Page 123 of Mark my Words

I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do with this letter, but I wasn’t letting her walk away again, not knowing how she felt. Moving on was the last thing I wanted to do right now.

Throwing on my clothes and flinging open the door to my room, I nearly collided with Kelly in the hallway.

“Hey there, lover boy,” she laughed, rubbing her hand over the mess of my hair. “I take it she found you.”

“What?”

“Kristine.” She frowned, taking a step back. “She showed up at my door last night looking for you. Told me Evan gave her my room number.”

“What?”

“She seemed to think something was going on between us. Thought you’d be with me, but I gave her your room number.” She leaned around me, peeking around my partially opened door. “Huh, I thought she’d still be in there with you. Did she go back to her room to get something?”

“What?”

“Man, she really must have screwed the brains out of you,” she cackled, and I grasped her shoulders, pulling her away from my door.

“She left. Do you know which room she was in?”

“What?”

“God, Kelly. Do you know which room Kristine was staying in? I need to talk to her. She was gone when I woke up this morning, but...” I raised the letter that was still clutched in my fist.

“Oh shit, did she fuck and duck?”

“Kelly,” I huffed, shaking her shoulders and glaring down at her. “Focus.”

“Oh, yeah. She’s on the third floor. Let’s go.”

“No, just tell me the room number.” I shook my head, stepping around her and heading toward the elevator.

“Yeah, right. I’m totally coming for this. I love a grand gesture. Let’s do this,” she clapped her hands, following me onto the elevator with a slightly crazed look of excitement.

By the time we got near room 347, I was a mess, but I stopped a few doors down, grasping Kelly by the shoulders again and stopping her in her tracks. “Stay.”

“I’m not a dog, Sam,” she laughed as she tried to take a step forward. “I don’t just stay because some guy commanded me to.”

“Nope.” I shook my head. “You stay here.”

“Oh, come on,” she pouted. “You’re no fun.”

“Yup, just call me joy killer.”

“Fine.”

“Stay.” I pointed at her feet before I turned around and stepped up to Kristine’s door, knocking three times and holding my breath as I listened for signs of life. She’d had a few drinks last night, but I think the nonstop sex half the night would have burned away any chance of a hangover.

Silence stretched down the long hallway. The only sounds were my breathing and a rustle of clothing with the barely restrained bouncing that Kelly was doing in my peripheral vision.

Knocking again, I waited, still not hearing anything.

“Are you sure it was 347?”

Kelly nodded, stepping forward, shouldering me out of the way, and rapping her knuckles on the door. “Kristine, it’s Kelly. Open up.”

“Why would she open for you but not for me?”

“Shh,” she chided as she leaned against the door, her ear pressing to the surface. “I don’t think she’s here. And the Do Not Disturb sign isn’t out. Did she...?”

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