“Oh hell. What did you do?”
“Let’s just say, she’s going to be very uncomfortable when she wakes up.”
“Good luck, brother. You’re gonna need it.” We got off the phone and I waited until she left the room before calling the front desk.
“Front desk,” Jerrod’s mother greeted.
“Hey, Audrey, it’s Blake. Has Anna gotten down there yet?” I had to remember to call her Anna instead of Hadley.
“She just walked by,” she murmured low. “She’s not looking so good. What did you do to her last night? Her skin’s all red. If you’re trying to get her back, I don’t think you went about it the right way.”
I held in a chuckle. “Trust me, she’ll want to come back home.”
“In my day, men would say nice things and take me out to dinner. You could’ve easily tried that.”
“Anna and I don’t have that kind of relationship. It’s more of a love-hate kind of thing.”
She clucked her tongue. “You kids are something else. All right, she’s eating breakfast. You’re safe to come down.”
Instead of going into the restaurant, I grabbed a newspaper and sat in the lounge. I had the perfect view of her, and she looked miserable. Her ball cap rode low over her eyes and she slumped down, as if she didn’t want to be seen. She tried not to scratch her bright red skin, covered in large welts. If she ever found out what I did, she would kill me. I didn’t realize it would affect her as bad as it did.
She made her way up to the waffle batter dispenser and tried to turn the knob. It didn’t budge. Yanking on it a little harder, she screamed out, “Oh my God!” as the lever came off in her hand.
Waffle batter oozed out of the machine onto her hands and onto the floor. Everyone in the room laughed, especially the kids. Audrey’s husband, who also worked maintenance for the hotel, ran inside to help her.
Covered in waffle batter, Hadley rushed out of the restaurant to the elevators. Once she was gone, I helped Bill clean up the mess, knowing she was going to be up in her room for a while.
“I think you guys need a new batter machine.” I laughed.
Bill snorted. “Tell me about it. This is the fifth time this year I’ve had to clean this mess up.”
I helped him as much as I could and then retreated to the stairs. Instead of knocking on Hadley’s door, I went into my room and unlocked the adjoining one, opening it carefully. Hadley was by the bed, slipping a clean T-shirt over her head. Not only were there hives on her arms, but they were on her back and legs too.
“I see you’ve had a rough time,” I called out, feeling like complete and utter shit.
“Jesus,” she squealed, jerking around. She held a hand to her chest, but then relaxed. “I knew I’d be hearing your smartass mouth sooner than later.”
I smiled. “So that’s why you don’t look shocked to see me.”
“I knew you could track me,” she said, holding up the phone.
“Nice work downstairs, by the way. What did the waffle maker ever do to you?” I thought it would make her laugh, but she turned away.
“Don’t remind me.” Huffing, she zipped up her bag. “I’m glad no one knows who I am. I felt like an idiot with everyone laughing at me.”
“Well, it was kind of funny.” She got quiet and started scratching her skin. “Are you okay?”
“Yep.”
“Yeah, sure. You just look like a lobster, no biggie. Come on, let’s get out of here. You’re obviously allergic to something.”
Glaring at me, she crossed her arms over her chest. “You expect me to go with you after you were such an ass to me? Speaking of which, how was your date last night?”
“There was no date, Hadley. I was just doing it to get a rise out of you. The same with the barn stalls. You really impressed me though.”
She stood up straighter, eyes narrowed. “Glad I could amuse you.”
“So . . . what do you say? Are you going to come willingly, or do I need to tie you up?”