Lost In Lies (8 page)

              “I like you, too,” she whispers.

              “In exchange, you’re going to put her up in the President Suite Bi Level under my name and account. Anything she needs, she gets. Anything she orders, she has. Anything she wants to buy is hers. She so much as desires something, and it better be gift wrapped in a box and on her coffee table,” Nick informs Cheyenne in a stern yet persuasive manner. “And she’s charged for nothing. Not a cent.”

              Cheyenne nods slowly, and her hands begin to stroke the keyboard as she types in the information word for word. After just a few clicks, she glances at me, “And how long are you expecting to stay?”

              “About a week?” The unsure answer prompts a nonchalant clearing of the throat from Peter. “Week and half really.”

              She nods in understanding. Nick nods while gloating, and I nod in unhappiness, knowing that I have to keep my end of the deal and meet him down here for a date at 9. Note to self: Never trust a guy in a fedora. Chances are he’s a con man one way or another. And this is my punishment, I assume, for trying to out con a con man twice in one week.

Chapter 3

              Once we’re past the front desk, we settle into the apartment-style hotel room with Justin and me on the top floor sharing a room, Aiden on the parlor couch, while Belle and Peter claim the downstairs bedroom with Eiden on the living room couch.

              Admiring the view, Peter nods in approval, “You did good, newbie.”

              “Thanks,” I sigh, knowing the cost of selling myself is a little higher than I wanted to pay. “I guess you were wrong about Nick.”

              “I wouldn’t say wrong,” he swiftly responds.

              “Oh yeah? What would you call it then?” Justin’s small attempt to come to my defense brings out a small smirk.

              “I’d say I slightly underestimated him,” Peter pulls a sucker out of his pocket, rips off the wrapper, and slides it in his mouth. Looking at Justin, he finishes with, “you know, the same way I did about you.”

              Unsure of what that’s supposed to mean or what Peter’s inferring, I watch the two of them exchange a long stare, the kind that, if we were in a movie, I’m sure we would be treated to a drawn-out flashback of their first meeting.

              “Meet you in your bathroom. Shower, now,” Belle instructs, jarring me away from my deep thoughts.

              Not saying anything, I place my things down and take Belle’s immediate advice and a hot shower. God, I never thought I would appreciate having hot, running water the way I do now. I know we only had to sleep outside for one night, but I can tell you that’s one night too many for me.

              For the next hour and half or so, Belle turns me into her own little stylist pet project, a hobby I assume she doesn’t get to do much experimenting with since she never has any other females around. Well, at least I assume she doesn’t. You know, I am beginning to realize I do a lot of assuming.

              “Do you have many female friends?” The question falls out of my mouth as she applies finishing touches to the golden eye shadow she is giving me.

              “Not really,” the brush strokes my lid softly.

              “Why not?”

              “Have you met Peter?” Her quick response makes me snicker a little. “Aside from that, I just don’t typically tend to get along with them.”

              “Do we get along?”

              “Well, I haven’t tried to kill you yet, so I’d say yeah.” I smile, and she applies a little more mascara. “Besides, from the moment I met you on that rooftop, I knew you were different.”

              “How?”

              “I could just tell.” After a pause, she stands back and admires her work of art, “And I like that.”

              I smirk, “Thanks.”

              “Part them.” She points to my lips and paints shiny, pink lip gloss on them, “You look stunning.”

              “I couldn’t agree more,” Justin leans against the doorframe, hatless, tie-less, and to be honest, a little worn-out looking, almost as if he’s been beating himself up. Belle looks up, and he asks, “Can I have minute alone with her?”

              “Sure,” Belle closes her makeup kit and touches me on the nose. “Behave. I expect this makeup to last.”

              She slides her body away past Justin’s as I stare at his reflection in the mirror. I rise to my feet and meet his body in the doorway, each of us propped up. He lightly outlines my face with his fingers, pushing a stray stand out of my eyes, and sighs under his breath.

              “Omar Bradley said, ‘Bravery is the capacity to be able to perform properly even when scared half to death.’”

              “Are you implying that I’m scared?”

              “No. I am,” Justin’s hands rest on my hips as he leans his forehead down to touch mine. Moved, my eyes light up, and another deep sigh escapes him, “I fell in love with you within moments. I can’t imagine Nick hasn’t already.”

              “Justin—”

              “I know, Peyton,” he cuts me off. “And, I trust you, the same way I hope you come to trust me one day.”

              How does he know I don’t trust him? The way he’s talking to me, the way he’s treating me, am I his girlfriend? Does he just expect that, since I gave up everything to be with him, I was going to end up with him? Was I just kidding myself earlier trying to deny what’s right in front of me?

              My grin grows slowly, and I lift my lips to gently press against his. Our tongues meet for a brief moment before someone clears his throat to pull us away from each other.

              “Sorry to interrupt,” Aiden looks at the floor. “Justin, I’ve got something I think you wanna see.”

              “Coming,” Justin’s hands give me one more soft stroke. “I’ll see you soon.”

              I nod, grab the clutch purse I’m borrowing, follow him down the stairs, and head toward the front door.

              Eiden gets up from the dining table and jogs over to me, handing me a smartphone seconds from my exiting. “A cell phone, just in case. GPS tracking is up and running, so if you need anything just send an SOS message. Our numbers are programmed in.”

              “We’ve got phones already?” I pause, slightly confused.

              “And bank accounts,” Aiden pipes from up behind the laptop on the downstairs couch, where Justin is sitting beside him.

              “Man, how long were we in there?” I giggle with Belle as she places a peppermint in her mouth, falling into Peter’s lap, who happens to be sitting in a dining room chair. I glance back at Justin, who’s obviously swallowing a massive amount of pride before turning back to Eiden. “Thanks for the phone.”

              “Have fun!” Peter waves at me from his half-intoxicated state before chuckling evilly from the inside of his plastic cup.              

              I escort myself to the elevator and slip in. Inside, a gentleman has propped himself up against the wall, a newspaper blocking his face yet leaving his dark jeans and the end of his button-down shirt exposed. Once the door closes, I push the button for the lobby and begin to hum to myself, hoping the date flies by.

              “Lovely evening,” a voice says from behind the newspaper.

              Still thinking about the warm embrace I just shared with Justin, I sigh, “It is, isn’t it?”

              “Plans?”

              Not bothered by random conversation with strangers, after all, it’s becoming more a part of who I am, I answer, “A date. You?”

              “Is he a nice guy?”

              The change in questions causes me to “accidentally” trip and hit the emergency stop button, forcing the elevator to jerk. Realizing the voice is one I know to run from, I’m thankful the elevator door pops open.

              Alex drops the newspaper as I sprint down the long hallway with him casually strolling behind me. Wondering why I’m moving rapidly and he’s barely making an effort, I glance over my shoulder to Alex pointing ahead. Turning around, I land right in Lola’s arms.

              Effortlessly, she captures me, though I manage to wiggle myself around while kicking and screaming to face Alex. I yell for help continually, my feet flailing.

              “Well now, let’s not disturb the other guests.” He shoots a finger at me, causing duct tape from Lola’s pocket to fly onto my lips.

              “Oh God, thank you,” Lola sighs, relieved.

              “Peyton, Peyton, Peyton,” he shakes his head slowly, approaching me, so close that he is in my personal space, the only space he cares to be in when he’s around me. Alex adjusts his collar, “How my blasted cousin got to you before I did I’ll never know.”

              I yell at him through the tape until I realize there is no real point. After all, he can’t understand me.

              “Uh-huh. That’s great. Now,” he strokes the side of my face with his rough, ice-cold hand, “I need that map of yours.”

              Still squirming, I shake my head, which leads to a punch in my ribs. Whimpering in my pain, I barely hear Lola growl, “That felt good.”

              Cursing through the duct tape, I jerk myself around, hoping to escape to freedom, even though I know I won’t.

              “There, there, Lola’s bark is much worse than her bite.” Alex rubs the spot that was just attacked.

              Another punch lands on the other side of my ribs before she giggles, “It’s really not.”

              “About that map,” Alex begins leaning his face toward mine once again.

              An arrow soars between our faces into the wall beside us, immediately turning our attention to a sight I’ve come to rely on.

              “You missed,” Alex taunts leaning back.

              “Says who?” Justin’s eyebrows go up as the sound of the fire alarm begins to blare through the hall, causing the guests to come flooding out of their rooms.

              Alex is quickly bombarded as is Lola. Gratefully, I feel a warm hand on my back. Glancing over, I see Justin’s smirking face leaned into Lola’s, while his hand leads me forward.

              After giving her face a brief caress, Justin sighs, “Maybe next time, Lola.”

              Maybe next time? So, one minute he’s all about me, and the next it’s “Maybe next time, Lola?” Annoyed, but free of my bonds, I follow the crowd down the set of stairs, trying to hide my pain as well as confusion.

              Justin catches up to me, allowing me a moment to ask, “How’d you know I was in trouble?”

              Guilty, he scratches the back of his neck, evading the question.

              “Justin.”

              “Well, when I went downstairs to the lobby to, um, grab a snack—”

              As we weave around the crowd, I say, “You mean check up on me and my date—”

              “I, um, I…”

              “Uh-huh.”

              “When I saw him there looking stood up, I knew something was wrong. You aren’t the kind of girl who doesn’t keep her word, so that told me something was wrong.”

              “Thank you,” my fingertips lightly brush against his before my attention is broken by another voice calling my name aimlessly.

              “There you are,” Nick exclaims, waving rapidly, coursing his way through the crowd. At once, I glance to where Justin just was to see him long gone, amazing me once more. Even though I know he’s trained to disappear as though he never existed, I can’t help but wonder at times like this: Will he ever pull this maneuver on me? I turn my attention back to Nick, who’s twirling a white rose around in his hand.

              “You all right?” he asks as the sound of fire engines bombard the scene.

              “Yeah,” I smile. “Sorry I wasn’t on time. I forgot my lip gloss, and when I tried to go back and get it, the elevator wasn’t working. Next thing I know, I’m headed up the stairs, and people are going down yelling ‘Fire!’”

              He slides a hand into his black dress-pants pocket, allowing me the first chance to admire his classy attire that indeed looks like he went through Justin’s suitcase, with his   navy-blue button up, though he lacks a tie. “You know, we’ve never had a fire scare at the hotel before.”

              “Never?”              

              “And then, the night of our first date—”

              “First date? You’re implying that you know there’s going to be more.”

              “I’m not implying,” he shakes his head and tilts it to the side. “I’m stating.” My jaw drops, shocked and intrigued by his attitude, and he responds, “Shall we?”

              The two of us take off toward the front of the hotel, where he informs that we’ll be walking to a five-star restaurant on the beach. As we begin to walk, I glance over to see how his build is different than Justin’s. Justin is slim with broad shoulders, a very chic and modern build, but Nick has a square frame, almost like that of a lanky wide receiver. The way the dark-blue dress shirt is glued to him, I can’t help but get pretty clear hints of what’s underneath.

              “So, how are you enjoying Landlin so far?”

              “My hotel room’s great,” I giggle. “Other than that and your party, I haven’t had the chance to see much else.”

              “Well, if you want, my limo can take us around the city, and I can show you a few places, or if you prefer, we could take the helicopter and get a view that way.”

The suggestion rubs me uncomfortably.

“First limo then helicopter ... Look,” I stop in the middle of sidewalk, “the thing with the hotel was very sweet and very generous, but I can’t be bought.”

              “Did I mention you could?”

              Ignoring him, I continue, “I get it. You’ve got essentially billions, but that’s not what’s important to me.”

              Baffled, he folds his arms across his chest, “What is?”

              “I don’t know. What’s important to a normal girl. Having fun—”