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I blinked, confused. “Uhm…I’m sorry. What?”
“Please feel free to let me know if there’s anything else you want. It will all be added to Mr. Gentry’s tab.”
“Mr. Gentry?” I said, dumbfounded.
Joe eyed me suspiciously. “I thought you said you were a friend of his.”
I swallowed. “I am. I mean, do you mean…?” I paused for a moment, trying to recall the fake name Preston was going by. “Tobias Gentry?”
Joe nodded. “Yes.”
I gave a nervous laugh, realizing that Joe was looking at me as if something was wrong. Not wanting to raise any additional suspicion, I waved my hand. “Pardon me. I thought…I mean, I know someone else named…Gentry. I, uhm…Don’t mind me, Joe. It was a long evening. That will be all. I don’t need anything else. Thank you.”
Joe nodded again, although he still looked somewhat suspicious as he left the room.
I hurriedly closed the door behind him and flopped down onto the bed, my head spinning.
There was no way Preston could have anticipated running into me last night, so why would he have already checked into the hotel under a fake name? It just didn’t make sense.
I stared at my food, suddenly not feeling as hungry anymore.
Tobias Gentry? Was Preston taking this faked identity thing too far, or was he really not Preston?
Shit.
CHAPTER 8
Tobias
My speech to the business and entrepreneurship students at Hullen Prep had gone far better than I could have ever imagined, and so had my overall visit.
“Please, Tobias, don’t be a stranger,” Headmaster Greene said as he walked me out of the school building, shaking my hand.
“I won’t. I promise I’ll keep in touch,” I said, with intentions to stay true to my word.
Headmaster Greene smiled. “Good. I’ll hold you to it. And don’t forget to bring Anderson with you next time!”
“Will do,” I said, and then headed to the Uber driver waiting for me.
As my driver headed down the road, my thoughts inevitably returned to Scarlet, wondering if she was still at the hotel waiting for me.
Hoping she was still there waiting for me…
All right, don’t get in over your head, I warned myself.
Yet, I couldn’t shake Scarlet from my mind, especially after the sketchy comment the Headmaster had made about her. The more I thought about it, the more unsettled I felt. I knew Headmaster Greene well enough to know that he wasn’t the type to criticize someone just for the hell of it. And although he could certainly be tough on his students, it had never been with malicious intent. Headmaster Greene’s strictness was always due to wanting what was best for his students.
So what could have made him judge Scarlet Kale so harshly?
I’d been tempted to question him further on the matter, but he had seemed so uncomfortable, I’d found myself unable to go through with it.
All I knew was that from what little time I’d spent with Scarlet, she had seemed like a pretty amazing woman. Not to mention she was a lot of fun. Questionable history aside, I wasn’t ready to part ways with her just yet. I wanted to know more about her, and I wanted to spend more time with her, if only for a little while.
Thinking about the night we had spent together, my patience waned thin. Waiting to get back to the hotel to find out if she was still there suddenly felt like more than I could stand.
I pulled out my cell phone and began scrolling through my contacts. While I certainly remembered a good portion of the previous night, some parts of it had grown fuzzy. Consequently, I wasn’t sure whether Scarlet and I had actually exchanged numbers. But then her name appeared toward the end of my contacts list. I breathed a sigh of relief.
I stared down at my phone, trying to figure out what I wanted to say. The uncertainty made me feel like an adolescent all over again. Conflicted, I wanted to hear her voice, but I also felt nervous about calling her for some reason. Deciding to text her instead, I finally typed: Hi Scarlet. How are you? I’m done at Hullen, and I was wondering if you’d like to join me for dinner tonight?
