12. Derek

CHAPTER TWELVE

Derek

I grumble to myself as I start to walk away from the reception area. Booked. That's what the front desk told me when I asked for my own room. Brooks, Ash, and I were supposed to be roommates during the convention, but somehow, our suite, which was supposed to have two bedrooms and four beds, got changed to a standard room with one bed. There's zero chance the three of us could or would sleep on a queen bed together, and I'll sooner die than sleep on the floor here. So now, I'll have to fight Brooks and Ash for the bed or go out in this bullshit thunderstorm. Everyone's at dinner, so I guess I could just claim the bed before they return.

A young male voice catches my ear when I turn the corner. "I tried to deliver this to room 101. It's for an I. Johnson. I knocked, but no answer, and I'm on a time limit." I see the man holding a bag of what appears to be Chinese food. The receptionist groans in annoyance, and I feel instantly heated. She's going to go and bitch to Indy about not answering her door, and Indy's going to apologize and feel terrible for inconveniencing them. Fuck, I wonder if she even can get to the door. She was in so much pain once we got off the plane. Memories of massaging her legs on the plane spark to life. I don't know what came over me, what compelled me to do something so personal. Her face was so flush and twisted in pain, and she looked ready to cry. I couldn't stand not trying to help.

"I'll take it to her," I state before the receptionist walks away. "She's in the Hel's Ink group for the convention." The receptionist shrugs and all but tosses me the bag.

I walk down the hall and knock on the door. After a moment, I try to open it, but it's locked. Reaching into my pocket, I grab my phone and hit her number. It rings twice before she answers.

"Hello?" she whispers, and I can tell she's been crying. My blood runs cold. Is she hurt?

"Open your door," I order, hearing her sniffle.

"Derek? Go away, please." She whines, and a loud roll of thunder booms outside. I hear her scream out a cry. Fuck, is she afraid of thunderstorms?

"Indy," I say calmly, but I can hear her hyperventilate. "Shhh, hey baby girl, listen to me. I need you to take a breath and come and let me in. Can you do that for me?" There's silence before I hear her inhale a shaky breath and release it.

"That's my girl. Now stand up and let me in." With every passing second, I pray that another boom of thunder doesn't sound and scare her off. The door unlocks and opens just as a flash of lightning fills the room. I watch her hands go to her ears as she waits. I shut the door, dropping the bag of food down, and before I can stop myself, I pull her petite body to my chest and cover her ear with my own hand as the thunder sounds again.

Her body shakes, and she grips my shirt tightly. I hold her for a second longer, trying like hell not to think about how she feels against me. Pulling her from my chest, I turn on the light and look at her face. Holy shit. I can't let her ever be afraid again. I don't know how I'll accomplish this, but seeing the fear on her tear-stained face, I've never felt a pain so sharp in my heart.

"Indy," I breathe softly, brushing a stray tear with the pad of my thumb. I hear her sharp intake of air, and I watch her crystal blue eyes go from my eyes to my mouth. Fuck. She grips my shirt and leans toward me, and an icy panic washes over me.

"I got your food," I state abruptly. Fucking hell, why in the fuck was she trying to kiss me? Has she lost it? Her wide, round eyes look at me in shock, pink staining her cheeks. Is she just as shocked by her actions as I am?

"Thanks." She croaks out before grabbing the bag and walking to her bed. "You hungry? I have extra. Or did you go to dinner with everyone else?" I shake my head as I walk over to the chair by the desk and sit down.

"No, I didn't feel like going out. I'm around them enough." I watch her wince slightly as a low rumble rolls around us. "Never got over the fear of thunderstorms, huh?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I hold up my hands.

"Relax, I'm just saying most people outgrow that fear." She gives me a sharp look.

"Astraphobia is a real thing that adults can have." She huffs out, her cheeks hot with embarrassment or irritation, maybe both. "I'm sorry you had to be bothered with it, but you're more than welcome to see yourself out."

"Hey now, let's relax. No need to throw a tantrum."

She lets out an irritated laugh. "Right, because I'm a child. Sorry, I forgot. Thanks, Dad."

"Look, I've been nothing but nice to your little ass all day, so I don't know why you are copping an attitude with me." I frown, and my right eye twitches in annoyance.

"Maybe because I don't know why!" she growls in frustration. "Why are you being so nice to me? You didn't want your birthday gift. You didn't want me at your house. You don't want me around you, and then you spent an hour rubbing my legs! And now you're bringing me food and hugging me!"

"I don't know, okay!" I groan loudly as I stand up, needing to move around. "I don't know why I'm here, Indy. I don't know why I feel the need to help you because, trust me, it bothers the fuck out of me and irritates me to my very fucking core that I can't ignore you like I do everyone else."

I wait for her to flinch, cry, and call me a dick. But she doesn't. No, what she's doing is far worse. I watch as she looks up at me, both her dimples on full display as she beams.

"I think someone likes me." She winks as she bites into an egg roll.

"Oh?" I laugh dryly, even though I suddenly feel sweaty. "And what would give you that absolutely asinine idea?"

She shrugs, "Derek's a mean old grouch to everyone but me." She pops the rest of the egg roll in her mouth while attempting to smile. I snort to cover the nervousness, trying to come up my throat.

"You're delusional."

"Funny way to say adorable." My surprised laugh shocks us both, and causes Indy to start laughing loudly.

"Your laugh is so cute!" She grins, and I groan.

"I got to go." I head toward the door, not wanting to deal with this embarrassment anymore. "I have to fight your brother and Brooks for the bed."

"Why?" she asks as she snaps her wooden chopsticks apart.

"The hotel fucked up and gave us one bed, and I'm not sharing." She laughs lightly as she pulls out the containers of food.

"Stay with me." She shrugs while gesturing to her king-size bed.

"Uhh…" I cough uncomfortably into my fist.

"Don't worry, I'll be a perfect gentleman." She winks as she tosses me a set of chopsticks. "Now come eat with me and watch this penguin show."

I remove my shoes before hesitantly sitting down on the edge of the bed. Every fiber of my being is screaming about how wrong this is. Well, not every fiber. There's one long, large, and annoyingly twitchy fiber that's far too eager to share this fucking bed with her.

"Penguins?" I ask as I set the chopsticks down.

"They're my favorite animal." She says, offering me a white container of mystery food. Peering inside it, I curl my lip while raising a brow.

"Alright, I'll circle back to the penguin thing. First, I need to know what in the fuck that is in that container." I grimace, which makes her laugh.

"It's Szechuan Chicken! It's not the best I've tasted, but it's not bad!" She moves the box in front of me, and I push it away.

"That looks disgusting. That's not Szechuan Chicken, at least not anymore." She rolls her big blue eyes and waves me off.

"Don't ruin this for me. I'm still trying to go back to eating meat regularly."

"I didn't know you didn't eat meat. You seemed to have no problem double-fisting my meat." Indy is mid-sip when the stupid words leave my mouth, and I watch her mist everything in the water she's drinking. She slaps a hand over her mouth as she stares at me, eyes wide, and I cannot believe I just said that to her.

"On that note, I'm really going to head out," I say as I feel my cheeks heat.

"No!" Indy reaches out and grabs my hand in both of hers, and I nearly jerk my arm away from the strange sensation that courses through me at her touch. "Don't leave! We've still got to talk about penguins, and you haven't eaten anything."

"I don't eat questionable fast food. It's terrible for your body."

"Ohhhh…" Fucking goddamn dimples. "Your body is a temple, then?" I roll my eyes.

"I'm not like that. I just prefer to know what part of the animal I'm consuming." She sets her food off to the side, and I watch as she scoots closer to me.

"Okay," she pulls out two fortune cookies from the bag and holds them in her hand. "You have to at least eat a fortune cookie with me, please?" Holy fuck, I'm this close to shoving this woman away if it will stop that wide-eyed bottom-lip pout.

"Sure, fine." I snatch one of the cookies and tear off the wrapper. I wait to break the cookie as Indy seems to struggle to grip the small plastic wrapper. Should I ask her if she wants help? Would that be offensive? I watch her rip the bag with her teeth and spit the wrapper across the room.

"Okay," Indy beams. "One, two, three, break!" We each snap our cookie in half, and I have to force back the smile, trying to come out as she does some excited wiggle. It amazes me how excited she is over something so… boring. "You first!" She grins.

"Alright," I breathe out as I pull the slip of paper out, read the message, and then reread it. "I think mine got fucked up," I grunt, and Indy frowns, crawling closer to me. Too close. Why does she smell so fucking good? Holy shit, she's touching my thigh. Indy is fucking leaning over and touching my thigh. If she moves a fraction of a hair, she's going to know I'm a fucking pervert, and then I'm going to fucking die. Thankfully, she plucks the paper out of my hand and moves back to stare at the fortune. I watch as wrinkles appear on her forehead while her dark brows pull together.

"Love is purple." She reads softly.

"They probably meant ‘patient.'" I state with a shrug. "What about you?" I nudge her, unsure why she's staring so hard at the paper. Blinking, she looks down and pulls hers out. I hear her small intake of air, and I lean over to read her paper.

Love is purple.

"Huh, that's a rip-off." I snort as I stand up. "Well, I best get to bed before the guys get back." She leans over and grabs my forearm.

"Wait, what? How are you going to just overlook what's happening here?" I look around in confusion before the door to her hotel room opens.

"Hey Indy, I got you—" Ash stops when he sees us, and his black eyes ignite with a fury I've never seen in him before.

"You fucking my little sister?" He spits while setting the bag down.

"What?" I scoff, "Fuck no! I just brought her the food she ordered."

"Ash!" Indy hisses. "I'm an adult! You can't do this every time a man is in my room!" Yeah, that isn't helpful, baby girl. I sigh as I look back at Ash, his face red and jaw tight with rage.

"I ain't fucking your sister," I say through gritted teeth. "Trust me, not my type." I inwardly wince at the sharp intake I hear from Indy, but what else can I say? I work with Ash, and there's no chance this won't end in a fistfight if he isn't completely sure whatever Indy and I have is platonic. Which it is. At least on the surface. The shameful things I do with my cock in the shower are no one's business but mine and my hand.

Indy's voice is curt and clipped as she makes her way to us. The top of her head only hits my chest, and it's so fucking cute, at least until I see the anger in her pretty eyes. I'm not sure I've ever seen anger in them before. "Now that it's perfectly clear how undesirable I am, how about you both get the fuck out of here."

Have I ever heard her cuss before? Surely I have, but the word sounds so weird and ill-placed on her soft lips. I nod and take my leave, Ash following behind me. Indy slams the door and I hear the click of the lock, and guilt floods me instantly. I didn't mean to make her feel unattractive. She's anything but…

"Sorry," Ash mutters as we head down the hall. "She's my baby sister, and you're like old enough—"

"Shut up." I drawl out as I roll my eyes. "I'm well aware of our age difference, thank you. She wasn't answering the door for the food she ordered. I knew y'all went out, so I went to take it to make sure she was alright. The storm that passed by scared her, I guess. I stayed until she calmed down."

He groans. "I completely forgot about the thunder. She's got a thing about storms. I didn't think about it because we rarely get them back home. Fuck, and it's storming most of the weekend."

I wince inwardly as we walk toward the hotel room, where I am sure we will find Brooks all fucking snuggled into the goddamn bed.

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out," I mutter under my breath, though all I want to do is go back and make sure Indy is alright. I pissed her off, and that isn't something easily accomplished with Indy. Great, now I have fucking heartburn again.