Code Blue

Lexi vs. Honesty

I woke up alone in a strange bed. At least, it was strange until I wearily lifted my head from the pillow and squeezed my eyes closed and opened them again to adjust to the light and realized I was still at the beach house. I didn't remember actually climbing into bed, so Max must have carried me here after I fell asleep with my head in his lap last night.

After the Dreaded Conversation, we'd changed the topic. He'd given me a change of clothes at the mansion before we'd hit the road – a pair of his sister's jeans and one of his old shirts – but I was in desperate need of new underwear and the beach house had no food, so we hit the closest superstore. We'd stocked up on ingredients to make dinner and I'd bought another change of clothes and when we returned to the beach house, we began working our way slowly but surely through the Stafford family DVD collection, only pausing to cook a pasta dinner before returning to our comfortable positions on the couch.

It was the most relaxed I'd ever been in my life. We turned off our phones and disconnected ourselves from the outside world – a decision I would surely get reprimanded for later – and it was amazing. It was just the two of us, spending time together, laughing, and telling stories, and just enjoying being together and for just a few hours, I got to experience what a relationship was actually like and hoped that at some point in the future, I'd get to be in one again. And maybe the next time, everything would be out in the open from the beginning.

But for now, the real world called. I had to face the consequences for dropping out of contact with my handler for almost twenty-four hours without any prior explanation, so I braced myself once I located my phone on the bedside table and was unsurprised to find I had about twenty text messages, ten missed calls, and one voice message from Evan. I could tell just from looking at the screen that all the text messages were a variation of 'where are you and why aren't you answering your phone', so I started with the voicemail, propping myself up on my elbows to listen.

I expected it to be an audio version of every text he'd sent me, but instead, the voicemail consisted of two words: curtain's up.

It took a moment, but I froze when I realized the implication. Through the pictures I'd sent in of the documents on Daniel's desk, the agency's analysts had been able to narrow down the locations of the various active shipments, but because they hadn't yet matched the locations to the dates when the shipments were being moved, they were monitoring all the locations around the clock. The voicemail was Evan's way of telling me that there was activity at one of the locations and the tactical team was ready to move in.

Which meant that because he had a habit of being present when shipments were moved, it wouldn't be long before Daniel Stafford was in government custody. This also meant that it wouldn't be long before Max discovered his father had been arrested and my mission officially came to a close.

So I needed to tell Max the truth about me. As soon as possible. Otherwise Max would find out over the course of the investigation into Daniel's known associates that followed the arrest and he didn't deserve that. I had to be the one to tell him; I owed him that much.

Sighing, I set my phone to the side and turned to my back to push off the covers and swing my feet to the floor, noting that I was still dressed in yesterday's clothes. I couldn't help but smile as I rubbed the hem of the shirt between my fingers. It was a baseball tee with navy sleeves that Max insisted was old and he didn't like very much to begin with, but I knew he was lying, because the fabric was incredible soft from having been washed probably hundreds of times. Plus, it smelled like sunshine and ocean breeze. Just like Max.

I made my way to the bathroom, washing my face and brushing my teeth with the supplies Max had set out and deciding not to linger to give myself a pump up speech, because I'd most definitely end up chickening out if I put this off any longer.