Dark and dirty, your secrets untold
You should have been mine to have and to hold
Blood on my hands, emptiness in my heart
Time came too soon for death do us part
I shoved the notebook back under the clothing as I thought over the lyrics. Zipping the bag closed, I pulled the collar of the shirt to my nose and breathed in the scent again. It was masculine and clean, and I could have bathed in that scent. I rounded the bed and wrung my hands together as I looked at the hotel phone.
I gripped the receiver and took a deep breath as I lifted it from its base and dialed the only phone number I still had committed to memory. After three rings a deep voice answered.
“Hello?” With that one word, my heart sank, and my stomach twisted in pain. He spoke again, but it was the female’s voice in the background that caught my attention. I wrapped the cord around my finger but didn’t respond. “Mikaella,” he whispered into the receiver.
I swallowed hard at hearing my full name for the first time in as long as I could remember.
“Is that you? Tell me where you are.”
I hung up the phone as tears fell free from my lashes.
I hurried to the bathroom and grabbed my dirty clothes and a key card from the small envelope on the stand. I scribbled out a note for Rellik and left it on the desk, even though it would probably be hours until he came back.
I slipped my feet into my sneakers, stepping on the backs as I shuffled down the front of the building to a lit alcove between the rooms. An ice machine and several snack machines sat to my right, with a laundry room and small indoor pool to my left.
One older woman in a sweat suit was doing laundry. She smiled as I walked by her and slipped my clothes into the machine.
“Shit,” I groaned as I noticed the coin slot.
“You need some help?”
“I forgot my purse. My boyfriend ran to the store, and I left it in the car.” It was better than the awkward truth that I was staying in a stranger’s room.
“Here.” She dug through her bag and pulled out several quarters.
“Thank you so much.” I stuck them in the slot and glanced over at her machine as I chewed my lip.
“I guess you need soap too?”
I nodded, feeling like a complete jerk, but she just smiled and held out her small sample-size bottle to share.
“Thank you so much. That’s incredibly kind of you.”
I used what I needed and started the small load as we fell silent, Rellik’s singing playing over and over in my head. You could tell he felt every single lyric, and I wondered what could have happened to him.
By the time my laundry was washed and dried, I was exhausted and ready to curl up in bed.
Self-Preservation
Chapter 12—Rellik
Self-Preservation: an instinctive tendency to act so as to preserve one’s own existence
I had grown tired of Phantom’s glares as some emaciated redhead with fake tits ground her bony ass against me to the beat of “Sail” playing in the background. The guys didn’t know I had Ella back in my room, and I was happy to keep it a secret, but I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there and make sure she was okay. I drained what was left in my glass of Jameson and tried to pretend I was interested in the woman in front of me. I closed my eyes, and the room began to spin.
“I have to call it a night.” I smacked the girl’s ass, and she jumped from my lap.
“What’s the rush?”
I groaned as I stood, rolling my neck from side to side before responding to Phantom. “It’s three in the fucking morning, and I have to visit family tomorrow.”
He nodded and took a drink from his bottle of Budweiser. “I’ll catch a ride.”
“I’ll ride you, baby.” The redhead sauntered seductively across the room to Phantom.
I stumble-stepped out of the door and down the long winding hallways until I found the exit into the humid morning air. The oppressive wall of humidity turned my stomach.
I blared 3 Doors Down as I made my way toward the hotel, becoming more alert the closer I got. I parked directly in front of my room.
I slid the key card into the hotel door and opened it slowly. The light was off, but the television was still on and turned down low. Ella was in the bed, her dark hair splayed across the white pillow. She was wearing one of my vintage band T-shirts and a pair of boxers. I could smell my cologne in the air.
My eyes danced down her long legs to a small dream catcher tattoo on her ankle.
I stumbled across the room and slipped into the bathroom, my hand pressed against the wall for balance. Taking off my T-shirt, I glanced at the mirror over the sink at the slight swelling of my lower lip. I slid my jeans and boxers down over my hips as I kicked off my shoes. I caught myself on the doorframe as I began to lose my balance.