Holly and Her Naughty eReader (15 page)

Chapter 15

“Vivian Halloway,” I said. “She
reserved a room last night.”

“No ma’am. I’m sorry. I do see
the reservation but it was never fulfilled,” said the boy at the front desk.

We were at the Durango Lodge,
where Vivian’s online credit card statement told us we’d find her. The boy at
the front desk looked no older than 18. He spoke to us with only the mildest of
interest in what we were asking.

“I don’t understand what you’re
saying. She never arrived?”

“That’s correct,” said the boy.

“But she made a reservation.”

“Perhaps she’ll arrive later
today,” the boy said. “Would you like for me to leave a message for her.”

Simultaneously, Max answered
“Yes” and I answered “No.” Max looked at me with a cute smirk on his face.

“Why don’t we want to leave her
a message?”

“Because as soon as…”

I didn’t want to finish that
thought with the boy at the front desk listening in.

“Let’s go outside,” I said to
Max, then, turning to the boy, “Thanks for your help.”

“Anytime,” the boy said.

Outside, I explained to Max that
Vivian was running from us.

“If she knows we were here,
she’ll disappear again,” I said.

“But why is she running?” said
Max.

Because she has my magic Kindle and it gives her access to dozens of
beautiful men who want to make passionate love to her including one man who
uses magic to give her earth-shattering, life-changing, mind-blowing orgasms.

No, coming clean to Max wasn’t
an option. If I told him the truth he would take me home and tell me to a call
a shrink, and right now I needed him and his access to Vivian’s credit card.

“You’re going to have to trust
me, Max. What I saw from her last night…she’s a danger to herself. She’s
totally snapped. Maybe she was working too hard. We need to find her. Maybe
there’s another clue on her credit card. Can you get in there again?”

“Yes, of course,” Max said. He
walked across the parking lot and pulled Vivian’s laptop from the back seat of
the Explorer. We went back into the hotel lobby to use their Wi-Fi. Max brought
up Vivian’s credit card account.

“Looks like there are three new
charges since we left,” Max said. He turned the screen towards me.

“Magpies, Appaloosa, La Plata,”
I read aloud. I grabbed the laptop, walked it to the front counter, and set it
down in front of the boy. “Do you recognize any of these places?” I said,
pointing at the three new charges.

“Magpies, Appaloosa…yes, these
are all shops on the plaza,” he said.

“The plaza? You mean she’s
shopping?”

“I….don’t know what this is,
ma’am,” said the boy.

“Let’s go to the plaza and have
a look,” said Max.

“Yeah, I guess we should,” I
said, shaking my head. It didn’t make any sense that Vivian would stop to go
shopping. That was time she could have been in the Kindle.

Still, we knew she wasn’t at the
hotel and it was all we had, so Max and I drove to downtown Durango and started
walking the plaza like a couple of tourists. We went to Magpies. We went to
Appaloosa. We went to La Plata. We went into candle stores and bookstores and
boutiques and coffee shops. We stood in the center and looked for her. We used
a picture of her on Max’s phone to ask people if they’d seen her.

We came up empty, and the laptop
told us nothing new. After her unfilled reservation at Durango Lodge and her
strange shopping spree at the Plaza, Vivian’s credit card went silent.

As the sun began to set, we
plopped down on a bench in front of a bronze horse sculpture, exhausted from
the fruitless search. I was tired and starving and now we had to think about
getting back home. As if on cue, my stomach growled and I turned, red-faced, to
Max.

“Uh, sorry, I think I need to
eat. It’s been a long day.”

Max smiled, nodding at a
restaurant attached to a hotel behind us. I shrugged and stood up, stretching
my arms above my head. My shirt rode up, exposing a sliver of my torso. I
caught Max’s eyes darting towards my midriff and then quickly back up to my
face. He coughed nervously and started walking to the restaurant.

An older gentleman in a blue and
red bowtie was behind the host-stand at the entrance of the restaurant.

“Two tonight?” he asked Max.

“Yes, please.”

“Ah, wonderful, we have a
perfect spot for a young, lovely couple like you. Very romantic.” Before either
of us could protest, the host led us to a small table near the back of the
restaurant. It was in a little alcove all its own. A candle and a little vase
with a rose adorned the cloth-covered table. I started to feel uncomfortable.
The vibe was decidedly date-like, and I was not on a date with Max.

“Sit,” Max commanded as he held
out my chair. His bossy tone wasn’t as welcome as it had been earlier in the
day, but I did as he instructed.

We sat for a moment in silence,
perusing the menu. Our waitress, a pixie-like young woman with short blond hair
and enormous blue eyes hopped to our table. She looked at Max for a beat too
long, her eyelashes batting furiously, before addressing us both. “Do you know
what you want to eat?” She chewed on the end of her pen as she angled her body
towards Max.

Well alright then. I guess he’ll order first.

“Yes, she’ll have the filet
mignon, medium, and salad. I’ll have the swordfish. And bring a bottle of the
Malbec.” He closed his menu with an air of finality and handed it over to the
now practically swooning girl. I desperately wanted to chew him out…I mean,
ordering for me, really? But my jaw wouldn’t close fast enough and the young
waitress scooped up my menu and flitted off before I could say a word.

“Max? What the hell?”

“Hmm?” He looked up from the
table. He had been staring at my hand.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh, I would’ve liked to order
my own food, that’s what’s wrong.”

 
“You looked like you could use a good meal. Do
you not eat meat? We can call her back…”

Ugh. He wasn’t getting it. And
to be honest, a steak sounded perfect. I decided to let it go. I tilted my
head, looking at Max as he watched my hand, still on the table, with rapt
attention.

“What are you staring at?”

“Your hand. You have really
beautiful hands.” He looked up again, not shy or tentative, but with the same
intensity I saw when he brought me a Bloody Mary this morning. He looked like
he wanted to say more but our waitress was back with our wine. She poured him a
glass and watched intently as he went through all the sniffing and tasting of a
proper wine snob.

How strange it was to see Max
Brody, the quiet kid from high school, having turned into this man. Totally
different than what I expected. I mean…from what Vivian told me, this was a guy
who had just gone through a brutal divorce that had left him penniless.

And then I wondered who would be
paying for dinner. I had entered expecting us to split it, but now Max was
ordering for me and sniffing at a glass of expensive wine and generally acting
like a guy on a date.

Or maybe like a guy who stood up
a girl on a date ten years before, and was hoping for a chance to make it up to
her.

The waitress filled Max’s glass
first before begrudgingly turning to me and splashing a bit my way. Rude.

I guess Max has a new fan
, I thought, not surprised. He was looking
particularly yummy on this night, with his five o’clock shadow and tightly
fitting shirt that showed off his surprisingly sinewy arms and chest and…

Hang on there, Holly. You are NOT on a date with Max Brody.

Max swirled his wine around
before taking a big gulp. I realized that I finished my glass in record time.
When did that happen? Max refilled both our glasses, then lifted his stem for a
toast.

 
“To road trips, charming dining companions,
and looking out for our friends,” he said with a wink before tilting his glass
to mine.

“Yes, to our friends,” I said
before clinking my glass with his. What was going on here?

Our food arrived and my steak
was perfect. I didn’t mention that to Max. Our conversation was light and
limited, as we both practically inhaled our meals. Somehow, the wine bottle
emptied out before I was done and, judging by the lightness in my head, I figured
I had something to do with it. The waitress came with dessert. I said no. Max
said yes…to glasses of brandy…for both of us.

I have to admit, it was a lot of
fun to drink a syrupy sweet wine with Max after dinner. Whatever this was, it
was nice.

Old feelings from ten years past
were gushing forth with the last sip of brandy. A clueless 18-year-old crushing
on Max Brody.

I practically raced out of the
restaurant as Max settled the bill that he quite forcefully insisted on paying.

Whatever, I thought. He ordered.
He can pick up the check.

I’m not on a date with Max. Right?

I was leaning against the metal
railing outside a used bookstore across the way when he emerged from the
restaurant. His stride was confident, cocky even, he looked taller somehow. In
that moment, Max looked even hotter than my hottest high school daydreams about
him, and I swore never to drink in his presence again. I was this close to
putting a poster of him up on my wall. He could go right between Lebron and
Kobe.

“Hey, you okay? You look a
little worried.”

Huh. So he noticed that.

“Nah, I’m fine. Probably had too
much wine. Thanks for dinner, Max, it was really good.”

I’m okay, I’m okay, I’m okay. Act normal.

“Listen, it’s really late. I’m
exhausted, and I know you must be too. Let’s just stay here tonight, okay? I
checked with the host at the restaurant and he said the hotel should have
space. “

I paused for a moment, thinking
over his idea. We’d been drinking. Albuquerque was hours away. I needed a bath
and bed.

“Yeah, I think you’re right.
Let’s just stay here tonight. I’ll try calling Viv again in the morning.”

As I turned to the hotel, my toe
caught a crack in the sidewalk. The wine wasn’t helping matters with my already
iffy coordination and I began a belly flop to the concrete when Max grabbed me
by the waist. He arms were tight around me as he brought me back to my feet, as
if I weighed nothing at all.

“Oh my God,” I said. “I nearly…”

“You’re fine,” Max said.

“Yes, I am. Thanks.”

I felt so embarrassed. And so
incredibly turned on.

His hands were still on me, big
and warm and holding me tight. He hung on longer than necessary. I looked up
and found his face just a few inches from my own. I think I stopped breathing.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, just supremely clumsy. And
maybe a little drunk,” I confessed, wishing he would take his hands off me so I
could think straight and wishing he would never, ever take his hands off me.
Who needs to think anyway?

“Let’s go get a room.” He
cleared his throat. “Ah, rooms.”

“Mmhmm.” That’s all I had to
say. I was trying not to look at him. My high school crush was back with a
vengeance. Except now it came with new adults-only fantasies, fantasies made
more vivid by two days with a magic eReader.

Oh Max, the things we could do together,
I thought
. I’ve had some pretty darn good teachers
these past few days.

No. I must stop this. I am not on a date.

Chapter 16

I woke up early the next morning
and checked my phone for messages from Vivian, hopeful that wherever she was,
she had come to her senses. No texts, no voicemails, no emails. It was only by
force of habit that I brought up Facebook. I never would have expected her to
contact me there, and when I saw her name in my alerts, I had to read it twice
to make sure it wasn’t my imagination.

Message from Vivian Halloway.

I opened it.

Hi Holly. I want you to know I’m okay. I’m sorry I ran off with your
Kindle. I guess I lost my head a bit. That thing is dangerously addictive, as
you know all too well.

That’s why I’ve decided to destroy it.

“No,” I whispered.

You and I both know it had to go,
her message continued.
It wasn’t safe. You get inside that thing
and it’s hard to come out again. You start losing track of reality. Had I kept
the Kindle around, it would have destroyed us both. So this morning I set it on
the ground and ran over it with my car.

“No, no, no! Vivian, why? You
didn’t have to do that!”

Tears were welling in my eyes as
I yelled at the screen. I felt like an unspeakable tragedy had just occurred,
like I was reading the confession of a murderer.

I hope you can understand why I had to do this, Holly. I imagine you
might be angry with me at the moment. I certainly have a lot of conflicting
emotions. I am going to take a vacation for a while. I suggest you do the same.
We don’t have to speak to each other again. Maybe it’s better if we don’t. Good
luck to you, Holly. Have a nice life.

And that was it. The message was
over.

My Kindle was gone. Christoph
was gone.

It wasn’t just that I would
never see him again—it was the thought of what it meant to Christoph and
Annabelle and Blair and everyone else I met in there. They were more than
characters on a page. They were living, breathing people, an entire universe of
characters and places and Vivian had crunched them all under the weight of her
car.

I couldn’t bear to imagine what
I it was like for them. Their whole world—wiped out in an instant. They were
the citizens of Pompeii, or Krakatoa, or Atlantis. If my Kindle was the planet Alderaan
then Vivian’s car was the Death Star, its tire the blast ray that made millions
of voices cry out in terror before they were suddenly silenced.