Eight ◑ The Room

"Lucille!" Cade called out, snatching his jacket from the backrest of his chair and trailing after her. "Lucille, wait!"

Lucille dabbed at the fake tears on the corners of her eyes, pulling her jacket tighter around herself. She kept walking until she reached the hotel lobby, fast enough to give the impression that she was really leaving, but slow enough to allow Cade to catch up with her.

When he finally did, she tried her best to look embarrassed, hurt, and dignified at the same time. And it must have worked, because his face went soft with concern.

"Lucille," he said, his voice raspy. "I don't know what to say. I'm so embarrassed."

"It's fine," she told him, bowing her head. "I have to go."

She started towards the elevator, but he caught her by the arm and pulled her into place. "I'm so sorry."

Lucille looked up. It was obvious by his tone alone that he'd meant it, and needless to say, his sincerity was both refreshing and shocking.

Since the whole thing began, she'd expected him to be smoother, sleazier. So far he'd been nothing but awkward, serious, and honest. He wasn't meeting any of the things he thought he'd be.

"I really am sorry." Cade pursed his lips and exhaled slowly. "Let me drive you home. It's the least I can do."

It took all of her willpower not to smirk. "That won't be necessary. I booked myself a room in this hotel. I figured I'd be drinking, and I'm a lightweight, so. . . ."

She trailed off, allowing him to make the connection. And thank God he did. "I'm going to walk you to your room, then. I feel really, really bad."

"That would be nice." She smiled gratefully. "Thank you."

Together, they headed towards the elevator. Lucille caught a glimpse of someone from the office, watching them as them walk side by side. Someone was witnessing them heading somewhere together, which was the ideal. Cade didn't notice that they were being watched too, which was even more ideal. If that person sparked a rumor in the office, that would be the most ideal.

The elevator pinged and its doors opened smoothly. They stepped inside, and surprisingly, they were alone. The room Lucille had booked was in the twenty-fifth floor, and so the journey up was quite long. However, she chose not to break their silence. She wanted him to stew on that moment, for it to really sink into his head and fuel his dislike for Martin.

And it seemed to have worked, because as they stopped on the twenty-fifth floor, Cade suddenly said, "I'm going to fire him."

"Don't," she replied reproachfully as they got off the elevator and started to locate Room 2513. "Not on my accord, at least."

"Why not?" he demanded. "I will talk to him once I get back—"

"Don't come back." This time Lucille meant it. She didn't want him to come back and talk to Martin, because they might just start to fix their issues and make up. That would be unacceptable. "Leave him be, okay? He seems to be nice to everyone else. It's only me that he has a problem with."

"And me," he pointed out. "I suppose you already know why he hates me, though."

She snorted dryly. "As a matter of fact, I don't know anything."

"Well." Cade scratched the back of his neck. "You see, he applied for the manager post. And he's really good at his job."

"Hmm," was the only thing she could say to that.

He perked up. "It's true. You know, the only reason our branch hasn't been cut off yet is because of his ability to smooth things over. He's the king of damage control."

"And that's why you shouldn't fire him."

"Right," he said after a beat, now more glum than ever. "Everyone was expecting him to get the job, but instead I did."

Lucille flashed him the sweetest smile. "And he's mad because you deserve it."

A slow smile appeared on his face. For a moment he paused, obviously touched by her words. She opened her mouth to add more, but then a movement behind Cade caught her eye. It was a man passing by across a hallway, tall and dark-haired and clad in a chauffeur suit.

Dimitri.

Or at least it could be Dimitri. Because what on earth would he be doing here?

For a second her entire body went stiff, but just as quickly, an urge to follow the man, who could possibly be the God of Death, overcame her. She started to move towards the hallway, but instantly, a bolt of pain stabbed at her chest. It was a searing sensation identical to the one she'd felt in her dream with Dimitri.

The one where she'd run with him, the one where she'd gotten hurt, the one where he'd promised to set her free, to take care of the rest. . . .

Her hand automatically flew up to her hammering heart. She tried so hard to act normal, but breathing had become shallow, and she was already feeling her face scrunch up in pain. This time, Cade noticed, and he immediately came to her side.

"Lucille?" he said tentatively, touching her shoulder. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine." The pain was slowly ebbing away, but it left her breathless. "My room's over here. You can go now. Thank you for—"

"I'll stay with you for a bit." He put a hand on the small of her back and guided her along. "You went really pale."

As they walked, Lucille kept her eyes peeled for any sign of the stupid deity, but she saw none. It made her think that maybe his appearance earlier was just a mistake, or an illusion. Either way, it served as a blessing in disguise. Now she didn't have to come up with a silly reason to convince Cade to stay with her in the hotel room.

She'd already inflamed his spat with Martin, which was her plan for tonight. Their rift was something she would spur in the near future. For now, all she had to do was keep Cade at her side, to build some sort of a rapport to make him trust her, and her pain ensured that. The more vulnerable she'd seem, the more time he'd spare for her. And the more time he'd spend with her, the more opportunities she'd get to know more about him.

But still, this advantage didn't erase the fact that the pain had freaked the living daylights out of her.

Her mind raced with the thoughts of her dream, the candle, and what it could possibly mean. She wanted nothing more than to dissect the entire thing with forensic tweezers, but she still had a mission in hand.

Lucille took her keycard and swiped it across the machine to open the door. The room itself was fairly small, standard in every right and nothing special. However, something about it felt intimate. The lights were dim, casting a diffused shadow across the floor as they walked inside. The distant roar of cars and the muted bustle of the city provided a hypnotizing background noise, but she decided it was time to talk more.

"You know, you're the only one who's being genuinely nice to me," she said as she sat at the edge of the bed. "The others seem a bit . . . reserved."

Cade tilted his head, a small smile playing at his lips. "How about Justin? He seems to be very nice to you."

She smirked. "You noticed?"

"Yeah." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "It wasn't like he's being subtle."

Lucille laughed and patted the space beside her. "Sit and talk to me, Sir Linden."

"Now you're making it sound like I'm a knight," he complained, but he gave in to her invitation and sat next to her. The mattress shifted with his weight, making them press closer to each other. "You know, it seems that you're the only one who's being genuinely nice to me too."

Lucille moved just a teeny tiny bit closer. "Really?"

"Yeah." He let out a breathy laugh, picking at the nonexistent lint on his pinstriped pants. "I've started out young in the company too. I was twenty-six. Most of them were old. Martin was already there. They kept making jokes about me and how I should still be in school. Basically the same treatment you're getting."

"No way!" she said, trying hard to sound upbeat even though she didn't care about him and his experiences. "What do they have against young people? That's what baffles me, to be honest."

"I don't know either." He shrugged, his shoulders brushing against hers. "I guess they think young people don't know anything."

The sensation of being this close to him made her feel weird. She suddenly imagined Mia in the same spot where she was in now, only that they wouldn't be just talking. The thought elicited a shudder from her.

Naturally, Cade mistook this for being cold. "Hey, are you cold?"

Not wanting to ruin the moment, Lucille nodded, folding her arms over her chest for maximum effect.

"Here." He straightened his jacket and draped it across her shoulders, brushing her hair back. "You should probably get changed before you get a cold. Damn Martin."

Lucille nodded, but she didn't move to change. For a while none of them spoke. The atmosphere between them was beginning to hum with a simmering tension. Thankfully, Cade smelled pretty good, like pine and mint and something else she couldn't point out. That made it more bearable for her to come even closer. She was mentally timing her strike, counting down to the second where it would be perfect to do something reckless yet sensible. . . .

As though on cue, Cade turned to face her just as she did the same. Their eyes met. She smiled, and his gaze traveled to her lips, then lower, down to the low neckline of her soaked overall.

His jaw tightened, his hands going stiff against his knees. His eyes darkened with unmistakable intent.

Lucille knew that look perfectly. It was the look of a man who'd just seen something he desired. How many times had she witnessed this? How many times had she used it to her advantage?

Countless. The answer was countless. And Cade would just be another number in the ever-growing statistic.

There was no denying the atmosphere now. There was no denying the soft look on his face. Even though she was ecstatic that her plan was working at such a fast pace, she still couldn't help feeling a bit of repulsion at how easy it was to tempt him. She honestly thought he'd be more challenging. Hell, she hoped he'd be more challenging.

But it turned out he was just as spineless as all the rest.

To add fuel to the fire and to get it over with, Lucille angled her body and exposed more of what he obviously wanted to see. His jacket was slid back, and hers was almost slipping off her shoulders now.

And he was more than hypnotized.

She leaned closer, forcing him to look up and meet her gaze. Their distance (or lack thereof) didn't allow him to look at anywhere else but her eyes. His lips parted. She could almost hear the gears of his brain shutting off. At this point, she didn't even need magic. He was trapped under her own spell.

But then, to Lucille's absolute surprise, Cade's eyes went from dazed to alert in a millisecond.

His hands shot up towards her, but not to touch her in the way she expected. Instead, he gingerly closed the two jackets over her chest and secured the buttons, his fingers quick and feathery light.

"I have to go," he mumbled, then he jumped to his feet and went straight to the door without any goodbye.

Little did he know that by doing so, he'd created history.

Cade Linden, a boring vanilla man with no special quality whatsoever, had just given Lucille her first-ever rejection in her thousand years of existence.