Chapter Twenty Six - Part One

Charlie

I stay longer than necessary in Maxwell’s room. The tension is thick between us and I can’t quite make eye contact with him. Was it his fault? No. Does it still hurt? Yes.

“I have to go to work.” The words rush out of mouth as I exit his room and race to the door.

My hand lingers on the knob as his voice sounds from right behind me. “Are you forgetting something?” he asks.

My arm grazes his chest as I turn around to face him. My eyes only go as high as his mouth, which has a small sheepish smile. He expects a kiss like the other day, but I can’t. Pitifully, my feelings are still hurt.

He gently grabs my hand and places my keys in my palm. “I’ll be waiting for you get back.”

I leave without a word said, head hanging with shame from my bitterness. Not paying much attention, I carelessly round the corner. Face first I smack into an oncoming body. “I’m so sorry.” I immediately start to apologize.

“The fault is partially mine,” the woman replies.

“It’s quite all right.” I flip the hair out of my eyes.

“Ms. Preston? Charlie, right?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t remember me, do you? Daisy from the Liberty Hotel. You had a party there about a month ago.”

After making eye contact with her for the first time, I do recall who she is. The hovering blonde who showed Morgan and I the ballroom for Justice’s birthday party. “Oh, yes. Yes, I remember. Nice to see you again, Daisy.”

“What brings you to this lovely hotel?” she asks, her interest piqued.

“Meeting with a client before heading into the office. I’m running late. I really should get going.”

“I would love to sit down and chat sometime. Your job must be to die for.”

I dig out a business card from my purse. “You know where to find me.”

She gives me a quick smile before retreating down the hall.

I can’t make the car ride any shorter due to traffic and half glad, half nervous to see Morgan. I glance down at the white bandage that still wraps my arm and think about how I’m going to explain it. My face didn’t take a beating in the fight last night, but this warm weather forces me to wear short sleeves demanding for the wound to be center of attention.

“Good morning,” Morgan sings as I enter the building. Her eyes instantly go to the stark white bandage as I knew they would. “Oh my goodness, what happened to you?” The tips of her fingers graze the thick gauze wrappings.

“Nothing important.” I don’t want to concern her and I’m still not sure how I would explain the situation either, so I talk about something else. “I’m sorry I’m late. I ran into the most unexpected person. She’s even interested in sitting down and talking sometime, which I hope doesn’t happen. I mean, I’ve only seen the woman once and she seems like a snob...kind of.” Who am I judge?

“Who?”

“Daisy. She’s the woman from—”

Morgan speaks over me, “I know where she’s from and it wouldn’t be the second time I saw her if I were to run into her.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I didn’t tell you this for a reason, but I’ve met her before seeing her at the Liberty Hotel.”

The tension that fills the room is thick. Her awkward posture and lack of eye contact makes what she’s about to say even worse. What is she hiding? “Morgan, where else have you seen her?”

“Here.”

“Excuse me, what now? Here?”

“Do you remember when James insisted that we come here and how he brought friends with him?”

How could I forget. “Yes.”

“She was one of them. It was her and a man. And he was so dreamy, don’t tell James. But he had the most amazing green eyes.”

Green eyes. My brain starts connecting crazy dots together. Morgan’s boyfriend is a vampire. This green-eyed stranger is a vampire who was seen with Daisy...who just so happened to run into me in the very hotel Maxwell stays at. Coincidence or not. “You wouldn’t happen to remember his name?”

“No, I don’t think he introduced himself really. Why do you ask?”

I’m not sure if she can sense the turmoil that’s boiling beneath the surface as my brain contemplates my theory. “No reason.”

Her concerning words don’t offer comfort as they should. “You know you can talk to me about anything. I’d like to think I’m your friend besides just your employee.”

“You are, Morgan. I just have a lot on my mind right now,” I say in a half daze before making my way to my office.

As fast as I can, I immerse myself, but its no use. I try not to stare at the clock or my phone, but its all I can do. Hours go by in pure silence; the only sound in the room is the clicking of my pen. In all honesty, I haven’t got a fraction of the amount of work completed than I usually get done.

Three light taps knock against my door, forcing me to focus. “Charlie, can I come in?” Morgan asks.

“Of course,” I reply.

She enters the office and immediately sits in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “I’m going to be heading out. You sure you’re fine? I know it’s none of my business, but Maxwell mentioned something about you receiving a threatening message. Did they do this to you…did they attack you last night?”

Maxwell told her? I could turn the tables on this conversation and interrogate her, but once again I decide to go the easy way and leave the subject alone. Maxwell knows James, so why wouldn’t he ask little things of Morgan. I would ask things of Grace all the time if she were actually here. “It’s possible. I can handle it, Morgan, there’s no need to worry. All you need to worry about is having fun on your trip.”

The clock on my desk stares back at me. Just three more hours until sunset. I can make it three hours…I hope. I walk with her to the front door.

“I’ll be back on Monday.” She smiles.

Unexpectedly, she gives me a hug. She squeezes me so tightly that I find it hard to breathe. Gritting my teeth through the pain from her arm rubbing against my cut, I pat her on the back as a signal for her to let go.

“Sorry…sorry.” She apologizes as her hands brush off the tops of my shoulders.

“Have fun and be prepared to tell me all about it when you get back,” I say as happily as I can manage.

“Of course,” she agrees before she walks out into the semi empty lot. Double-checking the door before I feel comfortable, I go back to my office. I turn off the front lights, leaving the office building looking closed from the outside. Instead of working on what I’m supposed to be, my mind wanders to Morgan’s trip. I wonder if she knows about James being a vampire. Part of me believes she wouldn’t care either way.

I shake myself from the idea that Morgan knows all about vampires. I begin, yet again, to feel sorry for Maxwell. I’ve been nothing but awful to him. However, he hasn’t been the most trusting either, but the past is in the past and there’s nothing either of us can do to change that. With my elbows propped up on my desk, I rub at my face.

I don’t know how much time passes before my doorknob jiggles. My eyes bolt to the clock. It reads a little past eight. The sun is set so it’s quite possible that it’s Maxwell, but it also could be an unwanted visitor. The tightening of my chest makes it extremely hard to breathe, but I force each breath harshly, which makes me slightly lightheaded. “Maxwell?” I say in barely a whisper.

The creak of the door fills the room and makes my ears ring. My fingers tightly grip a paperweight on my desk.

“Charlie,” Maxwell says as he peeks his head into the room. “Charlie.” His hand goes on top of mine, gently prying my fingers off the weight.

I didn’t even see him enter the room, but there he is, inches away from my face. “How did you get in here?”

He stands up straight, one hand still on top of mine and the other holds out a key. “You really need to get rid of your spare keys,” he replies.

I go to grab it out of his hand, but he pockets it before I can reach it.

“Were you going to hit me with a paperweight?” he asks.

“Yes. It isn’t the best of time to just unlock my door and try to barge into my office when there are...” I huff in defeat. “Speaking of lurking strangers, I might have a clue who our ‘friend’ is.”

“And that would be what?”

“I ran into Daisy while I was on my way to work and Morgan confessed that she’s seen her before.”

“Daisy?”

“She works at the Liberty Hotel. You know, the place of Justice’s birthday party that you crashed.”

“I’ve seen her before too. Where did Morgan say she saw her?”

“Where have you seen her? Liberty Hotel?” Please say Liberty Hotel.

“No, I didn’t see her that night, but I saw her in the hall outside my door.”

“She was outside your door?”

“Not entirely. She was walking down the hall when I was in pursuit of catching the prankster who was buzzing my door. She claimed there were children running about the halls.”

“It was her. Morgan saw her that night James insisted on going to my office. He brought two people with him, Daisy and a man. A man who, Morgan said has green eyes.”

“You’re thinking too much into this, Charlie. It wouldn’t be that easy.”

“James is a vampire and the man is a vampire—”

“Charlie, calm down. It’s probably just a coincidence. Nothing more. It wouldn’t be the first time two vampires were seen together.” His hands run down the length of my good arm, which cause goosebumps to break out over my skin.

“If you think that’s what it is, then I guess that’s what it is.” Disappointment washes over me. “Can we go now…please?” Sitting here longer than necessary makes my insides turn. Sitting in this small room with his eyes eyes on me makes me fidgety.

Gently he wraps his arm around my shoulders and I let him. He quickly snatches my keys from my hand once I dig them out of my purse. Of course, he goes to sit in the driver’s seat. But I’m tired of fighting, so I get into the passenger seat without a complaint.

“Where do you wish to go?” he asks as his hands grip the steering wheel.

“No where. Can’t we just go to your place?”

“My place.” Maxwell’s eyebrows rise in concern. “I never thought I would hear you agreeingly offer to go back to my place.”

“There’s a first for everything I guess.” I gently stroke my bandaged arm.