Chapter 4 Mabel
MABEL
My body aches with exhaustion as I climb out of the rented SUV and walk into the hotel.
The Heartless jet is as comfortable as they come, but the flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne is always killer.
I need a shower and a bed ASAP, and from the look of everyone else, I’d say they’re in the same boat.
The I need at least forty-eight hours to feel human again boat.
I’m so grateful we don’t play until Thursday.
My eyes rise to find Hammond’s back as he leads us through the lobby and toward the elevator.
My clothes are wrinkled, my hair is mussed, and I’m certain my makeup is smudged despite the touchup I did before deplaning, but Ham looks fresh as a spring daisy.
Sixteen hours on a plane and not even his bespoke slacks have creases, let alone his suit jacket.
I’m sure his beard is still perfectly manicured as well. Sorcery, I swear.
Then my attention falls to the woman beside him. Aurora. She’s a curious thing, wearing her blue gingham dress and clutching that white porcelain planter. Replace the planter with a small dog, and she’d look like she was on her way to Oz. Fitting, actually, considering the situation.
I remember Ham saying once that she’s his brother’s daughter, and while Aurora’s hair is blonde to his brown, I can still see the family resemblance.
Apparently, the family has some good genetics in the appearance department.
They have the same hazel green eyes. The same full lips. The same high cheekbones.
But where Ham’s face could be carved from marble for how little his expression changes, Aurora’s plays out like a film reel. I’ve never seen so many emotions pass over a face in such quick succession until our brief interaction on the jet.
Fear. Shock. Excitement. Interest. Embarrassment.
The memory of how pink she turned has my mouth curving up at the corners. If she doesn’t get that under control, teasing her will become Ezra Hawke’s new favorite pastime. He’s a shameless flirt, and I can tell Aurora would be fun to flirt with.
Stepping out of the elevator onto our private floor, Ham starts handing out our room assignments and keycards.
Aurora is down the hall in her own room.
Jonah, Claire and Teddy are in one. Sav, Levi, Brynn, Zigster, and Red are sharing a suite, and Callie is rooming with Torren despite the rest of Caveat Lover being on a separate floor.
Ham sent the boys ahead of us with their own security guards, and I have a feeling it was to prolong the inevitable introductions with his niece. I laugh to myself at the thought. I hope I’m around when they finally meet. It’s sure to be entertaining.
I’m taking my keycard from Ham when Aurora comes walking back to him with hers, planter clutched to her chest just like it’s been since LA.
I let my eyes scan over her. Her dress is rumpled, the curls in her blonde hair have fallen flat, and her makeup has worn off almost entirely, but even in the dimly lit hotel hallway, she’s pretty.
Beautiful, even. Softer than before, less tense.
Her nerves must have calmed some. Conquered by exhaustion, no doubt.
“Uncle Wade, can I ask you something?”
A ghost of a smile passes over Ham’s face. “What do you need, Aurora?”
“Can I get a new room? East or south facing, preferably? I don’t mind being on a different floor if necessary.”
Ham’s eyebrow lifts, his head tilting to the side slightly. “Care to tell me why?”
She hesitates and flicks her eyes to me. I smile, and she looks quickly back to Hammond.
“I need better lighting. My room is too dark. East or south facing, if possible. Please.”
For her orchid, I realize. She needs better lighting for her orchid. I check the number on my keycard, then scan the hall for my door.
“Mine might work,” I say, glancing back between the two of them. “I haven’t been in it yet, though. Want to come check?”
Her hazel eyes grow wide, and she bounces them to me, then back to Ham. He shrugs.
“Check it out, Roar. If it’s good for your plant, you can swap.”
Roar.
I like that. I also like that Hammond knew her request was plant-related.
Every time I learn something new about our manager, it’s like picking at an outer layer of an onion.
I know there’s so much more to him—we’ve all seen glimpses of it in the years we’ve been together—but he’s too good at playing a one-dimensional business drone ninety-eight percent of the time. Sometimes I almost forget he’s human.
I look back to Aurora.
“C’mon. I’m over here.”
She flushes pink, the contrast making her eyes sparkle, and she follows me to my room. I push open the door and make a sweeping gesture with my arm.
“After you.”
She shuffles past, and my phone buzzes just as I shut the door behind me. I pull it from my skirt pocket to find a text from Kat.
Kat
I got the ambassadorship!
I smile immediately. She wanted this so badly, and it looks like her attendance at the event sealed the deal.
Then my happiness mixes with guilt. I shouldn’t have gotten so upset about it.
It’s her job, after all. She’s never expected me to skip a show.
I shouldn’t have whined about her going to a brand event.
Me
I’m so happy for you! Was it fun?
Kat
So much fun. My dress was divine.
Me
Pictures?
When she doesn’t answer, I swipe out of the text thread, open a browser window, and search her name.
Within a fraction of a second, photos of my girlfriend fill the screen in a sexy, low-back, yellow dress and sky-high, glittery stilettos.
She’s right. The dress is divine, but the photos only sour my mood.
There’s not a single photo without Kaz. Red carpets and posed pictures are bad enough, but even the candid ones are tainted by him. His hands never leave her body. Her waist, her arm, the small of her back, dipping into the fabric so his fingers are just above the curve of her ass.
How much lower did they slip when the cameras weren’t flashing?
“This is perfect.”
My ears tune in to Aurora’s voice, but my eyes stay on the phone, doomscrolling through photos of my girlfriend being felt up by a man half the world probably wants to fuck.
I’m not usually a jealous person, but I’m so full of jealousy right now that I can practically taste the acidity on my tongue.
“Right here. I can put it right here. It can see the sun, but—”
“The sun can’t see it.”
“That’s right. How did you know that?”
I look up from my phone to find her gazing at me with wide eyes. The soft sunlight is filtering through the windows, making her look almost angelic, and again, I’m hit with how pretty she is. Aurora is an attractive woman.
“My guardian liked plants, remember? She used to say that a lot. You need to put it in a place where it can see the sun, but the sun can’t see it.”
“That’s right,” she says again. “Did your guardian have a name?”
I smirk. “She did.”
Aurora folds her lips between her teeth, but humor dances in her expression as she fights a smirk of her own. “Too early to ask that, too?”
“I gave you an answer,” I say coyly. “If you’re looking for a different answer, ask a different question.”
“Fair enough.”
The words are carried on a tinkling laugh, and the smile she’d been fighting breaks through. A full-faced smile with straight white teeth and sparkling eyes that crinkle at the corners. Even her nose scrunches, and my stomach does a little flip that startles me.
Aurora is a very attractive woman.
I wipe the smile from my face, slide my phone back into my pocket, then nod.
“It’s settled then. We’ll swap.”
Her amusement flickers. “Are you sure? The other room really is quite dim. It’s in the shadow of the other hotel tower. I could ask Uncle Wade to find me something else so you don’t have to give this one up. We’re here for ten days. You should be in a room you enjoy.”
“I like dim lighting,” I say, and I can’t help the smirk that curves my lips. “Better to hide my poor decisions.” She laughs again, cheeks flushing, and I wink. “I’ll tell Ham to reroute the bellhops when they deliver our things.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
“See you later.”
I take one last glance at her, then let myself out, releasing a slow breath the moment the door shuts behind me.
I was right.
Aurora would definitely be fun to flirt with, and it’s reminded me that I once had something in common with Ezra Hawke. I used to be a shameless flirt, too, and my brief interaction with Ham’s niece has already lit a familiar spark of excitement in my chest. A spark I haven’t felt in a long time.
I roll my shoulders and make it all the way to my new room before I realize I never swapped keycards with her. I look down the hall, but instead of heading back to her room to get it, I walk to Sav’s.
I’ll get another keycard from Ham later. Right now, I’m feeling a little off-balance, and the distraction of my best friend’s chaos is just what I need to set me right.
“Wait. I thought we were doing a destination wedding.”
I wrestle the slobbery rope toy out of Ziggy’s mouth and toss it across the room.
“I can’t keep up. First, it was a small beach wedding in North Carolina. Then it was destination in the Scottish Highlands. But now you’re thinking of doing it in LA?”
Sav groans and drops her head to the couch just as Zigs bangs into my leg with the rope toy clamped between her jaws. I swear, this dog never knows if she wants to play fetch or tug-of-war, so I grab the driest part of the rope and pull.
“I know. I know. But we can’t decide. North Carolina would be nice because Mom’s there, and we could use the beach house, but”—she grimaces—"sand.”
I laugh and nod. Sav hates the beach, so as soon as she suggested a beach wedding, I knew it wouldn’t stick.
“And the Scottish Highlands are gorgeous, but I don’t know if I want to coordinate a destination wedding. It would be a pain in the ass.”