The Consultant - NaNoWriMo2021

Chapter 14

I don't remember anything that happened after meeting Sebastian and now I am lying here in a bed that I know is not my own, and I can hear someone else in the room. What the fuck did I do last night and where am I. Without moving, I try to figure out if I am dressed but it's hard to say in this position. My mouth is dry and my head is pounding, but most of all I'm terrified that I've done something stupid. I have to move, I need to face this situation whatever it is, and there is no escape until I do.

I pull back the covers, noting that they are very luxurious. The white duvet is extremely soft and the headboard behind me is panelled in rich, expensive-looking fabric. I sit up and beyond the bed, seated on a sofa with a newspaper, is Sebastian. He looks up at me and smiles. What the hell am I doing in bed, in the same room, a hotel room from what I can figure out, or this guy who I met last night for the first time? My headache builds as the shame and stupidity hits me again in a fresh wave.

'Good morning Fin. How do you feel? Rough I imagine.'

He nods in the direction of my side, and I turn to see an unopened bottle of mineral water and an unopened box of painkillers.

'Those might come in handy. The shower is also excellent,' he says as he nods toward a door off to the side. 'It has a steam function; just the thing for unclogging the pores after a heavy night.'

'Who are you?' I stutter my words, struggling to form coherent thoughts let alone sentences. 'I mean, what am I doing here and how did I even get here?'

'Relax, I brought you here; this is the Palladium Hotel. You are still in Oxford and don't worry, you haven't been kidnapped.'

I sit up properly and take two painkillers from the box, knocking them back and draining half of the water in the bottle. Sebastian pours some coffee; black with a little cream and brings it to the side of the bed, laying a cotton robe next to me and then returning to his seat.

'Drink this, you will feel a little more human. When you're ready, we can get some breakfast.'

'Breakfast? I just want to go home. I'm sorry, this, whatever this was, is a mistake and I really need to leave.'

'Of course, but I would suggest a shower and change of clothes first. If you leave wearing that dress,' he nods to a chair where my dress is carefully laid over the back, 'the hotel staff may get the wrong idea, and I don't think either of us want that.'

'What happened last night?'

'Actually,' he said as he stretched out his legs and picked up his own coffee, 'not much.' He glanced smiling at me.

'I'm sorry, I shouldn't take advantage of your memory loss. You were at the bar, I sat down, you turned around when I paid for your drink and you told me I was very handsome and I had eyes like cobra. Then you fainted into my arms.'

'Oh God, I'm so sorry.' I remember thinking about his eyes, but I don't remember anything else. It was a total disaster of an evening. 'I was there with a friend; well an acquaintance really.'

'A boy called Daniel?'

'Yes! Exactly. What happened to him? Where's my phone?'

Sebastian nods to the bedside table where my phone lays, on charge and flashing with a message. I pick it up and scroll through to find a message from Daniel. Fin, sorry, I had to leave. Clubs aren't my thing. Have fun and stay safe. Dan

'As I arrived at the club, Daniel was just leaving. I didn't know who he was obviously but he was talking to the bouncer and telling him to keep an eye on you as he had to leave. I saw the look in the bouncer's eye; and I thought to myself that this man has bad intentions but it never crossed my mind I would meet you. I went to the bar to get a drink and there you were. You looked very compromised. When you fainted, I didn't know who to call so I said you were my niece and you'd called me, and brought you here to my hotel.'

'Thank you, I guess, but this is very weird. Why would you bring me here I mean, why are you involved?'

'I wouldn't say involved. Its just sometimes you see someone who probably has a good life, but for some reason seems hell-bent on self-destruction and you just happen to be there. Your choices are your own; and if you want to leave of course you can, I'm not here to stop you or get involved in your life. I just thought you needed someone to keep an eye out last night.'

My hear rate was calming down, perhaps I hadn't done anything even more stupid than I remembered last night. But I had to check.

'Did we...? I mean, last night, when you brought me here did we...?'

Sebastian looked at me in astonishment, and I could see now that his 'cobra eyes' were actually quite twinkly and not at all intimidating.

'No, of course not.' He seemed slightly offended. 'I appreciate you think I'm handsome, but I'm married, and my husband would be both shocked, and extremely unimpressed...'

'Ah thank God. I mean, you look like a nice guy but I was pretty out of it last night.'

Sebastian re-filled my coffee. 'Look, it's none of my business, and you can just leave, or tell me to bugger off, though it would be nice to have breakfast don't you think, and then I can drop you home if you want, but if you want my advice, you need to figure out what's driving this recklessness. You put yourself in danger last night; if I hadn't been the one you fainted on, who knows where you would be this morning.'

He was right. I was behaving in a destructive way and I need to fix that. I need to figure where all of this is going in terms of Felix, SIS, my phobia, the assignment. I cant carry on like this, but right now I'm too shattered to think about it.

'You're right, and thank you again. You acted like a good friend, even though we don't know each other at all.' Sebastian smiled and passed me the room service menu. I was starving, and this hotel was pretty fancy.