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Dorian
I wassure that Briana had only gotten up to go to the bathroom. Why else would she leave her purse and phone at the table? But the minutes ticked by, and she still didn't return.
What had started off as another great day had taken a shitty downturn in the last fifteen minutes. Enzo was being a spiteful bastard. Most of the time he was just a loud drunk, only getting belligerent if someone pissed him off. Tonight, however, something was up his ass because he'd been picking and picking from the moment he sat down.
After he started going on about the bet, I told him to go fuck himself and turned to talk to Charisma. I wasn't really that fond of her, but right now, she was the lesser of two evils. As I listened to her complaining about how she'd been treated unfairly at her last three jobs, I saw Kendall heading for the table and swallowed a scowl. Something about the smug smile on his face set my teeth on edge.
“Hey,” I said to him as he took a seat next to Charisma. “Have you seen Briana?”
“Have I ever.”
I wanted to ask him what the hell that was supposed to mean, but I wanted to know where Briana was more, so I just raised an eyebrow.
He drained his gin and tonic before continuing, “I saw her head back up to the rooms. She looked pretty upset about something. Are you not treating her right?”
Kendall had never taken an interest in my love life before, or in any part of my life, actually. At family functions, the few times he actually spoke to me, it was to make some snide comment about how my brothers and I had been given everything.
He could have been lying, trying to get a rise out of me, but I didn't think he was. She said she'd be back, but that had been nearly twenty minutes ago. Something had to have happened. If she'd left her things here, then what Kenny said made sense. She'd been upset by something. But what could she have heard that would have–
Enzo called for another drink, and that was when it hit me.
She'd heard us discussing the bet.
I swore under my breath.
“What?” Enzo asked, turning bleary eyes my way.
“Nothing.” Grabbing Briana's possessions, I rose from the table and muttered a curt good night before hurrying toward the elevators. I hoped she'd gone to her room, because if she'd decided to leave the hotel, it would take hours to find her, and I didn't much like the idea of waiting to make things right.
I didn’t know how much she'd overheard, but even just a little of that conversation would be enough to make me look like a grade-A asshole. Then again, I should probably hope that she'd heard more rather than less since that would have at least put me in comparison with Enzo, and I looked great next to him.
When I got to Briana's door, I knocked but heard no reply. So I knocked again. Still nothing.
I scowled.
“Briana?” I called.
Silence.
She was there. I could feel her, and the fact that she was ignoring me was starting to piss me off.
“Briana, I've got your phone. Somebody keeps calling, says it's something to do with your daughter.”
I didn't even feel a little bad for the deceit.
Okay, maybe a little.
It wasn't even a second later that the door opened a crack and Briana's hand shot out, palm upward. I placed the phone into her hand, but before she could close the door, I wedged my foot in the crack. I tried not to think about how my Italian leather shoes would take to being crushed in a doorframe. Anyway, maybe I deserved it for lying to her about her kid.
“Go away,” Briana said, not meeting my eyes. “I clearly have something to deal with.”
“I lied. Nobody's been calling.”
“Fucking bastard,” she snapped and pushed on the door. It didn't budge.
“Can you let me in?” I asked. “I need to explain some things.”
A snorting laugh came from the other side of the door. She'd moved so I couldn't see her, but she hadn't threatened to call security yet, so that was good.
