I got a room on the same floor with Ivy and the clerk’s phone number. Maybe I’d make this a vacation of my own. She said she’d be off the clock at three. Good to know. She also worked nights sometimes. Even better. The credit card I used wasn’t the best idea, since it was for emergencies only. But I’d make do for now.
Instead of going straight up to a room, I went out to move my car and grab a bag. The hotel nightly fee included parking—thank fuck. Even with Sarah Jane’s discount, it was still pricey. On my way back through the lobby, I winked at her on my way past. Her smile grew and mine might have made an appearance as I stepped into the elevator.
Getting laid hadn’t been the original plan, but what the hell. It was still really early. I was just stepping off the elevator when the battle axe said, “Stay in the room, order room service, and catch up on your assignments from the tutor. You have my number.” Then she was bustling up the hall.
“Whatever,” Ivy called after her and the door slammed. I sidestepped the woman as she got to the elevator. She was on the phone before the doors opened.
Our gazes met briefly as she said, “Yes, three days—it’s about time I had a break from the brat.” Her look practically screamed fuck off as she jabbed the elevator button and the doors closed behind her.
What. A. Bitch.
She was just leaving Ivy here? Alone?
Irritated as fuck, I made my way to my room, which was just up the hall from hers. I glanced at her door, probably staring a little too long. We weren’t directly across from each other, more caddy cornered. But when I checked through the viewfinder, I could see her door.
Well, the desire to be here fueling my blood made sense. The cunt and I were going to have words. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. Violence needed to serve a purpose. Carelessness was one thing. The woman was a chaperone, not a caretaker. She probably saw nothing wrong with leaving Ivy secured in a hotel room.
She was almost twelve by her standards, with Emersyn’s birthday the following week. Even if she didn’t look much older than eight. I was here. Here I would fucking stay, the guard dog at the goddamn door.
Every time the elevator dinged, I got up to check the door. The first was room service. Ivy opened the door, but she didn’t let the delivery person in. Just asked them to leave the tray and she’d get it in a minute, like she needed to get dressed. At least the sound carried from the hall easily enough. The minute the elevator dinged that the guy was gone, she pulled the door open and wedged it with her foot.
Dressed in a t-shirt and shorts ,and apparently having showered since her hair was wet, she looked even younger. She picked up the tray and grinned. Really grinned. The door closed before it occurred to me, I should have taken a picture.
Fuck, I was creeping on my own sister. Shaking my head, I returned to the bed and dropped on it. I was a light sleeper. The doors opened and closed in the hall. The sounds of families passing by, running kids, murmuring parents, even the occasional crying baby. All of this registered, but none of it was Ivy, or a door close to mine.
The sudden fierce knock on a door had me upright and across the room before I’d even processed I was moving. A young girl stood outside Ivy’s room. What the fuck? The door opened and Ivy stared out, her mouth fell open in shock.
“Lainey!” I hadn’t heard that squeal in years. It catapulted me back as Ivy threw the door open. The girls gripped each other in a tight hug, all but dancing before Ivy dragged “Lainey” into the room. “What are you doing here?”
Whatever the answer was, the door closing cut it off. Fuck me.
Adrenaline flooded my system. After emptying my bladder, I splashed water on my face and brushed my teeth. Every hotel room came with its own coffee maker, so I brewed a cup. It tasted like ass, but caffeine was caffeine and I’d had way worse.
I’d barely downed two swallows when the door across the hall opened again. The girls were coming out. Ivy had put her hair up in a ponytail and wore sneakers. She also had a purse strung crosswise across her body. Where the hell were they going?
“I still can’t believe you’re here!” Ivy’s excitement punctured my anger so deftly, I damn near forgot why I’d been annoyed.
“I’m so fucking grounded,” the other girl said with a laugh. “Worth it.”
Then arm and arm they headed for the elevators.
Son of a bitch.
I stuffed my feet into shoes. I was still in jeans and a clean t-shirt. It would have to do. I snagged a baseball cap out of my duffle and shoved it on my head. Wallet in my back pocket, I downed the rest of the scalding coffee in one swallow and headed for the stairs. I made it to the lobby in time to see them spill out of the elevator in a mini-crowd of people. It didn’t take them long to separate over to the concierge desk.
The two girls, both possessing an unnatural poise, kept breaking up into giggles that had me grinning. Tickets to the parks purchased, they followed the concierge’s directions to head out the doors. Why did the guy just sell them tickets? Then again, I hadn’t heard exactly what they said to him.
I crossed to him and handed him the credit card. Fuck the cost. “One ticket to the parks.”
“Hopper?”
“Whatever.”
The guy opened his mouth to ask me another question and I just fixed him with a look. This wasn’t a social call. “Of course, one moment.” It took two, agonizingly long minutes. “Here you go, the hotel offers a shuttle to the—”
I didn’t wait for him to finish that part. I’d already caught the bus idea. Relief swarmed me when I got outside and found the girls waiting with a group of others for the bus. It was easy enough to drift into the crowd. I surged on behind them, sunglasses keeping my eyes hidden. They sat together, still giggling, and as much as I wanted the seat right behind them, I took one a couple more rows back.
At the park entrance, the thronging crowds worried me but they also provided camouflage. I was just another kid on his way to the park. I didn’t have a bag, but I also didn’t set off the metal detectors. I’d left my knife back in the room. And I hadn’t brought a gun. To see Ivy? I didn’t think I’d need one.
For the next few hours, I soaked up both the park and the girls’ reactions to it. There was no artifice. They laughed. They played. They bought each other t-shirts. Ate ice cream. Rode the rides. I did actually manage to land in the same conveyance with them more than once. They never noticed me. They didn’t pay attention to anyone. I even managed to get a picture or two when they found a couple of villains, including the wicked looking chick from Alice in Wonderland.
They made no move to leave as the park segued into evening. There was a huge Halloween party and you needed a special ticket. Turned out, I’d gotten one from the dick at the hotel. Go me. They trick or treated around the park, laughing and playing madly. When the parade came through, they were right at the edge of the curb. The darker it got, the closer I drifted.
By the time the fireworks lit up the sky, I’d forgotten about the driving need to be here and just enjoyed their pleasure at it all. Then it was closing time and we were all leaving the parks. The lines to get back on the buses were long. It didn’t look weird at all to be standing with them and about a thousand other people.
I didn’t let anyone jostle them and this time, I parked my ass right behind them on the bus. Maybe I was being selfish, but I’d already figured out this was a birthday present from Lainey to Ivy. I hadn’t realized she had such a good friend. Stupid, right? Of course, she had friends. But she’d been constantly traveling the last three, going on four, years. I wondered if she had anything “normal” in her life.