Page 41 of Ace

"I want updates," she argues, and it isn't lost on me that she hasn't agreed to anything.

"I'll call you."

"I'll text you from my new number."

"Very good," I say before turning and walking toward the door.

"This feels like a morning-after brush-off, and we didn't even have sex."

Her words stop me in my tracks.

"I don't even have your number, so how can I text you mine?"

For some reason, instead of reminding her that Kincaid is her direct contact, I pull my phone from my pocket and hand it to her, waiting for her to put her number in before handing it back to me.

"Thank you," she says just as I reach out to grab the doorknob. "For what you're doing to find Sadie."

I walk out the door rather than remind her that this is just a job for me, because all it took was one night of talking with her to make me question whether or not that's actually a lie.

Chapter 18

Cora

It's not often that I find myself bored. At home, there's always something to be done, but in this hotel suite in DC, there's nothing I can do but sit and wait. It's been hours since Eddie left, but it feels like an eternity. I think wanting answers so badly and wanting to bring Sadie home safely triples the length of every second, making it worse to just be sitting here doing nothing.

I pull out my phone, using the internet browser to look through the digital catalog from my favorite flower seed company, but it's a waste of time. I ordered seeds before Christmas.

I pace the room, but it only makes me more anxious, and I decide I have to leave the room.

I didn't exactly promise him that I wouldn't go looking for trouble, but it hit me like a lead weight the idea that the time he spent here was time he could've been looking for Sadie.

What if something bad was happening to my sister while we laughed and told stories? I'd never be able to live with myself. I'm a distraction to why he's here in the first place.

I call down to have my car brought to the front by the valet before shrugging on my coat and making sure I look presentable in the mirror hanging by the door.

Theelevator ride happens with no interruptions, although a part of me wishes that arm of his would slide through the crack right before it closed like it did last night. I dart my eyes around the lobby, but other than the smiling staff behind the counter, it's empty.

I hand the valet a twenty as he gives me my keys and wishes me a good day. Normally, I'd tell him I'm just out for a ride or where I plan to go, but after not knowing what happened with Sadie and Eddie finding the three listening and tracking devices in my belongings, I'm finding that sharing personal information, especially about my whereabouts, isn't such a good idea. I know there's a very good chance the young man who brought my car up doesn't need information from me to stage an abduction or anything, but I know I need to be more cautious in public.

I feel a sense of dread, wondering if my car has a tracker on it, as I drive away from the hotel. It wouldn't be hard for anyone to put one on it at any given time. Is that how Eddie knew I was at the hotel? But that doesn't make sense because he was waiting for me when I arrived, proving that he had a means of knowing where I was and when.

At the first stop light I pull up to, I grab my phone from the charging pad on the console with every intent on calling him and demanding to know how he tracked me, but I remember he's supposed to be working on Sadie's case, and I'm only a waste of time. His words, not mine.

As if my subconscious had the college in mind, my car finds its way there without me giving it much thought. DC isn't a strange place for me. I've been here more times than I can count in my lifetime because of my father's political career. The town is always bustling with people and groups of kids on field trips taking in the plethora of American history, and today is no different.

Rather than stopping me and asking what my intentions are at the gate, the guard lifts the security arm and waves me through. I don't even have to slow down much.

Before, I'd give him a little wave, with a thank you on my lips, but today is different.

After the insanely awkward time at Daydreamer's and Eddie explaining that although that place is illegal, there are worse places some people get taken against their will, I'm coming to realize that the safety nets put in place for so many places can be bypassed easily.

I doubt that if I weren't driving such an expensive car, the guard might've stopped me, and that discrimination has to be something that the people out here with ill intent would know. The bias in thinking that bad guys drive beaters or that they're poor is ridiculous. After leaving Daydreamer's Spa, I researched the sex industry in America, both legal and illegal, and I was floored by how much money is in the business. It's definitely high enough that a person planning on abducting college students could roll up to that gate in an expensive car.

I stop my car halfway through the gate, looking behind me to make sure the coast is clear, before putting it in reverse and lining my driver's side door up with the door to the guard booth.

"Is there trouble, miss?" he asks as he steps outside.

"I don't have a sticker."

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