Ivana

Ace still hadn't woken up when I walked downstairs after enduring a painfully cold shower. I decided I needed something to take my mind off yesterday's overwhelming events.

"Hi," I stopped as I bumped into Aiden who was just stepping out of Ace's room. "You're up quite early, Barista Girl." He grinned cheekily, eyeing me up and down once.

I rolled my eyes. "You two must be the typical best friends." I threw a look at Ace's bedroom door which was now ajar. "Sleeping together and now, sharing all the dirty secrets."

Aiden chuckled. "Oh come on, Ivana. Just ask me directly if you're that curious." He smirked at me before leaning in to whisper conspiratorially. "Rest assured, your man is as straight as they come."

My jaw fell open as I sputtered. "What? No, I-he's not my man."

"Sure, whatever you say." Aiden shrugged before striding downstairs. "I know better than to argue with people who are in denial." He grinned knowingly, biting into a ripe apple as he made himself comfortable on top of the kitchen island.

"Would you like some coffee?" I offered nonchalantly as he refused to take his gaze off me even as I looked through the drawers, my cheeks flushing red from his constant scrutiny.

He'd looked so scary last night but not even a single trace of that intimidating glare could be seen on his face right now as he quickly nodded.

"Wouldn't refuse coffee for anything." He grinned. "Especially since you're making it."

"Okay," I dragged out as I measured out three servings worth of instant coffee and proceeded to blend it together with sugar and milk.

"You know, I just happened to be craving something super sweet this morning ." Aiden munched on his apple, reaching for two mugs full of cold coffee. "So I was wondering if I could maybe have a little more of that."

"No!" I exclaimed, swatting his hand away quickly. "I can make you more if you want. But for now, this," I handed him a mug. "—is yours and the other one is for Ace."

Picking the mugs up, I headed to the breakfast table, Aiden following me closely.

"Tell me," He began pointedly as I raised my mug to my lips to take a sip. Nothing was better than an iced cold coffee on a hot summer morning like this one. "What exactly is the deal between you and Ace?" He finishes and I almost choked on my coffee.

"What do you mean?" I set my mug down, carelessly running my finger along its cold edges.

"I don't know..." he trailed off, downing all of his coffee in one go as I raised an eyebrow at him. He answered with a grin before shrugging. "There were a lot of descriptive differences between the stories I was told last night. It's only natural that my interest got aroused."

"You're showing interest for nothing." I lied through my teeth, fidgeting with my mug. "There's nothing interesting going on between us."

"Oh okay then." Aiden nodded. I had a hunch that he wasn't really convinced but I decided to shrug it off and try to get some useful information out of him.

Ace was never going to tell me anything willingly. Aiden was my best bet.

"So, uh, I have been thinking how I have no idea about what's going on around here." I phrased my sentence carefully, trying not to seem too intrusive. If Aiden noticed the eagerness in my time that I'd failed to hide, he didn't show it. Instead, an amused smile pushed the corners of his lips up as he simply responded with an answering nod.

"Clearly," He chuckled.

I frowned. There was no way that laugh didn't have a hidden meaning.

"Anyway," I cleared my throat. "I just think that I deserve to know why I'm here. Of course, that doesn't mean that you guys have to tell me the whole story." I explained. "Just telling me why I still can't go back to Phoenix would be enough because all of this shady behaviour is scaring me a little and...I'm beginning to think that you guys are some sort of criminals." I trailed off.

"And you haven't asked the same question from Ace?"

I looked up, letting out an awkward laugh. "Oh no. He practically blew up when I as much as hinted at my doubts of him being a convict." I muttered self-consciously as Aiden regarded me carefully.

A long silence lingered between us, making my palms sweat. Finally, Aiden sighed and broke the silence. "Do you think he is a criminal?"

I fiddled around with my mug, unsure of what to say. There wasn't really a definite response I could give to this.

While Ace did seem like a pretty ordinary guy at the first glance, there was certainly something a little off about him. He could change moods within a span of mere seconds and he didn't seem all that harmless when he was angry.

He seemed much more dangerous in those moments of rage. As if there was something much more lethal and menacing than what met the eye, simmering beneath his otherwise cool exterior. 

And I wasn't sure about what he could and what he couldn't do when he was in one of his wild moods.

"I barely know him." I answered quietly.

"He's not a criminal." Aiden responded, holding my gaze confidently. His sounded calm, his voice barely rising, but something sharp lingered beneath. He wasn't yelling but it wasn't difficult to see that he was holding himself back.

"I didn't say that he was." I defended hotly.

"You didn't say the opposite either." He retorted.

Fair point.

"All I'm saying," Aiden continued. "Is that you should stop digging for more information if you're not ready to trust him." He spoke, genuine concern shining in his eyes. "That boy's been through a lot of shit and I don't think he deserves to be thought about like this." He paused as I gaped at him.

His words didn't tell me anything at all. If anything, they only made me more curious about my mysterious kidnapper.

Only this time, I was forced to think if I had adopted a wrong approach all this while. Maybe what I needed to find out wasn't what he had done wrong, but why he was having to go through so much trouble for something he hadn't done at all.

"As for your return to Phoenix, Ace will drive you back today itself. He told me last night that he didn't want you to get involved in his mess." Aiden gave me a meaningful look.

I was stunned. I had never expected that Ace would ever view the situation from my perspective.

Before I could even respond, I saw Aiden reaching out for the remaining mug of coffee from the corner of my eye.

"Don't you dare take that coffee!" I shot up abruptly, eager to change the topic and also maybe to try and offer Ace the coffee as a peace offering.

Coffee was, in a way, what had brought us together and the reason why I was here in the first place. If he hadn't ever stepped into my cafe, if he hadn't annoyed the crap out of me challenging my abilities as a barista, I wouldn't have ever gotten the chance to know the real him.

Guaranteed, I still didn't know a lot about Ace. But now I just wanted to do a little something for him—even if it was just fulfilling his caffeine addiction—and get rid of the lingering guilt I felt for misjudging him.

How had I, of all people, managed to misunderstand him? I knew exactly how misleading a person's exterior could be.

Perfect, shiny exteriors were always the ones that hid the deadliest of the snakes. How could I have judged Ace so harshly based on my superficial assumptions alone?

I looked up to find Aiden grinning down at me devilishly, both our hands wrapped around the mug.

"This is not for you." I mumbled. "I told you I'll make you a new one, so let go."

"Sorry, I don't want to wait."

Ace

"What are you both doing?" I muttered suspiciously as my gaze zeroed in on Ivana and Aiden. They were currently standing across each other, both their hands around a fairly delicious looking mug of coffee as they stared unblinking at each other.

From my side, I couldn't really make out Ivana's expressions but the soft smirk on Aiden's lips as he gazed at her in a challenging manner made something boil inside me.

"He won't let go of this mug." Ivana turned to me, a frown on her face as she shot Aiden a glare, to which my best friend responded with a nonchalant shrug.

"You know I love my caffeine, Ace. I can't let it go to waste."

My eyes flicked back to Ivana who was staring at Aiden, her jaw hanging open.

"You little—it's not waste. Do not make up things on your own." She accused as I fought back a grimace.

They sure got pretty comfortable with each other, huh?

I forced a bored expression as Aiden walked around the table to move closer to Ivana.

"Oh yeah? If it's not waste then who is it for?" He asked smugly.

"I-It's for me!" Ivana gulped.

"Lies." Aiden perched himself up on the breakfast table and lifted up a half-empty mug in my direction. "Your coffee's still here. Why would you need another one?"

I rolled my eyes. I had enough of this pointless bickering.

"Yeah, Ivana." I murmured sarcastically, a selfish part of me urging me to provoke her. I realised I didn't like to be deprived of her attention fir too long.

"Who's the coffee for?"

Aiden snickered, nudging her shoulder with his. "Go on, Barista Girl. Tell him."

I scowled.

Private jokes on which I had no intel on were one thing, but using the nickname that I had given Ivana was simply taking things too far.

I don't know what took over me, but one moment I was standing there leaning against the staircase and the next, I was stalking forward to grab the mug out of Aiden's hands.

"Is it too sweet?" I directed my gaze towards Ivana who just shook her head.

"I don't know—"

Oh, fuck this.

"Nevermind." I told her and gulped down the entire thing in one go before slamming it down on the table.

"There," I shot Aiden a cold look. "Problem solved."

As I stormed out of the room, behind me, Aiden's laughter resonated in the house.

"Damn, and you say nothing's going on between you guys?"

Well, fuck.