Aria

 

 

 

“Orgasm, to go.” Morgana winked at Tiffany who sat next to her on the barstool.

“How many drinks have you had?” Tiffany asked as she turned to Morgana.

“None. When we left the dinner buffet and you went to your room, I met Aria in my room. I texted you that we were heading to the hotel bar but didn’t get a response. How is Evaleen, by the way?” Morgana lifted her finger in the air to try to grab the bartender’s attention.

Tiffany shook her head. “Not good. I ordered some chicken noodle soup from room service for her but she can’t hold anything down. Maybe I should room with you two. Whatever she has, I don’t want to catch it.”

“Too late, you already have,” I mumbled as I turned my head to find the bartender.

“What?” Tiffany asked.

“Nothing. I’m sure you won’t catch it, Tiffany,” I said already knowing what Evaleen had.

The tall, thin bartender finally came over and sat a drink in front of Tiffany.

“From the man across the bar.” He pointed to a man as he turned in his barstool and got up. I didn’t get a good look at him but the ladies did.

“Damn, Tiffany, that guy is hot!” Morgana raised her voice so most of the room turned and looked our way.

After kidnapping Alex yesterday, we spent the night together. I haven’t seen him since breakfast as he wanted to meet with his sister. He finally told me everything. Now I was conflicted about his mother. If what she said was true, then what she did to Alex was to help him.

Maybe she wasn’t the enemy. I was beginning to think the enemy was something or someone we had yet to fully understand. And that scared me. At least with Mrs. Hawthorne it was obvious what she was doing. But now, we had yet to uncover who was really pulling the strings.

I was becoming worried. I hadn’t heard from him and it was nine o’clock at night. The ladies wanted to get a drink but I thought I might need my wits about me tonight.

“What would Evaleen do?” Tiffany closed her eyes and cupped the large amber colored drink in her hand.

“She wouldn’t drink it. Evaleen would assume it was drugged,” I said.

The bartender leaned over the bar at me. “Hey. Why would I drug you? I made the drink, not him.”

I narrowed my eyes and leaned close to him, feeling like that was something Evaleen would do. She wasn’t here with us and I needed her strength tonight.

“Don’t worry, I have on that special nail polish. I can dip my finger in to see if it’s been drugged. Henrik insisted I wear it as he didn’t trust any man in Vegas.” Morgana rolled her eyes as she held up her pointer finger and pushed the tip into the cup. When she brought it back out it was the same color.

“I told you I wouldn’t do that.” The bartender pushed away from the bar and walked off. I turned my head to try to find the man who bought Tiffany the drink. Not that I knew what he looked like, but there had to be a man walking toward us or looking our way. But what I found wasn’t a man at all, but a woman. Two women to be precise.

Emma Hawthorne. She was just outside the bar in the lobby of the hotel speaking to a short woman. Mrs. Hawthorne blocked the woman so I could only make out the woman’s dark hair. They began to walk away, so I got up with the intent to follow them.

Tiffany lifted the glass and took a sip. Her eyes widened. “Wow, that’s pretty strong. I wonder what it is?”

“Hey, um, I’m going to go check on Evaleen. I’ll see you guys later,” I said and waved at the women.

I heard a male voice behind me as I left answering Tiffany’s question.

“A whiskey sour,” he said. I turned to get a look at him but all I could see was his back.

He was wearing a black suit, might have been a tuxedo. Obviously, some high roller. At least Tiffany attracted someone who could afford to show her a good time tonight and not some thug.

I followed Mrs. Hawthorne and the other woman until they went to the elevators. There was no way I could get on the elevator with Mrs. Hawthorne and not have her recognize me.

At that moment a group of loud, drunk women stumbled their way to the elevators. I could see Mrs. Hawthorne doing everything in her power to avoid them, but when the doors opened, they followed her inside and that was my chance to slip in unnoticed.

I pushed my way through and huddled near the back with my head down, pushing my hair in front of my face. When the elevator stopped, I saw Mrs. Hawthorne get off with the short woman. I still hadn’t gotten a good look at her.

Just before the doors closed, I pushed through the drunken ladies and fell to the floor. Thankfully no one but the giggling drunks in the elevator saw.

When I got up and turned the corner I saw Mrs. Hawthorne at the end of the hall standing in front of a door. Again, she was blocking the woman who was with her. I wondered if she was Alex’s sister.

The door opened and they both went inside. I went down the hall and got the room number: 708.

I turned around and went back to the elevators. Before I went to find Alex, I checked on Evaleen. She was sleeping and I put a fresh glass of water beside her bed.

Once I made it to Alex’s room, I knocked on the door.

“Hey, how are you?” Alex’s smile was wide when he opened the door and waved me inside.

“I saw your mom. She was with a short woman,” I said, almost out of breath, as I quickly walked inside.

“Okay.” He closed the door and came over to me.

“Have you met your sister yet?”

“No. I waited in here all day but nothing. I even called my mom but she wouldn’t answer my calls. She wasn’t in her room when I stopped by either,” he said looking defeated.

“Is her room 708?”

“No, why?”

Something was going on. Something that reeked of Emma Hawthorne’s deceit.

“I saw her go there with a dark-haired woman. Someone let them inside. I am starting to wonder if your mother hasn’t made this whole thing up to get you to Vegas. Maybe I wasn’t crazy for thinking she was going to try to marry you to Alexa.”

Alex sat on the couch in his room. His room was larger—one of the suites with a separate bedroom—though the décor was the same gold, cream, and lavender as our room.

“I can’t believe I fell for this. She has lied to me so many times that I stopped believing anything she said. But this, oh God, this I wanted to be true.” His fist punched the couch cushion. “I wanted to believe that my mother actually cared about me. That somewhere out there, a sister was waiting for me. Someone untouched by all the awful things my mother put me through. Someone I could call family and not be ashamed by it.”

His head dropped into his hands. I came over, placed my purse on the coffee table, and sat beside him. His body shook. Anger and heartache pumped through my veins as I tried to hold it inside to calm Alex down.

After a few minutes, he lifted his head and had an expression I had never seen before. It was as if all feeling, all thought, left him and I was frightened by what I saw.

“I’m going to go to room 708 to find out what’s really going on,” Alex said and stood.

“No, Alex. Maybe we should think about things first. Wait until your emotions are a little less raw and you can think clearly.”

It was as if I never spoke. Alex grabbed his key card and walked out of the room. I grabbed my purse and ran after him. He ignored me as I pleaded with him.

Even when we took the elevator he stared straight ahead like I wasn’t there. His fists clenched, his arm muscles twitched, and I dreaded what he was capable of doing. Alex had been caged up for so long by his mom that I wondered what would happen if she pushed him too far. I feared I was about to find out.

When the door opened, he moved like a robot even as I tugged at his arm. He finally stopped in front of room 708.

“You don’t understand, Aria. It’s not as if your mother dangled love in front of your face only to laugh as you reached for it before throwing it away,” he said facing the door, refusing to look at me.

“Maybe not, but my parents still hurt me in the worst way. Why don’t we just run away like we said we would? Right now. Forget your mother. Don’t let her take anything else from you,” I said and hoped he heard me.

I wished what I said sparked something and he would change his mind about confronting his mother.

I let out a breath I hadn’t even known I held as he turned his head and stared into my eyes. My heart ached with the pain I saw on his face. Reaching up, I cupped his cheeks wanting him close. That maybe if I touched him, he would know how loved he was.

“But when will she stop, Aria? If I run away with you, it won’t stop her. She will continue to use and hurt people for some sick gain. Tell them what they want to hear. Tell them that she understands and cares, when the only thing she cares about is power. If that power hurts people, it doesn’t matter to her. Her actions are too horrible to let her continue.”

I nodded. “You’re right. Let’s find a way to take that power away from her. You can’t do that if you go to jail, Alex.”

He let out a sigh and glanced back at the door. “At least in jail I would be away from her.”

At that moment, the door flew open and a pair of familiar brown eyes stared back at me.

“Dad?” I said.