Page 101 of Lyrical

“Okay?”

She said it more like a question, and combined with her sympathetic eyes, I wanted to bash her nose in. The glass in my hand was struggling to fly out of my grasp. Oops.

“I really should get going now and check on Perry. I’ve already stayed longer than I intended.” I slid off the stool and slung my purse over my shoulder.

“I understand completely.”Fuck you.“Would you like me to walk with you?”

“I can find my way, but thank you.”

“Then I’ll just wait here until those strippers come so I can get that straightened out. And I think that’s Tara and Julie over there from our table? I’ll stop over and say hi.”

“Great.”

I couldn’t get out of that bar fast enough. “And Jillian?” Cassie called out, and I turned my head. “See you tomorrow.”

Can’t fucking wait.

When I got back to my room, I was feeling better than I had five minutes before. And I knew I’d only continue feeling better. Nothing Cassie told me mattered in the slightest. It didn’t matter even though I was frickin’ human and I wasn’t above getting jealous enough to want to stick a fork in someone’s head. It didn’t matter because trusting Chase made all the difference.Allthe difference.

Despite my unwavering conviction, I still needed my best friend. I wanted so badly to talk to her since she trusted Stephen implicitly too. Then we could both trust our soul mates together and have a great rest of our night.

Unfortunately, she was still drooling all over my pillow. I tried lying next to her, but she was so sprawled out that I could barely balance myself without falling off. I’d thought it ridiculous at first that Sam had booked us two rooms when we could’ve just shared one, but now I’m so glad she did. I touched her face again. If she wasn’t better the next day, I’d start worrying, but for the time being, I’d just let her sleep.

I traipsed back into the other room, leaving the adjoining door ajar so I could hear if she called for me. I pulled the comforter aside and lay down on the bed. It didn’t take long to figure out why Perry had taken the other room—it was sweltering in here. Hot air was blowing from the vents directly above the headboard.

I swung my legs over, getting up to check the thermostat. I tried adjusting it, but it appeared to be stuck at eighty-seven. Dammit. I could call down to the front desk, but by the time they got it fixed, I’d be checking out. Funny how I’d given Chase hell for fixing my broken air conditioner, but now I’d give almost anything to have him working his magic.

Chase. I stripped down to a tank top and underwear and crawled into bed. I didn’t want the noise from turning on the TV, but I wasn’t ready to go to sleep either. I thought about texting him at least a hundred times, even though we’d already decided not to talk until the morning. But who cared, right? We didn’t have to stick to the original plan. But would it seem like I was just checking up on him? Argh. I flattened the pillow over my face.

Then he was leaving in two days for that week-long seminar. If that didn’t suck ass, I didn’t know what did.

I probably lay there for an hour, breathing in the stench of hotel bleach, when a rap on the door almost sent me reeling to the ceiling. I padded over and checked through the peephole, figuring it’d be one of the girls, but from the uniform name tag, it looked like maintenance.

I threw my dress back on and opened it as far as the bolted chain allowed. “Yes?”

“Hi, ma’am. I’m here for a”—he looked down at a clipboard—“Perry Sommers. We were called to do a temperature check.”

“Oh. Yes.” I shut the door, unlatching the chain. Fantastic. She must have called earlier before falling asleep. I opened it back up and waved him in. “It’s over here.”

“Sorry for the late hour. We had quite a few rooms to service.”

I shut the adjoining door along the way. “No problem. I wasn’t—”

What in the ever-loving fuck?

I’d barely made it to the thermostat when I had two nearly naked men grinding against me to the tune of “Hot Stuff.”

“What in the fuck are you doing?”

“Ma’am, we have strict orders to check your temperature. Judging by the way my gauge is rising, I’d say we’re in for a hot night ahead.”

“Get the fuck off me!”

One was lifting my dress while the other was humping my leg. I managed to twist and knee him smack in the balls.

“Ah! Fuck!”

The humper went down, and I darted out from them just as Cassie was running through the door. “Oh shit, Jillian. Sorry about that. Wrong girl, you two. You probably should go.”

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