I could tell that Andrew was losing his patience. Hell, I was losing my patience.
“He’s not—”
Had she said something negative about my pup? Andrew sighed loudly and then stood.
“Calm down. I’ll be home soon.”
Andrew pulled the phone away from his ear and looked at me.
“I’m sorry, James. I need to go. I thought she’d understand.”
“You don’t have to apologize to me, Andrew. I’m sorry the situation with Brandon caused an issue,” I apologized and stood from my chair. “Does she get upset when you come get Brandon on Friday evenings?” I asked and genuinely wanted to know.
“Not so much upset, but she acts annoyed sometimes. But she knew before we got involved again that I wasn’t going to stop my Friday night thing with Brandon. I think maybe she thought that would die out.” Andrew shook his head and promised, “I won’t stop taking Brandon out on Fridays. I promised him, and I’m not going back on my word.”
“Well, before you start playing with fire, let’s get Brandon back first,” I suggested as we walked outside.
“Brandon will be back, James. He’s just scared and running. He’ll be back. He loves you.”
Andrew’s words caught me off guard. I wondered if there was a chance that on one of their Friday night outings if Brandon had told Andrew that. I refused to ask, though. If I couldn’t go to sleep with my pup beside me, then I at least would go to sleep believing that he felt the same about me as I felt for him.
4
Brandon
I tossedand turned most of last night. What little that I did sleep, I ended up waking up shortly after falling asleep either from a nightmare or fear that I’d have one. My body had gotten attached to James. I was able to sleep peacefully next to him. Since I got away from Sebastian, I hadn’t spent a night away from James.
“Fucking perfect.” I sighed and tossed back the covers. I couldn’t lay here any longer. It fucking figured that I fell into another path of addiction the moment I left that kink house.
I sat up and bent my right leg and pulled my foot to rest against my left thigh. After I examined my cuts from last night, I was satisfied that nothing looked infected. Well, that was something positive I had going for me.
Everything looked delicious on the room service menu, and I was so tempted to order from it. But I needed to get up and go get some clothes. Even if it was just some underwear, socks, and some t-shirts. At least a few until I decided for sure what my plan was.
Due to the humidity, the air in the hotel room felt heavy and left my skin sticky. I took another shower, but this time I managed to keep the safety pin away from my skin. That would be for later. Since I didn’t have any hair gel or even a comb, my hair looked like a flat mess. I stood by the door to the room and stared at myself in the full-length mirror. I felt lost, and I looked like shit.
On my way down to the lobby, I checked my wallet to make sure that I had my debit card. I remembered seeing an ATM next to the guest check-in counters and would grab some cash before I went to have breakfast. I stared at the two twenty-dollar bills that were in my wallet. I smiled at them knowing that James had put them there. He always made sure that I had a few twenties on me in case an emergency came up, like Andrew or Josh calling me up to go to lunch.
I should have told him about my inheritance. In my defense, I was afraid he’d tell me that I didn’t need to stay with him since I had my own money. While it was true that I had enough money to last me more than a lifetime, I only wanted to be with him.
With my wallet tucked in the back pocket of my jeans, I stepped out of the elevator and into the lobby. I made my way to the ATM and pulled my wallet out from my back pocket. I held my debit card in my hand as I read the ATM screen about fees and shit.
“Yeah, fine. Whatever,” I said under my breath and slid the card into the slot. “Enter your pin,” I mumbled as I read the screen prompts.
I entered my pin number and hit the enter button. The screen asked me to enter the amount that I’d like to withdraw. Hmm.
“Two hundred,” I said quietly as I entered the amount.
The screen changed to show me an hourglass icon and said it was processing my request.
“Hurry up, fucker. I’m hungry,” I whispered.
I could have gone to eat first, but I was afraid that there might be an issue when the bill came for my breakfast. Last night, Cliff told me that my meals were included with the suite. But I didn’t want to be unprepared and without money in case there was some fine print that Cliff had forgot to mention.
I walked around the lobby and stopped at each entrance to the restaurants to check out what each of them featured. This took about half an hour. Finally, I decided on The Ritz Café. They had a buffet option, but also things that looked good to me aside from the buffet.
I was surprised to find that there was a fifteen-minute wait. Fuck. Seriously? It was a Sunday morning. I glanced around the dining area to the café and most of the patrons were middle-aged couples who were probably on vacation. Fuck that. If I was on vacation, I wouldn’t be up and eating in a hotel restaurant this early. I was only down here because I was hungry, and being hungry made me exceptionally nervous. Knowing what it felt like to be truly hungry and without food was an unforgettable feeling. I also felt like I was wearing damp underwear and socks, and the sooner that I could get some clothes, the better.
Finally, I was seated at a table for two by the window and given a menu. I was impatient, though, and told them that I’d like the buffet. The idea of ordering off the menu and then having to wait for food didn't sound like what I wanted to do. After they took my drink order, I briskly walked to the large buffet area, picked up a plate, and roamed the islands of food.
