Claiming His Mate(23)

“Cindy!” She shouted to her non-existent friend. “Where are you? I can’t find my key.” Lauren kept her voice loud and obnoxious as the maid’s head peeked out from the bathroom door. Pretending to stumble again, she squinted as if she couldn’t see straight. “Who are you?” she demanded.

The maid blinked and glanced at her towel. “Are you all right?”

“I’m…fine,” she said, over pronouncing the ‘n’. She moved a few steps closer. Even though the motel didn’t look like much on the outside, the interior room was clean and smelled like a mix of the beach and fresh linens. “Where’s my friend? I went to grab some ice and…” She looked down at herself and frowned. “I think I forgosh the bucket,” she slurred, hoping she wasn’t laying it on too thick.

“Hon, I think you might need to sit down. Have you been drinking?” The petite woman crossed the few feet separating them and wrapped her arm around Lauren’s shoulder to steady her.

“Just a little. Thish doesn’t look like our room though.” Glancing around, she squinted even harder.

“What’s your room number, hon?”

“Two two three.” She said each word succinctly, nodding her head each time she spoke. Even though she felt like an idiot acting this way, she used her speed and stealth to snag the keycard from the woman’s belt chain.

“This is one twenty three. You’re on the bottom floor.” The woman gave her a pitying look and Lauren popped up from her seat, giggling like a drunk

“Sorry!” she shouted again, using her ‘drunk girl’ voice before hurrying from the room.

Lauren could hear the woman muttering about foolish young girls as she raced back down the sidewalk. She knew she’d have to work fast before she was caught. Bypassing the room next to the one the maid was in, she kept moving until she found a room with partially open curtains three doors down. She could see a suitcase on the small round dinette table. After knocking twice, she used the keycard to slip inside.

She felt like such a jerk stealing a stranger’s clothes but she couldn’t run around in her jaguar form or naked. After a check of the bathroom confirmed the room was empty, she flipped up the top of the already unzipped black suitcase. T-shirts, bathing suits, jeans, shorts and long dresses filled it. Summer was over but the truly icy fall weather hadn’t set in yet. Still, it was pretty cold to be at the beach. Probably a snow bird from up north taking a break from real cold weather.

In record time she threw on a blue pair of loose cotton shorts and a simple V-neck black T-shirt. The clothes were one size too big and too long for her petite frame, but they fit well enough and more importantly, she wasn’t naked anymore. She also snagged a pair of flip-flops a size too big before hurrying out the way she’d come.

She practically flew down the sidewalk in the direction of the street, only stopping to drop the keycard in a bin that held mini-shampoos on the maid’s cart. Next stop, finding a phone and calling Max.

Though she was tempted to go to the front desk of the motel and ask if she could use their phone, she didn’t want to risk being seen by the maid or the person she’d stolen clothes from. When she reached the front parking lot of the motel she could see the other side of the turquoise and white sign that had been hidden from her before.

The phone number for the motel had the same area code as Max’s number. She was still in Gulf Shores. Hurrying toward the main road, she paused, looking both ways and trying to find a landmark. She sucked with directions on a good day and couldn’t figure out where she was since nothing looked familiar. Randomly guessing, she headed east.

Her flip-flops smacked against the sidewalk as she took in her surroundings, trying to find anything that looked familiar. It was just one motel or hotel after another. When she finally saw a pharmacy her heart rate sped up. Without cash she was pretty screwed, but there was a payphone. If anything she’d attempt to call Max collect. Now she was glad she’d memorized his number.

As she neared the store, a black sedan squealed to a stop next to her. Fearful it might be whoever had taken her, she tensed, ready to bolt when she saw her mother behind the wheel of the car.

Before she could respond, her mother leaned over lightning fast and threw the door open. “Get in.”

Ah, shit. She was incredibly relieved to have been found, but still, she’d rather deal with her dad than her mom any day. A war of relief and panic waged inside her. Feeling like a twelve year old cub, she slid into the vehicle and put her seatbelt on.

Her mom didn’t say a word as she pulled into the pharmacy parking lot and found a space. When the vehicle was in Park, her mom turned to look at Lauren. Worry shone bright in her dark eyes. “Are you okay?”