6. Kane
KANE
There are only a handful of hotels in Willow Bay, and most are intended for quick overnight stays right off of the highway for travelers en route to Chicago or Milwaukee. Or for kids’ sporting events like soccer and hockey tournaments. Low rates and a-bagel-for-breakfast kind of places.
In other words, the exact opposite of any place my brother would ever stay or by default, put someone up in.
Mrs. Litwinski’s eyes widen in disbelief when Benjamin’s SUV rolls up to the only posh hotel in town, owned by a major luxury hotel chain, but designed to fit into the small town atmosphere of Willow Bay.
“You got me a room here?” she asks, astonishment in her voice. “You should have warned me. I would have taken the damn curlers out of my hair.”
She starts frantically unrolling them one by one. Her elbow catches me in the shoulder. I grunt a little.
“Sorry,” she murmurs. Then adds, “And I know my little old elbow didn’t hurt you one bit. You easily take twenty a game.”
“I was just…” Annoyed she’s in the backseat between me and Abby.
Not put out that she’s with us. Just that she is preventing me from being snug up against my girl in the SUV.
This current arrangement was absolutely not my preference, but Mrs. Litwinski had plunked herself down in the middle and tossed me a dare-you-to-question-it look.
Abby had asked, “Are you sure you’re okay in the middle?”
Mrs. Litwinski had replied with a smile directly straight at me, “I feel like you’re going to be in the middle a lot, Abigail. Enjoy the window seat for now.”
That had made me grin, in spite of myself. Mrs. L knows what’s what.
So did Abby because when I glanced past her neighbor to catch her eye, she blushed furiously, her cheeks as pink as her sweater had been earlier before Dash forced her into a charcoal gray hoodie.
Immediately, she had lifted her water bottle to her mouth and flicked her tongue over the straw, but she didn’t actually drink.
I think she uses the water bottle as a shield sometimes.
And hell, I’m proud of myself for noticing that.
I’m not normally the most observant guy on the planet.
That’s Dash. And Benjamin is detail oriented.
I’m usually all about the action but it feels different with Abby.
I want to study her. Learn everything there is to know about her.
Figure out what makes her tick and how to ensure that she’s happy and healthy and well-loved every minute of every day from here to forever.
“This looks like a very nice hotel,” she says now, softly, glancing up at the building. “This is really generous of you guys.”
“It’s the least we can do,” Dash says.
Abby gives him a sweet smile but doesn’t say anything further.
It oddly twists my gut in a good way to see her appreciate Dash. He’s a great fucking guy and not everyone sees that. I love for him that Abby does.
Dash is in the front passenger seat, and he has glanced back a half a dozen times in the ten minute drive here, as if he’s afraid Abby might disappear while he’s not looking.
I get that feeling.
I’m downright jittery with excitement.
Never in a million fucking years did I wake up this morning thinking that by nightfall we’d have the perfect girl for all three of us tucked up in a bed at Benjamin’s house.
It takes a hell of a lot of effort to not continually grin even when I know I shouldn’t because Abby and her neighbor are upset about the state of their dilapidated apartments.
Not that Mrs. Litwinski looks all that upset as a valet attendant hustles over to the vehicle. “Is he going to open the doors for us?” she asks, excitedly, shoving the last of her curlers into her giant purse. “I’ve always wanted to have someone do that.”
While I certainly don’t need anyone to open a door for me ever, I don't think I realized until just now that I take a lot of life’s little luxuries for granted.
Me and Benjamin grew up with upper middle class parents, and money was never really talked about.
It was just there, to make life easier and convenient, especially when my stepmom got sick.
My mom and my stepfather moved to California when I was seven, and they also have a beautiful home and are never hard up for money.
Dash’s family struggled to make ends meet and support him and his two sisters in an expensive sport, but I can’t say I paid all that much attention to that.
Even while Benjamin’s mom was getting treatment and I spent a lot of time with Dash’s family, I was just grateful for a space that felt warm and loving.
I still never really thought about how financially fortunate I’ve always been.
Seeing Mrs. Litwinski’s reaction to the valet at The Willow, I feel good about her ceiling caving in as well as Abby’s.
I can’t put an exact age on the older woman, but I’d guess she’s in her seventies.
If having some dude open a car door for her is this exciting, I hope she enjoys the hell out of the minibar and the down pillows.
“Make sure you order room service,” I tell her as Benjamin climbs out of the SUV and hands his keys to the attendant. “Whatever you want. Don’t hesitate, Mrs. Litwinski.”
“Anything?” Her eyes narrow as if she’s mentally calculating how much she can get away with before she’s crossed a line. “And call me Magda. I’ve been telling Abby that since she moved in a year ago.”
Abby has been living in that dump for a solid year? The ceiling fell in not a moment too soon. Jesus.
“Of course, Magda. Yes, anything from room service you want and if you don’t raid that minibar I’ll be completely offended.” I give her a wink.
“I do love a tiny bottle of liquor,” she says, a twinkle in her eye. “I wonder what else they have?”
“Massages,” I say. “In the hotel spa.”
She gasps.
I grin. “Have fun checking it all out.”
Dash has gotten out of the car, and he opens the door for Abby and reaches for her hand. She accepts it with a muted, “Thank you.”
I can’t tell what she’s thinking right now.
I do hear her say, “Magda and I can share a room. I don’t want you to get two rooms for us, that’s too much.”
That makes me frown.
It makes Magda frown too.
We lock eyes.
I give a little head shake to indicate I do not want them sharing a room.
Hell, Abby isn’t even staying here. But that’s phase two. Phase one is getting her neighbor solidly on our side.
Magda gives me a nod in return and pats my knee. “Abby,” she calls out. “Just so you know, I sleep naked.”
Dash coughs into his free hand as he reaches to help Magda out of the SUV.
She barely spares him a glance as she leaps out with a dexterity I hope to have at her age. She has spotted the bellman reaching into the back of the SUV for the bags, and clearly this is more important than waiting for a hand to help her down.
“Hey, not that one,” she tells the bellman, pointing to Abby’s gray suitcase. “Just the black one with the busted handle. You can leave the other one.”
Magda is clearly supportive of our pursuit of Abby, but it’s also abundantly clear she wants her own room.
“Magda,” Abby says. “We really should share a room. They’re already being really generous. You know that we won’t get reimbursed for this by the building, don’t you?”
I’m out of the car and slipping the bellman a twenty, waiting for the right moment to intervene and tell Abby that the four of us are going to Benjamin’s house.
Benjamin has purposefully strode inside the hotel lobby to get Magda a room.
“Of course we won’t get reimbursed for a hotel, are you kidding me?
The building is owned by corporate slumlords now.
We’ll be lucky if they find us units to move to in another one of their crappy rundown buildings.
” Magda shakes her head. “I haven’t lived anywhere else in forty-five years.
It used to be nice back in the beginning.
Families lived there.” She shrugs. “Now it’s full of convicted felons. ”
All the blood leaves my face. “What?” I roar. “Felons?”
Our sweet, sexy, single Abby has been living in a building filled with ex-cons?
Dash looks exactly like I feel. His hands are making fists repeatedly and his nostrils are flaring. He is struggling to control his anger and outrage.
“That is not true,” Abby protests. “You’re exaggerating, Mrs. Litwinski.”
“Call me Magda,” Magda says with a sigh, like she’s had this conversation with Abby many times before. “And you don’t know if it’s true or not. It could be. Ralph in 2A spent a year in the joint for kiting checks in ‘88. Marcy in 1B has that son-in-law who doesn’t like cats. I bet he’s done time.”
Abby actually starts laughing as the four of us head toward the lobby.
“If Ralph has kept his nose clean since ‘88 I’m not worried about it. And Marcy’s son-in-law is allergic to cats.
He doesn’t dislike them. They just cause his throat to close.
” She loops her arm through Magda’s and gives her a side hug.
“So I don’t blame him for not wanting to pet your cat before she passed. ”
Magda does the sign of the cross. “God rest her soul. Donut was a great cat.”
“She was,” Abby agrees.
It’s then I realize that Magda was intentionally trying to rile me and Dash up and it worked.
Magda disengages herself from Abby. “Run along with Dash, sweetheart. I need a smoke before we check in. Kane can keep me company.”
Abby glances back at me. “Is that okay?” she asks.
I nod. “Of course.”
I would love to be the one leading her by the elbow into the lobby but I’m not jealous that Dash is, which is further confirmation this is the right decision. Besides, all three of us guys do not need to be charging up to that front desk demanding the hotel’s best suite for Magda.
“We’re not the ones you need to work on,” I tell her under my breath. “We’re all in.”
She doesn’t pretend to misunderstand. “Good,” she retorts. “That girl needs some attention. Known her a year and she just goes to work and comes home. No social life at all except for when her friend Sadie drops by to hang out.”
No guys. That instantly sends my blood south. Our girl is going to need a lot of love and attention to make up for lost time.
And missed orgasms.
Magda lights a cigarette and blows smoke to the left away from me. “She’s had a rough go, you know.”
That makes me frown. “What do you mean?”
“Not my story to tell but I will say she puts up a wall between herself and everyone. She’s afraid to disappoint people.”
That astonishes me. “She could never disappoint me. Ever. She’s so damn special.”
I also need to know what Abby has been through in her life. I want to know everything there is to know about her.
Magda nods. “That she is. I see you’re sincere, but you did just meet her. Sure you’re not going to lose interest in a few weeks? Because you’ll have to answer to me if you do.”
“Absolutely not,” I say, firmly, appalled at the very thought. “I may be impulsive, but I know my own heart and head.”
She takes another drag. “I get that. I married my second husband after I won a grand on a hot craps table in Atlantic City. Only knew him for three hours. It was a great marriage.”
I love stories like that. Throwing caution to the wind for passion and true love.
“That’s incredible. When did you lose him?”
“Oh, he didn’t die. He got sent up the river for robbing a bank in Pennsylvania, so I divorced his dumb ass.”
Not such a great story after all.
Magda looks around for a place to put her cigarette out but there isn’t anywhere. She drops it and twists it under her heel. The rain has stopped but it’s cold outside and the ground is wet. The butt sizzles and then she bends down and picks it up and tucks it in her pocket.
“Don’t worry,” she says. “Abby likes you. I can tell. Now let’s go in there and reassure her it makes perfect sense for her to go home with three men she’s just met.”
That makes me grin. “Nothing gets past you, does it?”
“I’m old but I still have eyes and ears.”
When we enter the lobby I decide it’s my turn with Abby.
Even though I’m not jealous, Dash has been monopolizing her.
Sharing Abby’s time and attention may be something we have to work out.
Not to mention her body.
Just seeing her leaning over the counter, her hand up to block whatever she is saying from the desk clerk, has my blood pumping hot and furious straight to my dick.
She’s bedraggled with frizzy hair but she’s still the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen.
Benjamin is speaking forcefully to her. I can’t hear the words, but I can feel his intensity from ten feet away.
When we reach the desk she’s saying in a low voice, “I’ll just share with Mrs. Litwinski. It’s fine. I can’t go home with you.”
“Why not?” I ask, slipping my arm around her waist and drawing her off of the desk.
If she wants to lean on something she can lean on me.
“Because it’s just…crazy,” she says, frowning even as she does, in fact, lean into me.
I pull her closer, loving the feel of her petite body tucked into my side.
“What would be crazy is staying here by yourself because it sounds like Magda has her night all planned and it doesn’t include you, Lollipop.”
“He’s right,” Magda pipes up. “Sorry, sweetheart. I’m going to make love to the minibar.”
Abby’s brow furrows even further. “But…”
“You know who we are. You can share your location with Magda or anyone else you want to. We promise to treat you with total care and respect. So why not come over and have a nice dinner and a relaxing night watching a movie with us?”
Dash, Benjamin, Magda, and me all look at her expectantly.
Every one of us has a vested interest in Abby coming back to my brother’s house.
She lifts her hands like she’s out of arguments. “Okay? I guess?”
Hell yeah.
“Excellent decision,” Benjamin says.
“You won’t regret it,” Dash says.
“Good girl.” I kiss the top of her head. “Let’s go.”