Chapter 73: Untitled Chapter
The knock came too early.
Kendrix groaned into her pillow because her head hurt and she wasn't interested in dealing with anyone. Whoever it was could wait and deal with the disappointment.
The knock came again, more patient this time like the person had all morning.
She sat up and swore under her breath and shoved hair out of her face.
“Go away,” she said, but it came out muffled because she was still half in the pillow.
The door opened anyway and Kendrix grimaced.
“That’s rude,” she said, and immediately felt dumb because obviously he heard her.
Roberto stood in the doorway. He was dressed. Like actually dressed, his shirt was neatly buttoned, his hair was gelled back. He had shaved too. He looked awake. That was offensive early in the morning when she felt like a zombie.
She squinted at him. “What time is it?”
“Eight.”
She scowled. “Just…go away. I’m still sleeping.”
One side of his mouth twitched. “Get out of bed.”
Kendrix blinked. “What?”
“Go get dressed.”
“That’s not an explanation, Roberto.”
“No. It's not.”
She grabbed the nearest pillow and threw it at him. He caught it without even trying and that pissed her off more because now he looked smug.
“Why are you in my room?”
“I’ve said that already.”
“No, you still haven’t answered,” she said, and her voice came out sharper than she meant because she was tired and confused and he was standing there looking like a magazine.
He set the pillow on the chair. “Be ready in fifteen minutes.”
“Where are we going?”
His eyes flicked away for half a second, but she caught it and her eyebrow raised, because Roberto not making eye contact meant he was lying or hiding something.
“You don’t know, do you?” she said.
“What?”
“You dragged yourself in here at eight in the morning without a plan.”
“I have a plan.”
“You absolutely do not.” She pointed at him because she was annoyed now and annoyance felt safer than thinking about why seeing him there made her happy. Then she gasped. “Oh my God. You woke up and decided you wanted to kidnap me.”
“I am not kidnapping you.”
“You showed up and said get dressed.”
“I knocked.”
“That is not consent,” she snapped, and then hated that she sounded like a lawyer at eight AM.
For one second he looked actually regretful. Like he realized this was a dumb idea. Then his face went blank again.
“Twenty minutes.”
And he walked out.
Kendrix stared at the empty doorway and laughed despite herself. She knew what happened. Roberto woke up wanting to see her and instead of texting like a normal person he invented a whole mission.
. .
An hour later she was standing next to a private jet trying not to look impressed and failing. She looked at the jet, then at Roberto, then back at the jet.
“What exactly is wrong with restaurants?”
Roberto glanced at her. “What?”
“People usually go for coffee.”
“We can get coffee if that's what you want.”
“We are boarding a jet right now.”
“We can still get coffee.”
Kendrix threw her hands up in exasperation. He was impossible and it made her feel something she didn’t want to examine.
“You’re so…whatever.”
Roberto frowned. “Don’t get yourself so worked up.”
“No normal person responds to wanting coffee with aviation,” she said, and he actually laughed.
A real laugh. It was short and gone fast but she heard it. And suddenly waking up at eight felt worth it because Roberto laughing was rare and she hated how much she wanted to hear it again.
He held his hand out when they started up the stairs. Kendrix took it before she thought about it. Neither of them let go right away. Neither of them said anything about it either.
The jet lifted off thirty minutes later.
For the first time in days Roberto looked less tense. Not relaxed, just less like every muscle in his body was braced for a fight. Enough that she caught him watching her twice before he realized it.
The second time she caught him, she raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
Roberto looked away. “Nothing.”
She didn't believe him for a second.
And somehow she kept thinking about it anyway.
The plane touched down just before noon.
Kendrix waited until the engines died before turning to Roberto.
“Now can you explain?”
“No.”
She stared at him. “You flew me somewhere.”
“Yes.”
“We got on a private jet.”
“Also yes.”
“And your plan still has no explanation?”
Roberto unbuckled his seatbelt and stood without replying to her. Kendrix wanted to throw something at him but everything in here looked like it cost more than her car so she didn’t.
The town wasn’t what she expected. It was small and quiet. The kind of place people drove through and forgot by dinner.
Fishing boats lined the harbor and seagulls screamed over scraps by the docks. The air smelled like salt and she shoved her hands in her pockets because she didn’t know what else to do with them.
“Seriously,” she said.
Roberto glanced at her. “What?”
“Why here?”
He looked ahead instead of at her. “Does there need to be a reason?”
“That’s terrifying coming from a man with a private jet.”
The corner of his mouth twitched in almost what seemed to be a smile.
Kendrix caught it. “Ha.”
Roberto sighed. “Don’t start.”
“I’m absolutely starting.”
. .
The weird part was she actually enjoyed herself. She wasn’t supposed to, the whole thing was ridiculous. But the day kept getting better anyway.
They wandered through little shops and shared food from street vendors and argued about directions even though neither of them had a clue where they were going.
At one point Kendrix stopped to watch a guy playing guitar near the harbor.
When she turned around Roberto was gone. Panic hit her first, fast and sharp.
Then she saw him across the street buying two bottles of water and the relief irritated her.
When he handed her a bottle he didn’t say anything, he just looked at her for a second while her cheeks heated up.