Page 19 of Room 810

After the way he’d been acting all morning, I hadn’t really expected Toby to join me for breakfast, but it still hurt to watch him join his staff instead. Toby shoved his breakfast into his mouth as quickly as he could, before bolting out. Everyone watched him go, wearing matching worried expressions. I wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the difference in him.

When I was done eating, I brought my dishes straight through to the kitchen instead of leaving them for someone else to clean up. Everyone had enough to do as it was.

I wasn’t sure what else to do, so I went back to my cabin. Digging around, I found my laptop unharmed where I had tucked it into the closet. The cabin itself, though, was pretty destroyed. Donning my borrowed work gloves, I did what I could to clear some of the debris and haul it down the narrow path to the main boardwalk. Toby had been right about keeping busy. Instead of allowing my OCD tendencies to rule my mind, I simply put one foot in front of the other, over and over on repeat. My back ached, my arms were like limp noodles. My body was just too tired for my brain to expend energy on overthinking.

I apparently still had enough energy to think about Toby, though. His scent haunted me, the memory of his lips, his legs tangled with mine.

So when he appeared in front of me at the end of the path, I almost thought he was a figment of my imagination. “Toby?”

“Gabriel,” he said with formality, his whole body reflecting his chilly tone. He cleared his throat and brought a hand up.

“My suitcase!” I cried, involuntarily stepping forward to take it from him. “Where did you…” I nearly choked on the question, right as he let go and the full weight of my possessions dragged down my fatigued arm. “The plane,” I stated numbly.

“The plane,” he confirmed. “It landed about an hour ago. It’s a charter, just dropping off some supplies, bottled water. They’ll take you back to Miami, but you’d better hurry.” He wouldn’t even look at me as he said it.

Before I could ask him to stay, he spun on his heel and marched off, his shoulders slumped. When I thought back to the omega I’d met on my first day here, all flirty winks and oversharing, it was like he wasn’t even the same man anymore. I felt like his light had been extinguished.

Was that my fault? Did I do that?

I dragged my suitcase into the ruin of my cabin and dropped it on the bed, sending up a cloud of dust. When I unzipped it and flung back the lid, a musty stench greeted me. “Uuuuuugh,” I groaned, taking a step back and covering my nose. After it all got drenched at The Scarlet Hotel, I hadn’t had the chance to set everything out to dry before it was lost, and now it reeked of mildew. It was a good thing I was so physically exhausted, because I couldn’t bring myself to care.

Deep in the recesses of my mind, I could imagine my father clapping me on the shoulder and saying, “It’s not that big a deal. You can’t let everything get to you like this, Gabriel. Shake it off.” My mother would have some overused cliché, like “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” though I wouldn’t suggest any beverages made from the stinking mess that was my luggage.

And what would Toby say? He’d probably wink and tell me the stench really brought out my eyes. I huffed a laugh.

Instead of trying to salvage anything, I decided there was nothing of real value in the bag. I dressed in the crumpled suit I had arrived in and prepared to leave. My loafers were likewise wrecked, so I zipped them up in the suitcase and dragged the whole mess down to the boardwalk and dumped it in the pile of trash awaiting cleanup.

When I walked up to the main building, my feet slapping in cheap gift-shop flipflops, Miguel was waiting at the curb with the shuttle. He offered me a warm smile, his teeth white against his copper skin. “All set?”

I glanced around, searching for Toby, but he was nowhere to be found. I sighed, disappointment sinking in. “Yeah. I guess I am.”

“After you,” he offered, and I climbed up the short set of stairs onto the shuttle and sank into a bench seat. Miguel lumbered up behind me and settled in behind the steering wheel. He was about to close the door when I heard a voice calling.

“Wait! Miguel, hang on!” Toby came jogging up the stairs, panting, and he flopped himself on the seat next to me. He’d swapped out his jeans for his usual robe and tight shorts, and it was nice to see that he was smiling again too. “Phew! I’m glad I caught you. I’m coming with you to the airport.”

“Y-you are?” I asked, confused at the turn of events. His leg was warm where it rested against mine, and I had to clench my hands around the strap of my bag to keep still.

“Yeah, of course. I mean, I need to go help with the supply delivery, you know…”

“Right.” I nodded tersely.

“…And I thought I would see you off,” he added, peeking at me from the corner of his eye, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smirk.

For a second, I wondered if he felt the same conflicted emotions as I did. We were complete opposites. Light and dark, sunshine and storm, and yet, for one perfect moment, we had come together in a clash of passion, and for the first time in my life, I had known balance.

It really was too bad we would never work out.

As the short bus rumbled down the island’s lone road toward the airport, Miguel twisted in his seat to look over his shoulder at me. “Are you headed home now?”

“Uh, no. Italy, if they can change my reservation. Otherwise, I’ll be headed to Spain.”

“Wow!” the big man gushed. “Must be nice to see all these different places.”

I honestly wasn’t sure how to answer him. I’d always loved it. I’d find patterns in the chaos, create order where there was none. But this time, I felt a strong sense of regret in leaving.

“How long will you travel for?” Miguel asked, and I sensed Toby listening keenly to the answers.

I shrugged. “For as long as I’m able, I guess.”

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