Half Empty(11)

“If you won’t come to us, we will come to you,” Avery said.

Shannon walked into the bathroom with a bucket of ice, which sounded like a really good idea on the back of her neck.

“Do you want to go back to bed?” Wade asked.

Trina finally looked him straight in the eye. “I think I need to brush my teeth.”

Avery pushed past him and dislodged his hand from Trina’s arm. “We got this, Cowboy.”

Wade put both hands in the air and stepped back. “I’ll just take a shower and let you all work this out.”

Lori regarded him without emotion and Shannon offered a polite smile.

“You do that,” Avery snapped.

Trina smacked at Avery’s hand. “Stop it.” She turned to Wade. “Thank you.”

He winked before zigzagging through the women and out of the room.

They fell in like hungry wolves on fresh meat.

“What is going on with him?” Avery asked.

“Are you okay?” asked Shannon.

“We needed to make sure you were all right,” Lori added.

Trina took an ice cube and placed it directly behind her neck. “Outside of a hangover, I’m fine.”

“You ditched us.”

Trina looked at Avery. “I know. I just couldn’t deal.”

“That’s what we thought,” Shannon said. “But disappearing only results in others worrying.”

“I’m sorry for that. I don’t want anyone to worry.”

“You could have just told us,” Lori said.

“You would have come running either way.” Trina was sure of that. When no one protested, she knew she was right.

Shannon moved to the shower and turned it on. “Let’s get you cleaned up. Order something mild for breakfast.”

That sounded good.

Avery started for the door.

“Don’t give Wade a hard time. He hasn’t so much as touched me.”

Three sets of doubtful eyes met hers.

“Not that he hasn’t suggested it. But he’s been nothing but respectful, regardless of my late night indulgence.”

“He better not have.”

“Avery!” Trina gave a warning.

Her feisty blonde friend left the bathroom and the others followed.

Alone, Trina stepped to the mirror and dared a look.

Green was not her color.



There had been many times in Wade’s life when he had been in a hotel room surrounded by beautiful women, but never, not even once, could he recall a time when three women stared him down with such doubt against his moral character as this pack of females. It was as if three lovers all got to talking and figured out he was seeing each of them.

Wade was smarter than that. He never dated three women at the same time. When he was in between girlfriends, when he was free to date as many or as few women as he liked, he did so in different states. Making a situation like the one he was in right now next to impossible.

It seemed his quiet little weekend without a crowd had come to a close, and he was the cog in the wheel of an all-girl party.

With a smile, he greeted the women as he moved to the room service cart to pour a cup of coffee. “Ladies.”

“So you’re Wade Thomas,” the woman with a chip on her shoulder the size of Texas said.

“I am. And you would be?”

“I’m Avery.” She pointed to the tall, thin, dark haired, model looking woman. “That’s Shannon.”

“I’m Lori,” said the slightly less hostile blonde. “Trina’s lawyer.”

Wade’s eyebrow went up with that. What an interesting introduction. “Funny, I thought you were all just her friends.”

“We are. Just making sure the introductions are thorough.”

Lawyers. He had yet to find one he truly liked.

He took his first swig of coffee, happy to have the caffeine on board.

“How did you two meet?”

He could see the end of this conversation before it began. “In a bar in Miami, and before we begin twenty questions, let me sum this up. Yes, I hit on her. She is stunning and was oddly sad, and I had a desire to make her smile. But instead of taking me up on my offer, we drank and talked until the early morning hours. We ended up here, where there has been more talkin’ and drinkin’, but no foolin’ around.” He looked directly at Trina’s attorney. “My mama taught me never to mess with a girl who has had too much to drink or I might end up needing someone in your profession.” He sipped his coffee. “Anything else you wanna know, you’re gonna have to ask your friend.”

He took a piece of toast from the table and ate half in one bite.

Once he washed it down, he headed for the door. “Tell Miss Trina I’m going out to retrieve her broken phone. I’m sure I’m leaving her in capable hands.”

Once he escaped the henhouse, he felt the weight of the women inside lift. It was good for his ego, he decided . . . to have so many women not falling at his feet. It had been a good long while since that had happened. If ever.

The sun outside was a bright contrast to the day and evening before. The storm had blown through and left fresh, albeit humid, air behind. He hid his features with dark sunglasses as he walked down the still, quiet streets.

Some debris left over from the storm littered the sidewalks, and sand made tiny drifts along the buildings. He managed a glimpse of the sea as he ducked around until he found the phone store.

The clerk recognized him when he entered.

They greeted and shook hands. “Where is your friend?” he asked.

“We had a little bit too much fun last night at the place on the corner.” He pointed in the general direction of the bar they’d closed the night before.

“Those tropical surprises have a kick.”

“Sure do.”

He produced the phone and turned it on. “I did a direct transfer overnight. It looks like everything is there, but if it isn’t, just have Ms. Petrov download it from the cloud.”

“I’ll do that.”

Wade placed the phone, and her old one, back into the bag. “What do I owe you?”

“She already paid.”

Oh, yeah . . . he’d forgotten. “I guess that’s all, then.”

The clerk stopped him before leaving. “One more thing.”

Wade smiled, expecting some kind of comment on his music or recognition.

“There was a hiccup during the download.”

“Oh?”

“Some kind of tracking app kept kicking an error message.”

“Okay.”

“It was strange,” he went on. “The icon wasn’t something I’d ever seen before, and it kept flashing, but so fast it would have easily been missed.”

Wade shrugged. “What kind of tracking app was it?”

“That’s just it, I don’t know. I saw it flash a map, and then the airport in Miami, then it brought up a map of London and flashed the name of London Heathrow.”

“Probably just a glitch.”

The clerk shrugged. “It also kept flashing text in a different language. Something Slavic, I think, which was what caught my attention.”

Wade smiled. “I’m sure it’s nothing.”

“It seemed to be causing some havoc rebooting. I finally got it to work without an issue, but it wasn’t easy. When I looked in her app menu, there wasn’t anything there. Almost as if it was a virus running in the background. But since she said she dropped her phone in Miami, I assumed it wasn’t there by accident. If the app clogs up the phone, you might tell Ms. Petrov to remove it and download it again.”

Wade nodded. “I’ll do that.”

Instead of heading straight back to the hotel, Wade stopped at a small diner and ordered a big, greasy breakfast. For him, nothing combated a night of drinking better than a big meal. He doubted the women were done getting all the details out about how he and Trina had met, and he doubly doubted that Trina would want to watch him eat. Poor girl was bound to be ill all day after the night they’d had.

He smiled. Not because she’d gotten drunk, but because even though she didn’t know him that well, she’d felt comfortable enough to do so in his presence. That sadness he’d told her friends that had lingered in Trina’s eyes had slowly faded in just a couple of days. When she smiled, something bright pierced his breastbone and lit him up. Maybe it was the chase, the fact she didn’t fall all over him. Or maybe it was just her.

He liked her and really wanted to see her again.

He’d have to make her posse of friends like him if he was going to get anywhere. Not to mention the reason he’d been chasing the sorrow from her eyes since they met. Who was the man she’d been married to? Why the hell did he commit suicide and leave her to pick up the pieces? Trina’s friends, he could manage . . . women had a hard time resisting his charm when he turned it on. But the man talking to angels? That might prove more difficult.

Trina’s warnings about bad timing weren’t going to stop him.

No way.

He took her phone from the bag and typed in his personal number. When he typed in his name, he did so with a little extra. Wade, You Owe Me A Dance, Thomas.

That should get her attention.

He put the phone away and finished his breakfast.

Before he left the restaurant, he called the pilot and asked how quickly they could fly home. He figured his welcome back at the hotel would be limited, and there was no reason to hang around to keep Trina smiling now that her friends had found her.