Page 88 of The Sounds of Her
“Archer-”
The elevator doors open as he turns to me. I don’t have time to say anything else. DiMarco is waiting for us. Archer frowns at him.
“I got a call when your car got back,” the huge bodyguard explains. He glances my way and gives me a respectful nod before turning back to Archer.
I should speak up, tell him this was all my idea.
“I already got yelled at by Stone,” Archer steps out of the elevator and makes sure I get out too, allowing me to walk ahead of him and DiMarco.
Dale is standing further down the hallway outside our room. Damn, if I thought it would cause this much trouble, I would never have suggested we go out.
“We had no signal. I’m a grown man who can take care of myself. And my girl,” he adds.
My head ducks at that. I can feel his eyes burning into me.
“I don’t need any explanations,” DiMarco responds.
“Fuck,” Archer mutters. Guess he just spotted Dale who is storming down the hallway towards us, his mouth open. “Not out here,” Archer tells him, cutting him off. “If you want to treat me like a fucking child, let’s do it behind closed doors, yeah?”
Using my key card, I enter the room. The maid has been and cleared the remnants of our breakfast and straightened the place up. I need a shower.
A flush rises up my chest, burning up my neck. Archer is watching me, regardless of the angry assistant manager, storming into the room. DiMarco doesn’t come inside.
It all feels stifling, and I get it now, how Jenna has to live with having Adam in her life. It’s all good and well having cameras following us and reporting on us for now, but long term, I’d hate it.
Archer walks across the room until he’s standing right in front of me, ignoring Dale, who is trying to get his attention.
“Go take a shower,” Archer says quietly, his fingers playing over the loose strands of hair on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about any of this. It’s nothing I haven’t handled before.” He leans in and kisses my cheek.
For a moment, I am a statue as his eyes bore into mine. Then I remember Dale isn’t aware this is fake. I inhale and nod before turning into the bedroom and closing the door.
I can’t keep getting sucked in.
This is fake, Brooke.
Even if Archer looked hurt in the car by what I said. Even if he can see right through me.
The sound of them arguing gets louder and I almost go back out to defend Archer, but he knows what he is doing. Me getting involved will make things harder, so I slip into the bathroom and close the door.
Undressing, I toss my panties into the trash. There is no rescuing them. I spare a thought for the poor maid, but I’m sure they’ve seen worse. I strip, turn on the shower and get underneath the spray once it is hot enough to scald my skin.
We need to talk. It’s not as if this is something we can brush over. It can’t be washed away as easily as the dirt from my body.
Memories of how he held me, kissed me, and the things he said make my heart pound.
“It’s not real,” I whisper to myself as I tip my face down so the water pours over the back of my head. “Like everything else in my life,” I add.
Chapter Twenty
I take a quick shower after Brooke, then we go to Jordan’s suite to eat before leaving for the airport. They all give me shit for disappearing and a lot of innuendo from Jordan. Brooke tells him to quit being a dick, making him sulk for all of five minutes, then he’s back to cracking jokes. I know what they’re all thinking. Why did they disappear for the whole day, and what did they get up to?
Well, we’re not telling them anything because I don’t want to admit they’re fucking right. I try not to look at Brooke too much.
We’ve barely spoken since we got back, not about the vineyard. Partly because Dale gave me shit for an hour, and the asshole told Bianca we were ‘missing,’ so she called too, and I got it all over again.
Brooke stayed out of the way of the fallout, and I don’t blame her for that. None of this is her fault. She suggested we bring DiMarco with us. It was me who said no.
Luckily, we don’t have to pretend with these guys. Brooke is not acting any differently, so I follow her lead and time passes with the usual bullshit chatter.