Chased by a Stranger (Craved Series #3) (5 page)

It was midnight before my Dad was stable enough for me to leave
the hospital.

Fortunately, the doctors decided they were going to keep him
through the night to monitor him in case he had a delayed stress reaction or complications
arose.

Which was great. It meant he didn’t have to spend the night in
jail- or rather- I didn’t have to decide whether I would let him.

Tip was okay. She was sitting on a chair in my Dad’s curtained
off section of the room. And despite needing stitches across her forehead, she seemed
pleased that her superficial injuries could be almost entirely hidden by her
hair.

I stood with my arms folded next to the bed, watching his
vitals, strangely at home among the beeping sounds and the white noise of the
florescent hospital lights.

“You should go home and rest,” I told her.

“No,” she said. “I will stay. This is my fault.”

“It’s not your fault, Tip.”

She shrugged. “I knew it was your bike. I should have said no.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t know he was drunk.”

She dropped her head and stared at her clasped hands. “He told
me he was fine to drive. I thought he would be mad if I questioned him.”

“Yeah,” I said. “God forbid he drove away angry. He might’ve
crashed.”

She smiled a pained smile that made her small frame look heavy
with guilt.

“He has to stop drinking,” I said. “This could’ve been much
worse.”

She nodded. “I know, but he needs help. He can’t do it on his
own, and he doesn’t listen to me.”

“Or me. But at least he won’t be driving again anytime soon.”

“How long do you think?”

“If the breaks were clean it would be one thing, but his leg was
badly crushed. I imagine he’ll need the guts of a year to recover.”

She nodded, her eyes watery.

Tip was the closest thing my Dad had to a girlfriend- or any
kind of friend for that matter. She put up with a lot of his shit and her Thai
had kept him out of a lot of trouble. What she saw in him I had no idea, but
like me, she knew him before he got so bad.

I think that was part of the problem.

After all, it was a gamble deciding who to give your heart to.
Once you committed to someone, it was hard to walk away, especially when they
suddenly needed you more than ever. Personally, I was amazed at my own ability
to cope with his illness and forgive his transgressions.

And I had no doubt that Tip was probably equally shocked at how
often she found herself in trouble because of her loyalty to a man who wasn’t
even himself half the time.

“Let me take you home to rest,” I said. “You’ve had enough
excitement for one day.”

“What if he wakes up?” she asked. “Won’t he be upset if we’re not
here?”

I shook my head. “He’s on so many painkillers right now, Tip. We
can tell him tomorrow we stayed all night.”

She furrowed her brow with obvious disapproval.

“Honestly, I wouldn’t tell you to leave if I wasn’t absolutely
sure he was going to be okay.”

“I’m worried they won’t let me see him later because I’m not
family.”

“I’ll come in with you in the morning,” I said. “It’ll be fine.”

She sighed, put her hands on her knees, and stood up. Then she
walked over to the opposite side of the bed and dragged her small fingers along
the side of my Dad’s face.

I could see the affection in her eyes, and I was grateful for her.
She was a true friend, and one of the only people in the country who saw my Dad
for more than just the drunkard he was so much of the time.

“Come on,” I said. “It’s better for him if we’re fresh in the
morning.”

She pursed her lips and nodded.

“I’ll pick you up first thing,” I said, watching her look at him
from the end of the bed one last time.

She turned to look at me and shook her head. “No, I’ll pick you
up,” she said, walking into the hall where I was waiting. “I still have wheels.”

I winced at the thought. The bike meant nothing to me. It could
be replaced, but it was a heavy bike and the thought of what it must have felt
like to crash it, the fear that must have gone through him knowing Tip was on
the back and there was no way to avoid the mango cart must have been a scary
one.

If only it were enough to scare him sober.

Tip and I shared a tuk-tuk back into town and I made sure to
give the driver enough money to take her all the way home after I jumped out at
The Dolphin.

I was desperate to tell Audrey what happened, and I wasn’t sure
how soon she was leaving. All I knew was that it was that morning.

I walked through the hotel restaurant. It was closed, but there
were still a dozen people drinking at the bar. Unfortunately, none of them were
her or Megan. I checked again, scouring the lobby, too. But it was in vain.

I knew better than to be surprised. The last thing most people
did when they got stood up was hang around and feel bad for themselves.

Plus, it was her last night so there was a good chance that she
was out with Megan. And even if she were in, it didn’t seem right to bang on
her door in the middle of the night.

I approached the front desk. There was only one guy manning it
at that hour, and he didn’t exactly look happy to see me which was odd since
most Thai people prided themselves on their friendliness.

“Hi,” I said. “I was wondering if I could make a phone call to
one of your rooms.”

“What is the name, sir?”

“Audrey.”

He raised his eyebrows.

“And Megan,” I added, knowing full well it wasn’t the
information he was looking for.

He put his hands together on the counter. “I’m sorry, sir. Do
you have a last name?”

I shook my head.

He glanced down at my shirt.

I looked down and saw for the first time how dirty I was. And not
just with dust and grease, but blood as well.

“I’ve been to their room before,” I said. “I could go check what
the number is and-”

“Are you a guest here?”

“No, I live down the street-”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you past reception then.”

“But she’s leaving tomorrow and-”

“Very sorry, sir.” He looked over my shoulders.

I followed his eyes and saw that two security guards had
appeared out of nowhere.

“I just wanted to say goodbye.”

“You said she leaves tomorrow?”

I nodded.

“Maybe I can take a message to give to her when she checks out?”

I clenched my jaw. What the hell would I say? The truth,
presumably, but I couldn’t do that in a sentence, and even if I could, a note
wasn’t the way I wanted to end our memorable time together.

And a lie would be unforgivable. Not that I could think of one that
would justify not showing up when she was expecting me. Besides, a lie wouldn’t
change the fact that I let her down.

I supposed I could just leave my email address. Maybe she would
get in touch?

But there was no guarantee that I’d ever see or hear from her
again.

I shook my head at the attendant. “That’s okay,” I said. “Thanks
for the offer.”

I turned to look at the security guards and raised a flat hand
towards them to let them know I wasn’t a bloody maniac that needed to be
dragged out of the hotel.

Then I stuck my hands in my pockets and walked back out to the
street.

What a fucking disastrous night this had been.

At least I had all night to plan what I would say in the morning
to redeem myself.

I just hoped she wasn’t taking the whole thing personally.

I woke up
early but stayed in bed listening to the
rain as it pummeled the metal awning over the
balcony outside. It reminded me of being home, except this rain was much more
ferocious than the typical drizzle I was accustomed to.

After a while,
I got up to open the curtains so I could watch the downpour, too, and as I
crawled back into bed, Megan was just waking up. She smiled at me but didn’t
say anything so I lay back down and watched the waterfall coming off the
awning.

“That downpour
makes the rain in Seattle look like a sneeze,” Megan said finally.

“I was just
thinking that,” I said without turning towards her. “Isn’t it amazing?”

“To look at,
yeah,” she said. “I just hope it’s not like that on the way to the train
station.”

“It won’t be,”
I said. “It’ll burn off before then.”

“How do you
know?”

“I don’t,” I
said. “But that’s what’s happened every other day.” I rolled over and faced
Megan, fluffing my pillow under my head. “Fancy a final room service?”

“Definitely.”

“What would
you like?”

Megan
shrugged. “Surprise me. I’m easy.”

“Funny. That’s
what Matteo said.”

“What?!” she
asked, lifting her head. “He better not hav-”

“I’m joking,”
I said. “Way to overreact.”

She smiled. “I
suppose he’d be right to say it. I haven’t put out that much since Freshman
year.”

I rolled my
eyes.

“Do you mind
ordering?” she asked. “I was going to grab a quick shower.”

“Go ahead,” I
said, scooching up against the white pillows and stretching my arms over my
head.

Megan sat up.

I turned
towards her and laughed.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

She squinted
at me.

“Your hair is
insane.”

She reached up
and felt her frizzy curls.

“You know
Animal from the Muppets?”

“The one that
plays the drums?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s what
your hair looks like.”

She raised her
hands out to her sides and pretended to play the drums as she shook her head
like an excited puppet.

“Brilliant.”

She rolled her
eyes as she dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom. The shower came
on a second later.

I reached for
the phone and ordered two bowls of yogurt with muesli from room service. I
figured that wouldn’t weigh us down too much since we had some bag lugging to look
forward to. Plus, it was our last shot at having many of the exotic fruits we
never had an opportunity to sample at home.

Sure, some of
them were probably available at Whole Foods, but I wasn’t exactly at a stage in
my life where I was ready to invest the little money I had on rose apples and
dragon fruit.

After I
ordered, I walked over to the sliding glass door and opened it to the humid
morning air.

As predicted,
the rain had eased off and the fat drops on the fan-like leaves around the
balcony were already beginning to shrivel to pinheads in the heat. I leaned in
the doorway and watched the sunshine breaking through the tall palm trees in
the courtyard.

Now that the
rain wasn’t drowning them out, I could hear the birds in the hotel lobby
tweeting to each as I watched a small, paranoid lizard running back and forth
along the balcony railing, sticking its little tongue out from time to time.
Its movements were so fragmented it was like it couldn’t remember if it left
something at home and needed to go back for it before heading out for the day.

And then I saw
him walk into the courtyard.

He was in a
hurry as he crossed the garden below, his wet shirt matted to his chest.
Following close behind him was a thin Thai woman wearing shorts so short they
shouldn’t be legal. Her hair looked wet as well, though it was hard to tell
since it was so naturally shiny and dark anyway.

I watched as
Jack stopped and gave her a quick hug. Then he leaned in so close to her I
couldn’t tell if he was just saying something or giving her a kiss on the
cheek. Without thinking, I raised my hand to my own cheek and remembered how he
said goodbye to me the same way that first night.

“
I’m afraid
I’m not that smooth
,” he’d said. What a load?! He had a Thai girlfriend and
everything. Of course he did! And probably more than one! Why wouldn’t he?

He’d said
himself that western girls were a “novelty” out here. How could I be stupid
enough to think I was special when I was probably just a statistic?

A moment
later, there was a loud knock on the door behind me. “Audrey?”

I swallowed
and stared at the door.

He knocked
again. “Megan? Audrey? Hello?! Anybody there?”

Megan opened
the bathroom door in her towel and looked at me.

I raised a
finger over my mouth.

She pursed her
lips.

He knocked
again. “Audrey. It’s Jack. I know you probably don’t want to see me right now,
but I need to talk to you. I can explain everything.”

Megan raised
her eyebrows.

I shook my
head. I didn’t want to hear any bullshit right now. As far as I was concerned,
it was his turn to get blown off. I’d wasted enough of my tears and my feelings
on him, and I wasn’t going to let him hijack my last chance for a pleasant
morning.

He pounded on
the door a few more times, and then- though I can’t be sure- I think I heard
his head fall against it.

Then silence.

Megan and I
stood like statues for several minutes.

And just when
I was sure the coast was clear, the knocking began quietly again.

“Room
service,” a timid voice said from behind the door.

I opened the
door abruptly, pulled the cart into the room, and said thank you as I closed
the door in the waiter’s face.

“Why didn’t
you answer it before?” Megan asked.

I leaned
against the door. “I’m not in the mood to hear a bunch of bullshit excuses.”

She nodded.

“I know we had
a good time, but I’m sick of hearing guys rattle off reasons for treating me
like shit.”

She pulled her
fingers through some wet curls.

“I don’t want
to remember him as another lying douchebag. I want to remember him the last
time we were together which was actually pleasant.”

“I understand.”

“Plus, I just
saw him in the courtyard with another woman.”

“This
morning?”

“Two minutes
before he was at the door.”

“Are you sure
he was with her?”

“Positive.”

“What a pig.”

“I know,” I
said. “But I don’t know why I’m surprised. It should’ve been obvious from the
beginning that he was too good to be true.”

She nodded.

“It was just a
charade.”

“Shame,” she
said. “It would’ve been nice to have a doctor in the family.”

“Which reminds
me, I better not mention any of this to my Mother.”

“She’d be
heartbroken,” Megan said, reaching in the bathroom for a spare towel to wrap
around her head.

“That’s an
understatement. She’d probably be suicidal.” 

“Well, if she
asks, you can just say he was a lifeguard or something so she doesn’t take it
so hard,” Megan said, squeezing her hair in the hand towel.

“Or a pimp,” I
said.

“Not a
complete lie.”

“Ouch,” I said,
wheeling
the
breakfast trolley between our beds and removing the silver domes from the tray.

“Looks good,” Megan said, crawling across the bed on her knees and
reaching for her freshly squeezed orange juice.

“It does,” I said, admiring the colorful bowl of fruit.

Unfortunately,
Jack’s surprise visit ruined my appetite. And as I sat down at the edge of my
bed, I wondered how long it was going to take me to get over him.

I mean, they
say you need half the total time of a relationship to get over the other person
after a breakup.

Which meant he
would be out of mind almost as quickly as he was out of sight.

But something
told me I was kidding myself.

Because Jack
Quinn had gotten under my skin just like that stubborn coral had the day we
met.

Except in his
case, it was going to take a lot more than a pair of tweezers to get rid of him.