Chapter 24 #2
“You too,” I reply to Chloe’s hasty retreat as I pull my phone from my pocket.
My suspicions are confirmed a heartbeat later.
Chloe did text me again last night, and the thread was opened, because there’s no telltale bubble next to her name.
Shit, Harlyn saw the message, and who knows what else.
Is this why she was a little cold last night?
A spike of anger has me clenching my jaw.
Why the hell would she go through my phone?
“I was texting Parker when she messaged you. I didn’t mean to hit the notification when it popped up.
I really didn’t, but I did scroll back through your messages.
” She actually shrugs like it’s no big deal, but it’s a huge violation.
My anger grows. Last night she even asked if it was okay to use my phone, like she cared what her invasion could mean for me, but clearly that was bullshit.
“I—”
“I’m sorry, I know it was wrong, and boy do I wish I didn’t see it, but I did.” Her interruption and confession do nothing to calm my irritation.
“Are you done?” We need to go. I can’t have this conversation here. When she just stares at me blankly, I urge, “Harlyn, are you done?” while nudging the tray to show her my meaning.
She jerks into action, grabbing the trash and taking it inside. “You guys leaving?” a voice asks the moment I come to my feet. I answer by walking away from the table.
Even mad, I’m still unbelievably aware of Harlyn when she joins me on the sidewalk.
I’m also aware of the fact that she’s keeping some distance between us.
A twinge of guilt tries to eat away at my anger, but I squash it.
She has to know what she did was more than wrong and there are consequences.
Even if I had a different job and her looking through my phone wasn’t a security matter, it would still be wrong. We barely know each other.
I let the indignant anger I’m feeling make my steps longer, faster, until I realize she’s falling farther and farther behind.
When I stop and scan the street behind me, I get an unintentional look at her face.
The slight curl to her lip and straight forward gaze tells me I’m not the only one who’s pissed.
What the hell does she have the right to be mad about?
And for that matter, why was she weird last night after seeing the message?
It isn’t like I made plans to meet up with Chloe.
As soon as she’s within grabbing distance, I resume walking, but this time I keep my pace a little slower.
We make it to the car much faster, since there was no meandering sightseeing, and I climb behind the driver’s seat.
Harlyn pauses with her hand on the door handle, as if she’s contemplating not getting in.
I stand up and look at her over the top of my vehicle. “Get in, Harlyn, we need to talk.”
She blinks once slowly, then opens the car door and lowers herself into the seat with more grace than I could manage on a good day, let alone one where I’m aggravated. When both doors are closed, I don’t waste any time getting on the road.
“Well?” she inquires several blocks from my apartment.
“Well?” My mimic of her words comes out incredulous.
“You said you wanted to talk.” She crosses her arms over her chest while staring straight ahead.
“You clearly knew my phone wasn’t open for perusal.”
“I did,” she agrees flatly.
“Then why the hell did you do it?” I’m not being loud, but my voice is definitely hard.
“I told you, opening the thread was not intentional, but kill me, I got pretty damn curious when it accidently opened it to find you offering a rain check to what was clearly a hookup.” She turns to look at me now, and a weird feeling swirls in my gut.
“So excuse me for being curious about the man I just slept with making arrangements to be with someone else.”
“I wasn’t making arrangements!”
“Okay…” She shakes her head, and if I could see her face, I would bet she also rolled her eyes.
“I wasn’t.” I sound defensive, because I am. Saying rain check didn’t mean I was actually going to cash it in.
“Got it.”
“You don’t believe me.” It’s a statement, not a question.
“Just like you don’t believe that I didn’t click the notification on purpose.” Her tone is flat again, but she has me there. I didn’t even take her response into consideration.
“You already admitted to reading back through the messages,” I accuse instead.
“Yup, I did,” she agrees.
That comment and her defeated posture take a little wind out of my pissed off sails.
“Wait…” She leans forward and peers out the window. “Drop me here.”
“What?” I tap the brakes before realizing what she’s asking, but then I continue on. “I’m not dropping you off.”
“Ah, yeah, you are. There’s a hotel right there. I’ll call Liv to get me a room. I’m sure you can still call in that rain check.”
“Absolutely not! I’m not letting you run off and get killed over something stupid.” I hate the words as soon as they are out of my mouth, but I’m still too angry to take them back.
“Something stupid?” she asks herself softly. There’s a short pause that I could try to fill with reason, but my tongue is tied now, and I don’t know what to say. “Listen, I’m not your problem. I appreciate everything you’ve done, but… yeah, that’s it. Thanks, but no thanks. I want to get out now.”
“Harlyn, don’t be crazy.”
She turns her head and gives me a dagger of a glare before her mouth hardens into a tight line.
Damn it, I shouldn’t have said that, but instead of saying sorry, I try to make her understand where I’m coming from.
“The man who killed your sister could also have tabs on your friend, meaning if she got a hotel for you, then he could know exactly where you are.”
“Then I will have Parker or any other fucking stranger get it for me, but it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s not like he can magic himself here. By the time he got all the way to D.C., I’d be gone. Stop the car, Special Agent Landry, I want out.”
My anger and defensiveness thin a little until the smallest bit of remorse worms its way into my thoughts, or maybe it’s the thought of her leaving and calling me Special Agent Landry that makes me feel a whole lot less irritated.
I pull into the next hotel’s valet line, which is thankfully empty for the time being.
As I put the car in park, Harlyn lifts the door handle to get out.
I reach for her left arm and gently wrap my fingers around her elbow.
She doesn’t rip her arm away, but she doesn’t turn back around to acknowledge me either, so I’m forced to tell her back, “I’ll get the hotel. ”
She stiffens slightly before replying, “I will pay you back.”
I don’t respond to that, because I’m not planning on letting her, even though I hate the thought of forking over a couple hundred dollars for the night when she could just stay at my place.
Harlyn finally tugs her arms free when a man in an ill-fitting uniform approaches her side of the car. “Checking in or dropping off?” he inquires.
“Checking in.”
“Dropping off,” we both say at the same time. Harlyn’s face is flushed red, concealing her freckles, but I don’t know if it’s due to misplaced embarrassment or if she’s just upset. “He won’t be staying long.”
The valet pokes his head through the passenger door. “Go ahead and pull up to the check-in area.” He points to an area a little farther down and out from under the canopy.
I lean over a little and mutter so only he will here, “I’m staying.”
His mouth curls up on one side, and he winks. “Call down with a room number, and I’ve got you.”
I glance over at Harlyn, who’s moved closer to the roundabout door, so I don’t have to worry she overheard the valet. “Thanks.”
I curse under my breath when I park the car, leaving the keys in it, and look to find Harlyn gone. I’m angry again, but not for the same reason. This time it’s because she’s making me worry.
I enter a lower vestibule, filled with too much glass and opulence, but it’s what people pay for, then I climb up the wide marble steps to the lobby proper.
It only takes a second to spot Harlyn, who looks a little out of place in her leggings and sweatshirt, though she makes them look good.
She’s speaking to a guy who looks closer to her age than I am behind the registration counter.
Her smile, though imitated, is no less effective, proof of which is evident by the man extending his cell phone over to her seemingly without a second thought.
The bending of her lips this time is genuine when she gives him an appreciative grin. The attendant smirks when Harlyn looks down to presumably dial a number. I walk up right behind her, getting way closer than I have any right to in the moment and say, “Did you request our room, sweetheart?”
Harlyn’s shoulders tighten as she brings the phone up to her chest, shrinking. I’m not exactly sure what I said that bothered her—well, in truth the entire question was shitty, and it gave the exact impression I wanted it to, but her reaction was telling.
“I was going to try Liv, but it’s okay.” She extends the phone back to the man who furrows his brow before accepting it.
“Are you sure? I don’t mind.” The guy glances at me briefly, not making eye contact or even offering much resistance if Harlyn really was in a bad situation, which is the way it might seem to someone watching from the outside, because she doesn’t seem happy to see me.
“Yeah, I don’t want to get her into trouble,” she admits then moves away from me and the counter.
“I need a room.”
The guy finally looks at me then around as if he’s questioning what he should do. “She’s mad at me. I said something stupid,” I confess so he will move things along, but it’s the truth too, even if I don’t want to admit it.
“She seems pretty pissed. You should have seen her face when you called her sweetheart,” he replies conversationally, as if my lame excuse is more than acceptable. “King?” He lifts one eyebrow suggestively.
“I… No.” I shake away the temptation. I’m not going to force her to sleep next to me. At least this way I can make an excuse as to why I should stay.
“Your loss.”
His words trigger something in me, making me remember the text from Chloe.
Would I have been able to ignore a text like that from someone of the opposite sex on her phone?
I get pissy, and not for the reason I should.
I get pissy because I know the answer. If I would have seen messages on her phone like the ones she saw on mine, I wouldn’t have been able to pretend everything was okay last night.
I would have demanded to know right then what the hell was going on.
She didn’t. Does that mean she didn’t care or was she too afraid to say something and worry I would ditch her?
“I’ll need an ID,” he says, already two steps ahead of me.
We go through the motions, and I sign the credit card receipt for way too much money before he hands me a small pamphlet with two key cards tucked inside.
I slide one into my front pocket before I turn around and find Harlyn with her back to me, staring out into the glass atrium.
I approach slowly, but she still shifts to look over her shoulder as if she can easily sense me. She eyes me then the colorful paper in my hand.
“I can give you your money back as soon as my card gets delivered.” She tucks her hair behind her ear nervously.
“It should be delivered to your apartment in a day or two. Bad planning on my part,” she states sheepishly.
“I’ll get a hold of Liv once I get to the room to take care of everything else until I can get out of here.
If you wouldn’t mind, please leave the mail at the concierge desk or somewhere I can get it.
” Her face is even redder as she rambles, and the last vestiges of anger I had leave me until I feel like utter shit.
“Harlyn,” I start.
“Thank you again. I really mean it. You’ve done…
Gosh, this is selfish to ask, but if you could still find a way to look into Hayzel’s case, that would be…
” She swallows roughly. “Or hand it off to someone else, that would be really great.” She’s fighting tears.
It isn’t the first time I’ve seen her cry, but it’s the first time it feels like it’s my fault.
My throat is tight, so I end up just staring at her as her heart tears open in front of me. She’s the first to break eye contact when she glances around, probably looking for an escape.
I need to get her up to the room without an argument or it seeming like I’m forcing her to do something she doesn’t want me to in the middle of the hotel lobby.
“There are some logistics we should probably talk about. I’ll see you to the room.
” It’s not a question, and I think I know Harlyn well enough to understand she’ll go along with it if she thinks it will help her sister’s case.