Page 6 of The Coffee Shop

“Shit,” Luke scoffs and I follow his eyes down to see the fresh bloodstain on my shirt. I raise it to find that there is already a bandage, but the blood has seeped through it. I huff out my frustration when I realize that he must have done that when I was asleep.

Luke unbuckles his seatbelt and is sitting beside me a second later. “Let me see,” he says, the words light. I sigh, then, resigned, move my hand away.

“Lu?” Sebastian says gruffly, the concern in his voice unmistakable.

“It’s okay, Seb. It just started bleeding again, it’s not too deep,” Luke replies, digging through a medical bag.

Their concern leaves me a little breathless. Or maybe that’s just the bloodloss.

“Why…” I wince as Luke gingerly cleans the wound, “why were you in the coffee shop today? I mean, why did you stay?” I ask, because no way that was a coincidence. I watch as they give pointed glances at each other, silently conveying something that I don’t have the privilege of understanding.

“No reason,” Sebastion says quickly, glancing in the rearview mirror before turning his gaze back on the road.

Luke rolls his eyes, then gives me a look. There is an understanding that passes between us, one that acknowledges the shitty liar Sebastian is. I can’t help but smile.

“We got a tip,” Luke says, “your father didn’t think it was credible, but we wanted to stay. Just in case,” he looks up at me and my heart jumps a little,fuck, thoseeyes. He looks away, and I already miss the weight of them.

“I’m glad you stayed. Thank you.Bothof you, for saving my life,” I say softly because as much as I want to be pissed off at them, I know they’re not to blame.

Luke’s fingers are gentle as he slides my shirt back down. “How’s that?” he asks and I’m incredibly aware of how close his body is to mine.

Our eyes lock and I can’t remember what he asked.

When his phone rings, Luke lets out a long breath before answering it, which makes me wonder if my proximity affects him as well.

“Campbell,” he answers quickly in a no-nonsense tone that seems strange after he was so tender with me moments ago. “Understood,” he says, then immediately hangs up, reaches over to roll down the window, then tosses his phone out of it. Sebastian holds his phone over his shoulder to Luke, and then that phone goes out the window as well.

Then two sets of blue eyes are on me and they’re so goddamn sexy that it takes me a moment to realize what’s about to happen.

“No fucking way,” I say.

“Sorry, sugar. Boss’s orders,” Sebastian states as Luke proceeds with a pat down that has me gasping in surprise and squirming away from him.

It only takes him a moment to find my cell phone.

“No, no, no!” I shout, but it’s too late. I look out the back window to watch it skitter across the pavement. Luke rolls up the window, making eye contact with me the whole goddamn time as he works to suppress his chuckle. I scowl back at him.

And if he wasn’t so fucking sexy, I would kill him.

—

We turned off the freeway onto a dirt road over an hour ago and just as I am about to complain again, we pull up to a dilapidated old house. I look around. There isn’t anything, oranyone, for miles. An uneasy feeling courses through me now that we’re stopped. I’m not sure what I was expecting, but this isn’t it. We’re in the middle of nowhere and, as hot as they are, they’re still complete strangers.

But that concern will have to wait, because my head hurts, my side hurts, I have to pee and Ineedto get out of this goddamn car.

The second we stop, I wrench open the door and jump out. It’s only when my feet hit the ground that I realize my mistake. The pain shoots up through my body and into my head. My vision blurs and my head starts swimming.

I lose consciousness before my body even hits the ground.

Chapter Four

LUKE

“And you’re sure we don’t need to take her to a hospital?” Sebastian barks out.

When Leena started wavering, I nearly threw myself out of the car. I’m still not sure how I caught her in time.

“Seb, I’m sure. The bullet grazed her side,” I tell him for the third time. “Losing that much blood would make anyone lightheaded, and you know she probably hasn’t eaten anything today. Well, other than coffee,” I say, looking down at her.

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