup, but all he said was, “That’s not a crime.”
My cheeks heated. Nick was so sweet.
I nudged him aside so I could help with the measuring, and he smiled at me. Before long, the dough was done.
As we baked the cookies, Nick fished the dragonfruit out of the shopping bag. “While we’re waiting, we can cut this up so you can try it.”
Lex glanced up from where he was still lying on the floor. “What is it?”
“Dragonfruit,” Nick replied.
“I want some.” Lex sat up, rubbing his forehead as he closed his good eye.
“Only if you have some manners and ask nicely.” Nick pulled out the cutting board and removed knives from the cutting block, inspecting each of them until he found one that met with his approval.
“Please?” Lex’s voice was practically a growl, and I glanced over to see him scowling at his cousin.
“Only because you asked so nicely.” Nick cut into the fruit.
“It’s white.” Surprise colored my tone. I have no idea what I’d thought the inside would look like, but that wasn’t it.
Nick chuckled. “Here.”
He handed some to me as he cut it from the skin.
I murmured my thanks before I bit into it. It was juicy and had a bit of a tang. Overall, it wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t my favorite.
“Want more?” Nick asked as he cut a bunch into bite-size pieces, and put it into a bowl with a fork. He handed it to Lex.
Lex lay back down before he took a bite. Gravity seemed to hold the veggies in place over his eye so that he had two free hands.
I shook my head. “Not right now, thank you.”
Nick shrugged as he popped a bite into his mouth. The timer on the oven went off and he grinned. “Cookie time.”
Football Games
Lex tilted his head, looking at me across the lunch table. His blue glasses looked a bit odd, but probably because I was used to seeing him with rimless ones. His eye was still swollen, despite having been a couple days since he’d been injured. The black and purple were disappearing, leaving the main injury red and tinged with yellow bruising. “Haylie? Are you sure you’re okay?”
I blinked, trying to get my brain to work. A twinge in my abdomen reminded me that I could take another pain killer. Or maybe I’d wait until there weren’t quite as many prying eyes. While I wasn’t necessarily embarrassed about being on my period, it seemed like the sort of thing a group of guys didn’t really need to know about.
“Ea
rth to Haylie.” Nick’s large hand waved in front of my face, surprising a squeak from me as I leaned back.
Lex gave Nick a look that didn’t seem to faze the larger guy.
“Sorry. Did I miss something?” I tried to smile, but I could tell it didn’t work.
Jayden dropped heavily onto the bench next to me. When I’d made it to the lunch room, I had been surprised when I couldn’t find him. Even more surprising, he still came to sit with us when he did get there.
“Didn’t sleep well?” he asked. I shook my head and he slid his ever-present thermos toward me. “Here. This’ll wake you up enough to function.”
I cocked my head slightly, glancing at the black metal. “What is it?”
“Just try it.” His lips quirked up in a barely-there smile.
Nick took a sip of his soda. “Why didn’t you sleep well?”
“It’s nothing,” I muttered, my cheeks heating.
A flash of hurt flashed across Nick’s features, but it was gone so quickly I wasn’t sure if I’d actually seen it. Then he changed the subject. “Are you guys coming to the game on Friday?”
Game? What game? It took a moment, but then I remembered he was on the football team. “I want to go.”
He smiled and my heart skipped a beat as his dark blue eyes sparkled. I was glad he didn’t appear to be upset with me now.
“You coming with us?” CJ asked, his question directed at Jayden.
Jayden twirled a small pretzel stick between his fingers. “Yeah. I probably will.”
When I yawned, Jayden scooted his thermos closer. With a sigh, I decided trying it wouldn’t hurt. The taste was earthy with a bit of a kick to it. It didn’t taste horrible, but it definitely wasn’t something I could see myself regularly drinking.
“What is it?” I tried again.
He didn’t bother to answer my question. “Give it a couple of minutes to kick in.”
I handed it back as I continued to pick at my food. I should eat something, but I just wanted to go to sleep.
The bell rang a few moments later, startling me. Sighing, I heaved myself up. Time for our next class. Lex and Sam stayed close by as we fought the crowds to get to history.