He began to walk away.
“So what?” I called after him. “You’re just going to leave me here?” I was panicked at the thought, not just of being left with no money and no phone far from home, but that I’d pushed him enough for him to want to leave me.
“No,” he shook his head. “No. Come on. I’ll get you a room and get you your things.”
He began to walk back toward the elevator. And he didn’t look back.
5
EMERY
I followed him to the elevator and he pushed the button for the car casually, as if he had not a care in the world, as if him just announcing that he was going to let me go home was a totally mundane occurrence, like he hadn’t been holding me against my will, like he hadn’t freaked out on me that time I’d tried to get away, like he hadn’t kept me chained to a bed at night.
He stepped into the elevator, still so nonchalant that I was starting to think maybe I’d misheard him.
“This is what you want?” He stared straight ahead, his jaw set in a line.
“Yes,” I said automatically as I stepped into the car, but it wasn’t the whole truth. The truth was way more complicated than that. Of course I wanted to be able to go back to my – well, not my apartment, since that had been broken into and trashed – but my life, definitely, to be able to go to school, to a coffee shop, to have my phone and be able to browse the internet without worrying that someone was watching.
But I didn’t want to be away from him.
I wanted all those things in addition to him.
Liam nodded curtly, then pushed the button in the elevator that took us up to the hotel level of the casino. The elevator began to rise and he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
“Gustav,” he said, “Please get me a room for Ms. Waters. A suite. Text me the room number and make sure it connects to my previous key card.”
We stepped out into the lobby of the hotel. A waterfall blew water down from the middle of a stone fountain. A shiny dark desk curved around the outside of the room, and an abstract statue made of blown glass was situated in the other side of the room, this one in a pond of shiny water. A few casino goers clustered around it, throwing their pennies in and making wishes.
We walked silently to another bank of elevators. Liam’s phone beeped with a text from Gustav, alerting him to the room number. We took the elevator to the second floor, and Liam slid the key card into the slot in the door of room 227.
The room was nowhere near as insane as the one we’d been in earlier, but it was still very nice. Two rooms, two beds, a huge television set, a mini bar in the corner.
I looked around.
“So what now?”
“I will book you a flight back to the East Coast tomorrow.”
I nodded, resisting the urge to twist my hands in front of me, not wanting to give away the fact that I was nervous, that I was upset, that I didn’t like this at all. “And my things?”
“I’ll have your cell phone and purse portered over, along with the suitcases you had for California. The clothes you have in New York I will have sent to your apartment.”
“Not my apartment,” I said. “To Maddie’s, please.”
He nodded again.
“Do you need the address?”
He shook his head no, but of course I already knew that. Of course he would have Maddie’s address. He was keeping tabs on my every move, and so it made sense he would keep tabs on all of hers as well.
My chest tightened. I started to thank him. But I stopped myself. Thank him for what? Letting me go? That was ridiculous.
“Okay, then. I’ll email you the flight information, and your things should be here in an hour or so, as soon as I get them from the airport.”
I nodded.
We stood there staring at each other for a moment, and my chest clenched, like a rubber band was tightening around it. I waited for him to say something, and for a moment, the sun glinted through the blinds on the window, breaking the darkness for a split second and reflecting off his chiseled features. I thought I saw indecision reflected there, but then the sun moved behind a cloud and it was gone, he was bathed in darkness again, and he turned and walked toward the door.
The regret that pulsed inside of me for bringing us to this point was almost palpable, almost living, as if I needed to do something to it. I needed to kill it, that’s how horrible it felt.
I wanted to look way, but I forced myself to watch as he walked toward the door.
He stopped when he reached it, his hand on the handle.
He turned and looked at me, and I half-expected his face to break into a smile, for him to tell me this was all a joke, that we’d been playing a game of chicken and I was the winner, that he wasn’t going anywhere, and the fact that I’d pushed him was going to make me get punished harder than I’d ever been punished before.