Page 19 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part One
I shook my head. “Let’s walk. I’ve never been to New York before.”
Giving me a nod, he started off up the street. “Nice. It's a pretty walk along Central Park.” He held out his arm, and I stared at it. He let out a snort of laughter that I could hear even over the traffic. “You’re meant to hold my elbow. It’ll help me keep track of you in the crowd and ensure that I don’t out-pace you. You’re kinda short.”
I frowned at him, but it was hard not to get caught up in his sparkling baby blues. “Jerk.” I slid my hand in the crook of his elbow anyway as we strolled along the sidewalk. We didn’t talk, because we spent most of our time maneuvering between groups of tourists and people in business suits power-walking angrily to wherever the hell they had to be.
Finally, we reached the leafy trees that marked the boundary of Central Park. I could comfortably drop his arm now, but I hesitated. It was nice. He must be a foot taller than me, his body broad and lean, like a swimmer. He didn’t pull his arm away either, so I decided to go on pretending that I forgot I could walk on my own.
“So, how long have you guys all been friends?” I asked, finally breaking the silence. He looked down at me and smiled.
“Too long,” he said with a laugh. “I was a scholarship kid at Hendrick’s fancy private school. I mean, I was hardly a rags to riches story—my dad is an architect and my mother is a general practitioner. But I’m not Hendrick and Sampson rich. I’m not a trust fund baby.”
We paused as we crossed the street, Otto’s fingers closing over mine as he made sure I crossed the road safely, and something in my chest thumped painfully. Any little hint of care, and I was like a lovesick cat.
He dropped his hand as we reached the other side, but kept his arm tucked tightly to his body, keeping my fingers trapped in the crook of his elbow.
He cleared his throat. “Anyway, when I arrived, I knew no one, and Hendrick took a shine to me straight away. He said it was because I looked at him and had no idea who the fuck he was. Everyone had been clamoring all over him since orientation day to get in good with Hendrick Kenley, probably because their parents had told them to.” He shook his head. “My parents aren’t like that.”
Well, obviously not. They’d raised Otto, and I might’ve only known him for a short amount of time, but I could tell he was a genuinely nice guy. Or he was a really good liar—you could never tell until it was too late.
“So a long time then. Must be nice.”
He nodded. “It is. Sampson came along later, after his grandparents died. Before that, he’d been over on the West Coast, but once they passed, he had to move here to live with his dad. He hated everyone and everything, which is basically catnip to Hendrick. It was a bit rough at the beginning, but now I’d jump in front of a bullet for either of them, and I know they'd do the same for me.” He smiled softly, the way you do when you’re imagining people you love. “What about you? Siblings? Friends you wanna drag across Europe? I’m pretty sure I could convince Hendrick to let them tag along. If you just bat those pretty eyelashes, he’d even pay for it too.”
I tried to wrack my brain for someone who would drop everything and travel around the world with me the way Otto and Sampson had when Hendrick suggested it. Sure, they had the luxury of money—well, at least two of the three did, though it didn’t seem like Otto was hurting either, judging by some of the labels on his clothes.
But there was no one. And if I was honest with myself, that was my own fault. I’d been steadily extracting myself from people’s lives for a year or more, not answering messages, cancelling plans at the last minute. Everyone had moved off to college, but I just shuffled my way through college on my own. I worked at a cafe, did my classes, and went home to not really sleep. I didn’t want to admit that out loud to Otto though, and seem any more pathetic than I must already be.
So I just shook my head. He shook my hand off his arm, and I frowned. Shit, maybe he thought my loserness was infectious… Then I felt his arm wrap around my shoulders and he dragged me into his body for a quick side hug.
“Doesn’t matter, Viva. We’ll go on this adventure with you. Can’t say it’ll always be pleasant with those two; they can be assholes. But you won’t be alone.”
As my gut clenched and my chest felt too full, I just nodded. Fucking Otto—I knew he was the dangerous one.
He dropped his arm and stopped in front of a hotdog cart. “I’m starving. Want one?”
A hotdog from a cart outside Central Park was basically bucket list stuff. “Yes, please. I’ll have whatever you have on it.” Gotta trust the New Yorker on this one.
Otto ordered for us, while I looked through the entrance of the Park. It was a gorgeous paradise in the middle of a concrete jungle, and you definitely appreciated it as an escape from the gray wash of steel and stone. Maybe I could ask the guys to come for a walk through there, or maybe Nemo would be waiting for me at the bookstore to walk me through there himself.
My heart raced at the idea of meeting Nemo. Logically, I knew he wouldn’t be everything I’d built him up to be in my head—hell, he mightn’t even be ahe—but what if he was? How would I even know what I was looking for? Should I just go up to random people and say, “Hey, were you in a mental health facility in Florida, by any chance?”
Panic began to wash over me, but I pushed it down. No. I had this under control. I wouldn’t let this blow out into a full anxiety attack.
When Otto turned around to hand me my hotdog, I had my smile firmly back in place. His eyes searched my face, though I might have been imagining that. “Prepare yourself for the best hotdog of your life.”
I took a huge bite and moaned. Holy shit. “Why is this sogood?” I said around a mouthful of food. The guy at the hotdog cart chuckled, but he’d already moved on to serving someone else.
Otto shrugged as he walked, eating his own dog. “I think it’s the New York water. It makes bagels and hotdogs better. They never taste quite the same anywhere else. Sampson says it’s because they use the same water for like a week and what you’re tasting is the beginning of salmonella poisoning.”
I laughed, sucking back a stray piece of bun, and Otto thumped me on the back as I coughed. We walked in silence again, eating our food and watching the people go by. I looked over at him, at his sharp jaw and soft eyes. “Don’t you have school or something? Do you have time to be chasing after Hendrick and me as we go on this wild goose chase? Won’t your parents be mad?”
Otto grinned. “That’s a lot of questions. I do most of my classes online. I can do that from anywhere in the world. My parents think of Hendrick and Sampson like sons, and they understand Hendrick is… Hendrick. He’s a complicated guy.”
I snorted. “That's a nice way of saying he’s an asshole.”
Otto shrugged. “Can’t change the man, and besides, he’s different if you know him.” He left it at that, putting a hand on my lower back and turning me to face a beautiful stone building, coated in curling ivy. “We’re here.”
Oh shit. My heart started racing again, and I felt clammy. Otto reached down and grabbed my hand, helping me across the road and inadvertently anchoring me to sanity. Bet he’d once been a boy scout.
