“Marie,” I answer honestly. I should probably have given him a fake name, but I forgot. That's probably good, now that I'm thinking about it. What if he called me by a fake name and I forgot to answer? It's probably better to stick to as much of the truth is I can.
The first man inhales deeply through his nose, flaring his nostrils. It's like I can't stop looking at him. Still on the fence. Beautiful? Tragic? I don’t know.
“Roman?” I say tentatively. His eyes flicker up to mine and he nods once. I look at the other one. “And you?”
The second stranger smiles broadly. He has all his teeth, and they’ve been polished to a healthy gleam. “Alek,” he answers in a low voice that gives me shivers.
“Roman and Alek,” I repeat to myself, turning the names over on my tongue. “You’re brothers?”
Alek barks a charming laugh. “Very much so. Roman got the good looks, I got the brains.”
I laugh in spite of myself. They’re terribly cheesy lines, and yet something about his voice is very magnetic. I want to hear more of it.
The ladies at the bar start singing loudly with the violin’s melody. When I glance toward them, I see all the way to the front of the foyer. The revolving doors swing and a group of gangly women sort of tumble in. A bachelorette party, it looks like.
Right after them, two tall, dark-haired men come in. They pause for a moment just inside the lobby and look around, their eyes sweeping over the room in a practiced gesture that I've seen a million times.
They’re family. Oh my God. They already found me.
I turned back toward the stranger and take a short, hiccuping breath. “And are you staying here?”
Too fast, I realize. But oh geez, I'm about to get dragged out of here by my elbow with my mission aborted.
Roman squints toward the lobby, apparently reading my mind again. Then without changing his expression, his eyes slide back to me and I think he nudges his brother.
“We are,” Alek answers simply. “Are the rooms nice?”
My fingers pluck at the edge of the paper napkin again. I'm going to start tearing that thing in the shreds of something doesn't happen soon.
Or maybe I should just go. I mean, if Daddy sent them all the way here to find me, maybe I should just go with them. This is sort of a crazy scheme, right? I should probably just go.
“I, uhm, I don't know if the rooms are nice. I'm not staying here… Exactly. I've never seen the rooms.”
His eyes twitch back toward the lobby just for a millisecond, so fast I don't even see it. But I'm almost certain that he looked.
“What did you say?” he leans forward.
I shake my head, indicating that the music is too loud for me to explain myself again. I don't want to be raising my voice and drawing the attention of those guys in the lobby.
Alek purses his lips again and does that head cocking thing. “It's too loud in here,” he shrugs. “Will you come with us?”
My stomach jumps, instantly knotting itself into a tangle. Like go with them? Both of them? Just like that?
I can feel Daddy’s guys behind me. I know they’re there. I absolutely know it. I stick my hand into the bottom of my purse, but Alek already has a couple hundred dollar bills tucked under the base of his champagne glass.
Roman slides out of the booth after Alek and they both stand behind me, conveniently enough. When I rise up out of my seat, I don’t think anybody can see me. They’re so big, they totally shield me from anything in the direction of the lobby.
Hoping that there is a back exit out of the bar, I head toward the rear part of the piano area. A small hallway curves off to one side and I hear the familiar ding of an elevator. That quickens my steps, encouraged.
Roman is so close behind me as we head toward the elevators that I can hear his breath. It's sort of a low, continuous growl. It's like having a predator right behind me, something that's hunting me through the hotel hallway. My hips sort of tremble and I hold out one hand to trail my fingers along the wall, just in case I’m going to swoon in that direction.
“You're all right?” Alek asks as he reaches forward to press the small round button.
“I am. I only had a couple of drinks, it was just so loud…”
The elevator dings and the doors slide open. I walk in first and Alek punches the number ten with his thumb. There’s a rushing sound in my ears like I'm on the water or something. I can barely hear and I feel like my vision is going to go all snowy at any second. Have to breathe slower.
I can't believe I'm doing this.
Roman is looking at me like I’m some kind of strange animal he’s afraid to touch. Like I’m not even real. Like I’m a doll or something. It makes me want to say something, to prove I’m real. As the elevator pushes upward I move toward him, watching my hands go out like they don’t even belong to me.