Page 65 of Dirty Dancer

Then arm and arm they headed for the elevators.

Son of a bitch.

I stuffed my feet into shoes. I was still in jeans and a clean t-shirt. It would have to do. I snagged a baseball cap out of my duffle and shoved it on my head. Wallet in my back pocket, I downed the rest of the scalding coffee in one swallow and headed for the stairs. I made it to the lobby in time to see them spill out of the elevator in a mini-crowd of people. It didn’t take them long to separate over to the concierge desk.

The two girls, both possessing an unnatural poise, kept breaking up into giggles that had me grinning. Tickets to the parks purchased, they followed the concierge’s directions to head out the doors. Why did the guy just sell them tickets? Then again, I hadn’t heard exactly what they said to him.

I crossed to him and handed him the credit card. Fuck the cost. “One ticket to the parks.”

“Hopper?”

“Whatever.”

The guy opened his mouth to ask me another question and I just fixed him with a look. This wasn’t a social call. “Of course, one moment.” It took two, agonizingly long minutes. “Here you go, the hotel offers a shuttle to the?—”

I didn’t wait for him to finish that part. I’d already caught the bus idea. Relief swarmed me when I got outside and found the girls waiting with a group of others for the bus. It was easy enough to drift into the crowd. I surged on behind them, sunglasses keeping my eyes hidden. They sat together, still giggling and as much as I wanted the seat right behind them, I took a couple more rows back.

At the park entrance, the thronging crowds worried me but they also provided camouflage. I was just another kid on his way to the park. I didn’t have a bag, but I also didn’t set off the metal detectors. I’d left my knife back in the room. And I hadn’t brought a gun. To see Ivy? I didn’t think I’d need one.

For the next few hours, I soaked up both the park and the girls’ reactions to it. There was no artifice. They laughed. They played. They bought each other t-shirts. Ate ice cream. Rode the rides. I did actually manage to land in the same conveyance with them more than once. They never noticed me. They didn’t pay attention to anyone. I even managed to get a picture or two when they found a couple of villains including the wicked looking chick from Alice in Wonderland.

They made no move to leave as the park segued into evening. There was a huge Halloween party and you needed a special ticket. Turned out, I’d gotten one from the dick at the hotel. Go me. They trick or treated around the park, laughing and playingmadly. When the parade came through, they were right at the edge of the curb. The darker it got, the closer I drifted.

By the time the fireworks lit up the sky, I’d forgotten about the driving need to be here and just enjoyed their pleasure at it all. Then it was closing time and we were all leaving the parks. The lines to get back on the buses were long. It didn’t look weird at all to be standing with them and about a thousand other people.

I didn’t let anyone jostle them and this time, I parked my ass right behind them on the bus. Maybe I was being selfish, but I’d already figured out this was a birthday present from Lainey to Ivy. I hadn’t realized she had such a good friend. Stupid, right? Of course she had friends. But she’d been constantly traveling the last three going on four years. I wondered if she had anything “normal” in her life.

They planned together in laughing giggles everything they were going to do back at the hotel. More food, then a movie, and a sleepover. No adults. Just them. Perfection.

Good, once they were tucked into their room, maybe I’d give Miss Sarah Jane a call and —

“Oh, you’ve got to bekiddingme.” The snarl in Lainey’s voice snapped me out of my plans and I narrowed my eyes at the two men standing between the girls and the hotel door. They weren’t small, but they were pissed. Ivy was already cutting in front of Lainey like she was going to take them on.

Fuck that?—

“Ignore him,” Lainey ordered.

“Who is he?” Damn good question, Ivy.

One of the pair glared at Ivy briefly before transferring that look to Lainey. Personally, i was about to pluck his fucking eyes from his head. “Do you have any idea how long it took me to find you?”

“Not long enough,” Lainey told him. “And this is my mother’s lover’s son, or as I like to refer to him the human version of period cramps.”

The guy behind him burst out laughing and Mr. Period Cramps glowered. My lips twitched because that was a damn good nickname. In fact, little Miss Magpie there just started forward like she was going to plow through.

“If you wanted to come see your friend,” Crampy said finally. “You should have just said something.”

“Adam… I don’t have to tell you anything. ….let me be clear, you’re like a cloud. A big, dark, ugly storm cloud and when you go away, it’s a beautiful day. So, buh bye.” Lainey’s voice kept dropping like she was fighting for the poise they’d abandoned all day.

Awareness of the pair kept my muscles coiled. I was gonna draw attention just standing here staring, but I sure as fuck wasn’t leaving them behind. The girls almost reached his laughing friend when Adam whatever the fuck said, “We came all this way and we’re not leaving until your ass is in the car with us and on the way back to school.”

“Sorry, my ass doesn’t detach—unlike your personality. Maybe you should put a bag over it or something.” With that, she stormed past them, Ivy in tow. The pair shadowed them all the way to the elevator and I was right behind them.

“Six in the morning,” he ordered. “Meet us down here and don’t try to sneak off somewhere.”

“Six?” Lainey snorted. “Too bad your brains don’t match your looks. I’ll be down by ten.” She waited until the elevator doors almost closed and for a split second her gaze locked on mine and then she added, “Maybe.”

As one, the pair pivoted to face me.

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