Safe and Sound (Twist of Fate 2)

“And the toffee bar.”

“Fine,” Aiden said as he pulled out his wallet. I smiled to myself as I went to get the cookie and toffee bar. As soon as I got to the pastry cabinet, Lucky began pointing to additional things he wanted and when I shot Aiden a glance, he just waved his hand. I took that as agreement and grabbed a bag to put the treats in. By the time I was finished, Lucky was holding three bags full of treats and Aiden had forked over a couple of twenties. Aiden seemed flustered, so I put him out of his misery.

“When?” I asked.

“When what?” Aiden asked.

“When is it? The thing in Chelsea.”

“Oh, um, tonight. At seven. We”— Aiden waved between himself and Lucky, who was munching on a cookie— “were going to get some dinner first at this little diner near the theater where it’s being held.”

I knew I shouldn’t. It would just open up a can of worms I wasn’t prepared to deal with. But the truth was, I wanted to see more of this Aiden. This bumbling, weird, funny, sweet Aiden— the guy who’d made up a silly story about having too many tickets and who’d somehow bribed a kid who I suspected wasn’t as big a Trekkie as Aiden would have me believe to help him. Hell, the teenager hadn’t looked at all the Star Trek paraphernalia in the shop with anything other than morbid fascination. And Lucky’s presence did give me the security I needed to know it wasn’t a real date— not the kind that ended with any expectations, anyway.

And let’s face it, how many chances did you get to see actual stars from one of the best TV shows ever reenacting scenes from one of the best TV shows ever? That was just icing on the cake.

“I’m working till five,” I offered.

The smile that spread across Aiden’s features made my insides twist and turn in a weird kind of happy dance. Was he really that excited at the prospect of spending time with me?

Me?

“We’ll wait,” Aiden said. Emily appeared with their drinks and shot Aiden a sly look that he worked very hard to ignore. I handed Lucky his drink and then Aiden his. This time when our fingers touched, I let myself enjoy the sparks of electricity that danced beneath my skin and skittered all the way up my arm and centered in my belly… and then lower.

“Okay,” I said. Aiden held my stare for a few more beats before turning away, grabbing Lucky’s arm as he went. I swore I heard Lucky say something about asking for more cash and Aiden calling him an extortionist, but I couldn’t be sure. They went to sit at a table near the window, and for the next hour I never once felt that familiar cold seep into my blood.

How could I when all I felt was Aiden’s warm eyes pretty much tracking my every move?

As I worked, I kept glancing up to confirm Aiden was indeed watching me, and when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket, I ignored it because I knew who it was.

Fuck you, Billy. You’re not taking this from me… not tonight.

With that thought in mind, I ignored the buzz that followed and for the first time since I’d started working at the shop, I willed the clock to move faster.

Chapter 7

Aiden

For some reason, my palms wouldn’t stop sweating. After I’d rubbed them on my jeans for the millionth time, Lucky snorted.

I shot him a look. “What? There’s something wrong with my hands.”

His eyes twinkled as he looked up from his phone. “If by ‘something wrong’ you mean you have hyperhidrosis due to elevated anxiety about a cute boy, then yeah, you’re right.”

I felt my jaw drop. “What the hell? Where did you learn that?”

We were still sitting in the corner of the coffee shop waiting for Ash when Lucky raised an eyebrow at me. “YouTube— duh. There’s a medical thing on there that’s intense. Everyone I know watches it. You should educate yourself on shit, Aiden. I started watching it after we talked about medical school or whatever. Do you remember?”

I nodded as I once again glanced over at the counter where Ash was finishing up his shift. I couldn’t not look at him, and every time he looked up for the briefest of moments and sent me a small smile, I felt it like a punch to the gut. It was true, though. I was nervous as hell, and it was a strange feeling I definitely wasn’t used to. Surely, I’d never cared this much about a date before. It wasn’t even really a date. We had a teenaged chaperone, for god’s sake. I forced myself to look away from Ash so I wouldn’t freak him out with my staring.