Page 5 of Third Chances (Men of Manhattan 2)

Alina squealed. "You guys, I'm so excited to see all of you! What do you want to do first? I heard the musical..."

Her voice was muffled when Layla threw a black pillowcase over her head.

"What the hell are you doing?" I said, way louder than I meant to. And where the heck did that pillowcase come from? People walking by on the street were starting to stare at us. Even though Alina's voice was muffled, the thin pillowcase did not exactly cover up her screaming.

Kristen pulled the keycard out of Alina's pocket and tossed it at me. "Go get her suitcase. And check to make sure her passport is there. Bryce promised he would sneak it into the front pouch before she left."

"I'm not..."

But Kristen and Layla we're already pulling Alina toward the limo. Pretty much everyone on this side of the street was staring at us. A few people were on their cell phones. Were they calling the police? I didn't want to get arrested for pretending to kidnap someone. Or maybe it wouldn't even count as pretend. Technically we were taking Alina somewhere she didn't know without her consent.

"Daphne, let's go! Our flight leaves soon! Room 917!"

Crap! Now everyone on the sidewalk knew my name and my name alone. I couldn't go to prison! I turned around and ran into the hotel, almost knocking over an old man who was coming out.

"I'm sorry," I said as I stumbled into the hotel. I looked completely out of place in the ornate lobby. It was all gold and mirrors and there was a very judgy looking woman behind the front counter.

I smiled awkwardly and walked over to the elevator. As soon as the doors closed behind me, I leaned against the wall. What was wrong with my friends? You didn't have to throw a pillowcase over someone's head and lie to them in order to surprise them. We could have just told Alina where we were going and it would have been a surprise. Not that I even knew where we were going.

I shook my head as I made my way onto the ninth floor. According to the sign, room 917 was to the right. I slid the key into the lock and opened it up when the light turned green. If the cops weren't about to show up and my friends weren't waiting for me, I would have just stayed in this room forever. I walked over to the view of Central Park. It was breathtaking. I had never seen Central Park like this.

Focus. I turned around and found Alina's suitcase. It looked like she hadn't had time to unpack anything yet. I opened up the front pouch and found the passport exactly where Kristen said it would be. I smiled at the sticky note Bryce had left on it.

"I love you, Alina. And I can't wait to marry you. Have fun with your friends...but not like ITA tiebreaker fun. Just like, normal person fun. I'll be counting down the days until I see you again.

P.S. Hopefully this morning will tide you over until the next time I see you.

Love,

Bryce

I stuffed her passport back into the suitcase. I couldn't deny the fact that I was envious of their relationship. Alina and Bryce were perfect together. Them together just made sense. It was never like that for me and any of my previous boyfriends. But I wasn't exactly sure why I was envious. It wasn't like I had been looking for a relationship recently. I was focusing on my job. It's the middle of the summer, liar.

I shook away the thought and quickly left the hotel room. I needed to get back into that limo before my stupid friends got me sent to prison.

Chapter 2

Daphne

Before leaving the hotel, I tried to discretely look both ways. The limo was still sitting there, and there didn't appear to be any cops around. It seemed like the coast was clear. And if I didn't leave soon, the judgy girl at the check-in desk would surely call the police.

I opened the door and walked as quickly as I could toward the limo.

"Daphne?" a man said from behind me.

I'm too young to die! "Nope, wrong person." I picked up my pace.

"Daphne! Wait!"

I felt a hand land on my shoulder, and it nearly caused me to scream. Not that screaming at the cops would help anything.

"It's Rick. Justin's father. We met at that lacrosse game?"

Rick? I turned my head and looked up at him. "Oh." I laughed. "Rick, right. It's good to see you again." I did remember him. One of my coworkers had gotten sick and I had to work the food stand at the lacrosse game. I avoided school sports like the plague. Mostly because people usually assumed I was a student instead of a teacher. Which wasn't really a problem, but I wanted my students to respect me. Not flirt with me.

But during that lacrosse game, no students had flirted with me because Rick had been too busy monopolizing my time. I had made sure to tell him right away that I was a teacher. I remembered going through my mental checklist. He was intelligent, had a good job, and was definitely handsome. He had a few gray hairs that somehow made him look even sexier and more distinguished. But there were two red flags. One - he was quite a bit older than me. Two - he was one of my students' fathers. The first issue wouldn't have mattered so much if the second wasn't such a huge deal breaker. I would never date any of my students' parents. Ever. It was completely unprofessional.

He smiled. "Are you okay? I didn't mean to spook you."

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