Page 25 of Tech Prince Troubles (Runaway Prince Hotel #6)

Chapter Twenty-Five

ADRI

eye of the storm

F our days before the ball, halfway through our shift, Rick, Riley, and I finally finished untangling the mess in the ballroom.

Riley bounced on the balls of her feet. “We did it!”

Aside from a few minor issues, which would only cost me a couple of hours next shift.

“I can finally work on the chandeliers! At least these two.” She twirled around with her arms wide. “Layla found a replacement for the broken one, too. It’s larger than the other two, but it matches well enough to work.”

She’d already mentioned that multiple times tonight.

“I was sure she would tell me to just put the broken one up and turn on the recessed lighting if the other two weren’t enough.” She shuddered. “Can you imagine?”

She didn’t give me a chance to agree, though I doubted any of the guests would have noticed.

“I can’t wait to tell Fred and Ted. They’re not even charging for their extra hours helping me hang them. Well, they are, but they said they’d donate it to the Vocational Center. Isn’t that cool? ”

Riley’s enthusiasm made me smile. Four days wasn’t enough to finish my phone project, but working on the Bakelite phones wasn’t a priority for the Masquerade Ball.

An extra week or two after the ball might give me enough time, if Min allowed it.

If not, I’d send Riley the schematics. She’d love to work on them.

“I ran into Jim earlier.” Riley sighed. “He was very apologetic… It made me want to hit him.”

“He’s apologized to me five times in the past few days.” Each additional attempt made me feel worse, so I now avoided the hub altogether. The tension in the hub frazzled my system.

Riley turned to me. “You don’t want to hit him?”

I shook my head. “He had a point.”

“No, he didn’t. You heard Layla. Hearing about you just fed his anger. It wasn’t really about you.”

Deep down, I knew that. Or thought I did. “If I wasn’t a prince taking a break from my duties, this might not have happened.”

“Bullshit!” Riley balled her fists. “If you hadn’t taken a break, if you hadn’t come here, there might have been no ballroom to fix.”

I shook my head. “He might have?—”

“Stop doing that, or I’m going to slap you. You’re not the only royalty here.” Her voice was raw, but her hands stayed by her side. “I’m glad you came. So is Rick, but I think you know that.”

Rick had been very vocal in thanking me. I nodded.

“Good. Remember that. Because despite this whole mess, it’s been really fun working with you.”

My system stuttered, and I forced out the “Thank you.”

She smiled. “Good boy. Now go. Leave me to my chandeliers.”

I shook my head. “Rick told me he’d fix the issues on the third floor and leave the rest for the next shift. So, I’m all yours if you want help.”

“Always. But wouldn’t you rather work on the phones?”

“There’s no rush on the phones.” My prototype worked. That was the most important part. It didn’t matter who ended up converting the rest.

“True.” She smiled. “Then yes. I’d love some help.”

As Riley talked about her ideas and family, we stripped and cleaned the chandeliers.

We painstakingly replaced every dead LED.

It was fiddly work, even with calipers, and Riley muttered, growled, and cursed her way through it.

She didn’t expect me to contribute much to the conversation, which made working with her enjoyable.

Yes, she could be loud, but I had to admit, I’d grown used to it.

When Rick joined us at the end of the night to show us the latest scan, we were almost halfway done.

Riley stretched and blew across her fingers. “Are yours this numb and irritated, too?”

I copied her. It was surprisingly soothing. “A bit. Especially where I pinched my skin with the calipers.”

“Yeah. That really hurts.” She gathered the dead LEDs. “Not as many as I expected. And you’ve saved me so much time.”

“You’re welcome.” She turned to Rick, who was sweeping up the dead LEDs. “So, what did the scan show?”

“No added issues on the first floor, so we can tackle that next shift. There were two additional issues on the second floor, though.” He showed us his tablet. “We might need to replace a chip to see if that solves it.”

I had to agree. “Best to do that first.”

“That’s what I thought.” Rick yawned. “Right. Time to get some sleep. See you both tonight.”

“See you tonight,” Riley said as I wished Rick a comfortable rest.

Riley placed her hand over mine and considered me with a serious expression. “You’ll keep in touch, won’t you, when you leave?”

“If you want to.” I didn’t want to think about leaving at all, but I was going to miss her.

I turned my hand in hers and squeezed. “Of course I want to. We’re friends. I love talking tech with you, and I can’t wait to share pictures from every project Fred and Ted hire me for.”

I would treasure them.

“And you’ll send me updates on the Bee Restoration Project? Promise?” She held out her hand and wiggled a pinky. I just stared at it. She sighed and did the same with her other hand, hooking our pinkies together.

I frowned at my three fingers. “Which one?”

“Oh. Oops.” She closed one hand into a fist and held it out with a sheepish grin. “Sorry. Forgot.”

I fist-bumped her. “It’s okay. I like fist bumps.”

“I know you do. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

I followed her through the lobby but paused at the door. “I think I’ll go up to my room.”

Riley turned with a frown. “Did you and Sam fall out?”

I stared across the plaza and took a slow breath. “No. It’s his day off.”

“Oh. Right. No mediocre espresso for you,” she said with a wink that made me smile despite myself. “See you tomorrow, then?”

“See you tomorrow.”

Only when Riley disappeared did it dawn on me. She’d called me her friend. My system buzzed as I went up to my room. But when I opened my door, the urge to turn and go outside hit me, shattering that pleasant feeling.

Spending all those afternoons with Sam had been wonderful—too wonderful. The silence in my room was deafening now his family had returned, and he could no longer stay as long as he pleased. I missed him, even though I’d see him after dinner.

I wasn’t sure he missed me.

When the children had video-called him from their grandparents’ place, he’d introduced them all to me when he didn’t have to. He could have turned away, left me out of view, but he hadn’t flinched when Charlie waved at me or when Ella asked why I was purple.

But his mood had changed after their question about meeting me. He hadn’t even looked at me, just told them I was leaving soon. It hurt. Like he was already writing me out of his life while I’d been hoping we could continue seeing each other after the ball.

Hadn’t I told him I liked it here? Every glimpse of the Princedelphia he loved and grew up in made me want to stay more—despite the noise.

It made coming back to stay in one of the renovated rooms more and more appealing.

Yes, I had duties to attend to and projects that needed my attention, but the more time Sam and I spent together, the more I thought about leaving the island.

Frank seemed to enjoy living in Seattle.

But if Sam didn’t want me…

I sank to the floor and wrapped my fingers around the socket. I didn’t understand. He still came over. We walked, had sex, talked… Why would he do that if he didn’t want more?

Had I misunderstood him? Misread his intentions? Or perhaps I hadn’t been clear enough. Perhaps he thought I was just going back home and would forget all about him.

My mind spun with pros, cons, and maybes. Possibilities. Fear. Failure. But the worst failure would be leaving and always regretting not trying.

I pinged Frank. He answered barely a second later.

::Clever sibling of mine. I don’t think I’ve ever managed to fool our mins the way you did. Min-Oliver is already planning a meeting with the coders, confident he’ll convince you to reveal your secret.::

::I would.:: If not for him, then for Niren.

::Good to hear. Kaia is looking forward to this masquerade ball. Not sure I like what she wants me to wear. So restrictive.::

I should have thought about that. “Can she send me links, preferably local?”

::She’ll be delighted. She’ll even choose an outfit for you if you let her.::

It would save me time. And she did have good taste. ::Tell her I said yes.::

::Wise choice. Now, I doubt you pinged me about outfit choices.::

::I wanted to ask you about living in Seattle. How do you manage your duties from there?::

It took Frank a while to answer. When he finally did, instead of teasing me, he sent, ::Min-Tess told me to expect questions. I thought it would be years before you considered moving off the island. I think I can guess the reason.::

He’d no doubt be right. Considering they’d meet Sam and his family at the ball, it was pointless to keep it a secret.

::I met someone who makes me want to stay.

:: Though I needed to stay for myself. I understood that.

It was going to be hard to remain in Princedelphia if Sam didn’t want a relationship with me, but I had to try.

I could feel Frank’s smile through our bond. ::Is he handsome?::

::Gorgeous. Kind. You’ll like him. He’s vibrant, like you and Kaia. Thrives on chaos. He’s like the eye of any storm.:: I let out a breath. I loved him.

Frank continued, oblivious to the shift in my system. ::Then I look forward to meeting him. Does he know about your plans?: :

::Not yet.:: But I’d tell him if it looked like he might be open to seeing more of me.

I loved him.

While my system thrummed, Frank told me what he liked about living in Seattle—other than Kaia—proving he enjoyed interacting with people far more than I did.

::You’ll have to get used to living among humans.

That’ll be the hardest part for you. Travel and work won’t change, just where we’re traveling from. ::

The more he spoke, the more his stories made me think of working with Rick and Riley, of Sam and his family, listening to humans at the café. How much I’d grown used to humans in these past months—more than I’d ever thought possible.

When Frank asked me what I liked most about Princedelphia, my heart skipped a beat, and I almost said Sam. Instead, I mentioned the café. ::The baristas and the machines make me feel welcome.:: Which was true, but it sounded off, even to my ears. Yet, Frank let me get away with it.

::Machines always did like you,:: he sent, with a hint of curiosity.

That made me smile, and this time, I didn’t hold back my feelings. ::They like Sam, too.:: And I loved him. ::I can hear the difference in the machines when another barista works with them.::

Frank’s teasing sizzled along our bond. ::Sam. Short. Strong. I like it. I can’t wait to meet him and his family.::

That set my nerves frazzling up and down my system, even after he closed our connection.

I could have escaped to my balcony, escaped into my drawings. Instead, I pinged our mins.

I had plans to make.