My own clerk stopped typing and looked up from her monitor. “Are you both currently working at Obsidian Hospital?”
“Yes,” I replied, my patience beginning to wear thin.
“Oh, there might have been a minor system error on our end. Let me check the database again.” She spent several momentstyping rapidly. “Yes, it seems the hospital reserved two separate rooms, but only one of them was ever fully confirmed so we had to give that away. We have exactly one king room available right now. You’ll need to share the space for the duration of your stay.”
The words hung in the air between us.
Share.
One single room. Two separate people. Three long nights.
“That’s not an acceptable arrangement,” I stated firmly. “I need you to check the system again and find another room for my colleague.”
“I'm truly sorry, sir, but the hotel is fully booked to capacity. This conference has taken over every single property in the entire downtown area.”
“Then you need to find a different hotel nearby for us.”
“Every hotel within the city limits is currently booked. I’ve been checking the availability all morning for other displaced guests.” She looked between the two of us with a sympathetic shrug. “I'm sorry, it’s only one king bed, but we can try to arrange for a rollaway bed. That’s truly the only option we have left to offer you.”
One bed.
“There has to be another way to resolve this,” I insisted.
“I'm sorry, Dr. Cross, but this is the best available solution for the situation.”
Mireya stood beside me in total silence, her face giving nothing away.
“Well, this is certainly a convenient turn of events.”
I turned around to see August standing directly behind us. He wore an expensive, tailored suit and a perfect, practiced smile. He looked exactly like a man who had been waiting for this specific moment to arrive.
“August,” I acknowledged coldly.
“Riven. Miss Rosen.” He glanced between us. “Seems I’ve walked in at the perfect time. These booking errors always have a way of surfacing when they’re most inconvenient. Funny how that works”
“We’re currently handling the situation,” I snapped.
“Well, it sounds like there’s no viable solution.” He turned his attention toward Mireya, his smile widening with predatory charm. “I have plenty of extra room in my suite. She's more than welcome to stay with me instead.”
The words were spoken so casually that it sounded like he was merely offering to share a taxi ride across town.
However, I could hear the hidden intent layered underneath his smooth tone. Mireya opened her mouth as if she intended to respond to his offer.
But I grabbed both of our heavy bags before she could utter a single syllable.
“No.” The word scraped out of my throat like jagged gravel, raw and dragged up from deep in my chest. “She's staying with me.”
It was not a suggestion or a topic for further discussion. It was a definitive line drawn in solid concrete between us.
August raised one eyebrow in a mocking gesture. “Is she really?”
“Yes.” I looked directly at Mireya, silently daring her to argue with my decision in front of him. “We’re professional colleagues. It’ll be fine.”
Her eyes went wide.
“Well, then.” The smile on August’s face didn’t reach his cold eyes. “If you're both quite sure about this arrangement.”
“We’re sure,” I replied for both of us.
