Page 66 of Ashes of Us

The next three weeks flew by for Danica.

The audits on the hotels in Seattle and Charlotte were quick and to the point, with Alex only making some minor suggestions and changes to policies so they were on par with the Boston hotels, explaining the renovation plan and schedule to the managers and getting to know them.

He admitted to Danica on the flight to Charlotte that he knew the hotels were in mostly good shape.

The audits were more about getting to know the management and staff at each hotel and listening to their concerns and suggestions after reviewing emails between his father and the managers in Nashville and Orlando, plus wanting to get rid of Craig.

He explained he didn't want anyone feeling targeted or attacked so it was better to do them all and mix the problem ones in among the others, because he knew the managers would talk about the audits amongst each other and wanted the problem to be told it was easy and not a big deal at all so they would relax and not be hostile.

Danica wasn't sure what happened with Heidi at the restaurant.

Alex told her to block her on her cell phone on the flight to Seattle and said he would handle Heidi when she found out he wasn't going to show up.

She had asked him Tuesday morning over breakfast if he had heard from his ex the night before, but he just nodded and told her he had taken care of it; she was going back to London and wouldn't bother them anymore.

They were eating dinner at a brewery on their last night in Charlotte with the manager and assistant manager of the hotel on their last night, with Danica watching in amusement as the manager, a woman in her late forties named Jaime, continued to not so subtly attempt to flirt with Alex, asking lots of very personal questions and letting her frequent touches of his arm linger too long, something that had gone on all week.

She wasn't sure if Alex was oblivious or just didn't care, because he would give a vague answer and ignore her touchiness.

The assistant manager looked like she was in physical pain every time Jaime would giggle girlishly and run her hand over Alex's bicep, making Danica think it wasn't unusual behaviour from her.

They were about to order dessert when Alex excused himself to take a phone call, and Jaime announced she had to run to the bathroom.

Danica raised her eyebrow as Jaime followed Alex, walking in the opposite direction of the restrooms and turned to the assistant manager, a woman around her age named Constance, surprised to see she was sitting with her tomato-red face in her hands. “Are you okay?”

“No.” She groaned. “I'm so sorry, she does this all the time. It's incredibly embarrassing.”

“Does she?” Danica looked over her shoulder, but both Alex and Jaime were no longer visible. “She never behaved that way with Alexander.”

Constance shook her head. “No, because she was married.

Her and her husband divorced late last year, and she found out her husband had started seeing someone else about six months ago.

There was no cheating or anything like that, but they're moving really quickly; he already wants her to meet their kids. The custody agreement says the other parent has to meet the new partner and agree to the kids meeting them. He wants her to move in and is pushing for the meeting, which Jaime refuses to attend.” She sighed.

“But ever since he started requesting the meeting, she's been overtly flirting with every man who catches her attention, guests, co-workers, business partners... She has no shame anymore.”

“Ah.” Danica nodded, Constance's explanation clearing up a lot for her, including why they were having dinner with them on their last night in town, something they hadn't done anywhere else.

“Don't worry, it's not a reflection of you.” She assured her, picking up the dessert menu and looking it over.

“But you should have mentioned that in your meeting with us.”

“I know.” Constance picked up the menu too and gave it a cursory glance. “I didn't want to be that person, though, and no one has complained about it, just been a little uncomfortable, so I didn't have proof.”

Alex returned a few minutes later, smiling broadly and took his seat again. “Did we decide on dessert?” He asked cheerfully as he picked up the menu, looking it over. Jaime didn't return with him, and Constance hesitantly asked where she was as a waiter came and took their orders.

“She wasn't feeling well and went home.” Alex sighed and ran his fingers through his hair when the waiter walked away.

“Which I'm sure had nothing to do with the fact that I told her no when she offered to keep me company after dinner.” Danica ducked her head, trying not to laugh at how bluntly Alex explained what happened and the way Constance seemed to shrink in her chair.

“Want to fill me in on what the hell she was thinking?”

Constance looked at Danica, her big brown eyes pleading for help, and Danica shrugged.

“Tell him, it's better he hears it from you than secondhand from me.” Nodding and seeming to steel herself, Constance explained about Jaime's divorce, her ex-husband wanting to introduce his new girlfriend to the kids and how Jaime had started behaving after.

They only paused when their desserts arrived and then gave Alex multiple examples and names.

He asked her to send him an email with as many dates and names as she could remember and said he would handle it from there.

The rest of the meal was spent discussing the renovation plans and ended on a more positive note.

Sharing an Uber back to the hotel, Danica leaned back in the seat and yawned.

Luckily, they had finished the audit a couple of days early, so she had some time to decompress before they left for their camping trip.

Alex's phone rang again, and he answered.

Danica wasn't paying much attention to the conversation, figuring it was one of the managers or Xavier.

She was debating asking him to bring Indie outside when they got back to the hotel, so she could run a hot bath and soak for an hour in peace because the dog loved to try to join her, when she heard him say his brother's name and something about extradition.

Instantly awake, she sat up and turned to face him, impatiently waiting for him to finish the call.

“They found Craig?” She asked when he finally hung up. “Where was he?”

Alex leaned back, folding his arms over his chest. “They didn't find him, he was dropped off anonymously at a hospital in Tijuana a week ago, beaten to a pulp, severely dehydrated, badly sunburned and practically comatose from whatever drugs he was on.

They treated him, but because he was beaten up, clearly American, on drugs and didn't have a passport or any way to be identified on him, they brought in a social worker, who notified the police.

He was ID'd, his warrant came up, and now he is recovering under police supervision.

Because he's there illegally, they're going to deport him as soon as he's stable enough to be transported, with the US Marshals meeting him on the San Diego side of the border to take him back to Vegas.” He smirked, looking amused and not at all concerned about his brother.

“The phone call earlier was from the social worker in the hospital in Tijuana. Apparently, when he found out he was being deported and would have to pay a hefty hospital bill, he gave them my name and phone number to collect payment. The call I just took was from his lawyer in Vegas, looking for a deposit to take the case.”

Danica stared at him for a long moment, unable to believe Craig's audacity to put his brother on the hook financially after he stole almost a million dollars and disappeared. “Wow.” She said finally. “You're not going to actually pay, are you?”

Alex shook his head, snorting out a sharp laugh. “Fuck no. He got himself into this mess; he can figure out how to get out of it.”

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After they got back to the hotel, Alex agreed to take Indie to a nearby park for a bit so she could have an uninterrupted bath.

She filled the tub with water as hot as she could stand it and sank into it with a whimper, letting it soak the tension out of her.

She relaxed, listening to music on her phone and letting her thoughts wander.

Sergeant Galvin had been keeping her updated on things with Lucy, and she knew her lawyer was indeed going with the insanity defence, claiming she suffered from a mental disorder that made her unable to understand or appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions.

Danica did not doubt that she had some sort of mental disorder, but she didn't believe for one second that Lucy didn't know what she did was wrong.

The fact that she kept saying her and Jasper slept together instead of they had sex or made love, said she knew that she would incriminate herself if it were proven Jasper hadn't consented.

And the fact that Lucy waited for the clinic to be closed and the streets to be mostly empty, deliberately went around to the back of the building out of sight of passerby’s, and broke a window to get in, told Danica that every move she had made had been deliberate and carefully planned, and were not the actions of someone who didn't know what they were doing was wrong.

Galvin had reassured her that the District Attorney was determined to prove that while her mental disorder, which they agreed she most likely had, no doubt affected her way of thinking, it was not an excuse and didn't make her unable to understand right from wrong, which made Danica feel better about things.

Danica blinked in confusion and sat straight up in the tub as someone knocked on her door.

“Shit.” She muttered, realizing the water had grown cool and she must have drifted off in the tub.

Grabbing her phone from the pile of towels on the floor next to her, she saw she had been in the tub for almost two hours and there were increasingly concerned texts from Alex, asking if she was okay.

The last one telling her if she didn't answer the door in the next ten minutes, he was going to demand a keycard from the front desk.

Seeing it was sent eight minutes ago, she scrambled out of the water, grabbing her blush pink silk robe off the counter next to the sink, wrapping it around herself hastily as she walked quickly to the door.

“I'm coming!” She called, not wanting him to walk away before she got to the door.

Pulling it open, she pushed her damp hair back as she fixed an apologetic smile on her face.

“I'm so sorry, I fell asleep.” She watched as Alex took one look at her and went from looking relieved she finally answered to shocked to expressionless.

He passed her Indie's leash without a word and turned, walking back down the hall to his room, his back as stiff as a board.

“Alex?” She called, her bewilderment at his response evident in her voice. “Is everything okay?”

“Fine.” His voice was gruff as he paused at his door, but he didn't turn around. “Go to bed, we have to be at the airport for seven.” Then he went inside his room, the door shutting behind hard enough to make Danica wince. She looked down at the Indie in confusion.

“I wonder what his problem is?” She muttered to the dog as she brought her inside and closed the door behind her.

She let Indie off her leash and brought it over to lay on the desk next to her purse and caught a glimpse of herself in the oversized mirror next to it.

“Oh.” She muttered as heat flooded her cheeks, and she realized exactly what Alex's problem was.

The light pink silk robe was clinging to her wet body, highlighting every curve and dip and going not quite transparent, but definitely putting her breasts on display, the faint shadows of her areolae and nipples showing up like beacons against her pale skin.

“Well fuck me.” She groaned as she headed back to the bathroom for a towel, not sure how she was ever going to look him in the eyes again.