“That’s it for today,” the lecturer finally said, closing his laptop. “I’ll be uploading a piece of work onto the online system. Please make sure you read it before class next week.”
I blinked several times at his words. Did he upload things for us to read before class often? Maybe I’d missed the online portion of today’s class, and that was why I didn’t understand it? That had to be the reason I had no idea what he was talking about in each class.
The students filed out, but the lecturer beat them all out of the door—it looked like he wanted to get this class over with too. I raised my brows and stared out the row of windows. His hair seemed to fly above his head in his haste to escape the college students milling around.
Shaking my head, I packed my notepad and pen away, and when I looked up, the room was almost empty, save for a few lingering students talking about a study group they were having. Part of me wondered if I should ask them if I could join. Maybe then I’d understand the huge words the lecturer was using and not be lost in a sea of nothingness.
I stood, about to open my mouth and ask them, but they filed out of the room, just like everyone else, and my opportunity was gone. Maybe I needed to re-evaluate my class schedule.
Instead of dwelling on an hour of my life lost, I swung my backpack onto my shoulder and moved out of the class. My cell pinged when I was halfway down the hallway, and I pulled it out, reading the message from Stella and then shooting her off a reply.
Stella: We’re at The Burger Bun Cafe. Meet us there?
Belle: Thank god. I’m starving. I’ll be there in five.
My stomach grumbled on cue as if it’d just been woken from a deep sleep, and I clutched at it. There was nothing I loved more than food—burgers in particular.
The Burger Bun Cafe was across campus, so it would take me more than the five minutes I’d said to get there. As soon as I got out of the building, I started to speed walk. I weaved in and out of the students making their way to their classes, and was halfway across campus when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. A prickly feeling washed over me, and I slowed down, scanning everyone around me, trying to find the source of the feeling.
People milled about, none of them looking at me, but that didn’t mean the feeling dissipated. In fact, the closer I got to The Burger Bun Cafe, the more intense it became. I didn’t want to spin around and look behind me, because I knew that would be too obvious, but I needed to check. My dad had always taught me to trust my gut, and right then, my gut was screaming at me.
A bench on the edge of the sidewalk gained my attention, and I stopped, placing my bag on it. I searched through my bag, pretending I was looking for something, but really, I was checking out the people behind me. Nothing looked out of place. In fact, it all looked super ordinary—students laughing, rushing to their classes, and a group of people gathered on one of the grassed areas. Maybe I was imagining it? I was still on edge after seeing Ford at the club last weekend, and maybe constant suspicion had seeped into my subconscious.
He was only thirty minutes away from me, so close, and I hadn’t known this entire time. Maybe it was seeing him undercover and his warning to get out of the club that had me on edge. I hadn’t told Stella the real reason why I’d left without finding them. I’d made up an excuse about being sick and needing to get home, and she’d taken me at my word, but part of me had wished she’d questioned more. At least then I may have had an excuse to tell her about the kiss. The kiss…
My heart beat like crazy in my chest, and I could feel my blood thumping in my ears as it rushed around my body. I wasn’t sure if it was the memory of Ford holding me and his palms leaving their mark on my body, or the fact that I was still looking around, trying to find the source of my gut feeling.
“Hey.”
I jumped out of my skin and spun around, my hand flying to my chest. “Jesus, Curtis!” I slapped my palm against his bicep and tried to slow my racing heart at the sight of his grinning face. “You scared the shit out of me.”
He chuckled and pushed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “Sorry, Belle. I thought you saw me.” I frowned, and he stepped closer. “You looked right at me.” He tilted his head to the side and looked down at my bag on the bench. “What are you doing?”
“I…” I stood fully, bringing my bag with me, and scanned around us. There wasn’t anything there. It was just my imagination. “I was heading to The Burger Bar Cafe to meet Stella and Justin.”
“Same,” Curtis said, stepping back from me. “Wanna walk over together?”
“Sure.” I heaved out a breath, trying to loosen my tense muscles as we started to walk side by side. Ford had gotten into my head, and the next time I saw him, I was going to give him hell. I’d never felt unsafe here, not like I did when I was back home. At home, everyone knew who my dad was, they knew what he did and who he put away. But here, I was invisible. No one knew my dad was the head of a DEA team. They didn’t know what he’d been doing for the majority of his life. They didn’t know me as Belle Easton, daughter of Special Agent Easton. I was just Belle, the girl who couldn’t understand philosophy and had a love of burgers.
“I was worried.” Curtis’ voice made its way through my thoughts, and I stared up at him. His dark-brown-eyed gaze met mine as he pushed his hand through his ink-black hair, and I realized he was waiting for my answer to a question I had no idea he’d asked.
“I’m sorry.” I tried to laugh it off, but I had a feeling it wasn’t working. “My brain is still in my philosophy class.” I shook my head. “What did you say?”
Curtis pulled open the door to The Burger Bun Cafe and smiled down at me. “I was just asking why you left early on Saturday night. I was worried.”
“Oh.” I placed my hand on my stomach and glanced around the cafe, searching for Stella. I found her almost immediately with her lips attached to Justin’s. “I wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t find you in the crowd, so I left.” I didn’t give Curtis the chance to answer as I slipped past him and toward the counter. I ordered my usual—double patty burger with extra onions, fries, and a Diet Coke—then took my table number and rushed over to Stella and Justin. “Hey!”
They kept sucking face until I banged the wooden block on the bottom of my table number onto the table.
“Oh, Belle, you’re here.” Stella’s cheeks tinged pink, and I raised a brow. She was never embarrassed about kissing Justin in public. My gaze tracked over them both, and I spotted Justin’s arm sliding back toward him. I screwed up my face, not even wanting to think about what they were doing under the table before I got here.
“Yep.” I sat down, ignoring the way they were looking at each other. I waited for either of them to say something, but when they stayed silent, I finally said, “So, what were you two kids up to?”
Justin coughed as he took a drink of his soda, and I couldn’t help the grin spreading over my face. I had to put up with all their kissing and moaning and groaning in the apartment, so I had no idea why they were so embarrassed. Unless they didn’t know I could hear them? Oh man, what if they thought they were being quiet when all this time I could hear almost everything.
“Just…talking,” Justin said, his usual deep voice high.
“What’s that?” Curtis asked, sliding into the booth next to me.
“I was just asking what they were up to,” I said, my voice sickly sweet. I turned to look at Curtis and quirked my lips. I knew he also heard them at his apartment because we’d spoken about it several times.
“Cool.” Curtis pulled his cell out and looked back up at them. “So? What were you up to?”
“Nothing,” Stella answered, right at the same time a tray of food was placed on the table. My food. “We going out this weekend?” Stella asked. “That club last weekend was awesome. Maybe we should go back there?” She was trying to push us into a new subject, and I would have normally called her on it if it wasn’t for the fact she’d spoken about the club—the club I had seen Ford in. T
he club we’d kissed in.
I opened my mouth, about to make an excuse as to why I didn’t want to go back—why I couldn’t go back—but it was Curtis who said, “Nah. I think we should stay in town this time. Drinks are cheaper when you know the barman.” He winked at Stella, and she rolled her eyes. “What do you think, Belle?”
I placed a fry in my mouth and picked up my burger. “Cheap drinks win every time.” I took a huge bite of my burger, effectively cutting myself out of the conversation. I didn’t care where we went this weekend, as long as it wasn’t back to the club Ford had warned me to stay away from. But I couldn’t deny the small part of me that wanted to rebel against his orders and turn up there, just to find him.
Would he be angry if I did? Or would he kiss me again? Maybe he’d leave with me, and I could ask him what was really going on. Why was he so close to the college I attended? Had Dad sent him this close because of me? Or was this where the undercover operation was taking place? Who was he undercover for? How much longer would he be undercover?
I was full of questions with no one around to answer them. It wasn’t like I could ask my dad what was going on. If he found out I’d gone to the club, he’d probably come here and take me back home himself.
I’d always been inquisitive. I wanted to know what was going on around me, and I always wanted to be part of it, but I was rarely let inside the circle. I was always kept on the outside, not knowing what was really going on, and it was no different now. I was on the outs, not knowing why Ford was so close to my college but knowing I’d find out eventually, even if it took some undercover work of my own.
But first, I needed to figure out my philosophy class.
“Hey, guys?” I glanced around at the table. “Do any of you know what theoretical philosophy is?” The silence was deafening, and when they didn’t answer, I groaned. “I didn’t think so.”
“Ask Google,” Justin said, picking up his soda. “It’s what I always do.”
FORD
I pulled up outside the club, the same club Belle had turned up at over a week ago, only it wasn’t nighttime now, and there wasn’t a line of people queuing up to get into the jam-packed building. The sun was shining, its hot rays beating down on me as soon as I pushed out of my car, but there was something swirling in the air.
I’d always listened to my gut. I didn’t fully understand what it was telling me half of the time, but I always paid attention to it. And today, it was telling me something wasn’t right. It was the way Garza had called me down to the club and told me to be there within an hour. It was the way his voice was calm but also on edge.
It wasn’t unusual for Garza to call me down to his office or to his mansion, but there was something about today that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I’d left an encrypted message for Brody before I left, but I was nearly five hours away from home, which meant I had to go in alone with no backup if something went down.
The way I worked meant I was often on my own when I was undercover, but I knew my limits. I could sense when something was about to go down, and I could call in the cavalry. But today, I didn’t have any backup, so I had to keep my cool and get out of here without anything bad happening.
Learning the way Garza worked and conducted business felt like a full-time job, but at least I knew how to approach him and talk to him when he wasn’t happy. Maybe the safe we’d brought to his house a couple of days ago didn’t contain the drugs. Or maybe he wanted us to take care of the gang infringing on his territory.
Maybe I was overthinking? I’d been doing a lot of that since I’d seen Belle. I tried to deny thinking about her and what happened that night. I pushed it to the back of my mind because I needed to concentrate on finishing this job, but the memory of her lips against mine would sneak in just as I was falling asleep, and then the danger she was in while at the club would have me shooting upright in bed.
But I’d gotten her out of there. I’d managed to protect her, even if I had crossed a line while I did it. I’d done something I never should have. I just hoped she understood why.
“Ford,” the guard at the door greeted. “He’s waiting for you in his office.”
I nodded, not bothering to reply as he opened the main doors for me. The club was so different during the day. Its darkness was replaced by light, and the music which usually drowned out everyone’s voices was absent. The only thing you could hear were the machines whirring from the back of the building as they counted the laundered money.
I took a left and headed down the hallway toward the concealed door where another guard was waiting. This one was just as big as the one outside, but he didn’t greet me. Instead, he pushed open the door and then resumed his position guarding it.
The machines were louder inside the back part of the club. Rows and rows of women stood with bags of cash as they put them into counting machines. But it was the back few rows bagging up cocaine and meth that caught my attention. That was new in the club, or had I missed it the last time I was here?
I didn’t want to linger too long, so I walked past them all and toward Garza’s office. His door was closed, so I rapped my knuckles on the heavy wooden surface three times and waited.
“Come in!” his rough voice said, and with a deep breath, I pushed open the door and stepped inside his office. Where his home office was luxurious and inviting, this one was cold and all about the business. It reflected him perfectly.
There wasn’t an inch of sunlight in the room as all four walls were reinforced concrete, doubling as a safe room. A lone desk was in the middle, and Garza sat behind it, his gaze connected with mine.
“You called?” I asked. Usually, I would have waited for him to say something, and I knew by speaking those two words, I was showing how on edge I was. I cracked my neck to relieve some tension and tried to center myself.
“Yeah.” He looked down and pulled a few papers off a stack of folders. “I need you to find someone.” He rummaged through the papers and finally held one of them up. I stepped forward and took the photo from him. “I need you to find him and bring him to me.”
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why, but I knew better than that. I knew I had no right to know why he wanted someone, but it didn’t mean I wouldn’t try to find out through other means. “Okay,” I said, pulling my cell out and taking a picture of the photo. I handed it back to him and waited again.
“I also need to—” A knock on the door cut him off and he growled out, “What?”
“Mr. Garza?” a soft, feminine voice asked. “We have trouble with drug, you help?”
“Jesus fuckin’ Christ.” Garza stood, causing his chair to fly back and bang into one of the metal cabinets against his back wall. “Stay here, Ford. I’ll be back.”
I nodded and stepped to the side to let him past me, and as soon as he opened the door, he spoke in Spanish to the woman, his words flinging at her a mile a minute. The door banged shut behind him, the wood against metal scraping throughout the room. And then I was alone. Alone in his office. Alone in the only place in this club that didn’t have cameras. He was too afraid of being caught on camera and it being used against him, but he hadn’t factored me into the equation.
My instincts kicked in, and I lunged forward to look at the papers he’d pulled out. Maybe there would be something on there about the guy I had to basically kidnap to bring to him. I shuffled through the lone papers on his desk, and when I didn’t find anything, I paused, making sure I could still hear Garza. His voice was distant, but unmistakable as he got angrier and angrier about the machine being broken.
I pulled off a couple of folders and started to rifle through them, and saw nothing about the man, and just a whole lot of lists of numbers. My cell was still in my hand, so I quickly snapped a few pictures and put them back. As I was stacking them, the word east on the side tab of a file toward the middle caught my attention.
My stomach swirled, something telling me to open up the manila folder and see what was inside it. The
voices from outside the office were no longer raised, which meant he could walk back in any second. But the draw to open it up was too much, so I did just that. I didn’t even take in the information on the page as I snapped as many pictures as I could of the first five sheets and then closed it back up. The handle of the door started to turn as I stacked the folders back on top of it, and I made it back to the other side of the desk just in time for Garza to open up his office door and re-enter.
He mumbled something under his breath and looked up at me, his eyes widening. “Fuck. I forgot you were still in here.” He paused and glanced around the room, almost as if he was trying to remember what he was saying before he left. “Yes,” he said to himself. “I need you to find this man, bring him to me, and make sure no one knows where he’s going. I shouldn’t have to tell you to be discreet, Ford. That’s why I’m sending a gringo, you understand?”
“I understand,” I ground out. “How soon do you want him?”
“Three days.” He moved around his office and sat back in his chair. “I don’t want to see you until then. Alejandro has a folder of information ready for you.” He pulled his cell out and spun his chair around, effectively dismissing me.
I gripped my cell in my hand, turned, and exited the office, needing to get out of there as soon as I could. All the women were working twice as hard as they had been when I first entered, and I had no doubt it was because Garza had been out here shouting. The guard from outside the door was now placed inside, and he handed me a folder and then pulled the door open for me without speaking.
My feet wanted to carry me faster out of the club, but I managed to keep a normal pace. I didn’t want to throw off any kind of energy to make anyone suspicious, so I walked outside, the sunlight almost blinding me with how bright it was, and then pushed into my car. My car was a fortress, made for any kind of impact and bulletproof. Whenever I was undercover, I made sure to use my own car because it was the only safe and secure place I had. The one thing I could trust when I was neck-deep in a dangerous world.
Bonded Duet: Ford & Belle: Torn Bond & Tied Bond (Easton Family Duet Boxsets Book 3) Page 4