His Secret [Completed]

Chapter Thirty-Eight

He'd stormed down the marble pathway, feet pounding on the ground, through the maze of people leaving the restaurant and into the reception. Alaina tried to grab his attention, it was the first time he'd visited his hotel in a while and there was a lot of business he needed to check over. He dismissed her, telling her that he was tired, but she insisted and he was glad she did. "The third room your parents requested," she stated. "Do I charge them with anything ordered from room service and the room itself?"

"No," he stated and continued walking, but Alaina kept up, speed walking beside him.

"And your brother. He's ordered a lot from the bar in the twenty-one and over lounge... and not just for himself."

"I'll speak to him."

"Oh and one more thing-" this time Noah cut her off.

"Alaina, please. I will speak to you in the morning. I'm here on vacation and I'm really not in the mood tonight."

"Is everything okay?" She asked, still walking beside him. He'd slowed down a little as she talked. "I've been working here since before you bought this place, I've seen you grow as a business owner and a man. I'm always here if you need someone to talk to."

"Not tonight," he said once again and walked into the elevator. Alaina didn't follow, instead wished him a good night and made her way back to the front desk to carry out the last ten minutes of her shift. It was only eleven o'clock and Noah was a night owl - most of his business ideas were thought up between midnight and four am. It was the most peaceful time for him; no distractions and no Brooke.

He swiped his card against the machine and with a beep, the door to the penthouse clicked open. He threw his phone and key card onto the side and wandered through the apartment, stopping at the minibar before continuing on his way to the balcony. He set his beer down on the ledge and leant over the railings, looking down onto the beach below. He reached into his pocket and removed a full box of cigarettes. Noah flicked open the lid, wondering if smoking after such a long time was a good idea, but right then it was the only thing he wanted that he could have. As he toyed with the lighter in his other hand, the faint sound of a male grunting and a female moaning echoed through the apartment.

A look of disgust spread across his handsome face as he suspected he knew where the noises were coming from, but he continued to stand there weighing his options. Noah knew that he could storm inside with guns blazing and scream the place down, or he could be rational, walk in calmly and have a rational conversation. But Noah wasn't a rational man and rarely ever settled his problems with talking, which is why he shoved the cigarette back into the box, pocketed them and stormed inside to the bedroom. The moaning grew louder and high pitched screams of 'oh my god', and 'yes' were repeated over and over.

He didn't knock, nor did the thought even cross his mind. He reminded himself that it was his hotel as he threw the door open and stood in the threshold, glaring at the half-dressed woman lying in bed with a man to her left and another to her right. Brooke shrieked at the intrusion and brought the sheet up to cover herself, but upon realising Noah was the intruder, she allowed the sheet to fall exposing her naked chest. "Want to join us?" her voice was seductive and she bit her lip.

He looked from Brooke to one of the men and then the other and then it suddenly hit him, the men lying in his bed worked in his hotel. The man on Brooke's left was the bellboy who greeted them when they arrived. He was the scrappy looking young man with barely any facial hair. He was working there for the summer before his final year in university. As for the other man, he looked to be around the same age, but had deep brown locks and a full-grown beard, with only a few patches missing here and there. It was evident to Noah that these two men were young and impressionable.

"You," Noah pointed to the first man, "and you," he pointed to the second. "Are fired." They sat there without saying a word, and had only a sheet covering their modesty. "Out!" Noah barked.

If they had been two tourists laying beside her in the bed it wouldn't have angered him as much, but it was two members of his staff who were whoring around and getting paid for it. Money paid out of Noah's pocket!

They shuffled to their feet, slipping on their underwear and scrambling to find the rest of their clothes, but to Noah that wasn't acceptable. "If I'm not mistaken that uniform belongs to me," he said in a calm voice, but his tone was enough for the clothes to slip from their hands to the floor. Wearing only their shoes and underwear, the two men scampered out of the room and the apartment. A giggle escaped Brooke's lips as Noah turned to walk out of the room. He muttered a profanity at his fake fiancée and left without another word.

It was his penthouse and his hotel, so he couldn't fathom why he was the one leaving. He knew he should have kicked her out of the apartment for the way she acted - seducing his staff was not acceptable and it was something they'd already talked about in passing comment. In hindsight, he'd suspected that was why the men were in his bed with her; he'd given her the idea and she knew doing so would aggravate him to no end.

After riding the elevator to the main lobby he watched as the staff changed over and the night staff entered the building. Noah watched Alaina leave the hotel with a beige coat around her body and a small handbag on her shoulder. As soon as she left, he made his way over to the counter and requested another room key. The room was on the fourteenth floor and he made his way to it.

The room was smaller than the penthouse, it was an ordinary room that ordinary people used but that didn't bother him. So long as he was away from Brooke, he didn't care where he ended up. He could have been on the first floor sleeping in a cupboard and it would have been perfect. So long as he was away from her.

As he stepped out onto the balcony, he removed the cigarettes from his pocket once again. He toyed with the lighter in his other hand as he had done before, set the two components onto the railing in front of him and simply stared at the objects that had caused him breathing troubles in the past. He'd promised his doctor he'd quit and he did, until he needed that escape. He'd noticed Kai was smoking on his lunch break and had made small conversation with him. Noah had known the boy from when he was twenty years old and took him under his employment as requested by his mother, Alaina. After asking how university was treating him, Noah asked for the thing he'd been dying for since he stepped onto the plane back in New York and an hour later, Kai was placing a pack of twelve cigarettes into Noah's hand, along with the change. The transaction felt shady, even though it was harmless - though not to his lungs- but Noah still felt ashamed of himself and quickly hid the cigarettes into his blazer, but not before demanding Kai tell no one and pressing the change of a fifty dollar bill back into his hand.

He lit the cigarette that was resting between his two fingers and watched the line of smoke rise. His hand closed in on his mouth as he smelled the scent of tobacco and a moment later, he inhaled with slightly parted lips. Another second passed as he savoured the taste and then blew it into the fresh midnight air. As if a pang of hunger had awoken within him for the taste of tobacco he inhaled again, this time deeper. Once the cigarette was to its end, he pushed it into an ashtray on the table and wandered inside to raid the minibar.

Two beers later, he found himself ringing the front desk asking for something stronger, something to make the pain of what he saw go away. It could have been a misconception that he was pained by seeing Brooke in bed but that wasn't the case. Noah was hurting from what he saw down by the beach, his brother sitting with Sophia and talking. Sophia and Jackson were spending time together in a way he dreamed that he and Sophia could.

The glass cup that was half full had soon emptied and been refilled a couple of times. The bottle of vodka sat beside him on the table and he lit another cigarette. He popped it into his mouth and as he exhaled the smoke covered the air surrounding the balcony and each either side. A small familiar cough was enough to pique his curiosity, but he sat in the shadows of the balcony waiting, for her to make the first move. He blew out another puff of smoke and the cough grew more intense.

"Do you mind?" Her head whipped to the right as her hands waved in the air clearing the smoke.

Noah stood, dusted off his pants and emerged from the shadow, leaning across the railing and blew out another breath of smoke directly at her. "Not when it's my hotel." She coughed again, waving her hands in the air, and a grin spread across his drunken face.