NINE
Avery wasn’t sure what the hell she was doing. She glanced at the front doorman of The Lair for long moments before finally going into the hotel. She wasn’t looking forward to seeing the clerk again, but once inside she realized there was a smiling woman in his place.
“Good morning,” the woman said. “Welcome to The Lair. May I check you in?”
Avery smiled and shook her head. “I’m here to see Mr. Drachen.”
The girl’s eyes widened and she nodded abruptly. “You must be Ms. Harper. So nice to meet you, my name is Trinity Fields,” she offered Avery her hand to shake.
“Nice to meet you, Trinity.” Avery shook the girl’s hand and started feeling a bit more at ease. This wasn’t so bad.
“Mr. Drachen said to send you right up,” Trinity said, coming from behind the reception desk. “If you follow me, I’ll show you to his private elevator.”
They went past the elevator banks to what looked like an office door. Trinity opened it and down a short hallway they found another elevator. She pressed the call down button.
“Ms. Harper is here, sir.”
The button lit up. In seconds the door opened to the elevator and she got in.
“Have a great day, Ms. Harper.”
“Please, call me Avery,” she said as the doors started to close. “It was nice to meet you, Trinity!” was the last she got to say before she was headed up to Jae’s offices.
She had a distinct burning in her back. It has been going on for a while. She wondered if it was stress or allergies. She’d have to go to the bathroom and look at it because it was hurting.
She stared at herself in the glass and pushed her red and blue tipped hair behind her ears. Curls looked best with that color, but it took a while to get them to look nice.
The doors opened to a reception area with sofas and chairs and a single door leading into what she presumed was Jae’s office.
The sound of voices stopped her on her feet. She frowned but knocked on the door and waited.
“Come in,” said a female voice.
Her brows flew up and she wondered if Jae was meeting someone and she was interrupting. He should have given her a better time to arrive. Why hadn’t Trinity told her he was busy?
She went into the office and gasped. There was two giant glass walls on both sides of the floor, letting in natural light. A red-headed woman sat on a sofa with her feet curled under her and her cell phone in her hands.
She jumped to her feet, a wide smile on her face, and padded over to Avery.
“Hi! I’m Hannah. Jae had to take a call so he went somewhere and will be back shortly. How are you?”
Avery sighed, a bit confused still but not as uptight now that she knew Jae wasn’t there with them. “Good, thank you. I’m Avery Harper.”
Hannah nodded. “I know.”
Of course, she knew. Jae probably told her. “If I’m interrupting, I’m happy to return later on. I wasn’t sure what would be a good time and since Charles told me nine, here I am.”
Hannah waved off her concerned. “No. You’re fine. I’m not here on business. This is more of a personal nature.”
Avery’s stomach clenched. Who was she? “Oh.”
Hannah’s eyes widened, the green almost darkening to black. “I’m so rude! Do you want some coffee? Jae showed me how to make it on his really weird looking espresso machine.”
God, she’d kill for a cup. “Yes, please!”
“Take your coat off, we can chat while he’s gone,” she said and started walking to the back of the massive office where she saw the espresso machine and coffee mugs.
Avery wasn’t very social, so she didn’t really want to talk, but she also didn’t want to come across as a jerk to this woman. Especially if she was someone important to Jae. Was she someone important to Jae? What the fuck did she care? Didn’t she just tell Star last night that she wasn’t ready to meet another man? Fuck! She hadn’t meant that. This feeling of insecurity was so…new. She’d never had jealous feelings for anyone in the past.
Darren was the world’s sweetest man, but he’d been so dedicated to her, she had never questioned if he could be cheating. He was gone so much, but when he was back, he was all about Avery. They’d lived a quiet and content life. Nothing exciting or interesting, but it had been nice. A nice relationship. But don’t you want to feel alive? Don’t you want a man who would make love to you like it’s the end of the world? Like all that he can live for is you?
To be looked at like Jae had last time, like he wanted to consume her, had been overwhelming. Perhaps she was in over her head, but something inside her told her she needed that. She had to get more of him. All of him.
She took her coat off and hung it by the door. She then met Hannah on her way back from the espresso machine and winced at the black coffee.
“I wasn’t sure how you liked it so I didn’t put anything in it.”
She snorted, “I like everything in it.”
“Oh, thank god!” Hannah chuckled. “I do, too. Most people don’t understand how I can have so much sugar and milk in my coffee.”
“It’s cream for me and sugar, too, but yeah, I get you.” Avery took the cup and went right back to the coffee area to add two spoons of sugar and three of cream.
After, she went to sit on one of the sofas across from Hannah.