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9
LAKEN
As I cross the foyer of the hotel, my lengthened strides more a jog than a walk, I wink at Lesley. Nothing can dampen my mood. Not the disdained grumble of James when he recalls me sending away the “packages” he organized for me last night, or the grilling I got from my parole officer when I sprinted into his office two minutes past our agreed time.
Not even River’s gripe when I asked him to man the entrance of the rooftop stairs for thirty minutes so I could attend my meeting before grabbing Nicole the caffeine fix she murmured about numerous times during our first intermission has drooped my smile.
I am on cloud fucking nine and dying to return to the rooftop responsible for the spring in my step.
I almost woke Nicole when the sun peeking through the canopy of the bed announced I had overslept. I was a shoulder shake away, but how do you explain to the woman who just rocked your world that if you didn’t make it across town in under ten minutes for a meeting with your parole officer, you’d end up back in maximum security prison, serving out the remainder of a sentence most murderers get?
It’s not a conversation I’m looking forward to, but it won’t occur until I’ve had the chance to prove I’m not the man my conviction claims I am. So instead of waking Nicole, I yanked back my hands, jotted down a note in her songbook to tell her I’d be back with coffee ASAP, then sprinted like my life depended on it.
As disclosed above, the race was almost lost, but a quick adjustment of my watch while waiting to hear if Officer Barker would see me after the agreed time paid off. I argued that the battery in my watch had gone dead during my incarceration, so I’d missed a connection bus. Since I don’t have money for a taxi, he believed my story.
He was still pissed, though. After demanding I get a cell to stay in contact, he handed me a cup and told me to use the bathroom in his office.
“If that comes back dirty, no number of lies will keep you out of lockup.”
I’m not going to lie. I was worried I’d get more pee on my hands than in the cup when the lowering of the pants Knox had delivered to the hotel wafted up Nicole’s womanly scent. Her decadent smell provoked an immediate response from my body.
I was hard in my parole officer’s bathroom.
I didn’t think matters could get worse.
Then a voice popped through the hole in the stall wall. “Can you spare some juice? My last lot came back positive.” I assumed he meant for drugs until he added, “That’s the last time I trust a bitch when she says she’s on birth control.” He stopped, made a noise I still can’t describe, then murmured, “Never mind. You look busy.” He rolled up a business card and slotted it through the hole his eye was peering through. “I get times are tough, brother, but you’re not supposed to still go it alone once you’ve left prison.”
When the card landed at my feet, it unrolled. The design matched the one I was handed last night when a prostitute promised she could assist me back to my room.
The redhead wouldn’t take no for an answer, so I rode with her in the elevator to my floor before climbing the emergency exit stairwell to the top floor.
I stumbled onto the hidden stairwell by accident. I was seeking the vending machine River had mentioned while boasting about the perks of the presidential suite. It was just outside the main stairwell hidden by a maintenance door.
Its lock was broken, but I’m a curious guy who had nothing but time on his hands.
Thank fuck.
Just imagining how differently last night could have gone if I had gone back to my room halves the lengths of my stride.
I only just enter the elevator before the doors shut at the request of River’s impatient thumb.
“What the hell, River? You’re meant to be manning the stairs for me.”
He scowls at me, disliking my language, before wrapping me up in a big, warm hug. He can’t converse with anyone without hugging them first.
After squashing the muffins wedged between us, he inches back. “I was, but Knox said you didn’t need me anymore.”
“Knox?” I double-check, my chipper mood slipping.
River didn’t stammer over his words. My blood is simply boiling too perversely to be sure I heard him right.
Even when we were teens, Knox saw me as his competition. He forever sniffed around the girls I was interested in hooking up with, seeking feelers on if they might pick him over me. It didn’t bother me in high school. I was young and stupid. But now… now I feel like going on a rampage.
He’s too late this time around. The verdict has already been decided, but since I’m not a man who kisses and tells, Knox doesn’t know that. He could be trying to schmooze Nicole as we speak.
“Jabbing it won’t make it go any faster,” River says with a chuckle when I stab the highlighted presidential suite button over and over again. “It will only get us stuck in here.” The reason for the annoyance in his tone makes sense when he says, “I left my tablet in my room, so you better quit pushing it. I don’t want to look at your face andonlyyour face for hours on end. I love you, Laken, and I missed you heaps, but a stud like me can only take in so much handsomeness in one day.”
His reply reminds me of the words we exchanged when he raided the mini bar in my hotel room. “Your tablet is on the bedside table inmyroom. Remember? You spilled coke on it, so we cleaned it with the hotel towels before showering.” I show him how the hairs on my arm are still sticky and standing on their ends.
