“Guys! Please. Save that for your room,” Grumbled Kella, pushing away her empty plate with a look of disgust. With a hit of a button, her legs flew into the air as the recliner made use of its name. Fraser rolled his eyes.
“I get it, Lil. Pierre is my favorite chef in America. His food is better than sex,” His grin faltered as Kella shot him a look, “Well, you know what I mean…” He added, trying to recover from his fumble. Dane and I laughed.
Only Kella could reduce Fraser Garrington to a bumbling mess.
“Well you and Pierre have a lot of fun in your hotel room tonight,” Retorted Kella, turning herself away from him.
“Come on, Kella. You know what I meant. Sex with you is amazing-“
“Oh ew!” I covered my ears. Now it was my turn to be repulsed, “Guys, we don’t need to hear about your sex life,” I complained, as Dane chuckled beside me. Both Fraser and Dane exchanged a look. I knew that look. It was the ‘women are hard work’ look. I grabbed my Ipod and plugged my earphones in.
“You can both get fucked,” I grumbled, closing my eyes, determined to keep to myself for the rest of the trip. The last few days had been so draining both emotionally and physically, a good night’s sleep was a distant memory for me. I drifted off to sleep to the soothing sounds of Metallica.
Dane woke me as we were about to land. Truthfully, I had only been asleep for about half an hour, but it was enough to boost both my energy and my mood. Sitting back in my seat, I watched out the window as the plane hit the runway in what was a fairly smooth landing; or at least it was in my limited experience of landings. I caught Dane looking at me.
“What?” I asked, embarrassed. I hoped I hadn’t been talking in my sleep again. This was one of the few times I’d slept without seeing Abby.
“Nothing,” He chuckled, “You just look so cute sitting there all excited about the landing.” I pushed his shoulder.
“Well excuse me, Mr Seasoned Traveler, this is my first trip on a plane,” I grumbled, blushing. Fraser looked up, surprised.
“Seriously? You’ve never been on a plane?” He asked, cocking his head. Was it that unbelievable that I’d never been on a plane?
“That’s what I said,” I replied, annoyed. Unbuckling my seatbelt, I stood up, stretching my legs. Dane pointed at the seatbelt sign which was still flashing red. I rolled my eyes and sank back into the chair, as he chuckled beside me. I glared at him, this lack of sleep making me cranky. He made a face and mouthed ‘sorry’. No, but he would be if I didn’t get a decent sleep that night.
Chapter Seventeen
I stood back as Dane slipped the card into the door of our hotel room, which was spookily room 22. My first thought was to ask for another room.
Stop being stupid, Lily.
The last thing I needed was to feed my stupid superstitious paranoia.
Dane flicked on the lights, as I walked into the room. There was only one word for it.
Wow.
The floor to ceiling windows overlooked the New York skyline which, at this time, was a sparkling array of lights. It was beautiful, and the room itself was stunning. The king sized bed sat at one end of the room, complete with mountains of pillows, and an expensive looking bedspread. Everything looked new, modern and expensive, even the toiletries.
“Holy shit,” Dane murmured, widening his eyes as he too looked around the room.
He walked ahead of me, over to the window, “Shit, Lil, come over here.” I walked over as he slid the sliding door open. The sound of the city came to life. Horns, people talking, yelling. I spotted a group of boys playing soccer in the park under the light of the streetlamp. This was completely unlike anything I’d seen before. It was embarrassing that I was an American who had never been to New York.
“Have you been here before?” I asked Dane shyly, not wanting to seem like the naive country girl I felt like, even though I was far from naive.
Or a country girl.
“A few times, but never in this kind of style,” His smile faded, as if he suddenly remembered why we were there. “The first time I came here was when I was twelve. Steffy was almost three. She’d loved all the bright lights, and the noise,” Dane stared out the window, his mind far away,
“I can’t believe she might have been here all along, Lil. What if I could have helped her earlier? I should have done more research when they caught Earl.” He shook his head, anger clouding his features, “
I just assumed when he confessed it was over, but maybe I wanted it to be over. What has she been through since that day?”
I couldn’t answer him, nor could I even begin to imagine the guilt he must be feeling. The thing that weighed most on my mind was how broken Steffy might be if we did find her. After ten years, who knew what kind of sexual, physical and mental torture she’d faced?
How do you come back from something like that?
Standing behind Dane, I wrapped my arms around his waist, my chin resting on his shoulder. No matter what, I vowed to stay strong for him.