“I’m sure it will,” I said and then cleared my throat and said it louder so he could hear me.
All at once, the fact we’d been on the road for hours caught up with me, and I stood again. Forrest frowned at me. “I gotta… you know, drain the reservoir.”
“Oh!” His smile came back full force and he gestured to a door nearby. “Go ahead. Through there.”
Scooting around him, I walked as fast as I could get away with and not seem nuts. I really did piss in the pristine porcelain bowl in his spotless bathroom that smelled like vanilla and lemons, somehow, but then I turned on the water at the sink and stood there staring at myself in the big round mirror outlined in lights. I sighed. This place was a lot nicer than anywhere else I’d ever been asked to stay. Nothing too bad had happened so far, except that crap with my bike, which could have happened anywhere. I was just nervous. Blowing out a long breath, I turned off the water and went to the door, but stopped when I heard Forrest’s raised voice.
“Really? That’s why we’re back early? Killough thinks he knows who the mole is?”
Rourke answered, but he was too quiet to hear, and I got the idea that maybe I shouldn’t have heard that at all when I opened the door and Forrest smiled too brightly at me.
“Hey,” Forrest said, reaching out to snag my arm again and drag me to his side. “So, I was thinking that tomorrow we could go to my favorite ice-cream sho—” Knocking at the door interrupted Forrest and he glared at it.
Rourke laughed. “Good to be home, yes? They must have missed us, or they’d be taking whatever this is to Terrance.”
Forrest left me there with an apologetic smile and followed Rourke to the door. I got that feeling I sometimes did when King’s office was busy, and I was sort of more in the way than anything, but no one wanted to tell me to get going somewhere else. On the bed laid a pair of tight black pants made of a fabric that wasn’t quite jean material, but was ripped in some interesting places, with a buckle across the tops of the thighs. They actually looked a little girly, the longer I stared, and I frowned at them. There was also a light green shirt that would definitely be a tight fit. My throat narrowed to the size of a straw as I tried to swallow the spit in my mouth.
“Shit,” Forrest said as Rourke closed the door. “We’ll have to take care of this.”
“What was Terrance thinking?” Rourke asked quietly, but that tone was worse than a yell, and then he glanced at me like I would defend Terrance, whoever he was. I raised my palms, and Forrest sighed. Rourke cupped Forrest’s face and brought it back toward him. “Terrance should have known better than to have a client in here behaving badly.”
“He must have thought he got the message the last time he talked to him.”
“Well, now I will talk,” Rourke said, and I shivered at the low tone.
“And I’ll go see how Candi is doing. After all, I know how it goes.”
They stared at each other, and when they bent their heads together to kiss, I looked away, back at those clothes again.
“I’m sorry,” Forrest said. He made his way to me and looked so unhappy that I forced myself to smile.
“Getting called to work?”
“More or less.” He shrugged. “We’ll be in the building, but this could take a while.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “I can keep myself entertained.”
“Oh no, you can’t,” he said with a playful smile that had my gut sinking. “Angel is expecting you at ten o’clock. He’s in the room with the glossy white door. Has a little pearly shine. Only one like it. You have an hour to eat, dress, and get over there. Shower first. Clean all the good spots.” He shook a finger at me, and I nodded quickly. “There are new razor heads in the drawer in there. Make yourself at home.” He stepped in and wrapped his arms around me, and I sank into his friendly embrace and sighed against him, resting my temple on his for a second. “I trust you.”
Rourke glared at me from across the room, and I’m not sure he meant to look quite so mean, or if he was pissed off about whatever was going on, but I shivered under the weight of it. “You too,” I whispered.
He gave me another light squeeze. “God, I can’t believe you’re actually here.” He blasted me with another blinding smile and let go. Rourke ushered him out and the door snapped closed behind them, leaving me all alone in a very nice room with what was likely an expensive dinner.
I stared at the covered food and immediately realized eating wasn’t happening, the second I considered what it was Forrest wanted me to go do in an hour. I rubbed a hand over my face and decided a shower wouldn’t kill me, no matter what, and it took me a few minutes to find towels and everything. I rushed, used to anything and everything happening when I tried to clean up, from people busting into the room to piss in the toilet, to King suddenly needing me to do something for him that couldn’t wait five more minutes. I stressed through my shower because there wasn’t anything to stress about, realized how stupid that was, and still did it anyway. I did take the time to shave. When I was done, I even ran some product I’d found on the counter through my hair so it would lay down and behave, and I was surprised that the guy looking back at me wasn’t half bad.
In fact, I looked more like Forrest than I ever had.
I stared longingly at my dirty clothes but wanted to stay on Forrest’s good side. I liked him, and so far he’d been a good brother, not that I had anything for comparison. I gathered my laundry and dumped it all in a hamper I found in the bedroom, then stared at the clothes on the bed. I picked up the pants and groaned at what was tucked under there—silky green underwear. They still had tags on them.
“Nope.” I tossed them toward the pillows and they crumpled, shiny and soft-looking. The way the fabric gleamed was kind of tempting…. “No,” I said into the empty room again. I could allow myself to do a lot of things, but I wasn’t putting on Forrest’s fancy underwear, even if they did feel like a silky cloud. I yanked the pants on, hooked together the clasp at the fly, and groaned. They were a little too loose around the waist. Forrest must be slightly bigger, which didn’t surprise me, considering I couldn’t bring myself to eat half the time. I buckled the straps on the thighs, and they were… comfortable, and definitely not functional. I eyed up the shirt and figured what the hell? I tugged it on over my head, and it was as ridiculous as I’d thought it would be. The vee neck cut down too far, or at least farther than any shirt I’d ever worn, but I tied the belt thingy around the middle and found a full-length mirror leaned in the corner on a fussy stand. I resembled… a sexy elf, and that was okay… maybe. There were silky socks on the bed, as nice as the briefs I hadn’t put on, but socks were fine—no one would make fun of me for socks—so I dragged them onto my feet.
Laughing at how ridiculous I looked, I crossed my arms. The fabric of the shirt was soft to touch, and I liked the way everything felt on me. I went back into the bathroom and rescued my riding boots, though. I grabbed my phone off the counter but couldn’t fit it or my wallet in any of the pockets on the tight pants, so I left my stuff in a drawer in the bathroom. I stared at the clock on the dresser and paced until five minutes to ten, half hoping Forrest would come back and want to talk, or anything else, but he didn’t.
So, against my better judgement, I left and headed down one floor toward where I thought Angel’s room might be. The hallways all seemed the same to me, with their rich red carpets that had ritzy golden doodads on the edges. What kind of a name was Angel anyway? Not his real name. Maybe like a club name?
Frowning my way around the halls, I saw a girl who stood in an open doorway. She waved at me and then her smile faltered. I felt bad because she probably thought I was Forrest, so I made myself smile back and wave, and she seemed happy with that.
When I got to the door where I thought I should be—it did resemble a pearl—I could hear a man’s voice inside, and he was laughing gently. Then he was talking to someone else with a friendly lilt. Maybe the person in line before me? My stomach wobbled at that idea. There was more laughter. My breath caught in my throat, and I backed away from the door as the voices came closer. I backtracked to the end of the hallway and went around the corner, pressing my back against the wall. I could hear the door open, and stifled masculine giggles were in the hallway now, sweet tones… everything sounded nice.
