Page 51 of The Encore’s Crown

I force myself upright. The towel has twisted halfway around my waist and is barely performing its single assigned task. I grab the edge before it gives up completely, stagger across the room, and wrench the door open. Rithy is standing there dressed, showered, sunglasses tucked into the neck of his shirt, overnight bag hanging from one shoulder. His fist is still raised to knock again. The moment he sees me, his entire face changes. His mouth opens, then closes. Then opens again.

“Preah aey." (Oh my god)

I squint at him through one eye. “Good morning to you too.”

“You look…” His gaze travels from my hair to my bare chest, pauses on the marks at my neck, tracks the evidence of her teeth on my shoulder, and finally drops to the towel I’m holding together with one fist. “You look like death herself took you home, fucked you blind, then kicked you out before breakfast.”

“Very poetic.”

“Well, at least you're here to receive my poetic musings. I assumed you wouldn't be.”

“Why?”

His brows lift. I stare at him and he stares right back. Then his eyes flick toward the hallway, in the direction of Natalia’s room.

“Oh, ha ha,” I mutter. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Well, now you can stop the investigation. I'm here.”

Rithy leans one shoulder against the doorframe, far too comfortable for someone who is milliseconds away from being shoved into the corridor.

“You're here, but you still look like you lost a fight with a very small, very angry animal. If I had to guess, it's blonde, too. Species begins with an N.”

My hand moves instinctively toward the bite on my shoulder. Rithy’s eyes narrow and I drop it. He grins slowly. I hate that grin. That grin has known me since childhood. It knows where every body is buried, including mine. He lifts both hands.

“I’m not judging. I'm enjoying this more than I’ve enjoyed most things in my life, but I’m not judging.”

“Glad I could provide this morning's entertainment.” I tighten my grip on the towel. “Was there a reason for beating down my door, beyond the interrogation?”

His smile thins, some of the humor leaving it as he shoves his way into the room and closes the door behind him.

“We were supposed to be downstairs eight minutes ago.”

I turn my head toward the bedside clock. The numbers take effort to focus on, then my stomach drops.

“Fuck.”

I step back from the door and look around the wreckage of the room. Clothes on the floor, my phone left on the bathroom counter. Jeans half inside out near the shower. I have no bag packed. No clue where my shoes are. Rithy watches the realization move across my face and lets out a whistle.

“This is historic,” He says as he watches me start sprinting around around aimlessly. I grab a pair of boxers out of my suitcase, step into them, then drag a shirt over my head while crossing the room. He continues his fabled retelling of my past, like I wasn't there. “You haven’t overslept since Bangkok on the Ashes of Olympus tour. That was seven years ago.”

“I remember. I had food poisoning.”

“You're just proving my point.”

I grab my bag and throw it onto the bed. Charger, wallet, shirts, underwear. I sweep half the bathroom counter into my toiletry bag, miss, swear, then crouch to grab the things that hit the floor. Rithy leans against the wall, enjoying this far too much.

I point toward the door while I grab a pair of black jeans and pull them on, hopping once when my foot catches, “Out.”

He doesn’t move. His attention catches on my neck again, and this time the humor disappears almost completely.

“Brother.” The change in his voice makes me look at him as I zip my jeans. He folds his arms. “You can’t keep it a secret forever.”

“There's nothing to keep secret.”

“Bull and shit.”

I look away as I pretend at straightening my shirt, smoothing wrinkles that have no hope of disappearing. Rithy lowers his voice to an angry whisper.

“I saw you last night. On the plane. At dinner. On the bus. I saw the way she looked at you when she came back from that bathroom, and I saw the way you looked like your soul had been yanked out through your dick.”