Maybe Baby Lite (25 page)

I nodded, giving her a
quick hug. “Thanks Gina.” I finished folding everything on the bed,
and was arranging it in my suitcase when there was another knock on
my door. Showtime, I thought as I went to open it. But it wasn't
Trey, it was Thatcher.

“
Ms. Preston,” Thatcher
addressed me warmly. “Mr. Sinclair's requesting you join him in his
suite now if it meets with your convenience?”

I swallowed nervously.
“Sure thing, would you please tell him I'll be there in just a
moment?”

“
Of course,” Thatcher
answered kindly, almost as if he knew what was coming.

I'd have to finish my
packing after our “discussion.” I'd removed the ball cap, and
brushed my hair up into a neat ponytail; I recalled Trey saying
that he liked me in a ponytail, so perhaps this would lessen the
rage. Even a tiny bit would help. I walked down the hall, my
flip-flops making the trip none too quietly. I heard a “pssst” from
behind me. Gina was peeking around the corner. I turned and hurried
back to where she stood.

“
His majesty has summoned
me to his quarters,” I said. “Here goes nothing.”

“
I got your back, Ty,
don’t worry. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but you never can tell
with rich, spoiled guys.”

“
Thanks, Gina.” I turned
back and continued my walk of shame, flip-flopping down the
carpeted hallway to Trey’s suite. I tapped lightly on his door. I
could hear his stereo playing classical music on low volume. I
knocked harder this time.

“
It’s open,” smooth and
silky said over the music.

I turned the knob and went
in, shutting the door softly behind me. He wasn’t in the bedroom
part, which still bore the remnants of my previous night’s sleep
there. What was with this staff? Any other time the room would have
been clean and sanitized before I'd reached the bottom step. Great,
now I'd probably be yelled at in addition to everything else for
leaving his room like a pigsty.

“
I’m in here, Tylar,” Trey
called out from the bathroom.

I walked to the
doorway.

“
Come in,” he invited.
He'd evidently just showered, having a large bath towel wrapped
around his lower half. I was curious as to why he hadn’t put his
blue robe on. It was still lying across his bed where I'd left
it.

“
Please have a seat,” he
instructed, the only one being the toilet next to the double vanity
where he was lathering up his beautiful face with warmed shaving
cream. It appeared as if he hadn’t shaved today. I was curious as
to why he hadn’t, particularly if he'd given oral arguments this
morning in chambers.

I hesitantly took my seat
on his commode, turning to give him my full attention as he turned
back to the mirror and started shaving. He must have a routine on
how he shaved, I thought. I watched as he took the razor and pulled
his cheek a bit with his left hand, while his razor cleared a path
on the right side of his check, just below his natural sideburns.
He dipped the razor in the warm soapy water in his sink, shaking
the shaving cream off of it. He raised it back up, preparing to
shave the dimple on his chin.

That part was probably
tricky, I thought. I watched his reflection in the mirror as he
forced a wide grin on his face that helped to smooth out the dimple
making the area more accessible for his razor. He stopped suddenly,
half-stroke.

“
Son of a bitch!” he
hollered, setting his razor down quickly, grabbing a tissue from
the box and pressing it firmly against his now slightly bleeding
dimpled chin. “I just put a new blade in this the morning I left
for Atlanta.”

Uh, oh. Should I fess up
or not? How much angrier could be possibly get.

“
I’m sorry, Trey,” I said
softly, “that’s my fault. I used your razor a couple of times to
shave my legs.”

“
I should have figured you
were capable of drawing blood,” he lashed out in an extremely
irritated tone. “I know I packed your razor with the rest of your
things from the cottage. Why did you need to use mine?”

“
I used your shower and
forgot to bring mine in.”

White lie only.

“
I meant to put a new
blade in it before you got home.”

He eyed me warily as if he
wasn’t sure he believed me. Like I'd lie about using his razor? I
mean, it made more sense that a person would lie and say
they
didn’t
use
it as opposed to being forthright and admitting that they had. He
grabbed a new blade out of the medicine cabinet, ejecting the old
blade into the trash. He resumed shaving with no further incidents.
I was starting to wonder when our discussion was going to
begin.

He leaned over the sink
and rinsed his smooth face with water, patting it dry with a clean
hand towel. He applied some of his aftershave lotion, careful to
avoid the razor cut. He stuck a small piece of toilet paper on it
for the time being. I hoped his dimple didn’t scar because of
me.

“
So,” he said, finally
breaking the silence, “do you want to explain to me what the hell
happened last night?” His eyes were once again blazing at me. His
hair was damp and tousled, totally distracting me from answering
his question. “I’m waiting,” he said, growing impatient. He walked
out of the bathroom still only dressed in his towel. I followed and
sat down on the unmade bed while he disappeared into his closet. I
heard drawers slamming, mumbled curses under his breath.

“
It’s kind of hard to talk
to you, Trey, when you’re out of the room.”

He reappeared in a moment
having put his boxers on and a pair of jeans that he was zipping up
as he exited, still shirtless. “I’m listening,” he replied
curtly.

“
Gina and I got a ride
from Rodney over to the track to watch the quarter races. We both
got a little drunk and—”

“
Damn it! I know
that
part!” he yelled,
“who do you think arranged for your transportation
home?”

I wasn’t sure what he
expected me to say. “Thank you for that, Trey,” I offered. “I
apologize for creating the need for you to have to deal with
that.”

“
Tylar,” he said, with no
patience left, “I know you went to the races. I know you got drunk;
I saw the little digital picture that came across on my phone with
you and the…the fucking Thompson twins with their matching
erections. You're not telling me the rest.”

I wasn’t sure what the
rest was except for what Gina had told me. “I see that I need to
interrogate you then, since you're not forthcoming with
information. I want to know what happened last night.”

Go for it counselor. I was
starting to get pissed now.

“
Who slept in my bed last
night?”

“
I did!” I answered
truthfully.

“
Who else?” he exclaimed,
practically screaming.

“
No one else!”

He walked over to the bed
now, bending over, and pulling his white shirt out from where it
was laying on the floor, half of it underneath the bed.

“
Who was wearing
my
shirt?” he demanded,
then immediately grabbed his dark blue robe off of the bed,
flinging it over at me. “Who was wearing
my
robe?”

Tears sprang to my eyes.
How could he think those kinds of thoughts about me? When I didn’t
answer immediately, he took that as some sort of admission of
guilt. He continued on his roll, going over to the side of the bed,
eager to present more damning evidence to convict me.

“
What
have
we here?” he asked in his
attorney-turned-detective voice, once again bending down to
retrieve something from the floor. Oh God, it was Gina’s unlit
cigarette. It must’ve rolled off of the nightstand onto the floor.
“I’ve never seen you smoke, Tylar, and I know that I don’t. Whose
cigarette is this?”

I’d finally had enough of
his relentless badgering. I was prepared for him to yell at me for
getting drunk again and I was prepared for him to rip into me about
taking his car out without permission. But there was no way he was
going to turn me into a slut that would bring some random guy to
his home and hook up with him in Trey’s own bed. I stood up and
walked over to where he stood, staring at him sternly.

“
You want answers, Trey?
Well I'll give you answers.
I’m the
one
who wore your shirt last night. I wore
it to bed after I showered because I wanted—I
needed
something of yours on my
body. I’ve been wearing your robe all week. If you don’t believe
me, please ask your cleaning staff. I wouldn’t let them launder it.
I used your razor, too. No other man was in here, Trey. No other
man used your razor, or wore your shirt or robe. The cigarette
belongs to Gina. She doesn’t smoke anymore, but she likes to hold
an unlit cigarette with her morning coffee. Last night was the only
night that I've slept in your room since you left. I just wanted to
feel close to you. Gina came in this afternoon to see how I was. We
watched television in here. That’s why the bed was unmade. Any
further questions?” I glared at him but he was still fairly
pissed.

“
What about this body
piercing you've gone and done?"

“
It’s only a pierced belly
button for Chrissake, Trey. It’s not as if I went and had my nipple
pierced, not that you'd know!”

He ignored the implication
of my last statement. “Tylar, why would you want to desecrate your
navel like that?”

This conversation was
going nowhere. We were going nowhere. That was apparent when I
overheard his dinner plans yesterday evening.

“
Trey I’m not apologizing
to you for anything other than taking your car out. That was wrong,
and unacceptable, and I'm so very sorry. I took advantage of your
hospitality, and I hope that you can forgive me for that. As far as
your other accusations, whether direct or implied, I won’t
apologize for things that I didn't do.” I turned from him and
calmly flip-flopped my way out of his room with dignity. Gina stood
waiting in the hall.

“
I heard everything
girlfriend,” she said. “You really handled yourself well, Ty. Where
the fuck does he come off all possessive and accusatory like
that?”

“
Gina, I’ve got to finish
getting packed. Do you think your aunt will object to my staying
with you?”

“
No, not at all,” she
answered, “in fact, I was going to suggest the same
thing.”

“
Good,” I answered. “I’ll
come down to your room as soon as I’m finished and we’ll call her,
okay?”

“
Yep, no problem,” she
said, retreating to the east wing.

I was able to fit
everything from the dresser drawers into the suitcase. I still had
my backpack to fill. I opened the closet and, taking the clothes
off of the hangers, folded them neatly in stacks. There was a soft
tap on my door.

“
It’s open, Gina,” I
called out.

The door
opened.

“
It’s me,” Trey
said.

I turned and saw that he'd
put a white tee shirt on. Only on Trey could a white tee shirt look
haute couture. “Why're you doing that?” he asked as I continued
packing. “I didn’t ask you to leave, did I?”

“
It’s what I want Trey,” I
answered. It wasn’t the truth, but it should’ve been if I'd any
sense of self-preservation.

“
Well, it’s not what I
want,” he said, coming closer to me.

I couldn’t let him get
close to me. I needed to take Gina’s advice and get out while my
heart was somewhat intact.

“
Look,” I said, “let’s be
practical about this. You have multiple responsibilities, Trey. All
I seem to do is distract you from them, and then you resent me for
it.”

“
That’s not true,” he
replied, sitting down on the bed, next to my open suitcase. “I only
worry about you and want you to be safe. That's why I flew back
here to make sure you were okay. I was worried when that picture
came up on my phone. It was obvious you were wasted. One guy on
each side of you, erect,” he hissed as he said the “e” word. “I'd
no clue as to who was taking the picture with your phone and then
randomly sending it to me with no message. So I called your phone
and it was clear you were totally hammered. In that state I wasn’t
sure if you'd end up in the trunk of one of those idiot’s
cars.”

“
Oh, please,” I remarked.
“Be honest, Trey, you were pissed because that picture coming
across your phone probably interrupted your cozy little dinner with
your mystery woman.”

“
I have no clue what
you're talking about.”

“
Remember? You and I on
the phone earlier, muffled conversations, then a female voice
saying ‘time to go…dinner reservations’?”

He was thoughtful for a
moment, and then a smile broke loose. “Her?” he said, as if I
should have a clue as to who she was.

“
That's an intern at our
firm, Beth. She's simply helping with the administrative process on
this case; she’s actually more like a junior intern.” He laughed as
if that information alone should put my mind at ease.