Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
TEDDY
The massage is good, wonderful really, but I can’t relax. I’m way too excited about this mission and how it will play out. I want this sucker to have it stuck to him. What a freaking jerkface. You can always tell someone's character by the way they treat workers.
He was not only mean to the staff, but he’s also out here cheating on his wife. I’d made a little small talk with Emily, the massage therapist, after Killian slipped from the room, and she gave me a bit of gossip when I made a comment about the man.
She told me he’s aggressive, and the staff fight over who will have to give him his massages.
That he’s handsy and tips terribly. He’s an all-around horrible human.
I hate it and him. It's fine if you want to be miserable in your life, but he's out here putting it on to others so they're miserable too.
He's spreading it like I'm sure he is his STDs.
It's making me mad, and I don't get that way easily.
It takes a lot to get me there. Actually feels kind of nice.
He's a bully, and I want to get payback. I'm sure that comes from my own childhood crap, but this man has it coming. He picks on people when he knows he can get away with it and they can’t stand up for themselves without risking their jobs. He’s the worst kind of person in my eyes.
"Emily, I think I'm done for now."
"Are you not enjoying it?" she asks, sounding worried. I sit up, keeping the sheet pressed to me.
"I've got a bit of a headache. You were wonderful," I reassure her. "Don't tell anyone I dipped out early, and go have a break," I suggest.
"You're so sweet," she tells me, and I give her a bright smile. Emily has no idea about my devious plans, which for some reason is making this all that much more fun.
When she slips from the room, I hurry to my feet to get dressed. I pop my head out of the room and peer down the hallway, not seeing anyone. I have not a clue where I should go. I grab my robe and put it back on to appear casual as I step into the hallway.
I'll wander around, and I'm sure I'll come across Killian. I just need to pretend to appear like I belong here. Wait, I do. I explore a few places. This spa is freaking giant with a million different rooms and hallways. You can even go up a floor to another level.
I start opening doors and poke my head in and still don't have any luck.
I try the oasis next. It's the water area with a couple of pools and private Jacuzzis. I would suggest Killian and I book one, but our tub in the room is giant, and I'd rather enjoy it with him in private. The pool is empty, but it is a workday and in the middle of the afternoon.
I make my way over to the private Jacuzzis, not having any luck. That is until I get to the last one. My mouth falls open when I see not only Killian but also I'm pretty sure jerkface too. It's hard to tell because he's being held under water, but who else could it be?
"Zolotse." Killian says my name, and I hurry into the room, closing the door. I see a chair, and I grab it, jamming it against the door handle. "What are you doing?" he asks.
"I don't know." I spin around to face him after I get the chair in place. "What are you doing?" The man is still flailing.
"This escalated."
"Obviously." I motion with my hands because I don't know what to do with them, and I feel like they should be doing something.
“Does this scare you, Zolotse? Do you want me to stop?” Killian’s wearing an expression that I’ve never seen before.
Worry. I almost let out a sigh because how could this man be so damn perfect?
Even now he’s worried about me when he’s in the middle of attempted murder which is fast approaching flat-out murder. Wait, it could be self-defense.
“Nothing could make me scared of you, Killian.” I tell him the truth. That gets me one of those rare smiles that makes me forget for a few moments what’s happening. “So—” I rock on my heels.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asks again.
I avoid that question on purpose. Killian's smile grows bigger, and the man stops flailing finally. Killian releases his hold, stepping out of the pool. I reach over and grab one of the towels on a rack and hand it to him, my eyes still on the man floating in the water.
“Are you okay?” Killian gently takes my chin and turns my head toward him.
“I’m okay, I just, ah…” I lick my suddenly dry lips, not sure how to ask this. I can see my hesitation is making the worry come back to Killian. “I thought bodies floated.” I motion to the man, who has sunk to the bottom. It’s only three or four feet in the center.
"It's dense right now."
"Right, yeah, totally knew that. He's dense." A small chuckle leaves Killian. "What's funny?"
"Nothing, Zolotse. The air in the lungs is being replaced with water, but the clothing and body fat will keep it submerged until gases start to do their thing."
"Right, obviously."
"Come, Zolotse. We should go." I nod, letting him guide me out of the oasis and back to the main area of the spa.
I put a smile on my face as we get our things and check out. I don't speak again until we're in the elevator headed back up to our room. I'm sure to grab our things and get the hell out of Dodge.
"You left a killer tip." I slam my hand over my mouth. That was wildly inappropriate, but Killian throws back his head and laughs. I slowly drop my hand and stop fighting the strange smile that takes over.
It’s as if we both know what we need to do. We enter the room and grab our things and quickly make our way out of the hotel and back onto the road.
“Zolotse.” Killian breaks the silence inside the SUV. “Are you sure—”
“I’m ride or die!” I cut him off. “I finally got to prove that. Everyone always says that, but I really did it.” He glances over toward me and smirks. “That was insane. Did he attack you or something? He had it coming. That man was a jerk-off, and you were defending yourself and all other women.”
“That is how you see it?”
“Of course!” My Killian would only kill him if needed. He’s my sweetheart. “We need to get married.” The wheel slightly jerks, but Killian rights it swiftly. “If we’re married, we can’t testify against each other.” I snap my fingers. “Right, that’s a thing?”
“It is,” Killian agrees instantly. “I’ll find us a place to marry today.”
“Today!” I laugh. “Lily would murder us both. She has to be at the wedding. Surely the cops won’t be on to us that quickly, if at all. They’ll probably think he tripped and hit his head.” Killian grunts before he responds, but I always take his grunts as agreements.
“We should still marry. The sooner the better.”
I nod adamantly. “But after we get Lily. Remember our first mission,” I remind him. “The most important one.”
“I do.” I grab my purse off the floor and search for my phone.
"Ope! I got a text from her!” I squeal too loudly. "Sorry." I cringe.
"For what?" Killian momentarily takes his eyes off the road to glance my way, his brows furrowed.
"For shouting. I got excited."
"I enjoy when you're excited, Zolotse." Ahh, this man. I might be in love. Okay, I am.
“People find it annoying.”
“I am not people.”
“This is true.” I beam at him. “You’re my sweetheart.” My outbursts and quirks don't faze him.
"What does the text say?"
"Oh, right." I click it. “She said Destiny's Tower!” I bounce in my seat.
"Destiny's Tower?"
"Yep, it's the tower in the game Destiny that's the primary hub for the Guardians." Killian still appears to not know what I mean. "Headquarters for the Vanguard!"
"Is this a video game?"
"Yes, have you never played?"
“No, I haven’t played video games since I was a kid. A few times the neighborhood kids would invite us over.” Right, his childhood was so different from mine. It makes my heart ache. I’m guessing he means him and his foster sibling.
“After we get married and have kids, they can have all the video game systems in the world. And we have to have more than one. That way they have each other too.” Killian doesn’t respond, his eyes trained on the road, so I keep rambling as I always do.
“I already have most of them, so we can play them too, you know, when we get back home.”
The word "home" halts me in my rambling. Killian is a nomad who always wants to keep moving, never staying any place long. Could I live that way? I already miss Minnie and Ro. Lily is coming to live with me too.
Killian grunts his response, but this time it doesn't sound like an agreement at all.