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“Are you feeling okay, Miss Loring?” Ray asked kindly.
She smiled and waved at him, unable to actually form words, and wondering what her brother had told him. Hopefully, it was that she was sick, and not that she’d been tricked and humiliated by someone she’d fallen in love with.
She didn’t see a big black SUV anywhere, and rather than go back in and ask Ray to order her a car, she decided to walk the few blocks to the coffee shop where Eden was waiting for her.
She saw her friend waiting for her at the bar that faced the storefront window, overlooking the street. Eden stood up with a relieved look on her face and hugged Bianca as soon as she was near enough.
“Oh my god, are you okay?” Bianca asked, her worry turning to relief, which quickly turned to anger. “And what the hell? Why didn’t you call me?”
“I couldn’t,” Eden said immediately. She shook her head and started over. “Okay, first off? I can’t tell you everything that’s been going on for the past three weeks. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to tell you the whole story. But I wanted to see you and apologize for dragging you into this. I’m so sorry.”
Bianca dropped her eyes. She was sorry, too. “Did your dad come and get you at the hospital?”
Eden nodded, reluctant to be verbal. “This is just bananas,” she said. “It’s like every time I try to explain any of this to you, I trip over the fact that I can’t say anything about it.”
Bianca narrowed her eyes at her friend. “Can’t say anything about itwhy? Who are you with?” She made a rueful face. “I don’t know any other way to phrase this, but whose side are you on?”
“You mean, who am I helping?” She looked around nervously before replying in a lowered voice. “The FBI.”
Bianca frowned. She didn’t know if they were the good guys or the bad guys anymore, but she supposed it was better than being aligned with Ben Goh.
“Why were you in Singapore?” Bianca asked. “Did you go with your dad?”
Eden shook her head. “My dad is involved, but he doesn’t know about—” she hesitated again. “I can’t tell you anymore.” She reached out and put her hand over Bianca’s. “I’m so sorry I made you get into that car. I didn’t know it was part of something illegal. I didn’t know I was acting as a sort of delivery girl. And a fall guy. They set me up so I would be pulled over in that car and not them. Sorry, I can’t say whotheyare. This is all so much. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into, let alone you.”
Bianca nodded. “I know you didn’t.” She squeezed her friend’s hand, accepting her apology. “Did you even go to rehab?”
“No,” Eden said, laughing. “But I am clean, and I’m going to stay that way. I am so over drugs you wouldn’t even believe it,” she added with a laugh.
Bianca gave her a watered-down smile in return. It was the best she could do given the circumstances. “I was so worried about you.”
“House told me.”
“Are you in touch with him?” Bianca asked, surprised. He had never reached out to her and he’d promised to if he heard from Eden. That wasn’t like him. He usually did what he said he was going to.
Eden nodded, frowning, and then shook her head again, indicating that she couldn’t talk about it.
“I’m assuming House and I can’t talk to each other about this, either?” Bianca asked.
“You can do whatever you want,” she said, smiling weakly as if to indicate that her situation was different. “I told them that you weren’t involved at all. They didn’t really believe me, though. But I think Agent Copeland sorted it out. He said he had a plan to make sure you were in the clear.”
Bianca couldn’t move. Even hearing his last name was enough to send waves of hurt and shame through her.
“What?” Eden asked. “What did I say? Holy shit, Bee, you look like you’re going to faint. Are you sick?” She stood up. “I thought you looked pale when you came in. Here, let me get you some water.”
“I’m fine,” Bianca said, stopping her friend and pulling her back down into the seat opposite her. Rushing out after only eating two bites of solid sugar on an empty stomach probably wasn’t the best idea. “Just give me a second.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were sick? I would have waited to see you,” Eden said, still pressing the issue. “I probablyshouldhave waited anyway. It’s just Maxwell told me you were frantic about me, and I didn’t want you to worry anymore.”
Bianca gave her friend a weak smile. “Why should you have waited to see me?” A thought occurred to her. “You’re not still working with the FBI, are you?”
Bianca looked around, convinced that at any second she’d see Elias sitting in a car across the street, listening to her conversation. Recording her. Playing it back with other people around. Maybe they were all standing around, laughing at how easy she was to fool.
“No, my part with them was done when I got back from Singapore,” Eden reassured her. She glanced up the street. “I’m just paranoid now. I keep thinking I’m being followed.”
“Are you?” Bianca asked. A few weeks ago, she would have agreed that her friend was paranoid for thinking she was being followed, but now she knew that it was entirely possible.
“I’m just jumping at shadows,” Eden replied, laughing it off. “Agent Copeland said he would make sure I was safe.” A thought occurred to her. “Although I haven’t heard from him in a few days.” She trailed off musingly, and looked at Bianca again, alarmed. “You almost passed out again! Did you go to a doctor yet?”
