Take Me with You (Take Me #2)(30)

The whole thing gave me a headache. Sleep was sounding more and more inviting.

“Aribel,” Henry said softly, “it’s just a drink.”

I sighed. “Fine. One drink.”

I shrugged out of my coat and threw it on the back of the couch.

A couple of minutes later, room service arrived with the drinks. The guy popped the top off the bottle for us, poured two glasses, and then left after Henry handed him a crisp twenty-dollar bill. I took a sip of my drink and tried to let the bubbles soothe my temper, but it really wasn’t doing that great of a job. Anyway, I didn’t even want to be drinking. I wanted to be sleeping away the anger, so in the morning, I could think clearly about what to do.

Henry downed his glass of scotch before I’d even gotten through half of my first glass of champagne. He reached for his champagne and finished that, too.

Classical music came through the surround-sound system, and my head popped up in surprise.

Henry smiled down at me and held his hand out. “Dance?” he offered.

“No, thank you.”

“Oh, come on,” he said, taking my hand that I hadn’t offered and pulling me off the sofa.

He twirled me in place as if he’d had years of formal ballroom training, which I supposed he probably had. Then, he tugged me against him, all to the time of the music.

I squirmed and tried to pull away. “Really, I don’t feel like dancing. Just stop.”

“But you’re so good at it.” His head dipped down into the crook of my neck and nuzzled the soft skin.

“Henry!” I cried. “Stop it.”

I tried to get away from him, but he had me locked in a tight embrace. His right arm wrapped around my back, and his left hand clasped mine in a death grip. His right hand traveled to my ass, and he pulled back to look at me with a dirty gleam in his eye.

“Come on, Princess.”

“Get away from me.” I wrenched out of his embrace. I couldn’t believe he had used Grant’s nickname. “What the f*ck do you think you’re doing?”

“I was just helping you relax.” He gave me the sweetest smile he could muster up, and still, it didn’t hide the snake.

“I think our definitions of relaxing are different.”

“You’re in a bad place right now. You need someone to be here for you. I want to be that person, Aribel. That idiot can’t take care of you. He can’t even seem to appreciate what’s right in front of his face. Just let me stay the night.”

I rolled my eyes. What a crock of shit.

“I don’t need anyone to take care of me—least of all you. So, you can turn around right now and get out of my hotel room. I might be angry, but I’m not an idiot.”

“You’d have to be an idiot to want to be with me?”

“Yes! You just tried to sexually assault me! Now, get out!” I stormed across the room and jerked open the hotel door. “You’ve overstayed your welcome. In fact, you were never really welcome. And if you don’t leave, I’ll have security escort you out!”

By the time I pulled up the GPS on my phone to find out where the f*ck Ari’s hotel was, the cab had already driven me five blocks in the opposite direction. He had claimed to know where we were going. It had taken everything in me not to punch him in the back of the head for his stupidity and get in another cab. All I wanted to do was get to Ari and talk to her like a civil human being. I couldn’t ever manage that shit when it mattered.

I couldn’t stop running through what I was going to do once I got there. Find her, apologize, f*ck her. Things would get better.

She needed to know I trusted her, that I wanted to tell her about these things. I’d just freaked the f*ck out at the thought of leaving her. If I signed, then we’d be on tour, no doubt about it. Hollis would ship us out with some shithole band, and then who knew when I’d see her next? I didn’t want to have to face that before I was ready. I didn’t want Ari to have to face it at all. She deserved better.

But that didn’t mean that douche bag Henry could have her.

I hadn’t understood what he was saying when he thanked me. I’d been so pissed off at everything that was going on that I hadn’t realized he was thanking me for sending Ari straight into his arms. I’d never let that happen, not if I could help it.

I jotted out a text to Ari, letting her know I was on the way.

Coming to The Kimberly. Please meet me downstairs. We need to talk.

The cab stopped outside of The Kimberly. As soon as I paid the fare, I jumped out of the car and into the drizzle that had started on my way over here. I ducked under the overhang, and the doorman pulled the door open for me.

“Hey, man. Did you see a girl walk in here? Blonde about yea-tall,” I said, holding my hand up to my shoulder, “in a nice black dress and jacket. I don’t know. Maybe ten minutes ago?”

“Sure, I saw her. She was here with a man in a suit,” the doorman offered.

He was warily eyeing me, and I realized I probably looked like shit compared to the normal clientele at this place.

“Yes. Most likely. Did you see where she went?”

“Last I saw, she went up in the elevator with the gentleman she was with.”

Fuck.

Fuck, f*ck, f*ck.

Fucking f*ck.

My first instinct was to ram my hand into the side of the brick building. Pain exploded through my arm, and I cursed loudly.