Chapter 15

Kaitlyn’s POV

I stand in the elevator, waiting for the other people to settle inside. When it finally arrived at my floor, I excused myself from the people inside and got out. I headed to the hotel room which I’m sharing with Mia. She told me I could stay, which makes my job just a million times easier. Hopefully in the time we spend together in that confined space, I get her to trust me which eventually leads to her opening up, which leads her to telling me everything.

I open the door and make my way to the living room area. I was met with Mia, who was staring at the wall. Her elbows on her knees, gauze wrapped around her hands. What the hell happened to her? “Hey,” I say before shutting the door behind me. No response from her, she stayed still like a statue.

I sat on the chair beside the couch, studying her expression momentarily. My brows furrowed as I saw the emptiness in her face. “Mia?” I leaned forward slightly, that got her attention. She glances at me before swallowing hard. She clears her throat and looks down at her hands.

“Is everything alright?” I ask softly, treading lightly because she seemed out of it right now. She lets out a shaky breath before looking at me again. Her expression is still filled with that same emptiness. She lets out a frustrated noise before standing up and heading to the bedroom. She closes the door and that’s the last I see of her. Well, that’s that.

I decided to leave it be for now, maybe she needs some space. I decided to call reception and order room service since I haven’t eaten yet. Before I do that, I should ask Mia if she wants some too. She doesn’t look like she’s eaten. I knocked on the bedroom door and waited for her to open it, but nothing happened. I knocked again, maybe she didn’t hear me. No answer again. Is this girl just ignoring me tonight or what? I decided to just go inside and she was nowhere to be found.

The sound of rushing water spills out from the bathroom, echoing softly into the empty bedroom. I guess she’s taking a shower. I look back at the bed and find an overnight bag on it. I glance to the bathroom door before glancing back at the bag. She’s still in the shower, she must take a while, right?

I take a step forward and reach for the bag. I open it and find nothing but clothes, and a laptop at the bottom. A laptop. I’m not stupid, it probably has a password or something so I’m not even gonna try and open that. Especially with my limited time. I need to get that laptop when it’s open. The amount of evidence that laptop could be filled with can be enough to put her in prison.

I hear the shower turn off and I quickly put everything back the way I found it. I left the bedroom before heading to the phone to call reception and order food. I’ll just order for the both of us, she did it last night anyway.

I thought Mia would be an asshole, maybe she is. No, she definitely is. But she’s been quite nice ever since she got me this hotel room. She got me a room, told me to stay, got me food, seriously what has gotten into her? I thought she’d just kill me after sleeping with Andrea. Speaking of, I haven’t heard from her since Mia found us in bed together. I wonder how she’s doing.

The sliding door opens and reveals Mia who is now in a hoodie and shorts. Wow, it is definitely unusual seeing her in something comfortable for once. She pays no attention to me and just makes her way to the balcony.

“Hey, I.. ordered us some room service.” The words came out before I even thought about it. It made her stop in her tracks and turn to face me. “Thank you, Prescott.” She gave me a forced smile and headed towards the balcony.

“Is everything okay?” She stops in her tracks again but doesn’t face me this time. She looks annoyed by my question. “I’m sorry, you just seemed out of it earlier.” She ignored me and went out onto the balcony. I decided to follow her.

I went out to the balcony and shut the door behind me. I see Mia leaning back on the wall and looking up at the sky. “Leave me alone, Prescott, I’m not in the mood to talk.” Her tone was tone deaf, cold as ice.

“Okay, just one question,” I start and she turns her head to look at me. She looked pissed, like she was one more sentence away from throwing me off the ledge. “How drunk was I the night you found me?” Something clearly happened, and what better way to make her forget about it than giving her an open opportunity to make fun of me.

She looks at me for a very long moment, but I see the corners of her lips turning up slightly. She lets out a huff and shakes her head. “Drunk. Very drunk.” Her gaze followed me as I stood in front of her, leaning back slightly on the railing.

“No, very drunk would be throwing up. I didn’t throw up, did I?” A smirk grew on my lips and a small, rare smile broke through her cold expression. “No, if you did I wouldn’t have gotten you a room.”

A dry laugh escapes my throat. “So this room is like a reward then? For not throwing up?” She laughs, like a real genuine laugh. It’s my first time hearing her laugh that isn’t mocking or sarcastic. “Sure, you can call it that.”

I’m getting through to her, she’s not so cold now. Thank god, otherwise dinner would’ve been awkward. “How did you see me anyway? I was there for hours and I didn’t see you once.” She studied me for a moment, looking at my eyes. She really loves eye contact. Is this her way to intimidate people or what?

“I was on the second floor and I don’t know…” She trails off and puts her hands, her hands wrapped in gauze, inside the pocket of her hoodie. “You’re quite hard to miss, Prescott.” She tilts her head slightly, still looking into my eyes.

I feel heat rushing to my cheeks and look away. She really has a way with words, doesn’t she? “You know, I left a really beautiful brunette for you that night.” That got my attention back to her.

A scoff left my lips. I put a hand over my heart and acted shocked. “Oh my- Wow, I am so honored.” I say sarcastically which makes her smile grow. “Yeah, you should be.” Her words don’t have the usual bite it does though, it’s clear she’s joking.

“Well, thank you.” She lets out a huff, but I really meant it. “Seriously, thank you for taking care of me that night.” Her smile fades away slowly, but her expression wasn’t back to its cold one. It was softer now.

“I didn’t really take care of you, you were passed out and I just-” I cut her off immediately. “No yeah, I know. But not everyone would’ve done what you did. Who knows what would’ve happened to me if someone else found me.” She gives me a small nod.

“As I said, basic human decency. Or as people would call it, bare minimum.” She slightly leans forward on her last words. It is bare minimum I guess, but not everyone does the bare minimum, or even has basic human decency. At least she’s got some.

“Really, Thank you.” She licks her lips before pressing her lips into a thin line, she raises her brows at me. “You’re actually really nice, besides the illegal shit you do of course.” My tone was playful, but I had other intentions with my words. Hopefully to get her to tell me the illegal shit she does.

“Woah, what illegal shit? I am as innocent as they come.” She plays it off, but she isn’t fooling anyone. “Yeah sure. Look, I’m not a cop anymore, you no longer have to play dumb with me.” She blinks before narrowing her eyes at me as a smirk grows on her lips.

We were then interrupted by a knock on the door, that’s our food. She pushes herself off the wall and opens the door. She gestured for me to go first and so I did. I went to the door and was met by the person bringing our food. I led him in and told him to leave the food on the kitchen counter. As the guy was about to leave, Mia comes from the bedroom and hands him a tip.

I sit down on one of the highchairs placed near the kitchen counter and sit down. I chose pasta tonight, since we had a burger already last night. She didn’t sit beside me, but instead leaned against one of the kitchen counters in the kitchen. She rolled up the sleeves of her hoodie which then revealed the gauze wrapped around her hands again. She picked up the bowl on one hand, the fork in the other.

“Okay, I have to ask. What the hell happened to your hands?” I take a bite of my food and she pays no attention to me, her eyes focused on her food. “And don’t ignore me or give me the bullshit excuse of “you punched your wall.” We both know that’s not true” That earns a laugh from her as she chews her food.

“If I tell you you won’t believe me.” She shakes her head, still focusing on her food as if it were the most interesting thing in this room. “Try me.”

She glances at me and takes a step forward. “Okay fine.” I rested my elbows on the counter and leaned forward. “I beat up a punching bag with no gloves.” I let out a scoff. Seriously? Who is she kidding?

“Right, and punching bag is a code word for..?” She lets out a sigh and takes a step back, leaning against the counter again. “I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” She returns to eating, focusing her attention back on her food.

“Can you blame me? Who’s dumb enough to not wear gloves when doing shit like that?” My tone was filled with disbelief. We’re no longer in the interrogation room, she doesn’t have to lie to me anymore.

“I get violent when I’m angry. You of all people should know that, you know since you interrogated me once for punching a hole in my wall.” She says in a playful tone. “Please, we both know it wasn’t a wall you beat up. That’s such a stupid alibi.” I spit out, frustration building up inside me because who the hell actually gets away with such a stupid alibi such as that?

“It worked, did it not?” Her eyes then locked with mine. I tilt my head and look down on my food. She basically admits to beating those two guys up. Oh my god, I’m actually getting somewhere with her. She puts her bowl down and makes her way to me. Damn, is she done with her food already? I barely even started.

“Listen Prescott, I may be bullshitting back then but right now I’m telling the truth.” She goes beside the chair I’m on. She puts a hand to the counter, putting her weight on it and leaning closer to me. I was about to say something as I turned to face her. But I was at a loss for words when I realized how close our faces were, they were inches apart. “Besides, if I really beat someone up my fists would be bloody.” She lifts one of her hands up to show me, but my eyes don’t leave hers. She keeps her eyes on me, and I keep my eyes on hers.

I just now realize how hazel her eyes are. Beneath all that lethal composure, there’s a mesmerizing warmth in her gaze that gets my full attention, instantly erasing every single thought in my head.

“See? No blood.” She whispers and I feel goosebumps erupt on my body. She keeps her gaze on me a moment longer before giving me a smile. She pushes herself off the counter and walks into the bedroom. I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding.

I go back to my food and continue eating. Okay fine, maybe this time she didn’t beat up someone. But still, why wouldn’t she wear gloves? She’s one of the smartest criminals I know and she doesn’t bother wearing gloves? That can really fuck up her hands. You know what, this isn’t even my problem why am I thinking about this?

What I should be thinking about is the fact that she basically told me she made up the alibi about beating those two guys up at the bar. She told me something. It’s not something I can hold against her since I didn’t exactly record it nor is it good enough proof, but it’s a start to getting her to trust me. I’m actually making some decent progress.