Friday.”
We are all still standing in the doorway/hallway. I’m not even sure if Troy saw anyone but Antonio and me.
I step into the room with Antonio, and Troy faces us with a changed expression. He is trying to be pleasant. “What’s with the bodyguard?”Troy chuckles.
“It’s boyfriend, asshole!” Antonio retorts sinisterly.
“Oh well, pardon me,” Troy hisses sardonically .
There is a charge of male electricity in the room, raw and feral.
“Didn’t my father call you?” I ask him, trying to defuse the glowering males in the small room.
“No.”
“Oh,” I say, surprised. “I’m going to be visiting longer than expected. Erin is here too.”
I swivel around to the doorway, but she’s not there. I step back into the hall, a little flustered. Leaning against the wall is Erin, and she is staring at the floor. Vito is standing next to her. He shakes his head at me and I understand. She doesn’t want to go into Troy’s room. I can sympathizewith her not wanting to see Troy; he does look a lot like Connor.
Troy tries to follow me, but Antonio stops him with a hand on his chest. “I don’t think she wants to see you dude.” Wow, Antonio is very intuitive.
“Last I heard, the O’Neill’s put an end to your little fairytale,” Troy says vehemently to Antonio. Antonio’s posturing at the comment sizzles the atmosphere, and his upbringing rears its head.
“Meg...?” Troyasks frustrated. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”Troy scrubs his hand down his face. I snap back into the room not wanting a fight.
“There’s been some trouble, Troy. We need to stay here for awhile. My father sent us here,” I tell him trying to calm the situation.
“I don’t think we’ll all fit,” Troy spitsacerbically and gestures to his small room. Antonio steps forward, and I cringe.
“We’re staying at the guest suites on campus,” Antonio says, pushing forward invading Troy’s space. His voice matter-of-fact, “I am going to take the girls there to get some rest.”
Antonio sees Troy’s phone on the night stand and picks it up. “Here’s my number. Call us when you get your shit together.”
Antonio reaches for my hand and pulls me from the room. He is moving quickly. The four of us get back in the elevator. Erin is still speechless. Vito and Antonio are ticked off.
That just wasn’t what I envisioned would happen seeing Troy. I left the dorm feeling betrayed, for what I’m not sure. Watching that girl leaving his room startled me, but I wouldn’t say it bothered me. I know he has a life, but one minute he’s saying he wants to marry me, and the next he’s sleeping around?
Maybe betrayed isn’t the right word. I think I feel gipped. I didn’t find the normal solace I usually find with Troy, and that makes me sad. It’s like I lost something with him. But I just have to turn and look at Antonio, and everything I feel I lost with Troy, I have gained ten-fold with Antonio.
*****
We arrive at the guest suites. They are beautiful and richly furnished. The campus really went all out for visitors. They even have small kitchens. There are two bedrooms in each suite. The units are adjoined by a door in the living room.
I flop on the couch in the suite I am sharing with Erin, exhausted. Antonio and Vito move the bags into the respective rooms. Then I catch them doing something weird. They are looking out every window, moving every curtain, checkingthe locks on doors. They are moving succinctly like they’re cops staking out a building.
Erin slips into her room after it’s checked and shuts the door.
“Don’t lock it,” Vito orders at the closed door.
Antonio sits down next to me and leans in to give me a sweet kiss.
“I have some stuff I need to do,” he says. “Why don’t you go lie down too?” His request is syrupy, but with a hint of command behind it.
Vito hovers by the door that connects the rooms. Antonio gets up, checks the bolt on our main door and leaves
Charles G. McGraw, Mark Garland