“Where should we start?” I asked, slipping my hand in his as we walked down the hallway.
“I’ve already asked about her at half of the hotels in Oakley. Are you sure you can’t remember the name of the one she worked at?” he asked, weaving a path through the sea of students.
“I don’t think she ever mentioned the name.” Clinging to his hand, I stayed close to his side.
“But you’re sure it’s in Oakley?”
We pushed through the exit doors at the end of the hallway. “I’m sure.”
“It just doesn’t make sense,” he said as we crossed the parking lot.
“What doesn’t?”
“I’ve already called all of the hotels in Oakley, and none of them have ever heard of your mother.”
“Maybe you missed one,” I suggested.
He shrugged. “Maybe. I could definitely see one of the hotel owners in Oakley not being savvy enough to have a listing on the Internet.”
When we reached my car, he pulled the key fob out of his pocket and hit the unlock button. I waited for him in the passenger seat while he stored our backpacks in the trunk. Sliding behind the steering wheel, he reached over and rested his palm on my thigh. “Dara, are you absolutely sure this is what you want?”
I nodded. “I haven’t changed my mind. I want to find her.” As soon as the words escaped my lips, my nerves began to jumble. All my insecurities darted through my mind like dragonflies zipping through the air. What if she was avoiding me? What if she was picking drugs over me again? What if she hated me? Just like my birthday, maybe I wasn’t worth remembering. Maybe….
Stone squeezed my thigh. “No matter what happens, remember that I love you.”
I nodded, trying to get my emotions in check.
“Granny loves you,” he said, his eyes holding steady on my face as if he were determined to make sure that I understood.
I nodded again, exhaling loudly. “I know. I love y’all, too.”
Dropping my eyes to my lap, I slid my finger along the back of his hand. “I just wish that at least one of my parents wanted something to do with me. My mom was a no-show at my party. My dad hasn’t written me in years.” I immediately wished that I hadn’t mentioned my father, not to Stone. He had every reason to hate him for what he had done, and even though we hadn’t discussed it, I didn’t blame Stone at all if he abhorred my father.
“I’ll find her, Dara,” he said. “I can’t promise you what the outcome will be, but I can promise you that I will find your mother.”
I pulled his hand to my face, noting how much larger it was than mine, and brushed a kiss across his knuckles. Touched that he would make me such a promise, I couldn’t look him in the eyes. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to stop the tears that threatened to seep from beneath my lids.
I lowered his hand back to my thigh. He gave it another squeeze before he started the engine.
He stopped at a fast food restaurant and ordered us small burgers that we could eat in the car. In a matter of minutes, we were on the Interstate and on our way to find my mother. My nerves threatened to steal my appetite, but I refused to succumb to them. Stone once told me that the problem was my mother’s, not mine. Sometimes, it was difficult to remember that, but he was right.
It was a quiet ride to Oakley. I supposed that it was because we were both lost in our own thoughts. When we drove down the main road, I was surprised how old the town looked. “You think she’s here somewhere?” I asked, looking out the window as the businesses blurred by.
“I don’t know, but there’s only one way to find out.”
We passed a few hotels, and I assumed that those were the ones that Stone had already investigated. A few minutes later, he pulled into the parking lot of a dumpy hotel that looked like it would attract rats and bedbugs. Two, old cars were parked in the narrow lot that lined the front of the hotel.
I cringed at the thought of my mother working somewhere like this.
“You ready to do this?” Stone asked, tapping on his cell phone screen.
“Yeah,” I said, although my voice lacked conviction. I took a deep breath as I stepped out of the car.
When we both had walked to the front of the car, he showed me his phone screen, which was zoomed in on a photo of my mother and me. “I’ve been showing this photo when I ask about her, just in case someone recognizes her face and not her name.”
“That’s why you wanted me to send you that picture,” I blurted as the reason for his odd request dawned on me.
He grinned. “Yeah.”
We walked into the lobby, and I tried very hard not to wrinkle my nose in distaste at the worn, dirty carpet and the threadbare furniture. On the positive side, the air smelled like a floral-scented candle. Stone approached the woman behind the front desk, showed her the photo, and asked if she knew her.
The woman took her time studying the photograph. For a moment, I thought she might actually recognize my mother, but then she just shook her head, and we were on our way right back out the door.
“I guess that marks another one off our list,” I said dejectedly.
“There’s another one next door,” Stone said, cutting through the parking lot to go to a hotel that looked almost as miserable as this one did.
It didn’t take long to find out that the desk clerk had never heard of my mother. As we were walking back to the car, I asked Stone, “Do you think my mother wasn’t telling me the truth when she said she worked at a hotel in Oakley?”
“I’ve already considered that,” he answered. “It’s definitely possible, but why would she lie? You didn’t ask her where she worked, did you?”
“No, we were just talking on the phone one day, and she brought it up. She said that she’d been working at a hotel in Oakley, and the owner was really nice.”
“Then, I don’t see why she’d be lying. If she didn’t want you to know, she wouldn’t have said anything.”
We got in the car and continued down the main drag.
It wasn’t long until we spotted another hotel. This one was nicer than the other ones, and it actually looked like a decent place to stay. Judging by the exterior, it couldn’t be more than a couple of years old. The parking lot had several cars in it, and while there weren’t many people at the pool, it looked inviting and ready for swimmers. Rows of brand new chaise lounges lined each side of it, and round tables with closed, royal blue umbrellas sprouting from their centers filled each corner of the patio area.
Stone pulled into a parking space and met me at the rear of the car. “Why don’t you go in and check here? You still have that photo on your phone, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, good. I’ll try to call Jessie’s brother, Drew, to see if he knows of any hotels other than the ones on the list.” Stone glanced at the list in his hand and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “There may be something that’s off the beaten path.”
“Okay,” I agreed, hoping Drew might have some helpful information. I pulled the photo of my mother up on my phone and headed toward the lobby, wondering if this was the one, if this hotel would lead me to my mother.
Stone
The hotel looked like a nice place, but just in case we came up empty-handed, I figured I should try calling Drew again. If he had any new information, then we could check it out while we were here.
I dialed his number and decided to walk across the hotel’s driveway to a concrete bench positioned in the center of a circular stone patio where the pathway ended. Tiny, trimmed bushes surrounded the patio, and red flowers added a pop of color.
What the hell! I rushed across the pavement as a large delivery truck pulled into the hotel drive and swerved into the lane I was crossing. The driver jerked it back into the proper lane and pulled up horizontally in front of the hotel, stopping just short of the lobby doors. Cursing under my breath, I gave a hard glare over my shoulder and continued toward the stone pathway while I waited for Drew to pick up.
“Sorry ab
out that,” a female voice called. “I’m not use to driving this huge thing yet.”
If it’d been a guy, I’d probably flipped his ass off. But considering she was pretty damn good looking and I was busy with something more important at the moment, I let it go. “No problem,” I called, glancing at her as Drew answered.
“Hey, Drew, this is Stone Hamilton.”
The female walked toward me. “Stone?”
I glanced at her again, taking the time to really look at her now that she had called out my name. Damn, it couldn’t be. My mouth dropped open, and I quickly shut it, hoping to look a little more composed.
“Drew, I’m gonna have to call you back.” I hung up, not waiting for him to reply.
She hurried toward me, her red-gold hair spilling around her navy pullover. She was just as sexy as I remembered her.
“Stone Hamilton?”
“Tiffany?”
Her perfectly formed mouth shot into a wide grin. “You remember me.”
Hell, how could I forget?
She motioned back toward the truck, which had Scholtz Coffee painted on the side of it. “Sorry about almost running over you. I usually work in the office, but my dad’s driver was sick today. Even though I could drive it pretty good at one time, I’m afraid I’m a little rusty.”
“That’s your dad’s company?”
“Yeah, we’re actually based out of Knoxville. We deliver coffee to businesses in the Southeast. Anyways…look at you. You look great.”
“So do you.”
“I never got the chance to talk to you after Luke died.” She fiddled with a strand of hair. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, it’s been hard. But I appreciate that.” I could see the genuine concern in her sapphire eyes.
She did something that I didn’t expect. She reached out and took my hand. Part of me couldn’t get past the sixteen-year-old that had been infatuated with her.
She smiled again. “I had so much fun that summer, until…well, you know.”
I nodded. “Yeah, Luke and I had a lot of fun, too; although, I have to admit I was jealous of him.”
“Why?” She furrowed her brow and looked at me inquisitively.
“Because you liked him,” I said as if I couldn’t believe she didn’t already know the answer.
“I did?” she asked, clearly surprised by my words.
“Didn’t you make out with him the night of the accident?”
“Uh, no. The last time that I saw him was the day before the wreck. You thought I liked Luke?” she asked, letting go of me and tucking her fingers in the front pockets of her khakis.
All these years I thought he had gone to see Tiffany. Apparently, he had changed his mind before he’d gotten there. “Well, I’m pretty sure you spent a helluva lot more time with him than you did with me.”
She laughed. “That was because you made me nervous, and I was always tongue-tied when you were around. I was totally infatuated with you. You were the cutest guy I’d ever seen, and I fantasized about kissing you every night.”
“You did?” Hell, if I’d known it at the time, she wouldn’t have been fantasizing. Shit. If I’d known it at the time, I would’ve never dared Luke to go kiss her.
She nodded. “I kept waiting on you to make a move. And well, I’ve regretted ever since that I didn’t….” She took a business card from her pocket and placed it in my hand.
“Didn’t what?” I asked, shifting my eyes from the card to her face.
“Do this.” The last thing I expected was for her to close the gap between us and touch her lips to mine. They were soft and warm, and I was in shock. Instinctively, my hands tangled in her hair as I cradled the back of her head. It took me longer than it should’ve to get my thoughts in order, but hell, I was a guy. Damn it, how was I supposed to think straight with a hottie pressed against me? And one that I had been crushing on at that?
When her tongue slipped into my mouth, all conscious thought finally came crashing back into my skull. There was no taste of strawberries. No familiar fragrance filling the air. No Dara.
I grasped her arms and pushed her away from me. “Shit, Tiffany, I can’t do this. I have a girlfriend.”
“Oh,” she gasped. “I’m so…sorry.”
Immediately, I glanced at the hotel entrance.
Dara stood just outside the doors, and the look on her face as she watched our interaction would forever be branded in my mind.
Damn it. I’d screwed up again.
Chapter 6
Dara
I literally felt like I was going to vomit. It was bad enough that the clerk hadn’t recognized my mother’s photo, but my eyes fell on Stone just as some strange female rose on her tiptoes and kissed him. Frozen to the spot, I tried to remind myself to breathe as I watched him respond to her, his hands encircling her as the kiss deepened.
When he finally pushed her away, the girl followed his line of vision and turned to look at me. I immediately recognized her from the photo in Luke’s room. If anything, she was even more beautiful in person.
Stone locked eyes with me. I was too far away to hear what the girl murmured to him, but she turned and scurried away, walking back to her truck.
I had been horrified when I’d let my jealousy run away with me where Jessie had been concerned, but unfortunately, this situation was entirely different. I’d seen him with my own eyes. I knew what he’d done, and I knew he wouldn’t be able to explain this one away.
I’d believed him when he told me that Jessie had approached his table, but now, I wondered if he’d even been telling me the truth.
Now, I wondered if our entire relationship was a lie.
It didn’t take him long to cross the distance between us, his hands grasping my upper arms. “Dara, I can explain.”
“Scarlet’s right. You are devious.” I don’t know why those words popped in my head, but I suddenly had the feeling that maybe I didn’t know Stone as well as I thought I did. Or maybe he didn’t love me as much as I thought he did.
My feet finally began to move, and I pulled myself from his hold and walked quickly to my car, trying not to look at the girl who had been kissing my boyfriend moments ago. If I was going to direct my anger at anyone, it would be Stone. He was the one who had claimed to love me.
I paused near the trunk and held my palm out. “Give me my keys.”
Fishing them from his front pocket, he obeyed. “Are you okay?”
I shot him an icy glare. “Yeah, I’m great, Stone. Why wouldn’t I be?”
I started walking toward the driver’s door, and he grabbed me by the elbow. “Dara….”
“Please don’t speak to me. I don’t want to hear anything you have to say right now.”
He released me and stood with his arms akimbo while he watched me slide in behind the wheel.
I backed the car out of the parking space and rolled down my window. “Get in the car, and I’ll take you home.” The thought to leave him standing there had occurred to me, but since we were a long ways from home, I just didn’t have the heart to do it.
He got in the car without saying a word and slid the seat back to accommodate his long legs. I drove away, trying not to look in my rearview mirror to see if Tiffany was watching us.
“Dara….”
I held my palm up towards him. “I mean it, Stone. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
“I just want to explain,” he said calmly. I kept my eyes focused on the road, but I could feel him watching me.
I said nothing, just stared straight ahead at the lines on the road, refusing to acknowledge him.
We rode in silence a moment more.
“Dara.”
If I hadn’t been driving, I would’ve closed my eyes and blocked him from all my senses. But I could hear him. I could smell his cologne. I could see him in my peripheral vision, despite my attempts to not look at him at all. But the one vision that overrode all of that was Stone clinging to her as they kissed.
I sw
allowed, aggravated with the entire situation. I left Oakley before finding my mother, and my boyfriend had just kissed another girl. That hurt to think about. My boyfriend had just kissed another girl. How was I going to get that out of my head?
“Shit,” he grumbled from the passenger side as he shifted his body, his knees brushing against the dash, and stared out the window.
I fought the hot tears that stung my eyes, refusing to let him see me cry. I always knew he was dangerous, and this was the very situation that my head had tried to warn me against. Stone Hamilton had a reputation with the females. Why had I been foolish enough to think that I was anything special to him?
I knew he wanted a more intimate relationship than I was willing to give him. Maybe that had made him lose interest in me. Maybe he just wasn’t the type of guy who could go without. Maybe he just wasn’t the type of guy to stick to one girl. Not for very long, anyway.
And I loved him completely. What did that make me?
I inhaled deeply, trying to keep my breathing even and my tears at bay. It was hard. Seeing him with Tiffany had ripped my heart out. When I thought back to everything we’d been through over the last few months, I couldn’t believe that he had kissed her.
Stone had genuinely made me feel like he cared about me. Was I that easily deceived?
“Dara, be reasonable.”
“Be reasonable? You just kissed another girl in front of me, and you want me to be reasonable?” I was so angry I thought flames would shoot from my eyes. Maybe I should pull over and kick him out on the side of the Interstate.
“Let me rephrase that. I just meant that you should calm down. Give me the chance to explain.”
“There’s no need for an explanation. You do realize I saw you this time, right?”
“What do you mean this time?” he asked, his voice demanding an answer.
“This time as in maybe I didn’t see you with Jessie, but I did see you this time.” I gripped the steering wheel with such force that my knuckles turned white. I didn’t know how long I had been holding it so tightly, maybe since we first left Oakley, but my hands were starting to cramp.
Devious Page 6
