“She’s standing right there.” He grimaced, still holding his junk.
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to cry. I wanted to be anywhere in the world rather than here as Rachel turned toward me and screamed at the top of her lungs. She flung herself on the bed, trying to wrap herself in the sheets.
“Shit,” James said under his breath, looking down at himself.
“I’m so sorry,” I croaked. “I’ll just…” I couldn’t leave. I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I put my hand out in front of me, blocking them from my sight. But it was a little late for that.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” Rachel screamed. “Get out!”
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I…”
“How the hell did you even get in here? Oh my God, James, did you give her a key to our room?”
“I thought you slept with Matt,” he said, his voice laced with pain.
“It was just one kiss. It didn’t mean anything! I told you that! And instead of believing me, you were going to sleep with her? Are you kidding me right now?”
I lowered my hand slightly to make sure she wasn’t about to attack me.
She had pulled the comforter around her and was staring at me like she was going to kill me. “Get out of here you slut!”
The word was a punch in my gut. First a prostitute. Now a slut? I was in pain. I could barely stand. How could she not see that? How could everyone have just ignored me on the street like I was nothing? It was all too much. Her unkind words made me burst into tears.
“Are you deaf?” she screamed.
I closed my eyes. Maybe if I closed them tight enough I could wake up somewhere else. Why did I think I could just come in here? Of course he’d be with Rachel. They’d made up. Let this all be a dream. Please, please.
“Rachel, cut it out,” said James as he zipped his pants up.
“Excuse me?”
“She’s hurt, Rachel.”
“I don’t care if she’s…”
“She’s bleeding,” he said. “Just sit down and give me a minute to figure out what the hell is going on.”
This isn’t happening. It’s just a bad dream. I didn’t just see any of that.
“What happened?” James asked as he gripped my shoulders.
I jumped. I didn’t realize he was right in front of me. I couldn’t get the words out. I couldn’t breathe through my tears.
“Brooklyn, what happened?” His hands were on my face, trying to get me to focus on him.
“Don’t you dare touch her again, James,” Rachel said. “I swear to God.”
He didn’t listen to her. He just stared at me, his hands still on my cheeks.
And for some reason his kindness made me cry harder.
“You’re safe, Brooklyn,” James said. “Talk to me.” His hands were too gentle on my face. It was such a contrast to everything I’d experienced in the last hour.
I just wanted to go curl into a ball on the floor and sleep. I couldn’t speak. The words wouldn’t come. I tried to pull the map back up to cover my exposed bra. As if that would make this situation any better.
He was staring at me so intensely. “Did Matt do this?”
What? “No.” I finally found my voice. “Isabella. It was Isabella.”
“Jesus.” He let go of my face. He stepped around me and grabbed the door handle.
“What are you doing? You can’t leave. You can’t tell Isabella I’m here. She has Kennedy. She said she’d kill Kennedy if I didn’t leave town. She can’t know I’m still here. She had a gun. And a bomb.” It sounded so ridiculous that I thought he’d just laugh and tell me to leave and stop ruining his night. That he’d just ignore me like everyone else.
Instead, he shook his head. “Isabella’s always been nuts, but she’s officially lost her mind.”
Had she ever had it? “I don’t know what to do.” I wiped the tears from my cheeks, but it was no use. My eyes weren’t nearly as dehydrated as the rest of me. “I didn’t have anywhere else to go. I’m so sorry, James. I didn’t know that you’d be…” my voice trailed off.
“It’s homecoming,” Rachel said. “Of course he’d be with his girlfriend.”
He ran his hand through his hair so roughly that I was surprised he didn’t pull any out.
“Mr. Pruitt…” He took a step back. “Mr. Pruitt was in the lobby causing a scene right before we came up here. I didn’t hear what he was yelling about. But he’s probably still here. Let me call downstairs.” He ran over to the hotel phone.