Page 85 of The Other Room

Son of a bitch.

“You didn’t,” I grumbled.

He nodded. “I did.”

“Well, shit! Now she’s really going to think I’m a stupid, cheating bastard!”

“Sorry about that, man. I just thought... well, you know what I thought. And I was pissed as hell you were doing that to Jake again. I didn’t know about Jo.” He paused, shaking his head. “You and Jo? Really? That’s so awesome, man!”

“Well it was awesome until about fifteen minutes ago. Now, can you help me? I have to get to Jo.”

“You got it. Tony’s still sober. He can help get them back if we need to drive. Where are they staying?”

“I have no idea. Hey, you,” I said to the tall one who seemed most coherent. “Where is your hotel?”

“I dunno.” She shrugged.

“Is it close to here? In Sister Bay?” I asked, trying to keep my desperation to get back to Jo from coming out as barks.

“I think so. It’s like on a hill or something.”

“Are there any landmarks nearby you can think of?”

“Um?” She twirled her hair. “I think it’s right near that bar we were at with a garage or something.”

“The Garage Bar! Good! That’s right up the hill from here. Were you across the street?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

“Village View Inn,” Aaron and I said in unison.

“Okay. We’re going to show you how to get back.”

Excited to get Nikki out of my arms and on her way, I started to let my thoughts travel to Jo. How I would explain this to her and stop the runaway train of relationship-ruining thoughts I knew were tumbling through her mind.

“Can you girls walk?” I asked.

They shrugged and nodded, but a few looked nearly ready to topple over like Nikki. She still lay suspended in my arms, mumbling nonsense as she twirled her fingers through my hair.

As much as I wanted to point them in the right direction and run after Jo, I knew they would never make it back to their hotel without help. With a grumble, I said, “Here’s the deal. We’re gonna walk you girls back to your hotel to make sure you get there safely. But we leave now.” I turned my attention to Aaron. “Get Tony. We’re gonna need all three of us to make sure they don’t stumble into the road and get smoked by a car or wander off the wrong way and fall into the lake.”

Aaron pulled out his phone and typed away while I took one last glance around the bar looking for Jo. But now knowing what Aaron had said to her on top of what she’d witnessed, there wasn’t a chance in hell she’d stuck around. It would have sent most women running, and for someone with trust issues like Jo, I knew she was long gone.

“Okay, he’s on his way from the parking lot,” Aaron said as he put his phone away. “DJ! We’ll be right back!”

“I’ll keep your tab open!” DJ called as he sped past.

“All right, ladies,” I said while I bounced Nikki up for a better grip. “You all need to follow us back to your hotel.”

Tony appeared and looked stunned by the gaggle of girls teetering around us.

“My girlfriend is not gonna be pleased with me,” he said as he slung his arm around the waist of one.

“Yeah. I know what you mean,” I grumbled. “But we can’t just leave them, so let’s get this over with.”

“Come on, ladies. Move it along, move it along.” Aaron got behind them and herded them behind me. Like a herd of reluctant cattle, they argued every step of the way, but Aaron kept them moving along. Nikki mumbled some nonsense while we made our way through the crowd, but all I could think about was what Jo must be feeling right now.

All I’d wanted was to make sure I never gave her a reason to question my love for her, and yet in less than twelve hours I’d managed to shake us to the core. To hurt her. To make her doubt me. Everything I’d never wanted to do.