What's Done in Darkness (21 page)

One after the other, the stalls emptied. But Katrina hadn't been in any of them.

Frowning, I made my way back out to the club floor. And that's when I saw Katrina, standing against the wall at the back of the restaurant.

I started over to her. As she saw me, she eased off of the wall, and I noticed her sway. No surprise there.

“Katrina,” I said as I reached her. “Why are you standing over here? Are you okay?”

“I don't feel so good.”

“Maybe we ought to go.”

She mumbled something unintelligible.

Shit, she was out of it. I took her by the elbow and started leading her back toward Brian and Keith. I wasn't impressed. I would have to get her back to the hotel, which undoubtedly would throw a kink in my plan to get naked with Brian.

“I don't want to leave,” she said as I walked with her.

“You're not feeling well, and I'm sure Christian is looking for you.”

“I'm fine.” She slurred her words.

“Christian hasn't come back in since your fight. We need to find him.”

“Christian's fine.”

“Obviously, you're inebriated out of your mind, because I know you're not this callous.”

She said nothing as I led her back over to Brian and Keith. Brian's warm smile immediately set me at ease. He was strong and gorgeous, and I got the sense from him that he was a take-charge kind of guy who would protect a woman.

Maybe he would be willing to help me get Katrina back to the hotel … then we could continue with our evening.

“Is she okay?” Brian whispered in my ear.

I shrugged. “She seems okay.” Then I groaned. “I'm so embarrassed by her behavior tonight.”

“You said she's not normally like this?”

“The truth is, I'm not totally sure what she's like.” When Brian gave me a curious look, I explained, “I only met her recently. Like a couple of weeks ago.”

“And you're already on vacation with her?” Brian asked.

“She's a friend of my sister's. My sister's the one who set it up for me to work at her café in Key West. They knew each other in college, and I'm guessing Katrina has really changed since then. My sister doesn't drink excessively, nor do drugs.”

Brian's eyes widened. “Drugs?”

Shit!
But if I tried to backtrack now, I knew I would look stupid. So I told him a half-truth. “Some guy offered her something earlier. I don't know what it was, but ever since then she has totally not been herself. I think I should get her back to the hotel.”

“You want me to go with you?”

Brian didn't even hesitate when he asked the question, which made my heart fill with happiness. The situation with Katrina wasn't turning him off. I smiled, but when I spoke I tried not to sound too excited. “Sure. If you want to.”

“Picture time!” Katrina leaped in front of us, her smartphone already raised high.

“No pictures,” Brian said.

“Come on,” Katrina insisted.

Brian shook his head. “I'd rather not.”

Katrina, giggling, snapped the picture anyway. The flash went off, blinding me.

“I just asked you not to take my picture,” Brian said. “Can you please delete that?”

“What's the big deal?” Katrina asked.

“I don't like my picture ending up on social media,” Brian responded.

“I promise not to post it on Facebook or Twitter,” Katrina said, and made the sign of a cross over her chest. “Okay?”

“I'd prefer you delete it.”

And with Brian's insistence I felt niggling doubt in my gut. Did he not want to appear on social media because he was afraid of
who
might see the picture? Like a girlfriend or a wife?

“Is it really that big of a deal?” I asked him.

“Keith, smile,” Katrina said. When Keith posed, Katrina snapped his photo. Then she faced Brian. “Keith isn't making a fuss. Why are you?”

Brian snaked his arms around my waist and pulled me close. “Trust me,” he said.

“That picture's just for you,” I heard Keith say. “I don't want that posted online anywhere.”

“What is it with you two?” Katrina narrowed her eyes with suspicion. “Are you two criminals or something?”

“We're just private people,” Keith replied.

My stomach fluttered.
Were
they criminals? And why didn't he want me to tell Katrina that we'd met in Key West? God only knew who they really were. I'd met Brian in Key West; then he'd mysteriously disappeared. At the time, I'd thought that it was another woman who'd sent him running, but what if it was a drug dealer? Someone Brian owed money to? We were in Mexico, after all. Maybe I was being judgmental, but how did I know that he wasn't involved in the drug trade?

“What are you thinking in that pretty head of yours?” Brian asked. “Because I see the wheels turning.”

“I'm thinking that you have a lot of secrets,” I answered, not meeting his eyes.

“Look at me,” Brian said.

Slowly, I raised my gaze to his. Mixed with the desire I saw in his light brown eyes I also saw honesty. My gut told me I could believe him.

“I'm not lying to you about what matters. Now isn't the time to talk, but I will tell you everything.” He stroked my cheek. “When the time's right.”

*   *   *

Katrina, getting a second wind, wasn't ready to leave. So Brian got me another drink, and we continued dancing. I was feeling no pain, as they say, another margarita having given me a nice buzz and a feeling of being free.

I wanted sex. And I wanted it with Brian.

But Katrina's second wind didn't last more than twenty minutes. Looking ashen, she approached me and Brian on the dance floor and tugged on my arm. “I feel like shit.”

“What's wrong?”

“I'm gonna puke.”

“Damn it,” I muttered. “You want me to go with you to the bathroom?”

“I just want to go,” she whined.

“We'll go with you,” Brian said. “Help you get Katrina back to your hotel.”

“Oh, thanks.” I tried to hide my smirk of satisfaction. I was sure he was offering more than that, but either for his sake, Katrina's, or mine, he was playing like he didn't have designs to get me into bed back at the hotel.

We all made our way out of the club. Once outside, Katrina asked, “Where's Christian?”

Honestly, I wanted to throttle her. Now that she was sobering up, she suddenly gave a damn about her boyfriend?

I only drank alcohol, and even the one time I got stoned I was aware of everything going on around me. I never got so shit faced that I didn't know what was happening, and it pissed me off that Katrina was so self-centered that she had caused a scene with Christian, disrespected him in grand style, then let him leave without a second thought until now.

“He's probably back at the hotel,” I told her.
But if he knows what's good for him, he'll be on a plane back to England.

“I was a total bitch, wasn't I?”

“Yeah, you were.” No point sugarcoating the truth. Covering crap with honey didn't make it any more appealing.“But I'm sure Christian will be back at the hotel, waiting for you.”

As usual.
It had to be the sex that kept him around, because what I was learning about Katrina was far from appealing. What guy in his right mind put up with being disrespected and humiliated if not for some amazing sex between the sheets?

Keith flagged down a taxi that was pulling up in front of the restaurant, and moments later he was opening the door for all of us. The night air was cool and sobering. But even so, I still knew I wanted to get laid. My perception of Brian hadn't changed with a clearer head.

I got into the back of the taxi beside Brian. He pulled me onto his lap, surprising me, and I made a little
oomph
sound. Then in came Katrina. Kevin took his seat beside the driver.

As the taxi started off, Brian reached up to curl a hand around my neck and urge my head down. My heart began to thud—hard. And then he began to kiss me, right there in the backseat of the taxi, with Katrina beside us.

My whole body tingled with desire. His tongue swept over mine, hot and urgent. I let go of any reservations and kissed him back with abandon, letting him know that I was his for the night.

 

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

I was sitting beside Brian when the taxi pulled up to the hotel—after I had been admonished by the driver for sitting on his lap—but we were snuggled close and holding hands. All of my reservations were gone. I was, as he'd asked me to, trusting him.

“Here we are,” I said when the taxi came to a stop, my voice fluttery. “This is our hotel.”

Katrina gripped my arm. “Jade, I feel awful.”

I faced her. “We're at the hotel now. We're going to get you upstairs.”

“No,” she said, and I heard a hint of panic in her tone. “I don't want strangers going upstairs with us.”

I quickly glanced at Brian, before facing Katrina again. She had both hands on her stomach and an expression of pain on her face. “It'll be okay,” I told her.

“No, it's
not,
” she told me, an edge to her voice. “I need you tonight, Jade. I feel like I'm going to die.”

“It's okay,” Brian said. “We can see each other later.”

“But—”

He opened the door and got out of the taxi. As I got out after him, he went around to the other side of the car to help Katrina out. She stumbled in her heels, and Brian caught her before she fell. She began to wail.

The bellman looked in our direction, and I inwardly groaned. I was so humiliated!

Brian walked Katrina over to me, and she quickly wrapped her arms around my shoulders, clearly needing me to even stand upright. She was whimpering.

“Brian—”

“Take care of your friend,” he said to me. “She needs a lot of water. And get some crackers into her. Or French fries. Some sort of starch.”

My stomach plummeted. He was leaving?

“But…” My voice trailed off. Suddenly I felt like a fool voicing what I wanted. Didn't he want the same thing?

“We'll connect later,” he said.

“When?” I asked.

But I wasn't even sure if he heard me, because Katrina began to wail like some wounded animal. “Jade, please! I've got to get to the room.”

As I secured an arm around Katrina's waist, I saw Brian head back into the taxi. He was leaving.

Katrina swayed, and I tightened my arm around her. Her wailing faded to a groan. “Why did I drink so much?”

I heard the taxi door shut. A quick look in that direction and I saw the taxi starting off. Brian waved.

Katrina's inebriated state had cost me a night with a guy I was really into.

And then it hit me, the mistake I'd made. I hadn't let him know that I had my
own
room. He no doubt assumed that I was sharing a room with Katrina … and who would want to get busy with a drunk in the next bed?

Was he going to call me later? Tomorrow, after Katrina slept off her hangover? And why did it feel like Brian was disappearing from my life once again?

Because he didn't even tell you the hotel where he's staying,
was the thought that popped into my head. I felt like a puppet on a stick—a stick Brian had control of.

He'd left me in Key West, and he was leaving me again in Mexico. Rightly or wrongly, I was feeling rejected.

Maybe he just wasn't that into me.

My disappointment was palpable as I walked through the front doors of the hotel with Katrina. The staff at the front desk gave us concerned looks.

“It's okay,” I told them.

“You're sure?” one of the men asked.

“Yep.” I forced a smile. “I can get her to the room.”

I helped Katrina to the elevators, consoling myself with the fact that Brian hadn't intentionally abandoned me. With the chaos of Katrina feeling ill, Brian had simply forgotten to tell me where he was staying. And obviously a decent guy wouldn't expect me to cast aside my friend in order to spend a few hours in bed with him.

Maybe he'd have his cell phone on so that I could reach him, despite the outrageous roaming fees. Or maybe he planned to connect with me tomorrow.

Had I even given him my last name? Would he be able to find me at the hotel?

Where there was a will, there was a way.

My heart filled with hope. He said he had come to Cancun because of me. Which meant he would find me, one way or another.

I believed that he would. Because surely what I'd felt with him wasn't one-sided.

“I think I'm okay to walk on my own,” Katrina said, and eased away from me.

“You're sure?” I asked.

“Uh-huh.”

As we continued to the elevators, I noticed that she was far steadier on her feet. Miraculously so.

She pressed the UP button. Then casually said, “I know you like Brian, but I don't trust him.”

“What?”

“There's something shady about him and Keith. And what's with him being all over you and not wanting to take any pictures with you?”

I stared at Katrina, realization dawning. “Minutes ago, you looked like death warmed over.”

“I had to get rid of them, Jade.”

Anger began to brew inside of me. “That was all an act?”

The elevator arrived, and Katrina walked onto it. “You'll thank me later.”

I wanted to punch her in the face. Instead, I stood outside of the elevator, glaring at her.

“Are you coming in?” she asked me.

“No.” I turned.

“He's long gone, Jade!” Katrina called out to me.

That manipulative bitch! She was enjoying this.

Balling my hands into fists, I kept walking. Because I didn't want to say something I would regret.

*   *   *

I sat in the lobby, trying to cool off. But also hoping. Hoping that Brian would show up at the hotel in an effort to connect with me.