Under His Command (For His Pleasure, Book 17) (21 page)

She was getting tired, and so was Elijah.

Worse yet, she was compulsively checking her cell phone. The texts from Jayson had stopped for the time being, but then she’d received some from her roommates.

Now, she was getting worried, because the texts had changed from
hey, what’s
going on?
To
WHERE R U GIRL????

It was only a matter of time before someone called the police, or the school, or her parents were notified. She needed to do some damage control.

Finally, she opted to call Alicia rather than wait for the inevitable freak out from friends and family when they discovered she was gone.

Alicia answered on the first ring, as if she’d been waiting by her phone. “Caelyn, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said.

Elijah looked at her, curious. She hadn’t told him she was going to call anyone back home.

“We thought you’d decided to stay at Jayson’s, but then Nellie said she saw Jayson at the union and he hadn’t seen you since the other night. I was starting to freak out.”

“I’m fine,” Caelyn told her again.

“Oh. Where are you?”

There was a long pause as Caelyn debated how to answer that question. Finally, she opted for the truth. “I’m in Florida,” she said.

“Wait—what? I didn’t hear you. I thought for a second you said Florida.”

“I did say Florida.”

“I don’t get it.”

Caelyn sighed. “I left. I’m not coming back to school, Alicia.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense. The semester’s not even over. If you just take off, you’re going to flunk everything.”

“I know it doesn’t make any sense, but it’s what I had to do.”

“Why?”

“I can’t…I don’t want to talk about it. I just needed to leave.”

“Come on, Caelyn. This is totally crazy. You can’t just leave and go to Florida.

What are you going to do there?”

“I don’t know,” Caelyn said. “I’m hoping to get a job waitressing.”

“Why Florida?” Alicia said. And then she moaned. “Oh my God, is this because of that stupid postcard my mom sent? You’ve been obsessed with Siesta Key ever since.

I should never have let you keep that thing. It’s cursed. That’s why I threw it out.”

“It’s not cursed,” Caelyn said, almost laughing.

“Everything my mother touches is cursed.”

“Listen, I’m fine. I’ll talk more about it in a few days.”

“You need to seriously think about what you’re doing. You could screw up your whole life, doing this. Are you alone?”

Caelyn looked over at Elijah and smiled. “Not exactly…but look, Alicia. I called because I didn’t want you to worry.”

“Well mission not accomplished. I’m more worried than ever.”

“I have to go. I’m sorry. I’ll call you tomorrow or the day after.”

“Caelyn, seriously. Don’t do this!”

“I’ll call you later,” she repeated. And then she hung up.

***

By the time they reached Sarasota, neither of them were quite as jubilant as they’d been previously. The weather was almost stiflingly hot, and they’d also passed through a couple of brief torrential showers that hadn’t lasted long, but had made it difficult for Elijah to drive.

Florida was beautiful, and Caelyn was excited that they’d finally arrived safe and sound. At the same time, there were a few big question marks floating around, now that they were getting close to their destination.

Elijah had asked Caelyn to call around to the various hotels and motels in the area and try to book something cheap. “For both of us?” she’d said.

He’d just looked at her. “You tell me.”

She’d shrugged in return. “I…I guess. I’m not sure what’s going on.”

She’d hoped that perhaps he would tell her what he wanted to do. After all, they’d only just met and it hardly made sense for them to try and live together out in Florida.

“Are you going to be working out here?” she’d asked him.

“I’ll figure something out.”

And that had been that.

After calling a dozen places and starting to lose hope, she’d finally found them a relatively cheap room at a place called The Seaside Motel, which apparently was close to the main drag on Siesta Key. The cost was just over one hundred dollars a night, which Elijah had said was acceptable—and besides, there weren’t many other places available in the area.

Caelyn’s spirits momentarily lifted as they crossed the bridge taking them over to Siesta Key. There was beautiful blue water on either side of the bridge, and palm trees, and boats in the distance. There were brightly colored houses and buildings, and for a second, she really thought they’d found paradise.

“Just like the postcard,” Elijah had mused.

“It is, isn’t it? Maybe even better than the postcard,” she’d smiled.

“We’ll need to check out that beach before long.”

They pulled into The Seaside Motel as the sun was starting to dip in the sky. The motel looked like something out of the nineteen seventies. Everything was wooden, and old, and the paint on the signage looked as though it had needed repainting…probably for the last decade or so.

Neither of them really cared at this point. They both just wanted out of the car, and maybe to have a place to dump their bags and stretch their legs.

Elijah checked in and then they climbed some rickety steps to the second floor of the motel. Their feet slapped and echoed on the catwalk as they made their way to the room.

Inside, it smelled vaguely musty, but Elijah forced a window open and some nice, breezy ocean air helped to clean out the room.

It was small, with only one bed, a tiny TV, ancient wallpaper and even more ancient, stained carpeting. The bathroom had painful florescent lighting that turned Caelyn’s skin green when she looked in the mirror.

“Home sweet home,” she said to Elijah, as she came out.

He was sitting on the bed, looking glum.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“Yeah.” But he looked not okay. He glanced around the room. “Maybe we should get out of here, check out the beach. Want to?”

“Sure, why not?” she said. In actuality, she wanted a shower and a nap, but Caelyn could tell that Elijah needed to get out and move, and she didn’t want to say no to his idea.

They left the room and walked out of the parking lot, onto the main road. “I think the beach is only a half mile down,” Elijah said, pointing.

There were other people on the road, some walking, others with their dogs, or riding bicycles. “Everyone looks happy here,” Caelyn said, “don’t you think?”

“More so than Boston,” he agreed. “But other than New York, I don’t think any place on earth has moodier, crankier people.”

She laughed. “True. Everyone I see around here is smiling.” Then she looked at Elijah. He wasn’t smiling at all.

The two of them fell silent and walked for a while more. Soon, they reached the beach parking lot. It was less than half full. “It’s getting dark,” Elijah said, “so most people probably took off already. We’ll get the place to ourselves, right?”

They crossed the street and then found the pathway down to the beach. She could hear the ocean as they walked, and then she could see it—a powdered sugar beach with palm trees waving, and blue water crashing against the sand.

It took her breath away. The sun was setting over the water, casting brilliant flashes of color across the sky.

“It’s amazing,” she said, coming to a stop at the very edge of the beach.

Elijah stood with her and took in the scene. “Yeah, it really is. Makes the drive worth it.”

She took off her shoes and let the sand squelch in between her toes. “Oh, wow, this sand feels amazing. It’s soft and cool, like a velvet glove.”

“You sound poetic,” he said, throwing back her earlier remark to him. Then he took his shoes off, too.

They started walking towards the water.

There were other couples walking down by the water, Caelyn noticed. And then she checked herself.
Other
couples, Caelyn? You and Elijah are not a couple. You’ve
never even kissed. Sure, he’s totally gorgeous, and he’s been sweet and caring, but he
hasn’t shown an ounce of interest in taking this beyond a friendship.

Her thoughts were spinning as they walked together by the water. It was magical, romantic—it was everything she could have asked for.

But part of her couldn’t totally enjoy it. She kept glancing at Elijah and wondering what he was thinking. He seemed pensive and quiet, not as happy as she’d expected him to be.

Maybe it was because he understood that something had to change now that they’d finally arrived in Siesta Key, or maybe it was because he also felt something for her.

She almost made a joke about holding hands, since almost everyone else was doing it—but the moment passed. She lost her nerve.

After they’d walked for a long stretch, Elijah declared himself hungry. “Want to grab some food? I think there’s a bunch of places on the main drag,” he said.

“Sure.” And truth be told, she also wanted to check out the bars and restaurants because she was hoping to scrounge up some work. She needed to make money fast or she would be out of options.

They found the strip easily enough. It was just down the road from the beach, not even a mile from where their hotel was located. It was getting busy now that they were hitting dinnertime.

There were fewer restaurants and bars than she’d imagined, just a handful really.

It made her wonder if finding work out here would be as easy as she’d assumed.

And it wasn’t as if she had an incredible resume, either, just a couple years of waiting tables at Friendly’s in high school.

They walked past an ice cream shop with a line out the door, and a cute little breakfast place with a broken egg on the sign—an oyster bar, another bar with live music floating into the street.

“How about this place?” Elijah asked.

It was called Mean Margaritas, and it was big, with a lot of outdoor seating.

Plenty of people were eating and drinking, but there seemed to be room for more.

“Sounds good,” she said. “Let’s eat.”

They went inside and a girl who looked no older then eighteen sat them at a small table looking out onto the strip. A moment later, their waitress stopped by and asked if they wanted drinks.

Elijah ordered a Coke and she ordered a diet Coke. The waitress left, and then they were quiet again. Elijah was looking out on the street. Tourists strolled past—some with children in tow, others in rowdy groups, looking for action.

“So, what’s your plan now?” she said, finally. “I mean, you must have had a reason to come to Florida, right?”

Elijah nodded, but didn’t meet her gaze. “Of course.”

She wanted to ask him what exactly that reason was. After all, he knew a lot more about her than she knew about him at this point.

But he seemed to be putting a wall up—she sensed that he didn’t want to talk about it. He didn’t want to talk about anything, apparently.

The waitress brought them their drinks, as Elijah and Caelyn studied the menus.

“I think I’m going to get the Mean Burger,” she said.

“Same,” Elijah replied.

“Great. And how would you like that burger cooked?” she asked.

“I’d like mine medium well,” he said.

“Same for me,” Caelyn added.

“Oh, you two are cute. I love when couples get the same meal—me and my boyfriend have totally different tastes,” the waitress laughed, before taking their menus and walking off.

Elijah grinned at her. “Here we go again,” he said. The moment seemed to have loosened him up. He took a big swig of his soda and leaned back in his chair. “I could get used to this,” he said.

Caelyn nodded agreement.

The food was really good, but by the end of dinner she was ready to call it a night.

Everything was catching up to her now, and she felt heavy with food—and most of all, tired.

The waitress brought the check and Caelyn went to pick it up.

“No way,” Elijah said.

“Let me pay just this once,” Caelyn cried, trying to take the check.

The waitress laughed, watching them argue over it.

Elijah grabbed it out of her hands. “Listen, I got this. You can pay me back when you get a job.”

“Oh, come on—you don’t have a job either,” she said.

“Well, I don’t need one right now.”

The waitress looked at Caelyn. “You’re looking for work?” she said.

Caelyn waved her hand at Elijah, shaking her head. “Yes, I’m currently looking,”

she said.

“What kind of work?”

“Anything. I thought maybe waitressing,” she said, grimacing as she said it. She was half-expecting the waitress to laugh and tell her how impossible it was to find waitressing jobs around the area.

“Well, you might just be in luck then,” the woman told her. “We’re actually hiring right now. We lost a couple of girls last week and Kenzie is looking to replace them right away.”

Caelyn straightened up, feeling suddenly more awake. “Really?”

“Yeah. If you want, I’ll introduce you to her before you go.”

“Oh, wow, that would be awesome.”

The waitress grinned. “Well, I am pretty awesome.” She nodded to the check.

“I’ll come back for that in a minute,” she said, and then turned and left.

Caelyn turned to Elijah. “Wow, wasn’t that so cool?” she said.

He nodded. “Yeah,” he said, but not very enthusiastically. “Very cool.”

“Is something wrong?”

He took a final sip of his soda. “Nope.” And then he took out his billfold, counted out the money, and put it with the tab. “We’re good.” He stood up. “I’m gonna hit the bathroom,” he said.

She watched him go, puzzled by his behavior. Maybe he’s just tired, she thought.

But she knew that couldn’t explain all of it. He’d been acting strangely ever since they’d gotten to town.

While he was away, the waitress came back to pick up the bill, and she brought Kenzie with her. Kenzie was short, with dirty blond hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was pretty, but her face was sort of weathered, and she had a look in her eye that said she didn’t want to be messed with. “I hear you’re looking for a waitressing gig,” Kenzie said, sticking out her hand.