Stay The Night

by Parker, Ali

  The door slamming behind him was his only answer. Relieved that the slimy snake was out of our lives, I turned my eyes to my brother. He lifted his chin challengingly. “And me, little brother? Want to dish out some more threats?”

  I walked up to him slowly, closing my fist over the collar of his shirt. My voice came out low and deadly serious. “I know you heard me when I told him I wasn’t making threats. This little game you were playing with him is over. Get back to Florida, or you can walk the same path as Dustin.”

  Letting go of him, I turned my back and stared out over the city. “And Danny? Consider it a gift for every birthday and Christmas for the rest of your natural life that you’re not walking out that door the same way he did anyway. Trust me, an hour ago you were going to.”

  Chapter 60

  Aston

  Alone for the first time all week, I didn’t really know what to do with myself. It was so strange how quickly I’d gotten used to having Blake around. To be fair, I was hardly ever alone at work, either.

  The silence in the room seemed deafeningly loud, especially since I could see the busy streets below when I looked out the window. I spent some time doing just that—people watching from my perch on the windowsill in the suite.

  When I was done with that, I ran a nice bath and soaked until my skin wrinkled while I read an e-book I’d purchased on my phone. I’d read that you shouldn’t make the bath too hot when you were pregnant, so the water cooled down fast. I kept having to add warm water.

  When I got annoyed with doing that and was fearful I’d resemble a prune if I stayed in the water much longer, I slipped into one of the complimentary white robes in the cupboard.

  Settling on the sofa with a bottle of water, I put my feet up and crossed my ankles as I flipped through the channels on TV. The longer Blake took to get back, the more I worried about him.

  What he had to do today, I didn’t envy. Not one bit. Despite what he said, I could see it eating away at him that he was at odds with his brother. It hurt him deeply and made me want to track Danny down, shake his shoulders and slap some sense into the man.

  I didn’t condone violence, but I felt that Danny deserved a good slap right across his handsome face. Or maybe that was just my crazy pregnancy emotions speaking. I felt everything so much more intensely now.

  When I was happy, it felt like my heart was going to burst from it. But when I was angry or sad, both of which I felt over the situation Danny was putting Blake in, I felt enraged and weepy. Thank God my emotions would stabilize again once the baby was born, or at least I hoped they would. I would never make it through life like this.

  Giving up on finding something good to distract me on TV, I picked up my phone and decided to call Tiffany. It had been a while since I last checked in on the hotel. The realization of how long it had been hit me hard. I’d gotten so wrapped up in everything with Blake, I hadn’t even thought to check in with her.

  On the other hand, I trusted Tiffany and didn’t want her to feel like I was checking up on her every five minutes, instead of just checking in once in a while to see how everything was going. Even so, I owed my best friend a call.

  She answered on the second ring, sounding friendly but not as bubbly and exuberant as she usually did. “Aston! I was starting to wonder if Blake had kidnapped you or something. How are you? Where are you?”

  I smiled at the familiar sound of her voice, feeling a pang of homesickness in my stomach. “I’m great, how’s everything going there? We’re in New York at the moment. Blake had to fly up for business.”

  “New York, New York!” Tiffany sang, making me giggle. “Is it just like it looks in the movies?”

  “Sort of. It’s hard to explain the scale of everything here. It’s like they’ve kicked everything up a notch. They seem to live at a hundred miles an hour. I would be exhausted.”

  I proceeded to fill her in on what little I’d seen and experienced of the place so far and then turned the conversation to work. I was dying to know how she was holding up. “Are you doing okay?”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Don’t you dare worry about me or this hotel! Everyone is pulling their weight, the functions we’ve had so far have gone off without even a hint of a hitch, and all the guests are happy.”

  “Is it still so busy?”

  Tiffany giggled excitedly. “It sure is. We have so many referrals it’s making my head spin. You know those little forms guests can fill in that ask about their experience and how they heard of us?”

  “Yeah?”

  “People keep saying they were told by friends or colleagues it was the best place to stay in the area,” she exclaimed. “And congratulations are in order, friend.”

  My heart skipped a beat. I hadn’t told Tiffany I was pregnant yet. If she somehow learned about it from someone else, I was worried she would never forgive me. Moreover, I was afraid of the hit my reputation would take if people found out I was carrying Blake’s baby without having heard my side of things.

  I knew they would all find out eventually, it wasn’t like I could hide it forever. I didn’t even want to, I simply wanted those close to me to know the truth and to hear it from me. I loved Blake. Truly, madly and deeply.

  I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life, even if it was far too soon to be thinking along those lines. I didn’t want them to think I had slept with him for a promotion or because he was the boss. I couldn’t take it if they thought I was just another opportunity seeking, gold-digging woman after him because of who he was.

  The people I loved would never believe that about me, at least I hoped they wouldn’t, but I didn’t want to take the chance. I wanted to explain my situation before it became fodder for the gossip mill.

  “Congratulations for what?” I asked cautiously.

  “You’ve been voted Manager of the Month, silly.” She went on, happily. “I know you don’t care about stuff like that, but it’s an honor and you deserve it.”

  “Did I get a fruit basket or something?” I teased. I knew of the monthly company-wide vote, of course, but I had no idea I was even in the running. Tiffany was right, I didn’t care about stuff like that, but it was still nice to be acknowledged.

  “Chocolates and a bottle of champagne, actually,” she told me. “And don’t worry. It’s all in the fridge, waiting for you to get back so we can celebrate together.”

  The champagne was going to have to wait a couple of months, but the chocolates sounded good. “I can’t wait to get home. Thank you so much for all you’re doing. I know you never wanted that job and now you’re stuck with it.”

  “It’s only until you get back. I don’t mind doing it for as long as it takes until you’re home. Again, don’t you dare worry about it. You know, I’m actually enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.”

  “That’s good news.” As we talked and she told me all about what was going on there, I realized why she had sounded different to me before. She was different.

  She was still the same girl, but the bubbly exuberance was gone because she was taking her job as the manager of the hotel so seriously. There was a more professional clip to her voice. She spoke more clearly and with purpose, instead of just saying whatever popped into her head.

  All things considered, I was really happy she seemed to have taken to the job so well. It was comforting to know I would be able to trust her with it not only now, but when I had to take maternity leave, and in future if I had to travel with Blake.

  It lifted a considerable burden from my shoulders, actually, knowing there was a totally capable and willing second in command. Relieved, I asked about the functions she had booked and got caught up on all the news with the staff.

  Manny, our one doorman, had gotten engaged. Jackie, the sous chef, had been accepted to some highly revered cooking course and was raving about what she was learning after hours. It sounded like everything and everyone really was doing well.

  I felt another pang of homesickness, only this time it
was more like a pain in my stomach. Weird.

  Tiffany and I spoke for another few minutes before I heard someone calling her name. “I’ve gotta go, Aston. A tour group has just arrived and I need to be there while they check in, then I have to channel my inner you and show them to their rooms.”

  “Good luck,” I said, wishing I could’ve stayed on the phone with her a little longer, but understanding why she had to go. “You’re doing a great job. Thanks again.”

  We said good bye, and then I was staring at the TV again. When I felt a stab of pain in my stomach again I couldn’t attribute it to homesickness, so worry crept in and took up residence in my brain.

  Grabbing my phone, I pulled up my internet browser and spent the next couple of minutes reading advice and comments from all the armchair doctors who cared to give their opinion on the numerous forums I visited.

  Most posts and articles I read mentioned pain during pregnancy was normal and nothing to worry about. They said that as long as it went away and wasn’t too intense, it wasn’t necessary to seek medical advice.

  The joys of pregnancy. Every time I looked anything up, I remembered the doctor telling me I would become tired of people saying everything was normal. He was definitely right on that account.

  Since the pain had already gone away and hadn’t been intense, I pushed the worry out of my mind. If I didn’t, I would end up having to move into the doctor’s office for all the worries he was going to have to ease.

  Although, it might not be such a bad idea to move into his office. I didn’t want anything to go wrong with my little bean, and chewing my lip, I wondered whether I should give him a call and check in about the pain, regardless of what the internet said.

  When I heard the door to the suite opening, I decided I was being ridiculous. Blake’s voice called when I heard the door shut again. “Aston? Baby, you here?”

  “I’m here.” I rose from the couch and walked around the wall dividing the room to meet Blake. His day had been hard enough as it was. I wasn’t going to add to his worries by mentioning the pain or calling the doctor.

  The man himself had said most things were normal and the internet agreed. Freaking out about it wasn’t going to do anyone any good, least of all the baby. Instead, I would focus on his or her father. He deserved some TLC after the day he must have had.

  “How did it go?” I looped my arms around his neck and practically climbed his body like a tree. It was unbelievable how much I’d missed him in the short amount of time he’d been gone.

  Chuckling, he caught my thighs and held onto them as I hooked my legs around his waist. He carried me to the bed, sitting down so I was on his lap with my knees on either side of his legs. “It went. How about you? Why are you upset?”

  I frowned, looking down into his piercing eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “Out with it, Aston. I can see something’s upset you. What’s wrong? Whose ass do I have to kick?”

  “You don’t have to kick anyone’s ass,” I scoffed. Firmly deciding not to make a big deal out of the pain I didn’t even have anymore, I told him the truth about the other thing that had been worrying me since long before I felt the pain. “Are you okay? It must have been terrible.”

  “It was,” he sighed, while drawing absentmindedly on my back with his fingers. “Let’s go out tonight, what do you say? You must be tired of being cooped up in here.”

  “For the record, I didn’t feel cooped up at all. But yeah, let’s go out. It would be fun to do some more exploring together, and get your mind off of everything.” The same thing went for me, but I wasn’t going to worry him with that.

  After I got dressed and ready to go out, Blake pulled me close again. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m fine,” I told him, smiling as I lifted myself up on my toes to press a kiss to the side of his jaw. “Perfect, actually. Come on, let’s go.”

  Chapter 61

  Blake

  Aston was the perfect cure for my terrible mood when I was finally done for the day. After Danny and Dustin left, I had to meet with the key staff members of the New York branch to make plans for their immediate future.

  I could hardly leave them without a manager after theirs left under a cloud of suspicion. I quickly learned that many of the employees suspected he was up to something, but didn’t know what. It seemed he’d treated them all like shit and I was relatively sure that none of them were in on the theft with him.

  Nothing we found in his records indicated he was filtering money to anyone else in the branch, and my instincts told me the others were clean, so I focused on the future instead of interrogating the rest of them. We would be keeping a close eye on the branch. If Dustin was in cahoots with someone, I would find out soon enough.

  Without giving them too much detail, I told the staff Dustin had been fired, and I appointed Grace, his longtime assistant, as the interim manager for the time being. It wasn’t a decision made on the fly. While I was completing my initial investigation into the money going missing from the branch, I checked out all the people who worked here.

  Dustin getting fired was always only a matter of time, and I knew I would need someone to fill the position once he was. Grace would have to formally apply like everyone else if she wanted to keep it, but I was confident she was the woman for the job.

  She had management experience at another hotel, and seemed to have taken the position as Dustin’s assistant to get her foot in the door at our company. Her record was spotless, her references checked out and she had taken the reins in spectacular fashion after I told them she would be taking over.

  I sat in the meeting for another hour to make sure, but Grace seemed to have everything under control. The New York branch was under new management and after getting through everything I needed to before I could leave, I couldn’t wait to get back to Aston.

  It ended up taking almost the whole day before I could finally get back to her and when I did, she looked a little pale and her eyes were a tad wider than usual. She insisted she was fine, though I couldn’t completely shake the worry from my mind.

  Smiling at me from across the table at a trendy restaurant the head chef at the hotel had recommended we try, Aston insisted on hearing every detail of my day. “It’ll be good for you to talk through it. Women bring clarity, remember?”

  I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and shrugged. “I’m still not agreeing to that one, but okay. Let’s talk. What do you want to know?”

  “You didn’t fire Danny on the spot,” she said, stabbing at the very crux of my day yet again. “Why not? You said you had to let him go.”

  “I do have to let him go.” On my way downstairs, I’d realized he was still my brother though. “When we get back to Florida, he’s out. He didn’t deserve to be kicked out under the same cloud as Dustin. I couldn’t do that to him. It was too hostile.”

  “You think it’s not going to be as hostile in Florida?” The disbelieving look she gave me told me exactly what she thought about my decision.

  “Not in the same way. Doing it at home, away from the prying eyes of staff members and not associated with Dustin’s downfall is better,” I told her. “Plus, having to appoint a replacement for Dustin made me realize I still had to find someone to replace Danny before letting him go. Despite all the crap he’s been pulling, his sudden absence from the company is going to leave a big, empty hole. It wouldn’t be good for us to have that.”

  “Ah, the smooth transition thing again.” It was really uncanny how well she understood the situation, despite never having been in anything similar.

  I nodded. “I need to have things properly in place before I tell him. You know, get my ducks in a row and all.”

  “And right now, all your ducks are at a rave or what?” Her lips curved into a smile.

  “Nope,” I replied with a grin, appreciating her attempt at humor. “My ducks aren’t even all in the same place right now. It’s going to take a little while to even get them together, much less
lined up in a row.”

  “Got you,” she said, between taking small sips of water. “You’ll find someone eventually, I know you will. You’ve got this, don’t worry.”

  “Yeah, I know I will. I need to talk to my dad any—” A loud, drunken voice booming from the other side of the restaurant interrupted me.

  “McAllen, you fucking bastard. You’ve got balls showing up here.” I recognized the voice even before I spotted Dustin stumbling around tables as he made his way to ours. “This is my town. You have no right to be in it. You shouldn’t be breathing the same air as I am.”

  “Here we go,” I muttered under my breath, getting up to shield Aston before the slurring asshole fell right onto her. “Don’t embarrass yourself, Dustin. Turn around and walk away, right now.”

  My voice was low, but I could tell he heard me by the way his nostrils flared. “No fucking way, Blake. You don’t own this place too, or do you?”

  He snorted, almost hitting the floor after tripping over his feet. Catching himself on a poor couple’s table as he passed the stunned people, he snarled at me. “I don’t even care if you own it too, you’re not the boss of me. You never have been and you never will be.”

  Wild laughter erupted from his mouth as he shook his head. “You’re not half the man your brother is. Soon enough, he’ll get what’s rightfully his and so will I. There’s nothing you can do about it, you motherfucking piece of shit. Mark my words, I’ll be back.”

  “You’re causing a scene, Dustin.” I cast an apologetic look to the people around us, but Dustin didn’t seem to care. He was drunk and deranged, obviously completely out of it.

  When he got closer to our table, I noticed that his pupils were nothing more than pinpricks and his eyes were bloodshot and watery. “Don’t take another step closer, I’m warning you.”

  The hostess and the waiters were all frozen in place, hushed like the rest of the patrons watching the scene unfold in front of them. I only hoped their security wasn’t as useless, but there was no one in sight yet.