"You keep looking for him." She takes another shot. "I see you looking around the room for him."
"That's not it," I argue. "It's these women."
"What women?" She almost screams the question over the noise of the crowd.
"He's fucked some of these women, don't you think?" I lean forward to temper my tone. I don't want to
announce to the entire club that I'm the woman Nathan takes to his home. I don’t want to know anything about any woman he's ever touched.
"Most of them." She shrugs her shoulder as she nods her head.
"I can't be here." I hop from the barstool to my feet. "I want to go home."
"No." She pushes me back down. "We're staying."
"Rebecca." I raise my voice slightly to get my point across. "You can stay. I need to go."
"You're just scared." The words tumble out her too quickly. "You're scared he's still fucking women upstairs, aren't you?"
I was. She's right. Ever since we stepped foot back in the club I've thought about that. I've wondered whether the room is rented to someone else right now or if he's still holding onto it.
"Let's go see." She pulls on my arm, steering me towards the entrance to hotel Aeon.
"What are you talking about?" I down the shot the bartender placed in front of Rebecca just to calm my nerves. I recoil at the heat of the tequila as it courses down my throat.
"We go upstairs, we knock on the door and we see who answers." She pulls on my hand yet again and I don't stop her this time. I race behind her until we're in the lobby.
"It's a stupid plan." I spit out in a muted tone. "It's not going to work."
"You don’t want it to work." Her words are slurred. "You don't want to know that he still has a place because then you have to kiss him and his big cock goodbye."
"He doesn't have a room." I know I sound too insistent. I'm not just trying to convince her. I'm trying to steel my own doubts about him.
"We're doing this, Jess." She points towards the bank of elevators. "You remember which room it was, right?"
I nod my head in silence. I can't move. I can't go up there knowing that there's a very slim chance that no one will answer the door and I'll be cursed with the knowledge that he may be lying to me about holding onto the room.
"Let's do it already." She jerks my hand so hard that I almost fall forward. She's not going to give this up. She won't.
We ride the elevator up to the eighteenth floor in silence. I fish in my purse, pulling my smartphone into my palm. I scroll through my new messages and there's nothing from Nathan at all. Absolutely nothing for over a day now.
I pull Rebecca down the dimly lit hallway to the doorway I remember. She knocks softly and we both perch our ears to the door. Nothing.
She knocks again and we both wait for what feels like endless moments.
"No one's here." She cocks a brow and leans against the door jam. Now what?
Now I breathe a sigh of relief. He's not in the room. My heart told me he wasn't. I knew he was telling me the truth.
I scroll my thumb over my phone's screen and type a message to Nathan.
I miss you so much. I can't wait to see you when you get back.
I press send and I turn to walk towards the bank of elevators hoping Rebecca will give up her useless mission to trap Nathan in a lie.
The unmistakable sound of a not-too-distant cell phone chime breaks the silence in the hallway.
I stare at my phone.