that he could stay gone for the week that his brother had forced him to agree to. He smiled. Damn. It was too easy. His brother was gone. And there was no way Kiki was going to be able to stop him. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it really was too simple. Sam hadn’t asked him for his keys to the Mercedes. He hadn’t threatened to cut off his money if he was difficult. Sam must really think him weak and fragile.
As he sat there considering everything, his grin faded. In its place was a look of doubt bordering on fear. Sam was a businessman. He was accustomed to looking at every situation from multiple angles to mad problem solving to ensure the outcome that he desired. It just didn’t seem like he fought very hard this time. It should have been so much more intense; clear-the-room intense, make-strangers-and-staff-flee intense. Instead, as he ranked their arguments through the years, this one barely qualified as a spat. There was only one reason for that.
One horrifying thought gripped him. Sam wouldn’t have. He couldn’t have. Adam flew off the couch and rushed to his side table at the entrance, and peeked into the large glass bowl that always held his keys, and sometimes his phone and wallet ever since that one fateful laundry day. He wasn’t built for manual labor. Dammit. He peered into the bowl. There was no reason for him to stare so long. It was obvious that his keys, wallet, and phone were missing. He might as well have been kidnapped. He glanced at the wooden cane that he had left leaned against the table. Sure. That was still there. He picked it up and hit the concrete dividing wall with it as hard as he could. He heard the sound of it splintering, but it didn’t break, instead becoming just one more disappointment for him to contend with. Apparently he was already getting weaker with his advanced years. Thirty was a miserable bitch.
His left eye started twitching. He pushed on it with the palm of his left hand, hoping that might stop it. This was certainly shaping up to be quite the night. As he stood there trying to calm down, he remembered that he kept a set of spare keys in his top drawer. He laughed as he scurried off to his room. The minute he opened the drawer, he knew Sam had thought of that, too. His clothes were disheveled, as if someone had rummaged through looking for something…like his spare keys. Sure enough, they were all gone.
“Damn you, Sam!” He shouted at the top of his lungs, even though he knew his brother could never possibly hear him. “Damn you to hell, you miserable rat bastard!” He stormed out of his room and nearly collided with that bartender. “What? Did he pay you extra to piss me off tonight?”
She scowled. “Nobody paid me extra for anything. I am pissing you off for free!” And she shuffled by him carrying crates of liquor.
“Stop,” he said with a sigh. She kept moving. “Wait. I’ll help you.” She continued, clearly in a hurry to be away from him. Without saying another word, he walked up to her, grabbed her shoulder, whipped her around, and gathered the crates she had been holding. “These go in the catering van?” He asked casually as she walked beside him out the door.
“Yes. They do.” She was staring at him, frowning.
“What is it? Something on my face?” He was trying to be jovial at the moment, busy as he was crafting a new plan.
“Yeah. You have a little something…all over. What’s going on behind those beady little eyes of yours?” He noticed she continued to study his features.
“Oh, I was just thinking…”
“Clearly, and just what were you thinking? That’s the big question, right?” She stopped in the parking garage right next to the catering van. Another employee was loading a bag of dirty linens, saw her, approaching with Adam and headed back inside rather quickly.
“So…are you also going in the catering van?” He tried to sound casual, but he knew there was a distinct possibility that he was coming off as a bit giddy at the moment.
“No, I won’t be riding in the catering van. I have my own car…” He realized she probably felt like she had already said too much. She was starting back away from him a bit nervously.