Chapter 42
Kas
The one day I decided to leave Mari alone and she disappears somewhere with Davina.
After yesterday, I gave her some space. And by space, I mean I allowed myself to sleep in until eleven a.m. and played video games all day.
Imagine my fear when I decided to finally check in on Mari and saw her bed empty and her trusty little tote bag gone. She poofed out of thin air and the only evidence of her being around today is an opened pot of hair gel with a toothbrush stuck inside of it—something she uses to make her baby hairs look all neat and swirly around her hairline.
I knocked on everyone’s door to try and locate them to find that they were the only two who didn’t answer. Even Violet and Devon answered theirs, though I interrupted them from activities I’d rather not imagine my best friend and his girlfriend doing.
I wipe away the sweat at my temple and work on calming my racing heart by inhaling through my nose and exhaling out of my mouth. I stay close to the back of the descending elevator as more people enter, wincing when the handrail digs into my lower back.
The adrenaline zipping through me is all too familiar. I haven’t felt it since I had to scour the signs of the hospital hallway after my mom got rushed to the ER after her seizure at work.
“Room nine, down the hall, to the right, first door on the left,” the nurse said. Sometimes, when it’s too quiet, I can still hear the ghostly rhythm of her heart monitor.
The elevator ding merges with my memory of the hospital beeps. My eyes snap open when the doors open and guests filter into the foyer. Their eyes linger on Dash, who is gesturing dramatically at a receptionist. I walk slowly to Violet and Devon who decided to come down while I did a second search of the other levels of the hotel.
“Please don’t charge me for the door,” Dash begs.
The hotel receptionist looks down her nose at Dash, her eyes full of disdain. “Sir, you destroyed our property.”
In a state of utter panic, Dash conducted forcible entry on Davina’s hotel door. There’s still no sign of either and we now have a damage charge to whoever’s card is on file—hopefully the SFL’s.
“A pregnant woman has gone missing and you’re acting like my behavior was unacceptable,” he whisper-shouts.
“We could’ve unlocked the door for you, sir.”
Already bored of Dash’s back and forth, I turn to Violet who is frantically doing something on her phone. “I messaged her, but we had nothing planned for the day. I thought she was with you guys,” she says.
“We haven’t spoken to each other all day. Things have been up in the air since Davina stepped away from the fight,” I say.
“What?!” Devon and Violet exclaim, their voices harmonizing.
They look at me like I’ve grown a second head.
“When?” Violet asks, her onyx eyes hard.
I moisten my lips and avert my eyes to the revolving entrance door. “Yesterday.”
“And you didn’t check on them all day?” Devon asks. “The sun has set!”
“I watched Davina enter her hotel room and I spoke with Mari yesterday before bed,” I argue. Devon and Violet share a look I don’t care to decipher. “I was giving everyone space.”
“Right, what’s going on? I was about to sleep.” Bill saunters across the foyer in the white bathrobe and slippers from his hotel room. He looks past us and into the parking lot. “And who has nicked my bastard van?”
He glances accusingly at each of us. The space the rusty vehicle once occupied is barren. Mari or Davina typically keep the keys as I give Bill a ride to the gym most mornings.
“Mari and Davina have gone missing, the receptionist is saying that they took the van,” Dash explains. “Though, knowing your van, it’s probably rolled away somewhere to die peacefully.”
Devon chuckles at Dash’s comment, familiar with the van considering he tries his best to fix it every time it tries to end its life.
“Missing?” Bill asks. “We saw them yesterday, I’m not surprised they’re not around if we’re not doing the fight.”
“What?!” Violet and Devon screech.
“You’re dropping out of the fight?” Devon asks, his green eyes narrowed angrily. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I give him a look as if to say “where the hell have you been for the past week,” and Dash gives him a rundown of the events as Violet tries to call Mari again.
“It hung up straight away this time, this is good,” she beams.
“How is that good?” I press.
“It means she had to select the option to hang up.”
“Again, how is that good?”
My phone lights up in my palm and Mari’s name is plastered across the screen. My heart thumps a little harder at the sight of it.
I answer and press the device to my ear. “Where are you?”
I strain my ears to listen to the background noise. All I can gather is that she’s driving based on the van’s churning engine.
“Don’t panic, I’m coming back to the hotel now. I had to take Davina to the hospital, been with her all day.”
Mari’s voice is light and breathless, and I can hear the smile in her words. It contradicts the panic in my gut that writhes and laces through my intestines like a frantic bug.
“Hospital?” I echo.
The chattering voices of all of us in the lobby quiet down. Even a couple of the receptionists are listening in, eager to know the outcome of where the hell Mari and Davina went.
“Oh god, she’s in labor, isn’t she? We’ve stressed her out and the baby wants out,” Dash frets.
Devon shoots Dash an annoyed look at his loud panic, and Bill places a toothpick into his mouth, fiddling with it to mask his worry.
“I’ll explain everything when I’m there. Davina is fine and not in labor.”
“Davina is fine and not in labor,” I say out loud to clear the air.
There’s a chorus of relieved sighs including mine, and the receptionists return to their admin.
“How long will—” The line drops. I glance between my phone and the eager eyes of the team, plus Violet and Devon. “She just fucking hung up on me.”
“What did she say?” Dash presses.
“She said she’s coming back now.”
I guess she means exactly now because I spot Bill’s van rolling into the parking lot.
Dash stands in front of me and I push him aside, heading to the front entrance of the hotel. I focus solely on Mari and her very impressive reverse park as I beeline it to the van. I yank open the driver’s door to find her looking at me with the biggest smile in the world.
Whatever I was going to complain about has completely erased itself from my mind and my entire body mellows at the sight of her—she’s okay.
“Hi!” she says. Mari looks like she’s been injected with new life.
My eyes travel over her oversized denim jacket and I meet her bright, gleeful gaze. She looks just as happy to see me too.
I sigh a breath of relief. “Hi.”
She winces when she scoots over to the edge of the seat so her legs are facing out of the van; I can’t imagine that the cracked leather on the seat is comfortable against her bare thighs in the shorts she wears.
With a smile, she looks over my shoulder to everyone else who has made an appearance outside of the van door. There’s a cacophony of noise as they start asking Mari where Davina is, what’s going on, why they both disappeared, why she didn’t answer her phone, why we’ve dropped out of the fight. It’s so chaotic that a few people going in and out of the hotel stop to see what’s going on.
“First of all!” Mari starts, cutting through the racket. “First of all, Davina is fine. She’s being monitored for her placenta previa.”
I nod, familiar with Davina’s complaints of being on pelvic rest.
“Well, what are we waiting for? Who’s riding with me? Which hospital is she at?” Dash asks, already unlocking his car from across the lot. “I’m not getting on Devon’s death trap,” he adds.
Devon scowls at Dash. “Didn’t want you to anyway.”
“But no visitors today,” Mari cuts in, looking firmly at Dash. “Her words, and I quote, were ‘tell them to fuck off and let me rest.’” We all nod, confident that Davina said that. Dash locks his car almost immediately after Mari’s recital of Davina’s orders. “But she did say she’d be cool with you guys visiting tomorrow, and you can message her, of course.”
Me, Dash, and Bill retrieve our phones. I send a quick message, Dash sends a voice note, and Bill speaks into his phone making use of his new favorite tool—speech-to-text.
I assist Mari out of the van by taking her wrist and bracketing her back with my forearm until she’s safely on the ground. She’s still reactive to me if her goose bumps are anything to go by. My skin reacts the same, set ablaze by her touch.
Violet’s and Devon’s gazes rest on my arm before sharing a discreet look between themselves when I tighten Mari against my side.
“I wanna do the fight, if you’re still down,” I whisper against the shell of her ear. “I’m being serious.”
“Would you still wanna do it if I was bossing you around?” She reaches inside of the van and pulls out her flimsy little tote.
I peek inside when she opens it. Davina’s Plan B planner is sitting at the bottom, covered by a tube of lip gloss and some stray teabags I recognize from the hotel.
Since becoming pregnant, Davina has a little notepad filled with everything anyone would ever need if she’s away at the hospital. Now, it’s landed itself into the deserving hands of Mari as she pulls it out.
Mari looks up at me with a wide smile and I give her my best one in return.
“I don’t know if I’d want to do it without you bossing me around,” I say, quiet enough for only her to hear.
My heart thunders in approval of my words.
“Yes! I fucking knew it wasn’t over!” Dash punches the air at the sight of the planner and starts jumping and clapping. “Manager Mari! Manager Mari!” he chants.
Nobody joins in.
“Dash, quiet down,” I say.
Dash’s claps come to a slow stop. We haven’t spoken one-on-one since our scrap, and he’s been keeping a wide berth out of guilt.
Mari fishes around in the back pocket of her shorts and holds out a dainty hand with two e-cigarette cartridges in her palm. “You wanna do the fight?” she asks Bill.
“You drive a hard bargain, Sunshine.” Bill’s smile answers for him.
After a motivational talk from Bill, we all head into the hotel. Each of us are engaged in various conversations, and my eyes remain on Mari all the while.
“Wait? Does Kas even want to fight? He said it wasn’t worth it,” Dash asks when we all bumble into the elevator.
“I changed my mind last night,” I say.
Dash swallows and avoids my eyes. “Thanks for informing us,” he grumbles.
Violet and Devon are both replicating each other’s stance. I don’t know if they’re aware of it, but they have their arms crossed and their chins propped up by their right hands. They both sigh at the same time and mindlessly look from Mari to me.
“What is up with you two?” I ask.
“Nothing,” Violet says and then shakes her head exasperatedly at Devon as if I’m the one being weird.
With brief goodbyes and good nights, we all return to our respective floors. I don’t get a chance to talk to Mari because she’s already unlocking the door to her room.
“Give me ten, I just need a moment to myself.”
She disappears and I watch her door shut. I don’t want to give Mari ten, I need her in my arms.
With a deep breath, I enter my room and check my phone to find that Mari’s cousin, Quinn, has sent me some messages. We’ve been in secret communication since I spoke to Mari at the fountains. I have to admit, enacting a secret plan to move Mari out of Isaac’s and keeping it from her has been a challenge. The most difficult part was remembering the password to access the gym’s employee records so I could find Quinn’s number in Mari’s emergency contacts.
Legal? Who knows. Necessary? Absolutely.
I was expecting pushback from Quinn, maybe a message about how disgusting my audacity is. Instead, she was more than agreeable and even let me know that Mari was struggling to find a place to rent; the places Quinn viewed for her were gross, apparently.
Together, we have everything we need to move Mari out of her place. Quinn has the knowledge of what stuff belongs to Mari, as well as a spare key to her apartment. I have the muscle of some trusted guys from the gym and a house to move everything into. All that’s left is to plan the date.
Quinn: Okay, so to avoid my mom finding out about this, I can ask her to drop me off at the gym to meet with your guys and we can move Mari out? Do they have a van?
I thought it was strange that Mari’s breakup and subsequent move out was kept away from her auntie. Having her family move her seemed like a valid solution until Quinn explained her mom’s autoimmune condition.
Me: The guys said they’re free with their van this week.
Quinn: PERF. I already moved some of her valuables out when she left for Vegas and Isaac was on vacation. I snatched them up the second he left. I love my spare key :)
Me: Nice one, Quinn. I’ll send more details later.
I smile down at my phone and lean across the bed to place it on charge. Mari’s footsteps approach the door between our rooms, and I rush in front of her when she swings it open.
“Okay, let’s—” she starts.
“I don’t wanna talk.”
I hook my hands under her silky thighs, and I hoist her so she is partly supported by the wall beside the door.
Her perfume pervades the air, and I waste no time burying my nose in the crook of her neck.
“Don’t fucking scare me like that again,” I whisper, framing her face with my hands.
My thumbs stroke the baby hairs pressed to the top of her forehead, confirming my assessment of the left-out hair gel I found earlier.
“I know, I was so caught up with Davina and nobody messaged so I just ...” Her eyes flicker to my mouth. “I’m sorry for scaring you. I—”
I interrupt her with a light kiss to her lips. “Doesn’t matter.”
She stutters out a breath and angles her head toward me, freezing when there’s a loud knock at my door.
“Kas, dude? It’s me.” Dash.
I roll my eyes, and Mari smirks as she positions herself behind my hotel door like some sort of spy. I open it to meet Dash’s pitiful gaze.
“Fuck!” he shouts, and I jerk back at his exclamation. He waves his hands apologetically and takes a deep breath. “Sorry, shit ...” He paces a small circle outside of my door and stops in front of me, pressing his hands together into a praying position on his chest. “I’m sorry for saying—”
“You don’t need to repeat it,” I interrupt.
Dash has terrible timing. I’m peeking around the door so that he doesn’t get a front view of my rock-hard cock visible through my shorts.
Dash shakes his head as if he’s not thinking straight. “See! I don’t even know how to fucking apologize properly.” He scratches the back of his neck. “I was angry, bitter, drunk from the night before, and frustrated. Bill just said all of that stuff and I thought I’d lie and say something to hurt you because Bill hurt me. I was hurt, so hurt, but I hurt you more ... and I’m sorry.”
The silent plea in his eyes and ruefully slouched shoulders tell me more than his bumbling words ever could. Even him turning up to my door in nothing but boxers shows that he’s decided to trot down from his room just to apologize without a second thought.
I haven’t known Dash for as long as I’ve known Devon, but I know him well enough that well-crafted apologies aren’t something he’s good at; he’s much more proficient in being his unfiltered self. He’s obviously sorry, and that in itself is easy to forgive.
I nod and clear my throat. “We’re good, Dash.”
His face brightens. “Seriously?”
“We’re good.”
Forgiveness is also easy to accept when there are other things taking precedence, like Mari’s lips.
“I mentioned your mom in an argument, Kas. I won’t repeat what I said, but holy shit, I deserved to get my ass beat.”
I stiffen at Dash’s reminder and slouch when he goes on some tangent about respecting women and how he’s making an active change in his life to be a better man. Long story short, Dash won’t fucking leave so that I can finish what I started with Mari.
“Dash—” I attempt to interrupt.
“The tattoo thing has scared the shit out of me, I can’t stop making mistakes, the biggest would be losing you as a friend.”
Before Dash can continue his speech, I grip the sides of his head with both hands and kiss each cheek, finishing up with a wet, chaste one on his forehead.
“I forgive you,” I say.
Dash blinks multiple times and then grazes the tip of his finger across his cheeks. “What the fuck, dude?”
“That was me forgiving you.”
He nods slowly, the movement hesitant. “Sure,” he says, wiping away the remnants of the smooch.
I don’t think I’ve ever left Dash speechless before. Mari must’ve heard the smacking of the kiss because she remains out of sight as she steps away from behind the door to giggle.
Dash’s head jerks back. “Is that a woman?”
“Um, yeah. Why?”
Dash glances at Mari’s external door and then back to me.
He gulps and looks around as if considering what he’s about to say. “I know I just apologized, and you’re probably going to get mad at me for this, but Mari has had a stressful day with Davina and this new manager stuff. Don’t you think it’s a little disrespectful to be bringing women over considering the circumstances? She’s right next door, dude.” Mari’s body shakes with silent laughter in my peripheral. “And I’m not saying you can’t fuck women here, I mean, I’ve been doing it an awful lot so I’m being a bit of a hypocrite when I say this ...” Dash pauses. “Just have some respect, man. I’m sure Mari doesn’t want to hear you fucking chicks all night.”
He huffs and shakes his head disappointedly.
“Sure,” I say, stepping forward to push Dash out into the hall.
Dash gives me one final wide-eyed look of warning, a silent reminder for me to consider what he’s said before stalking off with anxiety radiating off him in waves.
The second the elevator doors close, I slam my door shut and face Mari.
“We don’t need to keep us a secret,” she says with a smile.
I cinch her waist with my hands and pull her into me with a rough yank. “I know, but isn’t it fun?”
“ So much fun.”