Page 55 of A Sudden Response

“Nothing much,” Nathan said, shrugging it off. “We thought we’d come up and see how the fish were biting.”

“Okay,” Joe said slowly as she glanced over her shoulder to find Eric leaning back against the wall near the elevators as he glared at something behind her. Frowning, she looked back to find Alex standing behind her and looking eager to continue where they’d left off.

Silently groaning, Joe signed the slip, bit her lip when Nathan asked for two key cards to her room and once again wondered when this nightmare would end. She didn’t think Eric would bring Nathan up here if he wanted to be with her, which meant that he brought Nathan up here for moral support...forher.

That kind of pissed her off since she’d already figured things out for herself. She didn’t need him coming up here and wrecking her already boring weekend with this. He didn’t want her? That was fine with her. He could tell her and then go on his merry way and she’d work him out of her system starting tonight.

“Let me carry that for you, Joe,” Alex said smoothly as he picked up her bag and gestured towards the elevator. He either didn’t notice that Nathan was standing next to her or was cocky enough to have already dismissed Nathan, probably the latter.

“No need. I’ve got it,” Eric said coldly as he grabbed the bag from Alex.

“Who the hell are you?” Alex demanded, crossing his arms over his chest as he tried to glare up at Eric.

“Her boyfriend, asshole, so move along,” Eric said, shocking the hell out of her.

Alex turned an accusing glare on her. “You didn’t say anything about a boyfriend.”

She opened her mouth to inform him that he’d never asked. Hell, he’d never let her get a word in. Not that she would havetold him that Eric was her boyfriend when he’d made it clear that there would never be anything more between them. But before she could say anything, Nathan smoothly stepped in.

“She doesn’t talk about him because she’s ashamed of him.”

Joe couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “It’s true. I am.”

Eric snorted at that as he gave her hand a gentle tug towards the elevator. She couldn’t help but feel a little awkward when Nathan and a pouting Alex joined them and Eric still didn’t let her hand go. She sneaked a glance at Nathan to see how he was taking all of this only to find him grinning hugely.

She didn’t know what was going on, but right now, she didn’t care. As soon as she got to her room, she was taking a hot bath and then, she was going out. Whatever brought Eric and Nathan up here could damn well wait until tomorrow, Joe decided as the elevator doors slid open and Alex stormed off.

Biting back a sigh, Joe pulled her hand away from Eric, grabbed her bag and followed the signs to her room, hoping the guys got the hint and left her alone. That was followed by groaning pathetically a few minutes later when they followed her into her room.

“Get out,” Joe said, not bothering to look at them as she tossed her bag on one of the double beds and began to dig out everything that she was going to need for a bath.

“No can do,” Nathan said with a satisfied sigh as he walked past her to drop down on the other bed.

She turned her glare on Eric who was glaring right back at her like she did something to piss him off. She wasn’t the one who gave him the brush-off after the most incredible night of her life. No, that was all him. Did he really think that she’d be happy to have him come all the way up here to give her the bad news? Was she receiving special treatment because of their history? Knowing him, probably.

“You didn’t have to come up here to do this. I got the hint this morning,” Joe said, hoping he got the hint and got out of here. She really didn’t want to talk about this in front of Nathan.

“Yeah, I saw,” he said tightly. “Who was the asshole?”

When she could only frown, he added, “The asshole sniffing around you downstairs.”

“Just a whacker from class,” Joe said, sighing. “Now that you know that, both of you can get the hell out of my room.”

Eric stubbornly shook his head. “Sorry, like Nathan said, we can’t do that.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because there are no other hotel rooms available. Looks like we’re sharing.”

“You know, you’re right,”Nathan mused as he lounged back on the bed. “You really suck at this.”

Eric flipped him off before following Joe into the bathroom. When she tried to slam the door shut in his face, he shoved it open just wide enough so that he could step inside before locking the door behind him.

“Get out,” Joe said, sounding pissed when she sure as hell didn’t have the right to be.

The entire ride up here, he’d been a nervous wreck. He couldn’t wait to see her and tell her that he wanted to give this a shot. Nathan had tagged along to watch. Nosey bastard, but he was glad that he came along. At least having him around would give him an ally, something he needed at the moment.

“No, you and I need to talk,” Eric said, expecting her to yell at him or throw something at him like most of his ex-girlfriendsdid when he said those magical words, but instead, Joe gestured for him to get on with it.

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