Beauty and the Beat

Beauty and the Beat (33)

“You can’t tell Maxxon I’m doing this.” I twiddled my thumbs against the steering wheel as I spoke to Maxxon as we sat parked in the parking lot. “I don’t want him to know. I know he’d be unhappy with me.”

Bennett gave me a look I couldn’t read. “And you care if Maxxon is unhappy with you?”

I nodded. “Of course I do. He’s my friend.”

Bennett gave me another look that I couldn’t read and I chose to ignore it. It probably wasn’t anything good anyway.

We got out of the car and made our way inside. The hotel looked even fancier inside than it did on the outside. I shouldn’t have been surprised.

“I still think you’re crazy,” Bennett informed me as we walked into the lobby of the hotel. “You didn’t even tell Mr. Deveraux that you were coming to see him.”

“I didn’t need to,” I said as I sat him down in a comfy looking chair. “Who knows what he could have done if I told him I was coming? I couldn’t reach him, anyway.”

Bennett’s eyes softened as he looked up at me. He was really concerned. “Sadie, are you sure this is a good idea?”

No, I wasn’t sure. Ethan and I had agreed to never see each other again after our night together. It hadn’t even been a month yet and I already broke the rules to see him.

“Yes,” I nodded. “I’m sure. Now stay here until I’m done, okay?”

Bennett grumbled his response back to me, and I smiled before spinning on my heal and starting off toward the front desk. The women behind it smiled at me. I let out a sigh before I started talking.

“Hi,” I greeted with a smile. “I need Ethan Deveraux’s room number. I’m his sister-in-law and he called for me to bring something to him.”

I wasn’t really lying about everything I was saying... I really was his sister-in-law. 

I lifted the travel bag up to show her. She didn’t have to know it was empty.

“If you leave it here, we can have a bellboy bring it up for you,” the women smiled at me. I felt my eye twitch.

“He specially asked if I’d bring it up,” I lied, really hoping she’d just give me the room number without contacting Ethan. “Also, he’d have to tip the bellboy. He’s really hate me if I made him spend any money.”

The woman behind the counter seemed to think about this for a moment. Finally, she let out a sigh and began typing away at her computer. I felt like I was going to throw up from the nerves.

“He’s in room three-oh-eight,” she informed me, and I had to bite the inside if my cheek to stop myself from smiling. I thanked the woman and turned away.

I waved at Bennett as I hurried toward the elevator. He nodded at me. I was so glad to have a friend like him that would sit down in the lobby and wait for me.

I tapped my fingers against the empty travel bag as I waited inside the elevator. Ethan was so close. I was so close to seeing him. 

No one seemed to think it was strange that a teenager was in a hotel as fancy as this all alone. I was surrounded by people in business suits and fancy clothes as I continued to wait for the elevator to get to Ethan’s floor. He was only on the third level but it took forever with all the people getting on and on.

Finally, I got to the third floor. I hurried off before something could stop me. No one else got off the elevator with me.

I walked down the hall in search of Ethan’s room number. I found it almost immediately.