Chapter 16 #2
As the door clicks shut behind him, I fight the overwhelming urge to break down all over again.
The past fifteen minutes have been a complete rollercoaster of emotion and now that I’m alone, I try to process it—for about thirty seconds, before I realize that the more time I waste up here, the more pissed Liam will be when I finally find my way back to the club.
I don’t have time to process anything that’s just happened, either with Liam or with Connor.
Grabbing my purse, I leave the room and take the elevator up to my own. I pass a few people in the corridors who give me second glances of concern—black mascara is smeared around my eyes and that silly “Drunk in Love” sash is still draped around me—but I keep my head down and my footsteps quick.
Letting myself into the room, the first thing I spot is Hailey’s MacBook.
It sits on the desk, screen open but shut off.
When we were getting ready together earlier, there was definitely no laptop on the scene, which means she’s been back to the room since then, most likely double-checking reservations. Bless her.
I fetch my cosmetics bag and stand before the ring-light mirror. I look worse than I imagined—bloodshot eyes, smeared lipstick, trails of black ink down my cheeks. It’s the reflection of a broken-down, exhausted woman, and it hurts so much that I don’t recognize myself.
Get it together, Addy.
As fast as I can, I wash off the layers of hours-old make-up, cleanse my skin, and start all over again from the beginning. It’s not perfect, but it’s the best I can do in under ten minutes.
I smile at my reflection in the mirror, but it feels strained. I try again, this time wider, revealing my teeth.
Good to go.
Back in Marquee, I carefully weave my way across the packed dance floor toward our booth. One more time, I take a deep breath and plaster that perfect Addy Sinclair smile on my face.
For the first time in what feels like hours, everyone is back together.
Hailey and Theo sit together and wave their handcuffed hands at me.
Melissa is mid-tequila-shot with Tyler. At the edge of our booth, Connor stands with John, drinks in hand, one foot each on the dance floor.
Connor catches my eye, but I immediately look away, finding Liam instead.
“There you are,” Liam says, and the sound of his voice feels like ice in my veins.
He shuffles up next to me and gently slips the vodka cranberry I requested into my hand.
Lowering his gaze to mine, he loops his arms over my shoulders and pulls me into his chest. “I’m sorry,” I hear him say, punctuated by the beat drops from the DJ. “Are you okay?”
I nod, held tight in his embrace as I try my best to keep my drink steady this time. “I’m okay.”
“I love you so much, babe,” he tells me, like he always does. “I feel like such a fucking dick,” he adds, like he always does.
“It’s okay. We’ve all had a lot to drink today.
” He’s holding me so close, I can almost taste the vodka on his lips.
His blue eyes are twisted with torment and regret, and I know he’s sorry.
It’s like he was a different person before, and now he’s the Liam I used to know again.
As I quickly press my lips to his, I tell him, “I love you, too.”
He exhales a long breath of relief and kisses my temple. “I promise . . . The rest of this weekend, I’m on my best behavior. I want you to have the time of your life, Addy.”
Suddenly, there’s a shattering of glass. Shards scatter across the floor of the booth, making me flinch and pull away from Liam.
All of us turn toward Connor. He stands very still, blood slowly dripping from his clenched fist, brown eyes on me. His knuckles are ghostly white and, as he loosens his fingers, fragments of glass fall from his palm.
“What the hell, man?” Tyler mutters, throwing a hand up in frustration as club security calls for a cleaner over the radio.
“Shit,” Connor says, shaking his head as he tears his eyes away from me to glance down at the pool of glass around the booth. “Those glasses are super flimsy.”
“Evie, can you clean him up?” I say, but when I look around for her, I realize she’s not even here. I shift my focus to my brother instead, who’s standing guard in front of Hailey. “Where’s Evie?”
Theo scratches his temple and offers me nothing but a useless shrug, but Hailey peeks around his shoulder and says, “I’m sure we last saw her dancing with Melissa.”
“Melissa,” I say, feeling slightly panicked now, and she looks up at me in the midst of offering Connor some napkins for his cut hand. If I wasn’t worried about my sister’s whereabouts, I’d show him more concern. “Where did Evie go? The bathroom or something?”
“Actually . . . I haven’t seen her in a while,” Melissa admits. She dabs at Connor’s palm just as a cleaner arrives at the booth, brandishing a sweeping brush and gesturing for us all to move out of the way. “Connor, this cut’s pretty deep.”
I turn to Liam and groan as I smack my head into his chest. “Oh my God, it’s only night one and I’ve lost her already. I’ve lost Evie!”
“She’s probably with that guy from the elevator,” I overhear Theo tell Hailey, and I spin on my heels toward him, my panic turning me into a frenzied mess of a woman.
“What? What guy?”
“Earlier, she was in the elevator with some dude,” Theo explains.
“And you . . . let her go with him?” I gape at him, because seriously? Evie’s his little sister, too. He has the exact same responsibilities as I do.
“No,” Theo says sharply, glaring at me with indignation for having the nerve to doubt him.
“C’mon, Addy, be for real. Like I’d let her take off with some weirdo.
I gave her a lecture and they went their separate ways.
That was a while ago, so all I’m saying is that maybe she’s found him again. She can be an idiot like that.”
“Arghhh,” I groan for a second time.
“Hey, hey,” Liam says softly, reaching for my arm to steady me.
He guides me to the edge of the booth as the cleaner sweeps up the shards of glass around us.
“She’s twenty-one now. Evie can take care of herself.
She’ll still be in the hotel somewhere, I bet.
Give her some breathing room, huh?” He wiggles his eyebrows at me with a smile, trying to defuse my panic.
“What if this random guy is a serial killer? What if he—I don’t know—kidnaps her? She could be stuffed in a trunk on her way to the Mexican border right now—”
“What if she’s just having a fun night with someone she’s hit it off with?” Liam counters, and when I roll my eyes, he knows he’s getting through to me. “She wouldn’t want Big Sister Adelaide ruining her night. Be cool.”
“Okay,” I say, the breath I release relaxing all of the tension in my body. “I’ll be cool, but I’m still going to text her and make sure she’s at least alive.”
I fetch my phone from my purse and text Evie my demanding request:
Me: Please confirm you’re still here in the hotel and you haven’t been kidnapped by this mystery guy from the elevator that I’m only now hearing about???
It’s like a weight off my chest when her text back is prompt.
Evie: I promise I’m still here in the hotel, and the mystery guy from the elevator poses no danger.
Me: You’re with him now?
Evie: Maybe.
I grimace as I wrinkle my nose. Ugh. The worst part about watching Theo and Evie grow up is having to sit back and let them. I take heed of Liam’s advice, and I play it cool.
Me: Please don’t forget that condoms exist.
Evie: Ew, I’m not having this conversation with you. See you in the morning.
I stare at her message on my screen, my jaw hanging open. Morning? Morning?
“Do you feel better now that you’ve spoken to her?” Liam asks, rubbing a soothing hand over the small of my back.
I turn to him, features scrunched in disgust, and simply say, “No.”