Bodie by Nyssa Kathryn

Chapter 7

Maya wrung her hands together as she watched the trees pass through the bus window.

Disappointment sat like a brick in her gut. So too did frustration and agitation. It had taken her three buses and half the day to travel to Cheyenne. All for one hour’s use of a public computer to research him.

She wanted a face. A face to put to the voice. She needed a face, so every person she saw wasn’t an enemy until she heard them speak. Every man wasn’t the man who gave the order to kill Maya and her colleagues.

She hadn’t found a face. She’d found diddly squat. As far as the internet was concerned, he didn’t exist.

It wasn’t just him she couldn’t find any information on; it was also them. The men who were too strong and too fast to be human.

Maybe they weren’t human. After all, what kind of human could hear a person’s heart beating in their chest?

She wasn’t surprised she couldn’t find any information. If the government knew of their existence, no way would they let the public know. It would cause mass panic and hysteria. Especially if the public saw the men do what she’d seen.

Maya hadn’t exactly needed to travel all the way to Cheyenne to use a public computer. But doing the research as far from home as possible made her feel safer. After all, there was always the chance the search could alert someone to her location.

Was that possible? She had no idea. She’d seen it done in movies, so it wasn’t crazy to think it could happen in real life.

Maya watched as the sun tried to peek through the clouds. It was coming to the end of another cold and cloudy day. It was her first day off in a while and she’d spent it on a bus, with nothing to show for her travel.

It was annoying.

Her stomach rumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t eaten all day. Now that she thought about it, other than a box of cereal and some almost-expired milk, her kitchen was empty.

Luckily, it was at that moment she spotted the sign welcoming them to Keystone. Good, the next stop would be the grocery store. She still didn’t have a lot of money. Heck, she had basically none. But she couldn’t very well starve.

The other night, Maya had treated herself to meat and vegetables for dinner. It had been her first meal that wasn’t built on carbs in a while. It was heaven. And her body had immediately thanked her for it.

As the bus rolled to a stop, Maya grabbed her bag and stepped out.

The wind had her hunching her shoulders and hugging her arms around her waist. Damn Keystone and its frosty wind. She should be used to the cold after living in New York City, but she’d had weather appropriate clothing there. This was a shock to her system.

Stepping into the grocery store, Maya grabbed a basket.

In the last few months, she’d become good at scouring stores for specials. She didn’t buy for recipes, she bought whatever was cheap that she could turn into a meal. The foods didn’t always match, and sometimes the combinations tasted downright strange, but unfortunately, being low on money meant you didn’t have the luxury of being picky.

Starting with the fresh produce section, Maya beelined for the broccoli, which had a big “special” tag. She then systematically went through the store, grabbing every bargain she could find.

Now that she had a semi-permanent place to live, frozen vegetables seemed the smartest choice. Not only were they cheaper, but she could buy in bulk and they kept for ages.

Maya had just stepped into the last aisle when she stopped in her tracks. There, standing in front of the cereal, was Bodie.

Only he wasn’t wearing his usual smile. He held no groceries; instead, he had a phone to his ear. There was a frustrated, almost angry expression on his face.

When his gaze clashed with hers, the frustration cleared, replaced with…surprise?

Crap. Bodie had messaged her today. Twice! And she’d ignored both texts.

Not intentionally, she’d just been focused on other things. Namely, identifying the faceless voice. Bodie was too much of a tall, dark, and handsome distraction.

* * *

“I can’t find her anywhere.”Bodie ran his free hand through his hair as he spoke to his friend Luca on the phone. It was taking every shred of his energy to remain calm. “I should have put the goddamn tracker on her phone already.”

“Red, you said yourself that when the silent alarm went off, you watched her leave. She didn’t have a packed bag to indicate she was skipping town and she didn’t appear scared. Evie is doing what she can to hack into street surveillance, but there isn’t a lot of it around Maya’s house.”

Bodie blew out a frustrated breath. He’d rushed over to Maya’s house the moment he’d watched the camera feed and saw her stepping outside. She was already out of sight when he arrived. Keystone was a small town, and she hadn’t been wearing workout clothes, but he’d checked her normal running path anyway. There’d been no sign of her.

Next, Bodie had called the bar, hoping she’d been asked to get some stuff done for Trish. She hadn’t been there, either.

He’d messaged her twice, but had received no response.

Where the hell was she?

His teammate Luca was engaged to a woman who was excellent with technology. Bodie had been on and off the phone with them all day, him searching the area in person, them through local video surveillance around town. So far, Evie had found nothing.

Bodie had just been wandering the streets and shops of Keystone for most of the day, searching for the woman like a blind man.

Jesus, this was bad.

Now he was checking the grocery store one last time. Then he planned to camp out at her house overnight. He prayed that she wasn’t lost.

“Yes! Found her.”

Bodie jerked at the sound of Evie’s voice in the background.

“Where?” he asked, stopping in the cereal aisle. When he looked up—the air whooshed out of his lungs.

There, standing less than ten feet away, was the woman he was searching for. The woman he’d been hoping and praying to find.

“Never mind. I found her, too,” Bodie said quietly, hanging up and shoving his phone into his pocket. Clearing his features, he moved toward her. “Hey, darlin’. Wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

He kept his voice calm. A hell of a lot calmer than he felt.

She gave him a small smile as she lifted her basket. “Just getting some groceries.” She glanced at his hands. “You don’t have anything.”

“I only came in for one thing.” You.

She shot a glance at the shelves, then looked back at him. “Cereal?”

Hell no. He was not a fan of the stuff. Never had been, never would be. “Have dinner with me.”

The request hadn’t been premeditated. More a desperate solution to keep the woman close. Reassure himself that she was safe and alive, and he hadn’t failed her.

Maya’s expression flicked from surprised to unsure. “I’ve already got some groceries—”

“Your place isn’t far. We can drop them off, then head out for dinner. There’s a new burger joint around the corner that’s supposed to be good.”

Her eyes lit up. The flecks of gold in her pupils brightened. He was pretty sure it was because he’d said the word “burger.”

Maya nibbled on her lip. Like she was yearning to say yes, but something held her back.

“Please.” He needed to tip the scales in his favor here. “Save me from my own company. I’ll pay, and I also promise, no bad jokes.”

Well, he promised to try for no bad jokes. He always found them funny, it was others who didn’t.

“Okay.”

Bodie just stopped himself from sagging in relief. Not only would he get to spend time with the intriguing woman, he’d also be able to insert a tracking device into her phone. Something that would have saved him a great deal of stress today.

Maybe she’d even tell him where she’d been.