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“Morning—”
Hands wrap around my biceps and pull me into the lift with a gentleness that allows the doors to close and my eyes to trail up the As Above tee across his chest.
“Peach?”
“What’s going on, C?”
I grit my jaw to keep it from wobbling at the familiar sight of Peach’s face, except his brow is set in an uncharacteristically firm line that broadcasts his concern.
“Um, I,” I say, my voice clogging in my throat with all the words I don’twant to share. All the things I don’twant to talk about, because talking about them brings them back to life.
Like a phone call when I haven’t heard from him in years.
And I need that part of my life to die.
“Is it Fin?” Peach’s light eyes search mine, his hands still holding me up by my upper arms when my jelly legs refuse to.
“No.” I shake my head even though it feels like it weighs a hundred pounds. “I just … Can I use your phone?”
“Yeah, yeah.” He nods and smashes the call button for the paused elevator and fishes out his phone while one hand still clings to me as if I’ll fall over if he doesn’t.
I might.
Dialing the number I know by heart with quivering fingers, I put the device to my ear and wait.
And wait.
And wait.
“Hello?” Gruff as ever and full of sleep, the voice on the other side has my wobbling legs steadying and my torso strengthening against Peach’s steadying grip. “Can I help you?”
I sigh into the phone, my heart rate slowing. “It’s me.”
“Cedar?” The voice on the other end shoots up an octave, audible with worry. “Princess, what’s wrong?”
“He …” I work a swallow down my dry throat and turn my upper body away from Peach to whisper into the receiver. “He called.”
Silence greets me at the admission, and it’s like I can feel the heat of anger rising through the phone.
“Why are you whispering? Is he there?”
“No.” I shake my head, even though I know he can’t see me. “He just … hung up.”
Breathing a lift back into my shoulders, I step to the opposite side of the cube from Fin’s bodyguard and do my best to have a private conversation with the one man that knows more than most.
Peach and Fin are together a lot, but I don’t know how close the two really are considering the dark-rimmed eyes that watch me.
And I don’t need another man involved.
“I’m coming to get you.”
“No, wait.” I glance over to meet Peach’s curious but soft gaze. “I’ll come to you.”
“Alright.” A sigh makes its way over the line, along with rustling and beeping that sounds an awful lot like a coffee pot. “If you’re not here in twenty, I’m coming for you.”
“How do you know I’m that close?” A small smile creeps its way onto my face as the elevator dings open on the main floor of the hotel and a grunt responds to my question.
“Twenty minutes or I’m coming. That’s a promise, Princess.”
