Page 32 of Reckless

To say that I didn’t feel the urge to turn Hannah’s life upside down would be a lie. She was so virtuous, so principled. Her whole being practically begged for someone immoral and disreputable like me to tarnish it.

I dropped my gaze down to the folder on my lap, wondering why Hannah didn’t just leave me at that diner waiting for her. She could have picked me up after her appointment. It wasn’t like I could call anyone else.

“I guess I should call some of these.”

Lauren went to the kitchen, and I took my phone out of my pocket. I called the first five venues. They were all almost insulted by the fact I even thought they had an opening for a wedding that had to be held in the following month. I got annoyed pretty quickly. The smell coming from the kitchen was so good, I left the folder on the couch and went to see what Lauren was baking.

“Any luck with the venues?” she asked and opened the oven to take out a tray with cookies.

“Nope.”

“I’m sure something will come up eventually.”

“So Hannah took not only her goods looks from you, but also the optimism.”

“Things have a way of turning around when you least expect it.” She started moving the still hot cookies to a plate. “Those were Hannah’s favorite when she was little,” she explained, and a thought crossed my mind.

“I will bring her some upstairs.”

“Oh,” Lauren hesitated. “I don’t know. She is like Harry in that department. She hates it when people interrupt her while she works.”

Strange excitement took over my body.

“I won’t say a word while I’m up there.”

It wasn’t a lie. I wasn’t going to talk, but I would definitely find a way to rile her daughter up without making any noise.

The sparkle in Lauren’s eyes told me she knew I wanted to ruffle Hannah’s feathers a bit and she liked it. She gave me a plate full of cookies and grinned at me like she was anticipating this more than I did.

I walked up the stairs and imagined myself opening the door of Hannah’s room and finding her in her underwear, or better yet completely naked, dusting her room in front of a camera. I would pay to watch that. And it would explain her weird outfit.

I finally heard her soft voice behind a door in the end of the hallway. Her words were muffled. I didn’t want to mess up with her work, so I decided to walk in as quietly as humanly possible.

I slowly opened the door and when my head finally popped inside her room her gaze was already on me. She was sitting at a desk, facing the door. She wasn’t surprised to see me. She probably knew her mother wouldn’t disturb her. And I had an overwhelming desire to do exactly that. I wanted to mess with her head so bad.

Silently approaching Hannah’s desk, I left the plate next to her laptop. She focused on her call, probably thinking I would leave. But this was my first and most likely last time inside Hannah Spencer’s childhood bedroom, and a perfect occasion to provoke her, so I planned on taking a good look around.

It was a typical high school girl’s room. There was a huge board with photos and postcards. A pile of stuffed animals arranged on an armchair. A bookshelf filled with all kinds of crap like candles no one had touched in years, old valentines, and more photos. I tried to remember how many photos I had back in my apartment in Boston.

Three?

I walked over to her closet but didn’t find anything interesting in there. I glanced over my shoulder. She wasn’t paying any attention to me. It wasn’t working. I moved closer to her bed. Her purse was there, wide open.

Women hated when someone went through their purses, right?

I peeked inside. There were at least three different chargers tangled together, a hair brush, lipstick, Band-Aids, two protein bars, keys…

I froze.

What. The. Actual. Fuck?

I hadn’t thought about that keychain for years. I had completely forgotten about it.

My head snapped up. I searched for her eyes. She was still ignoring my presence with an ice-cold calmness.

“You are limiting yourself to the things you believe you deserve. You want more, but you don’t think you deserve more.”

Her words sliced me in half. I knew she wasn’t talking to me, but it felt like she was. Any desire to tease her evaporated, but I didn’t want to leave the room either. Her voice was so warm and soothing. So, I lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling for the rest of her call.

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