Page 2 of Room 710 (The Scarlet Hotel #15)

Ziggy

My knuckles had barely brushed against the door before it swung open, and my bestest bestie Levi grabbed the front of my shirt and dragged me inside. “What took you so long? I called you like yesterday.”

“I only get so much quiet time, and I need to make every minute count.”

Their new house had bachelor-pad-meets-Bruce-Wayne’s-manor vibes, with buttery leather furniture and expensive modern art I didn’t “get”—until we got to the living room, where the gray/black décor was interrupted by flashes of neon pink, green, and orange of children’s toys scattered across the floor.

Levi plopped down on the couch, cheeks flushed and smile a mile wide. “I’m so glad you’re here. We haven’t hung out in ages .” I remembered a time when he hadn’t been nearly this happy, but ever since he met his husband, he was a changed man.

“Where’s my favorite nephew?” I asked, getting down on my knees to look under the couch. Don’t look at me like that. Babies crawled; it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility.

“Gray took Asher for a walk in the stroller to try to get a nap out of him. He’s been teething again, which means he’s not sleeping, and a tired toddler means an angry toddler. You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but that kid can scream.”

“Tell me about it,” I said in total agreement, even though I had no clue what I was agreeing with. I had zero experience with toddlers, beyond having been one myself once upon a time.

Levi grabbed my hand and pulled me down onto the couch beside him.

“Please don’t make me talk about my son.

My life has been all diapers and baby food and creepy songs about the sounds animals make.

Pleeeeease, tell me you have something adult to talk about.

How’s your mom? How’s work? Any sexcapades to regale me with? ”

I snorted. “Sex? What’s that? It sounds vaguely familiar… Hmm, I think I’ve had it once, and I seem to recall I liked it.”

Levi laughed, but I wasn’t entirely kidding. “Aw, come on, it can’t be that bad.”

Kicking off my shoes, I flopped sideways on the couch and put my legs across Levi’s lap.

“It’s worse. You’re lucky not to be a part of the dating scene anymore.

It’s like something out of a horror movie.

Night of the Living Losers . Normally I wouldn’t mind getting this many unsolicited dick pics, but they’re not even pretty.

At least do some manscaping before sending your resume. ”

Me and Levi, we’d been inseparable since kindergarten, never one without the other.

Until he’d moved out of his parents’ place, I used to crawl through his bedroom window whenever I got the urge.

But lately, we didn’t get to see nearly as much of each other as we used to.

Levi would always be my ride-or-die. It just so happened that he had someone new to ride with now.

Hanging out with Levi like this, it was just like old times, except instead of living with his parents, he was now in this swanky house with Gray. I, however, was still living with my mom.

“I’m only on social media to post pictures of Asher. Can’t say I miss the drama.” Levi lifted my feet up and scooted them behind his back on the couch so he could grab a laundry basket. He plucked an adorable onesie off the top and folded it.

I rolled over and picked up one of Asher’s little socks, and my heart melted.

I perched the mini sock on my toes so it stuck up in the air, marveling at the size difference.

“You’re so lucky,” I sighed. I was happy for Levi, of course I was, he deserved to be happy, but…

it was impossible to deny the little stab of jealousy.

He’d really hit the jackpot. “I want a daddy like yours. Where can I find one of my own?”

“Sorry, my dads aren’t looking to adopt. Besides, you know how they feel about you.” He smirked because he knew exactly what I was talking about, and it wasn’t his parents.

“Oh, puh-lease. Alan and Dale love me. They wish I was their son.” They so didn’t. “Besides, you know I’m talking about your sugar daddy.” I lay back and stuck my foot up at his face, flapping the loose baby sock on his cheek.

He pushed my foot away. “He’s been upgraded to husband, you know.”

“Even better! I want one too. Unless you’re willing to share?”

“Hell no.” He scoffed, and I couldn’t very well blame him. If I had a sexy stud like Gray, I wouldn’t share him either. “If you really want a man, you could start by moving out of your mom’s place,” he teased.

“Why would I do that? The rent is cheap, and she does my laundry.”

He sighed, rolling his eyes. “Because you’re an adult, loser.”

“Hey, who are you calling an adult? I resent that.” I picked up a decorative pillow and threw it at him, but he swatted it away.

He’d met his sugar-daddy husband when he was just 18, and Gray was 34. Who knew they’d actually turn it into something permanent? Not just permanent, but romance level 100. They were #lifegoals. And now they were married, had a house and a son, and I was being left behind.

While I wasn’t shy to admit I wanted a daddy like Grayson, it would be better if I could find one without all the drama it took for them to get to their HEA.

I saw all the grief Levi went through when he thought his baby daddy didn’t want anything to do with them.

That was a whole level of heartbreak I was hoping to avoid.

It almost made me second-guess alphas altogether. Almost …

“Does Gray have any friends he could introduce me to?” I asked, a solid plan forming in my head. If I wanted a guy like Gray, why not find one Gray-adjacent?

“Hm, you know, he does have that one staff member…” I perked up, propping myself up on my elbow. “Yeah, Mr. Weaver is like, 52, and I’m pretty sure most of that hair is his.”

“How’s his stamina?” I asked with a straight face, only for Levi to grab the pillow off the floor and throw it back in my face.

“Wrong question!” he said, laughing. “You’re supposed to start by asking if he’s single.”

“Oh, good point.” Romance wasn’t love if there was someone else in the spotlight. I didn’t want to be the understudy… or the stunt double. After a long pause as Levi folded some mini blue- striped pants and a t-shirt with a cartoon parrot on it, I said, “Well? Is he single?”

Levi groaned. “No! Ziggy, what am I going to do with you? You can’t really be so desperate as to date a married man, right?”

“Of course not.” Not yet, anyway, but the pickings were slim.

As much as I longed to fall in love, I was already exhausted by the dating scene.

The last guy I’d gotten serious about had been a year ago, and right when I’d been about to drop the L word, he dumped me out of the blue.

It turned out, he’d never been serious about me at all.

He was using me to make his ex jealous, and the second he’d taken him back, I got kicked to the curb.

There’d been a couple non-starters since then.

A guy who couldn’t stop talking about sports (yawn), one who peeled off his socks at the dinner table so he could pick at his toenails (ew), a hippy who lived out of his van and loved to berate me for my carbon footprint at every opportunity.

I was all for living clean or whatever, but you would have to peel my nylon shirts from my cold, dead body.

Bamboo and hemp clothing, in this economy?

Not likely. Besides, I looked hot when I went to the clubs in my tight tees.

Levi looked at me for a moment, and he gave me that probing best-friend look, the one that said he saw straight through me.

You couldn’t know someone as long as we’d been friends and not be able to get right to the truth.

At last, he took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Don’t worry. You’ll find the perfect guy when you least expect it. ”

“But I’m not expecting it now !” I wailed, flopping dramatically. And yet, no perfect guy had magically appeared.

Levi paused and turned to look at me, serious as a heart attack.

When he didn’t say anything right away, dread started to simmer in my gut.

Was something wrong? He drew in a deep, slow breath, as though bracing himself to deliver bad news.

“Is now a good time to tell you I’m pregnant?

” he asked casually, laughing as I shrieked and pounced on him.

I’d always known that Levi wanted lots of kids, but I’d sort of assumed we would be doing it at the same time.

I pushed my envy aside and spent the next half-hour letting him regale me about all the joys of early pregnancy, like barfing, sore nipples, and exhaustion. Okay, so I was over the envy now.

We were interrupted by the front door opening. Gray had returned with Asher asleep in the stroller, and his whole body was taut with big-daddy energy, chest heaving as if he’d sprinted the last block. “Oh, Ziggy… you’re still here.”

I might not have been the best at picking up social cues, but the way he and Levi were eye-fucking each other, I quickly got the hint that he was hoping for a quickie while the overtired toddler finally gave them a moment’s peace, so I said I had to wash my hair and got the heck outta there.

I had to work in a couple hours anyway, so I hopped on a bus and headed downtown.

Levi was so damn lucky. I knew I was still technically young, and I had plenty of time before I was too old to have kids.

I probably should’ve been out hitting the clubs, installing a revolving door in my bedroom, but I wanted what he had.

Not the gaudy, expensive house—I was more a log-cabin, roaring fireplace, cozying up in a quilt kind of guy.

And not someone like Gray specifically either, though I couldn’t deny the sex-appeal of an older man.

But whoever I loved one day, their age didn’t matter, or their appearance even.

It was just the way Gray cared for Levi that made me swoon.

The tenderness, devotion, blind adoration.

Too bad every guy I’d ever dated had come up waaaay short.

Maybe I was asking too much. Maybe I should’ve settled for the toe-picker or the righteous hippie.

“Universe, send me a sign!” I shouted, lifting my arms to the heavens, which happened to look an awful lot like the bus’s ceiling.

The sign directly above me said “Avoid the Itch,” and while it was for hemorrhoid cream, I decided it was decent dating advice too.

“Yes, oh wise universe. I will avoid the itch.”

Heads turned as people gave me some serious side-eye, and the man sitting on the bus bench next to me decided to move seats.

Getting off at my stop, I headed toward Lorenzo’s, this little family-run Italian restaurant that sold unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks. I’d been working there for forever, but ever since Levi quit to be a stay-at-home dad, it just hadn’t been the same.

Halfway there, as I was walking down the sidewalk in front of The Scarlet Hotel, a sign caught my eye.

LONELY ALPHA

OPEN CASTING CALL FOR CONTESTANTS

My footsteps slowed to a stop, and I stared at the sign. Lonely Alpha … like the reality dating show?

“Pfft, that’s so stupid. Who needs a dating show to find love?” I asked the doorman as I turned and walked through the door being held open for me.

“Who cares that I’m in a dry spell that can very much be classified as a drought? Hell, I’m in the middle of the Sahara by now. You know?” I said, addressing the man in a red uniform polishing the marble floor.

“There’s no way I’m that desperate. I’m only 21.

I’ve got my whole life left to find love, right?

” I said to the man in front of me in line as I queued for the audition.

The guy looked down his nose at me and arched his perfectly sculpted brow, before he sniffed derisively and gave me his back, taking a step forward along the line of green tape stuck to the red carpet.

I sighed, this time talking to myself, since there was no one left to listen to me. “I mean, it doesn’t hurt to just try out, I guess. It would be stupid of me to ignore the literal sign . When the universe speaks, I listen.”