Page 8 of Tinley's Daddy
I attempted to get up but then sat back down. The flow had started and seemed like it wouldn’t stop. I watched the doorknob. I was sure it would move but willed it not to. I had been in many embarrassing situations in the past two years, but if Josh walked in on me on the toilet, I would die. I was sure of it.
But he didn’t. I cleaned up and then jumped toward the door. I locked it but then felt bad. Was I being rude? I walked back to the shower and turned it on. Then back to the door, picking up the water bottle on my way.
I exhaled and unlocked it.
I poked my head out. Josh sat in a chair at the desk. He turned toward me. I reached out and handed him the emptybottle. He took it. Our fingers touched and a spark ran up my arm. I dropped the bottle, but he’d caught it.
I nodded and backed into the bathroom.
“You’re welcome.” He grinned and turned back to the computer.
He had a nice smile.
CHAPTER 3
JOSH
It took every ounce of strength in me not to rush into the bathroom after her to make sure she was all right. I would have held her hair and rubbed her back while she emptied her stomach. I would have placed a cold washcloth on the back of her neck and held her until her tears subsided. I would have run her a bath and cleaned her from head to toe, made sure my touches were gentle and sure. I would have pulled her out of the tub and dried every inch of her and then laid her out on the bed and dressed her in my clothes or better yet a cute nightgown or onesie.
My computer beeped and Randall’s face appeared.
I threw the empty water bottle in the trash and unmuted the computer.
“Yeah, something’s happening on that floor.” Randall shared a video of the guys I’d seen down in the lobby time-stamped a couple of hours ago. They herded four girls into the elevator. One of the girls was my little guest. She had her head down, but she was more alert than the other girls, who all seemed out of it. Probably drugged.
The video switched to another view of the hall and showed them entering a room at the end of the hall.
“And here’s the brave little one’s escape.” Two of the guys walked out of the room and left the door open. My friend took advantage of the opportunity, slid out, and closed the door quietly behind her. She darted across the hall into the stairwell. She walked down a few flights, but she stopped on my floor and looked over the edge. We were eleven floors up. Or maybe she heard something.
She crouched down for a while, then the video jumped a few minutes ahead and she darted out of the stairwell and the video switched to our encounter outside my door.
“Anyone else in or out of the room besides them?”
“No, but the same credit card rented three rooms on the same floor and three gentlemen picked up keys and are in the rooms now.”
“Fuck.” I rubbed my face.
“What do you want to do?” Randall sneered. He was a computer and surveillance expert. All self-taught. If he had his way, he’d plant cameras in every hotel room. Thankfully, he understood it would cause a whole host of other issues if we allowed it.
“Fuck it.” I threw my hands up. “Call it in. Hotel security alerted?”
“Yeah, I want these fuckers out of my hotel and in prison.” He growled and tapped aggressively on his other computer. I sat back and watched him work. He managed to run facial recognition on the guests and the ones who were after my girl. He put calls out to our contacts in Interpol and an FBI task force in Europe we knew were working on human trafficking cases.
Since the FBI approached us a couple of years ago to help them bring down these types of people in the US, we had used our resources and money to help in every way we could.
“What about your girl?”
I blinked and stared up at the screen.
Just as the door behind me opened. I spun around in the chair. Her eyes grew wide and stared at Randall on the screen behind me. She squeaked and stepped back and slammed the door.
I shook my head and turned back around.
“You find out her name yet?” Randall asked. He had her photo running, too.
“Not yet.” I reached for the computer screen. “Keep me updated on everything. I’ll see what more information I can get out of her.”
“Sure thing.” He stopped typing and looked straight into the camera. Randall didn’t typically look people in the eye. It was unnerving. “Be careful with that one, okay? She looks like she’s seen too much for a woman her age.”
