Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 102781 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 514(@200wpm)___ 411(@250wpm)___ 343(@300wpm)
By the time we made it to dessert, I’d started to have trouble coming up with anything to say and mostly kept quiet. The fun I’d felt at the beginning of the evening was long gone, and I was anxious for the night to end.
When it finally did, we all stood around in the hotel lobby saying our goodbyes. Annalise waved one last time as the entire Star team exited the hotel, and then it was just the two of us. The smile she’d been sporting immediately morphed into an angry face.
“You are the most unprofessional person I’ve ever met!”
“Me? What the hell did I do?”
“You spent all night giving me the evil eye and glaring at Tobias.”
“Bullshit! I did not.”
She stilled for a moment and studied my face. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You really don’t even realize what you were doing.”
“I wasn’t doing shit.”
This woman was nuts. Maybe I’d been quiet, way less social than I’d normally be, but she was also sitting across the table from me.
“You were sitting in my line of sight. Where the hell did you expect me to look?”
“You were pouting and stewing like…like…you acted like a damn jealous boyfriend.”
“You’re nuts.”
“You’re impossible to work with.” She stormed off before I could say anything more, heading to the elevator.
I stood there a moment, trying to figure out where the hell she’d gotten me acting like a jealous boyfriend from. My adrenaline had spiked, and I knew there was no way in hell I was going to be able to sleep. So I decided to head back to the lobby bar and have a little liquid sleep assistance.
***
“You acted like a damn jealous boyfriend.” Her words kept swirling around in my mind, along with copious amounts of ten-year-old scotch.
After two drinks, I was definitely calmer. But I couldn’t shake everything that had gone down tonight. Things had started out well enough—the blue dress, her great tits. I’d been pretty composed when she arrived, even after our blowup in the car this afternoon. Watching her talk, watching her laugh, seeing the man sitting next to her stretch out and rest his arm around the back of her chair during appetizers. I couldn’t see his hand, but I imagined him trailing a finger along her back, thinking no one would be the wiser.
Except me. I knew.
I rattled the ice around in my glass and then gulped back the rest of my drink.
That fucking finger.
I wanted to break it.
How dare that bastard touch her?
The thing that crossed my three-quarters-of-the-way-to-drunk mind next seemed to come out of nowhere.
Keep your hands off my girl.
What the fuck?
Come again?
I laughed to myself, trying to shake off the ridiculous thought. It’s the alcohol talking.
Had to be.
Right?
Or…
Fuuuuuuck.
My head fell back against the top of the bar stool, and I stared at the ceiling for a minute, lost in thought. Everything started to click into place at rapid speed.
I shut my eyes.
Shit.
I was acting like a jealous boyfriend tonight.
But why?
The answer should’ve been obvious, even to someone as thick-headed as me. But it took two more drinks and until the bar started to close down to mull it over some more.
Once I’d figured it out, I decided to do something stupid…
Chapter 18
* * *
Annalise
Thump thump.
I rolled over and covered my head with the blanket.
A few minutes later, there was the sound again. Thump thump.
I ripped the cover down and sighed. What the hell time was it? And who the hell was banging? It didn’t sound like someone knocking.
Patting for my cell on the nightstand, I picked it up and pushed the on button. Bright light illuminated the pitch-dark hotel room and affronted my sleepy eyes. I squinted a glimpse at the time. 2:11 a.m.
I sighed. Must be people coming down the hall after the bars closed. I attempted to roll over and fall back asleep, but now my bladder had woken, too. On my way to the bathroom, I peeked out the peephole and peered down the hall as much as I could. It seemed to be empty now.
But the moment I climbed back into bed, it started again.
Thump thump.
What the hell? I shoved the covers down and climbed out of bed to check the peephole again. Nothing. But this time, while I was up on my tippy toes peering through, the thumping noise came again—and the door vibrated. I jumped back.
“Hello?”
A low voice said something from the other side of the door, but I couldn’t make out the words. I checked the peephole again, only looking down through the viewer this time. Hair. Someone was sitting in front of the door. My heart started to race.
“Who’s there?”
More mumbling.
I dropped down to their level and put my ear to the door. “Who’s there?”
I heard the distinct sound of laughter.
Was that?
I rose to the peephole and looked down as much as I could once again. The hair looked like his, too. But I couldn’t be certain. So I double-checked the safety chain lock before I slowly cracked open the door.