Chapter 11 #2
"Nah, I've already been here for long enough. They can't hold it for me forever. There's some celebrity coming for a concert, and they need it. Rush offered for me to stay with him, though, so I'm heading there tonight." I pause. "Did they find out who it is?"
"They've got Wesley working on it. That's the last I heard."
Axl's phone rings. His face changes. "Shit. It's my brother. He never fucking calls me. All of them hate me with a passion."
"Pick it up, man."
He picks it up and I walk away, giving him privacy.
I walk onto the balcony and close the door, so I can't eavesdrop.
The pool is so still it looks like glass.
I stand at the edge of the platform, looking out, not down.
Heights are not my favorite thing, but I can tolerate them.
There are no messages on my phone, but I do look up the health and beauty store downtown, and I save the address to my maps app, planning to go there next.
Popping my head back inside the suite, I see that Axl is off the phone.
He looks forlorn. Lost. "Dude, what's wrong? "
"That was my brother."
"Yeah, you mentioned that. What did he want?"
"It's my mom. She's in a bad way. Apparently, she's been in a bad way for a while, yet nobody fucking told me."
"What, is she in the hospital or something?"
"He wouldn't tell me more over the phone, the asshole. He wants to meet with me."
"Did he say that she's dying or something? I mean, how close are you to your mom, anyway? Weren't they all assholes to you?"
He gives me a look like I just said something stupid. "Do you fucking blame them, man? My mom, all of them, were assholes to me, but I'm no saint, either."
"That's not the point, Axl. It's your fucking mother, for crissake."
He frowns and shrugs. "It doesn't matter, Stone. They all hate me."
I start to understand why Axl behaves as he does. "So, what are you going to do?"
"I've got to go see him. He wants to meet at some coffee house up the street from his house. He doesn't fucking trust me to go to his own goddamn house."
"Well, go then. Find out what the fuck's going on. I'll walk you down."
I grab my duffel bag, and we head down the elevator together. We're just about to the door, when I stop. "Shit, man. I forgot my laptop."
"Okay, dude. I'll see you later."
"Sure. Keep me posted."
"Yeah, you, too."
I walk back to the elevator, thinking that I'm an idiot, because the concierge can take care of my things for me, and they should, because then I get to see all facets of this hotel's service, which helps me to determine if they're a right fit for my business.
And just as I stand there, wondering if I should grab a bite before heading back up, I turn around and see Axl.
There's a bar at the center of the reception area.
I watch him order a shot and then a beer chaser, and as the elevator door closes, he downs the shot and then guzzles the entire beer in almost the amount of time it takes for the door to close.
It turns out that there are two health and beauty stores downtown.
One of them is a chain store, and within two and a half seconds setting foot in there, the girls are all over me.
First, they recommend a facial cleanser, and then they have me cornered with the perfect shampoo for my thick, lustrous hair.
Once I tell them who I'm looking for, and that I'm not here to buy anything, they drop me like a hot potato and explain to me that the owner is off in Cabo.
So that's out. When I arrive at the second store, the young girl working behind the counter tells me that the owner is just out grabbing lunch, so I wait.
Thankfully, she doesn't use her talons like the girls in the other store, and minutes later, a girl with a striking resemblance to Lark, arrives.
"This gentleman is here to see you, Liv." The girl with the nametag that reads 'Geena', says.
"Can I help you?" She asks.
I walk over to her. "Hi. This is going to sound crazy. But, you don't know me. I'm a friend of your sister Lark's. I'm Stone."
Her face lights up. "Holy shit."
"Ma'am?"
She takes my hand in hers. "Come with me." She calls to her assistant. "Geena, I'll be back in five."
Behind the counter is a door. She opens it and takes me into what I can only assume is a break room slash storage room slash we ran out of products so we're making them here room.
It's a mess. There are containers stacked in every corner, all labeled with weird numbers, and the place smells odd, like a cross between a medicine cabinet and a health food store. "Wow. She said you were hot, but wow."
My face heats. "She said that?"
"Not in so many words." She says blankly.
"Um, have you spoken to her today?"
"Not yet. Why?"
I swallow and take a seat at the table by the refrigerator. She kindly moves some of the containers for me. "This may not be my place to say, but it looks like she's taken off somewhere."
Her face scrunches. "What do you mean?"
"Apparently she called in sick to work and then a couple of hours later, she asked to take all her vacation time, as of now. Her phone goes right to voicemail. You can see for yourself."
"That's impossible." She argues kindly. "Lark would never do that.
She's fine. I just spoke to her last night.
" She says, pulling her phone out of her purse, which is in one of the corners, on top of a box.
I watch her try to call, and then I hear her leave a voice message, simply saying to give her a call.
"I'm sure she's fine. She'll call me back once she gets the message. Lark always calls me back."
"Can I leave you my number, so that you can call me if she does?"
"Sure. I can do that."
I give her my number, and she sends a test text, so that we've made the exchange. "God, she is crazy about you, did you know that?"
My smile is shy. "I should go. I don't want to keep you from your work."
"I'll call you when she calls. Or you call me if she calls. She'll call." Liv's nonchalance is a little unnerving.
Because Lark doesn't call either of us.