Page 67 of Inside the Maelstrom: Part Two
I pulled up close to the entrance, but didn’t drive into the parking lot. I climbed out, and tilted my head at Lottie to do the same. “I’ll be right back, Good Girl. Lock the doors.” I walked toward the front offices, Lottie trailing behind me. “Stay here,” I told her once we were beside the building. I stepped into the office, and an older woman with tightly curled hair looked up from what seemed to be a telenovela.
“I need to book a long-term room for me and my little sister, for two months. We just moved to the city, and we need a place to stay while I find permanent housing.”
The woman looked at me with a deadpan expression. “That’ll be $3866.”
I put down four grand in cash. “I work twelve-hour shifts, and my sister will have school. I’d appreciate it if you could keep an eye on her, make sure none of the other residents harass her while I’m not here. You can keep the change.”
“Sure thing,” the woman said, and she was eyeing me even more suspiciously. She definitely thought something was sketchy going on. “I won’t support anything illegal, you know.”
I stared at her, giving her the full force of my dark gaze. “Ma’am, if you see anything illegal happening, I suggest you call 911 immediately. We just want to go about our lives until we can find somewhere more suitable.”
The woman took my fake ID, and my cash. Then she gave me a key. “You only get one key, sorry.”
I nodded. “We’ll make it work.”
It was nearly five a.m. when I walked out of the hotel office. I ushered Lottie over to the side, out of view of the woman, then gave her the other thousand dollars and the room key.
“The room is paid up for two months. After that, call this number. The guy at the other end will sort something else out.” I gave her the number for my personal assistant. I’d let him know tomorrow to expect her call. “Triple lock the doors and don’t do anything stupid or illegal or I’ll take it all back in blood, got it?”
She paled. “Why? Why would you do this?”
I shrugged. “Because I can.”
I strode away, back toward the car and my not-pregnant girlfriend. This had been a crazy night.
“Wait!” Lottie whisper-yelled. “You didn’t tell me your name.”
I grinned at her, and it was an expression so smooth that even Hendrick would be proud. “It’s better that way, kid.”
“If I don’t know your name, how will I pay you back?”
I shook my head. “By working hard and going to college. Call the number and we’ll get you a scholarship too. You’ve got some serious brass balls, Lottie. Use them and make something of yourself. That's all the repayment I need.”
I strode toward the car, unlocking it and sliding back in beside the love of my life. I couldn’t tell Lottie this without making her do that exaggerating gagging noise again, but that soft look on Aviva’s face, the one that shone with love, was a payment all of its own.
She leaned forward and kissed me, her lips brushing mine tenderly. “You’re a good man, Sampson Rubio.”
I grinned in her direction. “Don’t let it get around—you’ll ruin my reputation. Now, let’s go back to bed. That’s enough fucking adventure for one night.”
Chapter33
Hendrick
We didn’t hang around in Columbia. A part of me was worried that her parents would make good on their annulment threat, and the other part of me just wanted to go home. Somehow, that crazy expensive loft had become home in that short time, in a way that no other place had ever been. Not even the house I grew up in. Otto would say it was because it was filled with my real family, and he was probably right.
But this crazy journey wasn’t over yet—we had one more stop planned, and we were all apparently in the same mindset that if we stopped now, we'd never start again. Better to get it all over and done with so we could put this bullshit behind us.
Aviva looked like shit, and she mustn’t have slept from the stress last night. She fell asleep on the plane almost immediately, and we all let her sleep. Sampson looked tired too, but he just stared at the ceiling.
“Was she restless last night?”
“You could say that,” he whispered. He checked she was asleep, and then turned to us. “Good Girl’s period is late.”
Every cell in my body froze. I seemed to run through all the emotions: horror, happiness, fear, excitement, trepidation. It was like being inside a cyclone, and I wasn’t sure what I should hold onto.
“She’s pregnant?” Evan hissed quietly.
Sampson shook his head, and all those emotions fled my body, to be replaced solely by disappointment. I kind of wanted to have kids with Viva. Not now, of course not. But maybe one day, a little golden-haired replica of Viva would be cool.
