Never Always (NaNoWriMo 2014)

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

“The word is—innocent.”

Grady placed the card on the table and we all stared at it for a minute. Sterling was the first one to break shock by laughing.

I tried really hard not to laugh and my effort twisted my lips into purse mode. “Is this damn deck rigged?”

It got everyone going on the laughter train and Butler shook his head. “The cards were weeded out at the beginning of the tour, darlin’. Suck it up and put out a card.” He placed one of his own down on the table with a smile. “Pun absolutely intended.”

I rolled my eyes and glanced over my cards again. We were supposed to be pairing whatever card matched best but—I found the perfect one and slapped it on the table. It had absolutely nothing to do with innocent but was an ironic twist on the word. “There. Now I’m going to get something to drink.”

“I’ll come with,” Sterling said. As she stood up, she pointed at Grady. “You better pick my card, Sinclair. You owe me.”

He saluted her. “I’ll do my best.”

What did he owe her? From what I could piece together, he’d called her sometime this morning asking her to bring my luggage to the hotel. It wasn’t much of a chore considering the way she’d sneak in a smirk when she thought I wasn’t looking. I could always count on Sterling being on my side but I knew she wanted me to be happy. Problem was I wasn’t as convinced as she was that Grady was my avenue to happiness.

She followed me into the suite’s kitchen and we both glanced over the beverage selection. On one side of the island, sodas were packed into ice filled bowls while hard liquor and plastic cups occupied the other.

“So—”she started but I waved a hand to cut her off.

“Don’t.”

She let out a groan. “Come on, Page, spill.”

“Spill what?” Karen asked as she stepped up next to Sterling.

Sterling looked at me and raised an eyebrow. An obvious question whether she could continue the current interrogation she was attempting conduct. I briefly shook my head and she nodded. No way did I want Karen in on this.

“Spill about the picture Grady posted of Emory on Twitter last night.”

“Wait.” Karen faced me. “You were here last night?”

I nodded and picked the only remaining green tea. “Emory wanted to watch a movie and I wasn’t tired.”

“So you saw him do that—thing? What exactly was it he was doing?” Sterling asked while digging out her phone to show Karen the picture. “I had no idea he could do that! Hell, I didn’t know anyone could do that.”

She had to have the picture saved to her phone because there was no way apps came up that fast. Karen looked over the picture, unimpressed, and turned her attention back to me. “You were here?”

“Yes,” I said with more patience than a saint. “I was here. Last night. Would you like me to clarify anything else?”

“Considering the way you acted at the bar, I didn’t think you’d—”

“Who in the hell put down ‘a cheap motel’?”

I stayed focused on Karen even though it was my card. The game could wait. What was going on a few feet from us paled in comparison to what she was about to tell me.

“I told Carrington,” she whispered. “When we got back to the room, he asked a bunch of questions and I couldn’t keep it from him anymore.”