Page 25 of Blind Luck

“How are your eyes?” he asked.

“Sore, but I can see just fine. Hey, this is a neat place. The coffee machine does froth and everything.”

“Do you know how it works?”

“Oh, please. I used to work as a barista.” She gave a rueful smile. “For, like, two months.”

“Why did you quit?” Rusty asked, although he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer.

“I got fired for throwing a latte at a customer. It wasn’t boiling hot or anything.”

A groan escaped before Rusty could stop it. “What did they do?”

“Groped my boob. He said it was an accident, but it totally wasn’t, and I’m allowed to defend myself. Men shouldn’t do that.”

“No, they shouldn’t.” And what the hell kind of man had the audacity to grope a woman’s breast in public? “You’d better hurry with the coffee. We need to get to the Neptune.”

“Okay, but before we go, how attached are you to thebeard?”

“Pretty attached. It’s growing out of my face.”

“You know what I mean. I looked at pictures of you online, and you always have the beard, so it seems to be a permanent fixture.”

“It is.”

“But you were worried about getting recognised yesterday. If you shave, I bet you’ll look totally different.”

“Wait, you looked me up online? How? I only gave you my first name.”

“First name, plus your friend’s name. Your friend is a hockey player, and you’re built like a hockey player, so if you type ‘rusty hockey player’ into Google, guess who comes up on the first page? I mean, you don’t even need a private investigator for that, just someone who’s kinda curious.” She raised an eyebrow. “Rusty Bolt? What were your parents thinking?”

“I was named after my grandpop on my momma’s side, and nobody stopped to think about what kids at school might say. Are you always this tactful?”

“Ari says I need to work on my filter.”

“You should take her advice.”

“Want me to put the coffee in travel cups?”

“I don’t know if Mav has travel cups.”

“There are two in the cupboard beside the microwave.”

“Are you always this nosy?”

“That’s part of my job.”

Yeah, okay, that was true. “Do you want to drive, or should I?”

“I don’t have a licence, so it’s probably best if you do.”

“You don’t have a licence? Then how did you get here?”

“Ari dropped me off at the end of the driveway.”

Rusty was slowly waking up. “Hold on a second… How did you get through the gates?”

“I saw the combination when you typed it into thekeypad last night. You should cover your hand when you do that.”

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