He reached for his pocket again when silence settled over us but dropped his hand before retrieving the pack. It was probably a habit, but it still had me wondering if I should let him go. Was he on a break? I didn’t know because I had no clue what their schedules were like or if he’d get in trouble if he was gone too long. Or if we’d both get in trouble if someone found us out here together.
“Are you on a break or something?”
“Naw.” Marc shrugged. “Things are pretty laid back for us. When we’re on shift, we have to patrol the hotel and the grounds to make sure no one sneaks in or out, but it isn’t really regimented. Honestly, I don’t think Sergeant Collins knows what to do with us.”
“Must be nice.” I ran the toe of my shoe along a crack in the terrace floor. “They know exactly what to do with me.”
When I looked up, he was staring at me, the corners of his mouth turned down. “I can’t imagine any of this is easy.”
“It’s really not.” My eye roll would have made a moody teenager envious. “I should go back inside. We’re supposed to be in groups of two at all times.”
“One,” Marc pointed to himself then at me, “two. Looks to me like you’re following the rules.”
“I haven’t met with my minder yet, but I have a feeling being alone with one of the soldiers is definitely skating the line of what’s allowed.”
He laughed, deepening his dimple in a distracting way. “Yeah, we got a pretty decent lecture the day we arrived about keeping our distance from the country’s most important assets.”
“I’m pretty sure when they say asset, they’re only referring to my uterus.”
His eyebrows jumped and an amused light shone in his eyes. “So, you’re saying the rest of you isn’t off limits?”
“I’m saying,” I replied through my laugh, “that they shouldn’t be able to tell me what to do with the rest of my body. At least not in my opinion. Although I have a feeling the powers that be wouldn’t agree with me on that point.”
“Probably not,” Marc replied.
More reluctantly than I would have expected, I took a step toward the door. “I guess I’ll see you around?”
He was smirking when he once again retrieved the pack of cigarettes from his pocket. “You can count on that.”
I returned his smile, and for the first time since I found out I was going to be sent away, a lightness came over me. I hadn’t expected it, and it was strange, but nice as well. And Marc was nice, too. Cute and funny, he’d be a good distraction during my stay here. No, nothing could happen between us. That would definitely be against the rules. But having him to talk to would be a change of pace I was sure I’d need.
“It was nice to finally meet you, Marc,” I said as I walked backward.
He grinned as he retrieved a cigarette from the pack. “I look forward to getting to know you more,Ara.”
A shiver moved through me yet again. Shit. I was going to have to be careful with this guy. Very careful.
Thirty-Two
My meeting with Hilary was to take place in her room, which was on the second floor.
I arrived with two minutes to spare despite having dragged my feet but paused outside room 217. My conversation with Marc had distracted me enough that I’d been able to push away my dread about the meeting, but it returned with a vengeance now. I didn’t know what I was going to learn once I stepped into the room, but I was positive it was going to piss me off. And that it was once again going to change my life.
“Guess I should just get this over with,” I muttered to myself.
I still didn’t knock, but instead waited, staring at my wristband. Avoiding this meeting was impossible, but that didn’t mean I was going to give this woman even one extra minute of my time.
When my wristband dinged, indicating it was four o’clock, I finally rapped my knuckles against the door. A second later it opened, revealing a grim-looking Hilary.
“Miss Murphy,” she said as she stepped aside. “Thank you for being prompt.”
As if I had a choice,I wanted to say, but chose to keep it in. That bitch from last night had already complained about me and I shouldn’t do anything to make the situation worse. No matter how much I wanted to tell this woman to go to hell.
I said nothing as I stepped into the room, passing Hilary, whose sharp, brown eyes were narrowed on me. As usual, sheseemed to take my lack of response as a personal attack, but since it was a hell of a lot better than saying what I was actually thinking, I remained quiet. She couldn’t have her way all the time, and it wasn’t like I was causing problems by staying silent.
Hilary’s room was bigger than mine. A suite, most likely. A king size bed sat to my right, while to my left was a small sitting area, complete with a stiff looking old couch, a matching chair that had some very unfortunate stains, and a coffee table. I wondered if all the minders got suites.
“If you want to take a seat,” Hilary said, letting the door swing shut and motioning to the sitting area, “we can get this over with quickly.”
