Page 44 of A Soldier's Temptation
Quickly sifting through the contents, she was both relieved and disappointed that the card wasn’t there. If he’d put it in there it would have tainted her memories, but it also meant she had no idea where he could have hidden the damn thing.
“Is one bag enough?” John asked as he made his way through the apartment to the bedroom.
Grateful for the warning, she closed the box and shoved it under the dresser. Then grabbed a few shirts and underwear and bras. “Yes, that should work. More clothing means I won’t have to do laundry as often.”
A few seconds later they appeared in the doorway. “Do you have what you need now?” Colin asked.
“Yeah, this should hold me for a few more days.”
“Great. Let’s get back to John’s apartment, we have a few things to discuss.”
It sounded kind of ominous, and Ari’s stomach turned over. Did he know about Shira and the missing memory card?
Filling the bag with her clothing, she followed them out of the apartment and Colin waited for John to nail the plywood back into place.
“Stay out of the apartment,” Colin said as he dropped the keys into her palm.
Ari didn’t say a word and she was grateful that he hadn’t asked her to promise. She’d have been screwed then.
John looked like he was about to say something but stopped when he saw his team coming down the hallway to meet us. Ari breathed a sigh of relief. The SEALs would hopefully distract Colin from giving her more grief.
“You must be Ari, I’m Elwood, and this is Shaggy, Gus, and Disco.”
“Hi. It’s great to meet you, although I kind of feel like I know you already from John’s stories.”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t tell her all of your deep dark secrets,” John said when Elwood raised his eyebrows and glanced at him.
“Good thing or we have quite a few stories we could share with Ari about you.”
“It’s great you’re having a meet and greet, but can we move this into John’s apartment?”
The grouchier Colin got the more Ari decided it had nothing to do with Shira or the memory card. It made her think about her bestie and what she must be going through. They’d better keep their word and not hurt her. Thinking about it made her want to throw up.
Leading the way to his apartment, John and his teammates chatted, leaving her and Colin to walk together.
“I’m surprised you left the fartbag behind.”
“Huh?” Ari had been thinking about Shira and not paying attention to whatever Colin had been saying. “I’m sorry, what?”
“Your dog? I’m surprised you don’t have him with you.”
“I figured it was safer to leave him behind. There’s broken glass on the floor.”
“So it wasn’t to keep the crime scene from getting messed with?”
“No, I’m sorry. But seriously, it’s my apartment. The investigators were there half the night. What’s going on? You’re not usually this cranky.” As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could take them back. But it was too late.
“You think I’m cranky? I’m trying to do my job, to keep you safe, and you do everything you can to make it harder. I should just take you and put you in the safe house and leave you there until the trial.”
She’d poked a raw nerve. He was right, she hadn’t made it easy. But for the last year, she’d had to put up with constant surveillance, being called in for depositions, meetings, and interviews with different agents. In the beginning, she’d had to deal with reporters too. That had been the worst part. They’d reported she was stealing secret documents. Of course, when she was cleared they were nowhere around to report that story.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”
“No, I’m sorry. It can’t be easy on you either. We’ll talk about it inside. Okay?” Colin said in a much less irritated tone.
* * *
If the jumping up and down tail wagging was any indication, Mr. Darcy was thrilled to see Ari and a bunch of new people to sniff and lick. John grinned at the thought of the inevitable stink bomb he’d let loose. With any luck, it would be in Colin’s direction. He’d been an ass since he showed up at Ari’s apartment. When he took him into the kitchen to give Ari time to look for the card, he’d ripped him a new one for letting her go into the apartment. Something was definitely eating at him. In all the time they’d been friends, he’d never seen him act like this.
