From Arrest to Awkward

Two weeks had passed since Johana’s almost-arrest, and life had finally started to return to normal. She no longer felt the need to peek around corners like she was being hunted by a particularly grumpy predator. The jokes from her friends had subsided (for the most part), and she had stopped waking up in a cold sweat reliving her drunken antics in the back of Aiden Lockhart’s patrol car.

Work at the clinic had been smooth sailing this week, with no particularly wild cases—no mysterious rashes, no people walking in with foreign objects lodged in places foreign objects should never be. She even managed to get off early, giving her time to run some errands before heading to a pre-trip gathering with some friends. The weekend trip itself wasn’t her dream vacation—she preferred beaches and sun, not more cold—but she’d take what she could get. And hey, there was talk of a hockey game, which could be fun. She just hoped none of her friends’ husbands’ friends turned out to be total weirdos.

Feeling productive, she decided to swing by the grocery store to pick up something to bring to the gathering. It was her daily routine at this point—she never bought in bulk because she changed her mind about what she wanted to eat every 24 hours. The store attendants basically knew her by name, and she was fine with that. What she wasn’t fine with, however, was what—or rather, who—she spotted as she browsed the produce aisle.

There, standing like some ominous storm cloud near the apples, was none other than Aiden Lockhart.

Johana froze mid-reach for a fruit tray, her brain short-circuiting. Aiden, meanwhile, looked up at the exact wrong moment, locking eyes with her. His expression was pure exasperation, like the universe had personally wronged him by orchestrating this encounter. Hers, on the other hand, was one of sheer panic.

Without thinking, she dropped the fruit tray like it had personally insulted her and bolted out of the aisle at a speed that would have impressed Olympic sprinters.

Aiden blinked, watching as she practically fled the scene of the crime. Did she just… run away from me? That was new. The last time they met, she had been all up in his space, flirting shamelessly while handcuffed. Now, she looked like she wanted to tunnel out of the store rather than be in his vicinity.

Curious.

He wasn’t sure why, but he suddenly found himself very interested in seeing where this went.

Unfortunately for Johana, fate (or bad luck) had other plans. Just as she made it to the checkout line, the universe conspired against her and placed Aiden Lockhart directly behind her.

Johana, pretending she was a well-trained FBI agent, kept her gaze locked straight ahead, determined to act like he simply did not exist. Aiden, on the other hand, was having way too much fun with this.

“What’s wrong with you?” he asked, his tone amused.

Johana grumbled. “What do you mean?”

Aiden tilted his head, feigning innocence. “I mean, why did you just run away like I’m some sort of horror movie villain?”

Johana groaned. “Can we not do this? Let’s just pretend like we don’t know each other.”

Aiden chuckled. “That’s funny, because last time we met, you were basically promising to hunt me down. I believe the exact opposite of this was happening.”

“Seriously,” Johana hissed. “Drop it. I wasn’t myself that night—I had way too much to drink and said things that I heavily regret. So, if we could just forget that whole night happened, that would be great.”

Aiden smirked. “Ahhh, there’s the fire! So what you’re saying is, if you were sober, you wouldn’t kick off a bar brawl and then flirt with the guy who was about to arrest you?”

Johana clenched her jaw, her cheeks burning. “Oh my god, can this line hurry up?!”

Aiden was thriving. He had never seen someone oscillate so violently between absolute mortification and fiery irritation, and he was enjoying every second of it. He was beginning to understand why Johana had had so much fun annoying him that night—it was hilarious.

“Okay, okay,” he relented, grinning. “I’ll erase that night from my memory. We can pretend it never happened. Happy now?”

Johana’s eye twitched. “I’d be happier if I never ran into you in the first place.”

Aiden outright laughed at that, which only seemed to irritate her further.

“What is so funny?” she snapped.

Aiden shook his head, still laughing. “Isn’t it hilarious? I was doing everything in my power to avoid you, and all this time, you were hoping to never see me again.”

Johana narrowed her eyes, then made a split-second decision. Without another word, she placed her chips and dip off to the side of the counter, muttered a hasty apology to the cashier, and fled the store like she was escaping a crime scene.

Aiden, still chuckling, shook his head as he watched her go. He couldn’t quite figure her out—one moment, she was a wild hurricane of chaos, and the next, she was a flustered, stammering mess.

One thing was for sure, though: the universe clearly had a sense of humor, and for some reason, it kept throwing Johana Ruiz back into his orbit.

And honestly?

He wasn’t entirely mad about it.