I pushed on it, drawing her with me into the dark room. My hands ran through her hair. Her mouth was on mine. Hot and fierce. One of my hands trailed along her shoulder, down her chest, cupping her breast. I squeezed until I heard her groan. Her tongue lashed wildly.
As I reached for the zipper on the dress, her phone began to ring. She paused for a second, but ignored it.
“Probably a pocket dial or something,” she breathed. Her fingers began to work the buttons on my shirt.
The ringing started again, and her eyes flashed to mine. “Sorry, I better check it.”
“No problem.” I sat on the couch, while she dug through her purse looking for the phone.
Before I knew what was happening, she answered, walked into the bedroom, and closed the door.
I waited. A few minutes passed, and I walked into the kitchen and poured a glass of water from one of the bottles on the counter. The hotel had delivered a fully stocked basket of snacks and drinks. I could hear her voice, muffled by the door. I sat the empty glass on the bar and stood in front of the door. She was still talking.
I took a pack of cookies and sat on the couch, flipping on the TV. It was instinct. I always searched for the business channel. I didn’t register the stock report when the numbers scrolled across the bottom of the screen, my attention was on the bedroom door.
This was damn ridiculous. We had been in the middle of something I didn’t think needed to be interrupted. I turned off the TV and walked to the bedroom.
“Sydney?” I tapped on the door. When she didn’t answer, I opened it. “Syd?”
She was sitting in the center of the bed, her legs pulled up to her chest, the dress crumpled at her hips. The phone was still in her hand.
“Everything ok?” I was afraid to ask.
“I just need a minute.”
I sat next to her. “You’ve been here for half an hour. Have you been on the phone the whole time?”
“No,” she whispered.
I took the phone from her hand and laid it on the bedside table. “What’s going on?”
She shook her head. “I-I just need a second. I’ll be back out.”
I saw the forced smile on her face. Damn it. Part of me wanted to walk out of the room and pretend she could pull herself together and we’d start off where we left things when the phone rang. Then the other part of me looked at her. Mascara smudged, eyes red, and I knew spending the night with me was the last thing on her mind.
I kicked off my shoes, and laid down next to her. At first she was reluctant to move, but I managed to pull her against my chest. Her head rested over my heart. I ran my fingers through her hair. I didn’t know if I should try to get her to talk, or wait for her to say something.
“Did you get some bad news?”
She was silent. I don’t know how many minutes ticked by before she finally spoke.
“It’s my sister.” Her voice was almost too quiet to hear.
“Did something happen?” I didn’t expect it, but there was a knot in my stomach. A sense of dread moved in. I stopped playing with her hair and my hand pressed deeply against her hip.
“Yes and no.”
I was out of my element. I kept my mouth shut while she talked.
“Something happened to my sister.”
“Is she ok?”
“It’s been almost five years since she’s been gone.” Sydney talked slowly. Slower than I had ever heard her.
I had no idea what to say. There was a lump in my throat. “Did she? Is she?”
“She’s not dead.”
“Oh.” I was confused.
“She ran away. I haven’t seen her in five years. Or my niece.” She straightened her back, until she was sitting up, looking at me. “She’s in hiding.”
“Darlin’, I’m not following.”
Sydney sighed. “It started when I was in high school. She’s older than me. She was dating this guy. Not a good guy. We thought he was hanging around with a bad crowd, you know? Making bad choices. Doing stupid stuff. But Hailey couldn’t see it. She thought he was going through some things and he would change. But he didn’t. He got more involved, and it made him unpredictable. Angry.”
“What was he doing?”
“He worked at the train station, at the ticket booth.”
“Well, that sounds legit.”
Her head turned, so her eyes were locked on mine. “It wasn’t. He used it as a way to sell stolen merchandise. Eventually, it led to drugs. At least that’s what we think.”
“I’ll stop asking questions. You tell me what happened.”
“Anyway, Brian was running this side business, and it was taking over his life. Then Hailey found out she was pregnant. She swore he would marry her and they would raise the baby together and everything would work out.” She closed her eyes.