Red Carpet Black (The Bright Lights, Dark Secrets Collection Book 3) by Nolon King

Author:Nolon King [King, Nolon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling & Stone
Published: 2019-08-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Two

Orson’s stomach was killing him as he parked his Lexus in front of the Brick. He wasn’t sure what upset him more: the broken promise to Connor, the nightmare he walked into behind Jess' door, or the evening of opulence that cast his old building — and even his new apartment — into the shadows of a life best forgotten.

“Ain’t no reason that beets can’t be used instead of sugarcane,” Angus said, waiting for Orson as he opened the front door. “The sugar is always just as sweet!”

“True that,” Orson agreed, then walked up the stairs, knowing what he would do next because he’d been picturing it the entire trip home.

He passed Ellis' apartment, then his old place, and stopped two doors down at Jess'.

Orson knocked, waited the three beats that he promised himself he would, then turned the knob.

As expected, the door swung open. But the inside was a surprise.

Her place was vacant. Orson went into every room, but there was nothing left. He remembered his own exodus, and the fact that he’d nothing to do with it, and wondered if Dominic and Melinda were behind her disappearance too.

Probably. Almost for sure. But why?

The furniture was all gone. There were no clothes in the closets, boxes in the cabinets, or food in the fridge.

The place looked as empty as he felt.

His heart was now stewing in the acid on the floor of his stomach. This was worse than a thousand bee stings all over his body. It was awful, what he had walked in on a few hours ago, but even that end hadn’t felt like the end because Orson kept telling himself stories about how he would fix this, how he was going to make everything better, and how — especially as the night moved on — he could turn everything around so that his life was looking forward rather than backward.

With a heart that felt a hundred pounds heavier, Orson left the empty apartment and rapped his knuckles two doors down.

Ellis answered, almost surprised to see Orson. “It’s early. I didn’t know that they let you out of Sodom and Gomorrah before midnight. I thought you were coming to pick Connor up in the morning.”

Orson smiled, not really feeling it, and stepped inside.

“Hi, Daddy!” Connor was on the carpet in front of the coffee table, setting up a game of Hungry Hungry Hippos. “Are you going to play with us?”

Ellis said, “We had three more games, then it was bedtime.”

Orson walked over, kneeled down, and gave his son a hug. “We can play in the morning. We’re going to go now.”

Connor crossed his arms. “I don’t want to go.”

Great, this was going to be a battle.

Ellis came over and set a gentle hand on Connor. “It’s cool, man. We’ll play next time, and I promise to give you a head start.”

The boy shook his head, and now he sounded petulant. “You said we would play three more games.”

Orson uncrossed his son’s arms and took him by the hand.

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