Page 16 of Connor

That was the good thing about Atlanta. Once the sun came out, the snow, if we had any, always melted pretty quickly.

“Well,” I said, standing up, and this time he let me. “I’m guessing that’s my cue to leave.”

He shot me a look but nodded to the maid and got up to go over and take my clothes from her. “Connor, I don’t like you leaving like this,” he said as he came back to hand them to me.

“No, it’s cool. You’ve been really nice to me and helped me a lot. I’m sorry I acted the way I did. You know, before my mom passed away, I spent a lot of time with her, just talking. One time this social worker lady came to see my mom and she asked me what I thought was going to happen in my family. I sometimes wonder if she had some premonition about what would eventually go on. She said that sometimes no matter how hard we tried, we couldn’t make things any different than what they were. I mean, I knew that. I was nine, not two. But saying it out loud like that made it real. I understand what you’re saying. No matter how hard you might want things to be different, you can’t just snap your fingers and change reality.”

He took my hand in his and began to rub the back of it. “Sometimes, I wish you could,” he said softly.

“Me too.”

I got up then and took my clothes in the bathroom to change. And when I came out, he was already gone.

Chapter Seven

I got my things together, such as they were and headed downstairs to look for Mr. Richards to see if he could give me a ride home. He was there, talking to the maid who had brought my laundered clothes to the room for me. She looked up at me and smiled, slipping away as Richards turned to take my bag.

“All ready?” He turned to go outside, and I followed him out to the car that he’d brought around. As the maid had said, the sun was out and the snow was melting fast. As we pulled away, I couldn’t help glancing back at the windows, wondering if Jared would be there.

Spoiler—he wasn’t.

Richards handed me a bag and a cup. “Mr. Spencer said you didn’t have a chance to have breakfast. So he had this made up for you.”

I looked inside and found a breakfast sandwich with eggs and lots of crispy bacon. I even had a little plastic container of fruit and some tiny waffles. In the cup was some milky coffee with sugar. It was perfect. Well, almost perfect. There wasn’t enough sugar in the coffee, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. I sat in the back happily munching away as Richards turned northbound on the Interstate, instead of south, back towards my apartment. “I think you made a wrong turn,” I said leaning forward. “My place is in the other direction.”

“Mr. Spencer told me to take you to the Renaissance Waverly,” he said, mentioning an expensive hotel a little to the north. “He’s booked you a room there.”

“Oh no, too rich for my blood. Just take me home, please.”

He literally ignored me and kept driving, simply saying over his shoulder, “All the arrangements have been made and paid for. He told me to tell you not to argue about it.”

Fine then, I said to myself, fuming in the back seat. As soon as I was dropped off like so much dirty laundry, I’d get a cab back to my old place. Not that I had any money on me. Or off me, for that matter. And Jared knew that, so why was he stranding me at this hotel so far from my apartment and my car?

I’d hitchhike then, damn it. Or fucking walk. Furious, I folded my arms across my chest and waited for Richards to arrive. I was determined to go back home—or what would be home for another week or so, anyway. In the meantime, this car was a beautiful and comfortable way to travel, for damn sure. I closed my eyes and drifted, and almost before I knew it, the car was pulling up to the hotel.

Richards turned to look at me. “Connor, Mr. Spencer is an extremely wealthy man. I can’t help noticing that you’re having a bit of a hard time right now. Why not let him help you? My mother used to say, “Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.” Have you ever heard that expression?”

“Yeah, of course, I have.”

“Well, I think that may be what you’d be doing if you try to leave here after I check you in. Mr. Spencer told me to tell you he’ll be in touch with you in a few days. He wants you to attend the Christmas party. Did he mention that to you?”

“Yeah, he mentioned it like a dozen times. He didn’t say that he was coming though.”

“I’m not sure he will. But so what? It still might be fun. And if you don’t have any other plans for Christmas, then why not go and see? You can eat some good food, and you might even make some new friends. That’s never a bad thing, right?”

He had a point. Not to mention the fact that I really didn’t want to walk all the way home. I still needed my car at some point, but I could only imagine the price of parking at this fancy hotel. It might be better off in the apartment complex parking for now. It would be okay for now. Where was I going to go anyway?

I thought back over the last few hours, and though I’d made a fool of myself in a lot of ways, at least Jared Spencer hadn’t been mean or called the police to come and take me away. Always a plus. “Okay, I’ll stay for a few days. Until I can figure something out. Maybe I’ll go to the party too. If I don’t have anything better to do.”

He gave me a gentle smile, and I suddenly wondered if he was a Dom. Not the mean kind, but one of the nicer ones. Were there any nice ones? What I didn’t know about Doms would fill a book. “Good. Let’s go in now and check you in the hotel.”

He got out of the car and came around to open my door and escort me in. Ten minutes or so later, he was handing over the key at the elevator and wishing me good luck.

“I hope I’ll see you again, Connor.”

“You too.”

He nodded and left me there, so I pushed the button again and waited for the elevator to take me up to my room.

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