“I’m sorry,” I muttered, after all I’d almost run him over. He briefly scanned my outfit, and I cringed inwardly. This wasn’t the impression I wanted to make.
He released me and stepped back. “No need to apologize,” he said in a voice that spoke of a long night. “Is your uncle downstairs?”
“Yes, he is.”
I gave him a forced smile and excused myself, wanting to make myself presentable to salvage my dignity. Porsche had never paraded around Vegas in childish nightclothes.
I wanted to scream in frustration, but instead I got dressed in a nice dress before I rushed back downstairs, hoping I could make up for my first appearance, but when I stepped into the dining room, vegas wasn’t there.
uncle and aunt sat at the table, drinking coffee.
“Where’s vegas?” I asked as I settled across from aunt.
“He needed to return to Bangkok,” uncle said.
I nodded, hardly able to contain my disappointment. Aunt didn’t say anything. She looked exhausted, and her eyes were swollen from crying.
I reached for the pancakes and loaded a few on my plate. Adelita came in again with the last two bowls. One of them contained an assortment of berries, the other grapefruit slices. My stomach became a hollow pit at the sight of the perfect pink halfmoons.
porsche was the only one who loved grapefruit
Aunt and uncle must have thought the exact same thing because their faces fell when Adelita set the bowl down.
“You can throw that away,” aunt said sharply.
She never talked to the staff like that, not even when she was stressed. Adelita jumped, then realization filled her face. By now, our staff would know about Porsche. News like that spread like wildfire. My heart felt heavy at porsche’s disappearance. By now, he’d be in bangkok with the baby, in kinn’s territory. Would I ever get the chance to talk to him again? To see him again?
Adelita reached for the bowl, but I stopped her and pulled it over to me. “Don’t worry. I’m in the mood for grapefruit this morning.”
Aunt took a sip of coffee, her fingers white from their tight grip on the cup.
uncle looked back down to his newspaper, but not before giving me a small, grateful smile.
I speared a slice of grapefruit and slid it into my mouth. The bittersweet taste bloomed on my tongue, and I had to stop myself from grimacing. After a few more bites, my taste buds got used to the bitterness, and I finished the rest of the fruit. Aunt briefly glanced up before she filled her cup with coffee again. I was the only one eating.
“Have you seen arm?” I asked eventually, unable to bear the crushing silence a second longer.
aunt shook her head. It seemed as if the small movement cost her too much energy already.
uncle put down his newspaper. “He was still sleeping the last time I checked.”
“He was pretty drunk—”
uncle shook his head. “He shouldn’t be drunk in front of you.”
I shrugged. I wasn’t a baby anymore. Since porsche’s kidnapping, I’d seen so many disturbing things that I wasn’t as easily shaken.
“I think I’ll go looking for him,” I said, waiting for uncle to give his okay. He nodded and I stood from the table. I poured a coffee for arm and grabbed a pastry before I headed upstairs. It was silent behind his door. I knocked a few times, but there was no sound behind the door. Eventually, worry overcame me. Drunk people could choke on their own vomit. What if something like that had happened to arm?
