She sat on the massive bed cross-legged, fiddling with the alarm clock, the cord stretched tight while she pushed buttons. She wore one of Clay’s black UFC shirts covered in sponsors’ logos, her legs looking pale against it. Her long hair hung thick and loose around her shoulders. It reminded Clay of corn silk. It had the same blonde, fluffy consistency. He loved it, because it was soft and welcoming, just like Melody. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and glanced at Clay, who made very slow work of brushing his teeth as he stood there in his boxer briefs staring at her.
“I can’t get the darn thing to work,” she said with a frown. “You think we can order a wake-up call every hour? Do they do that all night long?”
Clay pulled his toothbrush out of his mouth and said past the toothpaste, “I think for the amount of money this room costs, the hotel can send up an orchestra to sit outside the bedroom door and play Beethoven every hour.”
“That ain’t a lie,” Melody agreed, falling over the bed to put the alarm clock back on the nightstand. Then she reached for the phone, studying the directory on the side before she put the receiver to her ear and dialed. “Hello, yes, I was wondering, do y’all do wake-up calls at night, ’cause we’ve gotta wake up every hour from now till morning.”
Clay put his toothbrush back in his mouth, pretending to brush his teeth while staring at the way his shirt rode up as she lay on her stomach. Her milky thighs were exposed. He tilted his head, glimpsing the round curve of her ass.
“That’s him. Didja get to see the fight tonight?” Melody asked, giving Clay a smile. “Yeah, he did good. Thank you, I’ll tell him.”
Clay rolled his eyes and went back into the bathroom to brush his teeth. If he stayed there watching Melody twirling her hair between her fingers and talking on the phone, he’d never get done. He made quick work of finishing up and grabbed a towel to better dry his hair. Melody was still on the phone with the front desk, which was sort of amazing. He tossed the towel down and fell into bed next to her. He lay on his side, propping his chin on his hand and giving her a pointed look while she chatted with the operator.
She must have gotten the point because she nodded in understanding. “Okay, well, I gotta go now. He’s pretty tired, and if I’m being honest, I’m ’bout to drop too. It was nice talking to you.” After saying good-bye, she clicked the receiver on the phone and turned to give him a smile. “The front desk guy is a big fan of yours. He knew all sorts of stuff ’bout you. He told me you used to be a wrestler in high school. Is that true?”
“Yeah, big deal.” He gave her a bemused smile. “Lots of guys were wrestlers in high school.”
“You were one of those popular jocks, weren’t ya?”
“Not really,” Clay said with a roll of his eyes. “Wyatt was the popular jock. He was handsome and outgoing and everyone loved him. I was the scary foster kid he hung out with.”
Melody reached out, caressing Clay’s still-wet hair, which felt nice because he had a massive headache courtesy of Romeo Wellings. He closed his eyes, feeling his heartbeat radiating out from the cuts the doctors had closed using thin pieces of clear medical tape. He knew he was looking rough, but Melody didn’t seem to care.
“How come you were a foster kid?” she asked, still stroking his hair lovingly. “You never told me what happened.”
“My mama had issues, and Garnet ain’t exactly the best place to be an addict. The sheriff was always riding her. Big Fred was like Wyatt, a workaholic, nosy as hell, always up in everyone’s business. She got tired of the hassle and took off without me.”
“What’d you do?” Melody asked softly, her voice aching.
“She left me with her boyfriend of the month, thinking he’d look out for me, but he was a prick,” Clay said bitterly. “So I ran away. Luckily it was summer. I slept outside, took showers at the Cellar. Course it was just the rec center back then. Used to steal food from Mable’s One-Stop Shop. I did all right considering I was only eleven. I lasted ’bout three weeks before it went to shit.”
“What happened?”
“Wyatt happened.” Clay let out a laugh. “I snuck into the rec center to use the facilities and take a shower. I didn’t take any classes, but Wyatt practically lived there seeing as he had no mama and his daddy worked all the time. We ran into each other, which was unfortunate. The two of us weren’t exactly friendly.”
“Really?” Melody asked, her eyes wide in surprise. “That’s hard to imagine.”