Chapter 14
NERO
“Maybe you shouldn’t go home tonight,” Cosette said, her brows still creased with concern as she continued to fuss over my busted lip, eyebrow, and knuckles.
She had been carefully monitoring my injuries, as if I might bleed out if she let her attention slip for even a second.
“I think so too. I don’t want to worry my mom.”
The four of us, including Dex, were at a gas station, and he went outside to refuel the car while the three of us stayed put inside.
“We could always check in at a hotel overnight. I’m sure Dex can still drive the hour way back, but I know he’s tired too,” Siege chimed in from the passenger seat.
After noticing him glance at the rearview mirror, deciding by the smile that was now on Cosette’s face, he reached for his phone, likely with the intention of finding a hotel nearby.
C let out a little ‘yay’ before she went back to tending to my wounds.
“Change of plans,” Siege announced, his voice echoing in the confined space as Dex climbed back inside after having filled the tank. “We’re staying at a hotel tonight. We’ll head back tomorrow morning.”
“Thank fuck,” Dex muttered under his breath before pulling out of the gas station and merging back onto the highway.
It’s been a long day, and while it would be comforting to be home after a day like this, I’d much rather pass out as soon as we possibly can, the ache in my bones screaming for a mattress.
Following Siege’s directions, we took the third exit and found ourselves at the luxurious hotel. The hotel was a well-known international chain, easily recognizable by its familiar logo.
“Siege, I was thinking more of a motel, or roadside inn, or something,” Cosette muttered in awe, gazing out the window like I did.
“As if I’d let us stay at one.”
After the car came to a stop, four bellhops surrounded the car from each direction, opening our doors for us, and I thanked the man who opened mine on my way out.
“That thing costs more than your life, be careful,” Dex said, tossing the key to the valet as we got out, and C was quick to chastise him when we entered the lobby.
“Will you please stop doing that whenever you get valet service?”
Dex wrapped an arm around C and he looked at her with such a soft expression you wouldn’t even know he’s getting scolded at.
Siege, his face devoid of emotion, walked past us, as though he was used to Cosette and Dex’s dynamic by now, and headed for the concierge.
As the woman behind the desk regarded the four of us, seeing a bunch of teenagers, and examining the state of my face, I could already hear the rejection before it even came.
“Good evening, sir. Do you have a reservation? If not, then I apologize, as we’re currently fully booked—”
A swift slide of Siege’s credit card across the desk—initiating a silent transaction—was the only gesture the woman needed before she was scrambling for the phone.
The lady was on the phone, speaking with another individual about obtaining approval to book the executive suite for an Azul guest, even before the line had a chance to ring twice.
No matter how much I hated their guts, it was fascinating to see how these rich fucks act in the wild.
Siege put his hand on the marble desk, and the woman followed the action as he tapped on it with his finger.
I could almost hear her counting in her mind.
One.
“Yes, sir. There’s four guests in total.”
Another tap. Two.
The jerk was trying to show her that he was growing impatient.
I could see the concierge’s hand gripping the phone even tighter. “The name on the card is Mr. Siege Azul—“
I watched the woman’s eyes grow slightly wider as Siege’s bent finger rose.
The pressure was palpable, and her chest was visibly rising and falling fast, her nerves wracked that I was parting my lips to speak up and tell him to stop acting like a goddamn prick.
But before I could, and before he could let his fingertip touch the marble, C was beside Siege in an instant, palm up to meet his hand, intertwining their fingers together.
Cosette leaned her cheek against his arm, looking up at him just as he looked back down at her, and she flashed her a smile.
Dex only laughed, like it was amusing to watch his friend be a giant pain in the ass.
Relieved, the concierge’s shoulders visibly relaxed, and she continued to clear up a few things into the mouthpiece, eventually ending the call after a mere sixty seconds.
“Thank you for your patience, Mr. Azul. Apologies for keeping you waiting. I’ve gotten the executive suite for you. Here are your key cards for your room, which will be on the top floor. Breakfast tomorrow—“
Siege’s movements were quick as he grabbed his credit card and hotel key cards, then turned towards the elevators, not waiting for the end of the woman’s supposed reminders.
Before I left, I expressed my thanks to her, and just as I did, Cosette, who was in the process of walking away with Siege, also turned her head to do the same.
The moment the elevator doors closed, some of the adrenaline left over from the fight got to me.
“Was that fucking necessary?”
I’ve had enough of these entitled brats.
Dex scared the valet off, and Siege was being a scumbag to the concierge.
No one answered me, and so I continued.
“If you’re both so spoiled and privileged, why do you not have fucking manners—“
“Stop it,” Cosette was saying, just as Siege spoke at the same time.
“That girl was fucking discriminatory. I looked at the availability on the way here, and they had lots of rooms available, even though I knew we could have the executive suite if I used my name. I wanted to try to check us in like a normal fucking person, but she opened that goddamn stupid mouth of hers, and I—”
“And I said that’s enough.”
Cosette’s voice echoed in the space, effectively shutting the both of us up while the elevator sounded a ding, the doors opening.
C marched out after grabbing the key card from Siege, and she opened the door to our room for the night, finding it with ease as it was the only one on our level.
Quickly piling in, I didn’t spare any of them a glance as I zeroed in on the nearest restroom, the door slamming behind me with a loud thud.
I looked at the huge mirror, and my wounded knuckles throbbed as they flexed against the cold porcelain of the sink.
How could Cosette end up with such fucking losers?
To think the sweetest goddamn girl I know is dating two fuckups makes me want to pull all of my hair out.
I wish I could see the good in them. I really do.
Hell, I’ve been hanging out with them to try to bond with them, haven’t I?
Liar. You want to see the bad in them. Break them up.
Shut up, inner Nero.
Hearing hushed voices outside, I sighed, quickly washing my face instead to go out and see what’s happening now.
When I found them in one of the bedrooms, I saw Siege on the phone, Cosette on his lap.
“Yeah, my girlfriend’s… made me aware that maybe you were turning us away because we don’t look twenty-one and maybe you have an age requirement to check in,” Siege said. “So, I’m sorry for how I acted.”
My brows shot up my forehead, hearing those words from him almost making me think I had accidentally ended up in an alternate dimension by staring at the mirror.
With Cosette’s kiss on his cheek, Siege finally ended the call, and he saw me then as he turned his head.
“I didn’t know about the age thing. I’ve always been able to check in at hotels. I thought she was… judging you because of how you looked.”
My fists clenched in reaction, completely blindsided by the unexpectedness of how quick he is to apologise.
I did not expect him to do what he did because he wanted to defend me.
It would serve me well to remember that Siege and Dex did not have the same upbringing as Cosette and I. Even though it may not seem like it, I am aware that they have been trying.
So, with a sigh, I nodded. “I’m sorry for being judgmental, too.”
“I didn’t apologize,” Siege said, earning a deadpan look from C. Siege saw it and immediately backtracked, “I mean, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, that’s… that’s fine. Don’t worry about it, bro. It’s just the adrenaline.”
Silence fell upon the room, and Dex was the one to break it.
“Sweetie, I think your guy best friend’s trying to get with one of your boyfriends.”
Cosette was grabbing a pillow and hitting Dex in the face with it, and I just raised a brow at him.
“And you? Why did you actually scare the valet off?”
I was fully expecting to see a side of him that I haven’t seen yet, but Dex just shrugged. “I don’t know. Just had the urge to be a jerk.”
At that, I laughed.
I full on laughed, and so did they.
Dex continued to joke, talking about how he’ll miss using power and money to make people a little scared, and as I looked at the three of them, I was finally clearing my assumptions of these men.
As if it were possible to hit a reset button on how I viewed them.
Maybe I’ve just been too bitter that they’ve had Cosette before I could. That I may have lost my chance now, and because of that I’m jealous.
But as I watched Siege play with her hair so softly, and how Dex was grabbing her legs to massage her feet?
Maybe I really was the one who didn’t deserve her.
After all, she was right.
I’ve left her alone when she was at her lowest, and that’s how she was forced to rely on Dex.
They’re good people.
They’re deserving of Cosette.
And maybe, despite how I viewed myself, I’m the one who’s not.