Page 29 of No Longer Safe

She squealed and pulled me into a hug. “I missed you so much. I feel like we haven’t spoken in forever!”

We hadn’t. I was purposefully avoiding her and all of our texts were extremely short. I excused it for being busy looking for ways to be busy. I knew she didn’t believe me but I knew the third degree was coming. So before she could get her wits about her to question me, I threw up my left hand and tried to blind her with my pitiful ring.

Carina’s blue eyes went cross for a moment as she tried to focus on my hand thrown into her face. “What’s this?” She grabbed my hand in hers and for a moment, it was so brief I thought I imagined it, her eyes dimmed with sadness. “For real?”

This was nothing like the excitement we both shared when she told me she was engaged. At the time I was sad for myself,but I knew better than to let it show on my face. Honestly, I didn’t think I could even say it was sadness but envy instead.

“For real.”

“Why aren’t we more excited about this?” She voiced my thoughts for me.

“His mom picked out the ring.”

She screwed up her nose. “I can tell.” She recovered quickly. “But it’s still nice!” She pulled me into another hug. “Are you okay with it? Do you love it?”

“I should, shouldn’t I?”

She kept on with the questions and I was entirely too jet-lagged to go through it. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes and she ran her hand down my travel-worn hair. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Shhh.”

I hadn’t realized I was crying. But the longer we stood there embracing, the more the tears flooded my best friend’s shoulder. They should have been tears of joy but they were tears of helplessness.

“You aren’t stuck. You can be happy.” Her words were just barely a whisper.

Instead of being able to reply, one of the rooms down at the end of the hall opened and Alexei strolled out. His eyes took in my tear-stained cheeks and his face became unreadable. I dried my face quickly with my hands and pulled away from Carina.

“I probably just need a little rest. It was a long flight.”

Carina touched my cheek tenderly and hugged me one last time before I disappeared into my room. I told myself I was going to fight the nap and get through it but before I knew it, my eyes were slamming shut.

I woke up to a pounding headache and a dry mouth. On the wooden nightstand beside the bed were two bottles of water and some aspirin. I was starving but based on the time flashing onthe alarm clock on the other side of the bed, it was too late for food.

My clothes still smelled like the airport and my suitcase sat at the end of the bed. A quick shower helped me feel a little better.

As I brushed my wet hair out, I picked up a small sheet of letterhead from the table by the door.

Please feel free to use our staff to your heart’s desire. There is a phone in the sitting area for you to order food, towels, or housekeeping. We hope you enjoy this time with us.

-Emeline

With a deep sigh, I pressed the parchment to my chest and closed my eyes. She was the best hostess. But I guessed that was what money could buy you, the best of the best.

Sure enough, in the little sitting room on the other side of the massive walk-in closet, was a phone with a small sheet of paper with a directory on it.

“Yes, Ms. Wilde?” A voice picked up on the first ring. Woah, this was cool.

“I’m sorry it’s so late, I was just wondering if I could get some food sent up?”

“No need for apologies, miss, this is what we are here for. What would you like to eat?”

“Umm,” I hummed into the phone. “I don’t really know. Maybe some leftovers from dinner?”

The man chuckled into the phone, “Yes, ma’am. Anything to drink?”

“Water would be nice.”

This was not my mama’s kitchen. Shit, this was nothing like any kitchen I knew. A large cart rolled into my room like I was ordering room service from an expensive hotel.

The cart was overflowing with dishes covered in silver toppers. It smelled divine. The man that delivered the cart, bowed at the waist, and left just as quickly as he came.

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