Page 82 of Mind Maze

I must’ve fallen asleep because it feels as though only seconds have passed when Romy gently rouses me. “We’re here. The driver said Orion called ahead. We’re going to go in through the back. There’s a service elevator we can use so as not to make a scene.”

The shame is back and lingers. Not only did I lose my cool, but I also did it in front of everyone. I beat the shit out of my woman’s brother, too. I’m not so worried about the story getting out in the news as I am about exposing a real part of myself for the world to see.

“I hope he’s dead,” I tell her, wincing as we climb out of the car.

“Stop.” She takes hold of my aching hand and guides me into the nondescript door. “We can talk about this in our room.”

I lean heavily on Romy as we take the elevator up to our floor. She goes slowly as she helps me to our room. When we slip inside, we’re met with a concerned Theo.

“What the hell happened?” he hisses, voice low.

“Your dad can tell you,” Romy says to him. “Kaitlyn in bed?”

“Just sent her there.”

“Good. You can go. We’ll be here if she needs anything.”

With those words, she takes me into our room and closes the door.

“I’m going to get a shower started,” she says. “You’re filthy.”

I nod and sway when she releases me. “I’m fine. Go.”

As soon as she goes into the bathroom, I carefully take off my suit jacket. When I pull my phone out of my pants’ pocket, I notice a recent text from an unknown number.

Unknown Number: You’re making a mess of things. I really don’t want to have to clean it all up. - S

I happily type a message back to him.

Me: Fuck. You.

After tossing the phone onto the table, I strip out of my clothes with painstaking effort. Once finally naked, I shuffle into the bathroom. Romy is also naked and is gently pulling bobby pins out of her updo, wincing slightly when the hair tumbles down, no doubt tugging on the sore part of her scalp.

She steps into the steamy spray of the shower. I follow my dick that is now hard, pointing in her direction.

“Let me see,” I growl. “Show me what he did to you.”

She lifts her hands to her hair and pulls it apart. “It’s really bruised, but I’m going to be fine.”

There’s a smear of blood in her hair from a small laceration, but nothing terrible. Relief floods through me.

“Now let’s look at you,” she says, turning to face me. “Your lip is busted.”

“My jaw hurts worse.”

She gently fingers my jawline. “I’m sorry.”

I scoff at her words. “Why? You didn’t do this.”

“Technically, I did. I provoked him by getting Megan away.”

I remain still as she begins soaping down my chest and shoulders. When her hands run over my left ribs, I grimace in pain. “Ah, fuck, that hurts too.”

She purses her lips, worry etched in her expression, and continues washing me. Once I’m clean, she then takes a clothand dabs at my face, careful not to hurt the cuts and bruises there.

“You’re going to be black and blue tomorrow,” she says with a sigh. “Maybe we should take you to the hospital to get checked out.”

“Nah, I’m good. You should see the other guy.”

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