Chapter 17
brIELLE
Walking into my hotel room, I sigh through my frown.
I’m exhausted, disappointed, and my stomach has been turning since late this morning. After weeks of preparation, I feel like it all went out the window.
Dropping my purse on the desk in the room, I attempt to smile at the flowers that Ford had delivered while I was at day one of my Bar exam yesterday.
The last few weeks, I’ve studied my ass off, and I felt ready.
I was always going to stay in a hotel near the test location so I wouldn’t have to worry about the commute.
Of course, Ford took that as his cue to upgrade my room to a suite in a fancy hotel.
The idea was that after I finished my last exam today, Ford would meet me here for a little celebration and an extra night just us in a hotel room. But I’m not in the mood to celebrate.
I’ve failed. I know I have.
Yesterday, I killed it and felt my answers were on point for every question that I had to write out. Today? It started with my stomach bothering me, before I struggled to focus. In the end, I just filled out the multiple-choice answers not to leave anything blank, but my head was half absent.
I run my fingers along the card tucked between the roses.
You’ve got this. I’m proud of you.
Love you, Ford.
P.S. Connor loves you too, but the flowers were my idea because I plan on doing a few things to you later ; )
The sound of a keycard swiping on the door alerts me that Ford must have arrived only a minute or so after me.
Looking up, I see him swing the door open, drop his bag, and offer me his arms wide. “There’s my lawyer.”
Something inside of me cracks, and I run to him as tears fill my eyes.
I bury my face into his chest, and Ford freezes for only a second before his arms wrap around me, walking us back into the room.
I hear him kick the door closed, and he tucks my head under his chin to instantly soothe me, with his hand stroking my hair, before he plants a soft kiss on the top of my head.
“Shh, what’s going on?” His voice is soft as I weep in his arms, with the sound of his heart under my ear.
“I failed,” I mumble against his shirt that now has tears making a mess of the fabric.
“No, you didn’t.”
I pull back and sniffle. “I did, I froze. I mean, I purposely didn’t eat anywhere last night to avoid food poisoning, but my stomach started to feel weird, and then my head just went somewhere else.”
“Hey.” Ford attempts to catch my eyes with his. “Doesn’t mean you failed. You had a great day yesterday, and I’m sure it’s just stress that has you thinking this way.”
I shake my head sadly. “It’s not. I didn’t test well today, and without the minimum score, I fail.”
“Shh.” He pulls me back into a tight hug. “Don’t think about it now. It’s over.”
“All of this work for nothing,” I vent. “I didn’t even get to finish the exam properly. I blanked, and my answers weren’t even relevant.”
“I’m sorry, I wish you didn’t feel this way.
Come on, let’s lie down for a little bit.
” Ford takes my hand in his and guides me to the bed.
He lies down, and I follow his move, and he invites me to rest my head against his chest. It takes not even a second before his hands coast over my arms to ease me.
I sniffle again and feel dizzy from the array of emotions swirling inside of me.
“There is nothing you can do now except wait for the facts. Try and take your mind off it.”
“It’s really hard,” I say, my voice cracking. “I was so close, and now I’m still not there.”
Ford kisses my forehead, and his hand adjusts my hip so I’m hooked over his middle. “You’re still close. You can retake the exam.”
I scoff. “Yeah, in February.”
“Elle, it’s going to be okay.”
I muffle another cry and give up on talking about it. I don’t want to talk about it.
“I guess we have nothing to celebrate.” I hiccup through my cry.
Ford rolls me to my back, hovering over me with a burning gaze. “Everything will work out the way it needs to. Have faith in that.”
I nibble my bottom lip. “Hopefully.”
“I can think of other reasons to enjoy tonight together.” His long finger sneaks inside the buttons of my dress to caress my skin.
“I’m happy you’re here, I am. I had planned to surprise you on the bed with the lingerie from Piper’s boutique, but you arrived to a hot mess instead.” I must have mascara running, snot dripping from my nose, and my face is puffy for sure.
Ford trails kisses down my throat, taking every drop of sadness with him, his lips purposely following the path of my tears.
“You’re beautiful as always, and we can just order room service and watch a movie.
You feel a little warm, to be honest.” His hand starts to pat my forehead, checking for a temperature.
“Great, failed the bar and ruined our planned night of debauchery.”
He chuckles under his breath, plants a quick kiss on my lips, and gets up off the bed. “By all means, explicitly tell me every detail of what you had planned, but let me run you a bath first.”
“I like that ide—” I’m unable to finish my sentence as I feel the need to gag, and I sit up, only to confirm that I need to throw up.
I run to the bathroom and heave until my insides are emptied into the toilet. I don’t even notice my surroundings the next few minutes or that Ford followed and sits on the floor next to me, holding my hair and rubbing my back.
Flushing the toilet, I hang off the seat, slumped on the floor.
“This is the least romantic night we could have planned,” I groan.
“Elle, we’ve been here before. Remember? It was impossible to hide your pregnancy from your parents because of your morning sickness,” he remembers with a gentle wry smile, then he studies me for a second. “We’re not…”
“No, I’m not pregnant.” I had my period last week.
“Okay, how about I get that bath going?”
I nod once, unable to move much more.
Fifteen minutes later, I’m in the tub with Ford. He washes my back with a sponge while I try to relax. The pain in my stomach has returned, but this time it feels stabbing.
“If today wasn’t like this, then what would we have done?” I wonder.
Ford leans back in the tub, and I rest between his legs.
“We would never leave the room. I would have taken my time with you before we only stopped to have dinner for energy. After I had you in a state where you couldn’t move, we would talk about what comes next with us. I might have had a gift for you.”
I interlace our fingers and marvel at how perfectly we fit together. “A gift?” I raise my brow.
“You still deserve it; I’ll give it to you when we are dry and wrapped together under the blankets.”
“Now I’m curious.” Although I think it’s probably jewelry, that’s Ford’s thing.
His other hand is underwater, and even feeling sick, the sensitivity of his fingertips gliding up my thigh combined with the water makes me aroused, and he isn’t even trying.
My legs part open, wanting more of his touch, but a wave of dizziness hits me, and my head falls back onto Ford’s shoulder as I close my eyes.
“I hope I don’t make you sick with my flu.”
“I’d take it ten times over if it meant you feel better.”
“So sweet,” I tease. “This is kind of a challenge. Being in a bath with you, naked, and I can’t do very dirty things to you.”
“Dirty, you say?” He groans into my ear just as his hand travels up my thigh, getting dangerously close to my pussy.
“I would have let you explore tonight.” My tone dances, and I wait for his filthy thoughts to take over.
His fingers dig into my thigh, holding on for dear life. “Fuck,” he grits out. “Everywhere, huh?’
“Everywhere,” I reiterate. “If you tell me what my gift is, then maybe I will tell you how I would have used my mouth.”
“You have tricks, Elle.” He’s amused. “But I wouldn’t have let you lead, and you know that.” Ford’s lips brush along my cheekbone. “I would let you suck me the way you enjoy but only while you sit on my face because I’m always starving for your pussy.”
The bath, this flu, or Ford. One of them is the culprit for the extreme heat wave flowing through my veins.
To make matters worse… “I’d do it while you wear an upgraded ring that’s burning a hole in my pocket,” he adds.
Bingo. That’s my gift.
I glance over my shoulder and see he is satisfied with breaking the news to me. “I haven’t bothered you about it since you gave it back, but make no mistake, I haven’t forgotten.”
“That’s a big discussion. But by all means, I should consider your proposition and standpoint.” I toy with him and even reach up over my head to hang off his neck before he kisses me on the lips. My entire body stretches out, with bubbles failing to cover me.
“I think,” he pulls away, “that we should head to bed, rest, or maybe I lay you down and relax you. You can’t lift a finger.” Ford kisses me once more then encourages me to scoot up so he can stand, and the sound of water moving fills the room.
Ford grabs a towel to wrap around his taut waist and heads into the other room. I step out of the tub, grab the terrycloth robe, wrap it around my body, and then my world alters.
A pain as sharp as the day I labored Connor hits me. Gripping the sink mantel for support is useless because I fall to the floor, and my world goes dark.