10. Chapter Ten - Tanner
Tanner
"So, what’s the occasion for inviting me to drinks again?" Reed wonders as he follows me into the hotel bar, eyes immediately scanning the crowd for a girl to hit up.
"Can't a guy just have a fun, drunken evening with his brother anymore without an ulterior motive?" I ask Reed, but he shakes his head with a chuckle.
"‘A,’" he lifts his hands for air quotes, "guy can. But you? Please."
"Your distrust wounds me," I say overly dramatically, clutching my heart as he bursts into a chuckle.
We find seats at a table in a corner of the room, right at the window with a good view of the rest of the bar. I sit down on the dark green couch as Reed turns one of the black chairs around to lean his arms on the backrest as he talks to me—which earns us some sceptical looks from other patrons.
No wonder. This bar is fancy. The whole room is decorated in a dark green, accents like golden lamps and black-white images framed on the walls taking away from the dark ambience. Feeling the stares, Reed rolls his eyes and turns the chair back around.
We barely sit when a waitress already appears at our table, handing each of us a heavy drink menu. I’m just happy she doesn’t attempt small talk.
“Johnny Walker, please. On the rocks.” I hand her back the menu and she makes a note on the smartphone-like device she’s carrying. Reed orders a beer before he hands her back his menu as well.
"Thank you, Beautiful." Reed's words along with a wink make her blush before she scurries off to get our drinks.
It's not too often I grant myself the pleasure of strong alcohol, after all I need to keep my voice in shape and usually stick to tea as a result. But when do I get to have whiskey, if not during a vacation?
"So, for real, brother dearest," Reed says and pinning me with a glare. "What are we doing here?"
"Having a drink?" I say, but my eyes betray me as they jump over his shoulder as Summer and that guy from the bus enter the bar. Fuck, she’s beautiful. Even from here I can see she’s put on makeup for their little date, and it makes her look downright radiant.
"Ah," Reed says, following my gaze over his shoulder before he turns around again, his face serious. "Luca's sister? Really, Tanner?"
My whole body stiffens, and I fight to keep my expression neutral, but I don’t think it’s working very well.
"Nothing is going on between us," I whisper, swallowing the ‘anymore,’ my eyes following her as she takes a seat at the bar with her new friend, a wide smile on her lips.
"Is she the reason you've been all but gloating today?"
I take a deep breath, trying to not let a grin betray me. Of course, Reed would know, even if I evaded his eyes, because he would see the truth in mine immediately. He’s my brother. He’s seen me lie off my teeth on more than one occasion, and even more often he was right next to me, bullshitting his way along.
"Tanner?" He reaches over the table and boxes my upper arm, a mixture of fury and admiration. "Are you for real?"
I sigh. There is no use lying to him anymore. "I mean, yes,” I hiss, urging him to lower his voice. “Last time I checked, a one-night stand isn't a crime."
Our conversation immediately stops when the waitress appears at our table and sets down our glasses, walking off after we both thanked her.
“Of course it’s not a crime. I couldn’t imagine your whining if it was. But Luca’s sister ?”
"We're both adults. We decided to spend the night together. Not Luca. And that's it."
"You know as well as I do that that's not ‘it.’” He rolls his eyes. “Otherwise, we wouldn't be here." He lifts his glass and holds it out to me so I can clink mine against it before we both take a sip.
"Well.” He takes a deep breath. “I guess that makes it three to two."
"What do you mean?"
"Now, Zoey and I will be the single pringles of this family. Cheers to that."
He takes another sip before he sets the glass down with theatrical sigh.
"Hey!" I nudge his calf with my foot. "Don't start acting all depressed. For one, Summer's not my girlfriend. And secondly," I narrow my eyes at him, "and I hate to say it, but we don't know shit about Zoey."
His eyes go wide, like he never considered the possibility that now with her in college, she might have a boyfriend.
"Are you saying…?"
"I'm just saying we don't know," I interrupt him with a shrug. "For all we know, she could've run off to Vegas with somebody and already have a ring on her finger."
"Don't even make me think about it," Reed groans and hides his face in his hands. “It’s bad enough she’s pulling away, I don’t even want to think about what kind of shenanigans she could be up to.”
Speaking of shenanigans. My eyes dart over to Summer and the new guy again. While I can barely see her profile behind his, I can tell they are hunched over their drinks, heads together as they attempt to have a conversation over the murmur of the room.
Damn it. I was hoping to eavesdrop. And that revelation is making me start to question my sanity. I’m not the kind of guy who gets jealous. Who feels the need to eavesdrop when his former one-night stand is out with another guy?
That’s not me.
"And well, from the looks of it, Summer might not be your girlfriend, but you sure wish she were," Reed points out, and my eyes dart back to him. "Oh, come on.” He rolls his eyes at me. “I'm not dumb. You've had your eyes on her the whole day. Even when that pretty chick was basically attaching herself to you."
I grimace, thinking back to the day trip to Haarlem Jackson convinced us to go on today. One girl in the group, Clara, clearly took a liking to me and proceeded to follow me around for the whole day, attaching herself to me like a barnacle to a turtle shell, not taking ‘no’ for an answer. Thank God I managed to shake her off once we returned.
Reed found the whole thing funny as fuck, but I didn't quite share his sentiment.
"Seems like a funny fellow, that guy," I grumble when Summer throws her head back and laughs loudly.
"And handsome," Reed points out, then he flinches when I kick him under the table. "What? I'm right.” He leans down to rub the spot where I hit him, glaring at me. “Why do you care? You just said she wasn't your girlfriend."
I don’t dignify that with an answer apart from a narrow-eyed glare.
"See? I’m just saying, the sooner you admit to yourself that you want more from her, the sooner I can help you come up with a plan." He takes another sip of his beer, and I reach for my whiskey as well. "Just don't fuck it up. I like Luca and would very much like to stay friends with him. So if this is only about sex, leave it."
"It isn't," I admit through gritted teeth, turning the glass in my hands.
I don't know how she did it, but Summer crawled right under my skin. The way she acts tough, yet reveals a sliver of her vulnerability when nobody is looking. The way she longingly watches all the couples on this trip yet acts like a one night stand is all that she wants.
I want to know everything about her. What makes her tick? What’s her favorite color? I’ve never cared about that with other women; the only color I cared about was that of their underwear.
But Summer is different.
"So you promise to not break her heart?" Reed asks, and I shake my head.
"How the fuck could I promise that?” A sad chuckle escapes me as I take a sip of my whiskey, sighing as it burns in my throat. “I promise I won't go out of my way to do it, but who knows what the future brings."
"Okay," Reed says, then turns around to look at the bar again. "I guess that’s good enough.” I roll my eyes at him. Since when can he be the judge of that? “So, phase one of the plan—what you're not going to do is barge into that little date they have," he says and makes a vague gesture in their direction.
"Why not, though?" I frown. It’s not like I intend to jump between them like a wrecking ball, but I’d still very much like to whisk her away.
"Because that would be hypocritical as fuck," he points out, narrowing his eyes at me. "Just think of it. She's seen you flirting with a woman the whole day.”
“Nope, I didn’t flirt back,” I point out, but Reed shakes his head.
“It doesn’t matter. You didn’t exactly physically push her away either. So now that she's doing the same, you want to jump in? Hell no."
I grimace. Maybe he’s right. I know the other way around I would be really fucking pissed. "So, what do I do?"
"You woo her," he says with a grin and wiggles his eyebrows.
"Woo her? What are we, some strange rom-com? How would I ‘woo’ her?"
"Please." He rolls his eyes. "I know ‘wooing’ wasn’t exactly your approach when it came to prior women, but didn’t you narrate enough romance audiobooks by now to know how that works?"
"That’s not the kind of audiobooks I'm narrating," I chuckle, swirling my glass and making the ice cubes clink against each other. "If I’d be going off those, I'd kidnap her and keep her chained up in a basement." Reed’s eyes widen. “Or leave the severed heads of her enemies on her doorstep as a token of my affection.”
"What the hell kind of stuff do you narrate?"
"Don't knock it till you've read it," I tease him with a shrug. "Now, pray tell, how exactly would I woo her? Send her flowers?"
"Well, if you want to be boring, you'd do that." Reed nods, the corners of his mouth twitching. That fucker is having way too much fun at my misery. "That would be a safe play."
"But I don't want safe." I sigh, my eyes darting to the window but all I can see is darkness and my reflection. "I want to sweep her off her feet—the kind of thing you tell your grandchildren about, you know?"
"Don't you think that would be a little too intense, a little too soon?" He looks at me like I'm an idiot. "One step after the next. Maybe you should start with the flowers after all."
"Right," I mumble and lean back in my seat, knowing exactly what I'm not going to do. “Maybe.”
We only stay for a few more minutes, after finishing our drinks, but just as we’re about to leave, something tells me to check on Summer. Not in an ‘is she sick of him by now’ kind of way, but a wave of dread suddenly washing over me as I freeze in my tracks at the bar’s exit, turning around slowly.
My heart beats in my throat. She’s not steady on her seat. No, she’s swaying dangerously, her hands white-knuckling the counter as she tries to stay in her seat.
Alarm bells go off in my head. I’ve watched her the whole time, and she can’t have had more than two drinks.
There’s no way she’s drunk enough to fall out of her seat after what she had.
"What is it?" Reed asks, following my gaze.
"Something's off," I admit, keeping my eye on her, taking a step aside to let other guests leave. "I watched her, Reed. She only had two drinks."
"Two drinks?" Reed hisses as his eyes widen. "No way. That girl is wasted. Are you sure?"
"One hundred percent. Something's not right here," I growl and make my way over to them. There’s no way I can leave her here without at least checking in.
"What did we just say about barging in?" Reed reminds me with an eye roll, but I shake my head.
"Fuck that. This has nothing to do with me being hypocritical; I don't think that's alcohol."
"You mean…?" he asks, and I nod, and he starts to curse under his breath as he follows close behind me.
My blood is starting to boil with anger as I get closer. Because by now, I'm pretty sure that motherfucker slipped her something.
I realize that blondie is holding onto her arm way too tightly, his fingers digging into her soft skin so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if they left bruises. I take a deep breath before I approach her, flexing my fingers to relieve some of my tension, then clenching them in a fist that I’m silently begging blondie gives me reason for to introduce it to his face. Intimately.
"Hey, Summer. Is everything alright?" I ask with my arms crossed in front of my chest, making blondie whirl around in his seat.
"We're good," he assures me with a smile that shows too white teeth that I’d just love to knock out.
"I wasn't talking to you, blondie." I put my hand on the counter in the middle of the two of them, then forcefully nudge my body between them.
“What the hell?” he asks, but I shoot him a glare over my shoulder that makes him shut up.
"Are you alright?" I ask her again, this time more quietly. When her beautiful blue eyes glance up at me, my heart sinks.
"I don't feel good," she mumbles, her eyelids drooping and head dropping forward.
"I was just about to help her to her room," blondie says behind me, but I ignore him.
“No,” she whispers and shoots me a panicked look. “Tanner, something’s wrong.” I take a deep breath to calm myself, my jaw clenched.
"Is it okay if Reed and I help you to your room?” I ask her softly, a relieved sigh escaping me when she nods.
“Okay. Can you stand up, Darling?" I pull her chair back to make climbing down easier for her, but she immediately falls into my arms and I hug her to me to keep her upright.
"I got her," Blondie tries to interfere again, but this time, Reed steps between him and me.
"Yeah, buddy. That’s not going to happen. She's our friend, and we got her."
"Call Adam," I whisper to Reed. “He's the adult among us. He'll know what to do. I have Summer, don’t let him,” I discreetly nod towards Blonde, “slip away.”
Summer shoots me a panicked look. “Tanner, what’s happening to me?”
“I don’t know, Darling. But I won’t let anything happen to you, alright?” She nods against my chest, and I pull her arm over my shoulders, helping her to the exit.
We barely reach the lobby when she suddenly sags against me like a dead weight. I stop in my tracks and swiftly lean down to hook my arm under her knees and lift her up, carrying her to one of the couches.
"What's going on?" Adam suddenly appears beside me, worry written all over his face when he sees Summer. "Shit, is she alright?"
"I don't know," I tell him honestly, taking a seat next to her and pulling her head into my lap. Panic floods me, but I force myself to remain calm. “Reed and I watched her, Adam, she had barely two drinks. I’m pretty sure the guy who was with her slipped her something. Reed is still with him.” I nod towards the door leading to the bar, where I hear a commotion.
"Should we call Luca? Her parents? Adam, what do we do?"
"No," she whispers so softly I almost don't catch it, but relief washes over me when I realize she’s awake again. "Don't call them."
"Darling, you just fainted," I point out, but she shakes her head softly.
"I'm alright."
"You're clearly not," I point out. “Do you need to puke?” She shakes her head again and I silently thank the heavens because my gag reflex would get triggered instantly and I would have been throwing up right along with her.
"Well, I'm not going to ask why you were in there watching her." Adam rolls his eyes at me, but then takes a deep breath and crouches down in front of us so he’s eye to eye with her. "Summer, how many drinks did you have?"
“I said—”
“I’m not asking you.” He shoots me a glare and I shut up. “Summer?”
“One. And a bit,” she whispers and grimaces.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
"Okay.” He gets up again, and I want to dance in relief when I see him in ‘get shit done’ mode. “Get her over there.” He points to a corner. “She doesn't need to sit here on display for everyone to see. I will catch up with Reed and call the police.”
"Police?" she tries to open her eyes again.
"Yes, Summer," Adam says, his whole demeanor turning as soft as when he’s talking to Zoey. "If someone drugged you, we need to involve the police.”
“No.”
“What if he does it to someone else?” Adam points out, and I feel her whole body tense.
“Alright,” she finally whispers, lifting a shaky hand to pull a strand of hair away from her face.
“Good. Now be a good girl and let Tanner carry you over there, so your parents and brother don't get a heart attack when they see you as they come back from their walk or wherever they are. Tanner, can you stay with her? Otherwise I can call Lily."
“No, I’m good.”
“Good.” He nods, mumbling something about not crowding Summer under his breath before he walks off.
She gives another slight nod that I feel against my thigh, and I gently lift her head off my leg to get up to hook my arms under her shoulders and knees, then pull her into my arms and carry her to another couch that’s not right by the hotel entrance.
"Fuck," I whisper as I sit down with her in my arms, my back towards the lobby to shield her from curious looks. Adam storms off to find Reed, my heart still thundering in my throat. Her fainting against me was scary as hell.
Her eyes are closing again now, and she leans her head against my shoulder.
"Sorry," she mumbles, but I shake my head and tighten my hold on her so she can keep leaning against me as she drifts off again.
It doesn’t take long until we’re suddenly surrounded by police officers and paramedics.
"Can you please seat her on the couch?" one of them asks and force myself to nod. When Adam mentioned calling the authorities, I was nervous for a minute, but thankfully they speak very good English.
Everything inside me screams to not let her go. To keep her safe right here in my arms, even though that would defeat the whole purpose of having called the cops in the first place. So I lift her off my lap and seat her on the couch, just as her eyes flutter open again.
One of the police officers pulls me aside to take my statement, and I recount everything I saw that evening. Reed and Adam are standing a few metres away from me doing the same and my shoulders sag in relief when I see that two more cops have blondie cornered on the other side of the lobby.
For a moment, I was nervous he would slip away.
"So what's going to happen now?" I ask the officer, once I’m done with my statement, and he gives me a hard stare.
"No, I don’t want to go to the hospital," I hear Summer's croaky voice behind me and quickly whirl around.
Two paramedics are kneeling on the ground in front of her, seemingly trying to convince her to come with them, but she energetically shakes her head.
"Okay," one of them finally sighs as I stride over. "But we're going to have to draw some blood for testing, okay?"
"That's fine," she assures them. I put my hand on her shoulder, and she looks up, giving me a small, thankful smile, before turning back to the paramedics. "I just don't want to go to the hospital. I'm fine, I promise."
The two paramedics shoot each other a knowing look before one of them jumps up to retrieve a bag from the ambulance that's parked in front of the hotel, blue lights flashing and all.
Just as they start disinfecting her arm to draw some blood, a police officer clears his throat next to us to get our attention.
I give her a reassuring squeeze as he starts to fill us in on what’s going on while one of the paramedics pushes a needle into her vein. She only grimaces, staying brave as they take two vials, then press something against her arm and put a band-aid over the puncture wound.
"Ma’am, we’ve got the gentleman’s statement, and we also had a look at the security footage. It's clearly visible that the bartender slipped something into your drink before serving you," he explains, and Summer pales.
“We are currently investigating whether you are their first victim, but seeing as he has worked here for months and other guests have seen his accomplice in the bar on more than one occasion, that seems unlikely."
He seems exasperated as he nods towards the back corner, where the bartender and blondie are currently arguing with three officers.
“That means we will take him in and he will be prosecuted, following a thorough investigation from us. Ma’am, even though we have the security footage, we would like to take your statement as well; do you feel well enough to do that?”
She nods, hiding a yawn behind her hand, and recounts the evening. I do my best to keep a neutral expression, it’s not going to help this case in any way if I show my anger, but my blood boils hotter with every word she says, knowing how her evening is ending.
The cop thanks her, then hurries to help his coworkers in restraining blondie and the bartender.
“Are they seriously trying to run?” Summer asks in a whisper as I sit down next to her again. I take a look over my shoulder, then start to chuckle.
“Oh, they absolutely are. And blondie just got tackled to the ground by two officers.”
“Serves him right,” she whispers, and for the first time since I interrupted her conversation with blondie, I see a small smile on her lips.
Finally, the police and paramedics announce that they're done, the two culprits already in the back of two police cars.
"Will they even do anything with us being from abroad?" I whisper to Adam when he sits down next to me.
"I don’t know," he admits with a shrug. "I guess we'll find out. Even if it only scares the shit out of them, I'll take it as a win."
"True," I nod in agreement.
"Do you have someone to stay with you tonight?" one of the cops asks Summer as the lobby begins to calm down again. Her eyes dart around the room, until she grimaces and hides another yawn behind her hand.
"I can call my brother," she mumbles, but the cop doesn’t seem too impressed with that answer.
"Reed already called him," I tell her.
I know she didn't want us to call her family, but Adam figured it would be even worse to have them walk into this chaos completely unprepared.
"They're on their way, but probably still half an hour out. I can stay with you until they come."
The cop pins me with a hard stare that makes me gulp.
"We’re family friends," Adam explains, pulling out his phone, furiously swiping. "Here are some old pictures for proof. I promise we have her best interest at heart."
Without a doubt, he's pulling up images from the charity match back then. Selfies we made with her brother. Then he reaches for Summer’s phone and shows them the lock screen, which is a picture of their family—Summer, Luca, and their parents grinning widely into the camera.
“Ma’am, are you okay to stay with them?” He addresses Summer, who is once more fighting to keep her eyes open.
“Yes. Of course.”
"Okay," the cop finally concedes and addresses us again. "Take good care of her. And if anything seems wrong," he gives us another hard stare, "make sure to bring her to the hospital."
"We will,” Reed, Adam and I promise him in unison, shaking his hand before he leaves with his colleagues.
Summer can barely keep her eyes open.
"Come on, Darling. We’ll get you to bed so you can sleep this off." I slide my arms under her knees and shoulders before I lift her into my arms again, carrying her through the lobby like a princess.
Adam calls the elevator for us, while Reed is on his phone, updating Luca and asking him for her room number.
"Sixth floor," he tells us as soon as the elevator doors open and we step inside. "Room 639."
Summer mumbles something under her breath as we walk out into the hallway of her floor, but I can't quite make out the words. She’s fighting to keep her eyes open, but she’s not very successful.
"Darling, where is your key card?" I ask her softly, and her hand twitches toward a pocket.
"Adam?" I ask, having my hands full and all that, and he fishes it out of there without hesitation, unlocking the room door and holding it open for me.
"I'll stay until Luca and her parents are back," I tell them as I make my way over to her bed. Adam is walking ahead of me, pulling the covers back for her.
"Maybe one of us should stay with you," Reed mentions, his eyes darting between Summer and me. "I don’t really think letting you stay with her alone is the move to make in this situation."
“You’re right,” I admit and softly lay Summer on her bed, pulling the covers over her.
"I’ll call Lily over," Adam says matter of factly, already on his phone and pulling up her contact. While he calls her, I carefully pry Summer’s shoes off her feet. Being in bed with your street clothes is probably uncomfortable as hell already, so it feels like the least I can do right now.
Only a minute later, there’s a soft knock on the door and Reed opens the door for her.
She looks at Summer, conked out in her bed, then her eyes jump between us three.
"What the hell happened?"
"Tanner will fill you in, but I need you stay here with him until Luca and their parents get back. Is that okay?”
“Of course,” she says and gets on her tiptoes for a kiss from Adam, before he grabs Reed by his arm and drags him outside.
“So, Tanner. Spill.”