by Gray Holborn
“Thanks,” I whispered, “at least my back doesn’t hurt quite as badly as I thought it would. I was hit pretty hard.”
“Oh yeah?” Jax paused, deliberating, “interesting.” I watched him meet El’s curious glance in the rearview mirror.
Soren shifted awake in front of me. When he turned back to check on me, my breath caught in my throat. His eyes blinked back sleep and his usually swept back hair was tousled in a disarray most guys would have to spend hours on to achieve. His mouth twitched slightly into a smirk and I found myself exceedingly grateful that the dark disguised the blush that most certainly covered my face.
“What about this place?” Luis’s words carried back to us, disturbing the awkward moment.
“Too fancy,” Soren said, his voice muffled into a yawn. “They likely will want a card on file if we grabbed a few rooms.”
“Too bad I didn’t inherit persuasion from Sam,” I said. “We’d be staying at a five-star for the price of a soda.” My amusement lasted only a moment, and I found myself swallowing back unexpected sadness. Sam and I hadn’t gone this long without seeing each other since the day we met. Our family unit was a strange one, and I knew that he and my dad had a complicated history, but we quickly grew attached to each other nonetheless. I rubbed my hand against my chest, as if I could somehow rub out the ache—but this hurt went deeper than my bruised muscles and bones.
“There,” Soren nodded his head to the right. “That place is perfect.”
“Ugh, you’ve gotta be kidding me, Soren,” Jax said. I couldn’t see his face anymore, but I could hear the distaste in his voice. “That place is a total shit hole. We’re probably going to pick up a disease just from driving by in close proximity.”
Jax opened the window, like removing the glass barrier would somehow make the dingy building more inviting. I wasn’t a hotel snob, but I didn’t blame Jax for his open disdain of the place. The building was small, lined with the two floors of rooms joined by a fire escape. The electric sign out front that inspiringly labeled this place ‘The Sleep’ was falling apart and only illuminated the e’s and p. There weren’t any cars in the parking lot and I had a feeling this motel was the kind that only rented by the hour. I closed my eyes, trying not to imagine the kind of stains we’d find in our rooms. I briefly wondered if Soren and El would be able to see them without a blacklight when Luis parked the car.
“How should we do this? A room for the girls and a room for the guys?” Luis looked back at us through the rearview mirror.
Soren shook his head. “The whole point is keeping an eye on El. The girls shouldn’t stay on their own.” He slid open the van door. “I’ll see if they’ll give us two rooms with two beds. I can stay with El and Black.”
“Shouldn’t Jax go? I mean he’s no persuasion-manipulator, but just in case they only take credit card, he might be able to use the whole sexy time aura-boost to get the desk manager to make an exception?” I asked.
Jax smiled and looked back at me. “Sexy time aura boost? Trust me, Desi-girl, a motel like this is not the kind of place I want to inspire any seduction if I can help it. All we need is some horny middle-aged man breaking into our rooms for a quickie.”
My stomach churned at the thought. I guess there were negatives to Jax’s ability I hadn’t considered. At least I knew Jax could defend himself against unwanted advances. I wondered if they taught female seduction-feeders how to keep creeps away or it they had to deal with harassment on a whole other level. “Nevermind then. Soren, go for it.”
Ten minutes later, El, Soren, and I pushed our way into a small room. It was almost three in the morning. A month ago, I’d just be going to bed after dancing with El or watching a movie marathon with Sam and Luis. But with my new schedule, my body would likely wake me up in a few short hours.
The room had two full sized beds and I ripped the quilt away, straining to see if I found any unwelcome stains or bugs. Surprisingly, the room was cleaner than I’d imagined. Certainly much nicer than the exterior presentation made it seem. “Alright. El we should take the bed farthest from the door.”
She threw down a small overnight bag and looked back at me. “Why?”
“Because your brother is going to make us anyway.” I looked over at Soren and found him smirking as he dug through his own bag. “Plus that way he gets murdered first if this place turns into the horror film it looks like.”
“Fine. I call bathroom first. You both got to sleep in the car and I practically feel like a zombie as it is. I’m going to be out as soon as my head hits the pillow. Anyone wants to come in and try to steal me while I catch up on my beauty rest will have more than my angry brother to deal with. I can turn into a panther too, you know.” El grabbed her pajamas and toiletries and made her way towards the bathroom. Before she closed the door, she looked back at me. “Oh, Dess, you didn’t have time to pack a separate one-night bag since you insisted on an obscenely long shower, so I packed everything you’ll need in with mine.”
I smiled back at her before moving to rifle through her bag. My affection for El quickly soured when I pulled out the large black t-shirt she packed. It wasn’t overly revealing, and it was my favorite thing to sleep in, but the thought of how it barely landed mid thigh had my face burning. I was sure El didn’t think we’d be sharing a room with Soren, but something about holding the thin fabric in my hands while I waited for El to finish in the bathroom had me hyper aware of the fact that I’d be sleeping a few feet away from him.
The door swung open a moment later and El walked out in a long T-shirt. On someone my height, it would be scandalously short, but El’s stature made the pink top look like a comfy knee-length dress.
“Ready for bed in record time, bitches,” El chirped. It was true. The girl was known to spend hours in the bathroom if you let her. “I’ll shower in the morning before we leave. Dess, you’re next.”
Before I made it to the door, El was already tucked into her side of the bed, her eyes softly closed. She’d be asleep in seconds. I was always envious of that particular ability. El could sleep soundly anywhere and her body never took longer than a few minutes to drift off when she was tired. Me? I was known to twist and turn for hours. My body never seemed to get the memo it was bedtime. Instead, that’s when my mind liked to wake up and torment me with ridiculous reminders and anxieties.
With a quick shake of my head, I brushed my teeth and washed my face. After a few breaths in and out to calm my nerves, I threw on the black shirt. A look in the mirror, mixed with an internal mantra reassuring me it wasn’t too revealing, and I was ready for bed.
What I was so not ready for was being assaulted with a shirtless Soren sitting on the side of his bed. Thankfully, he was staring at the TV aimlessly scrolling through channels, so I was saved from the embarrassment of him witnessing my expression. I felt my chin discreetly to make sure my jaw hadn’t dropped to the floor. Supes were built and just generally good looking. El, herself, had been warning me about it for years. I should be used to seeing them like this, especially since Soren had been practically naked when we met with Raifus. I wasn’t.
He kicked off his shoes, leaving him in the black drawstring pants he had on for the trip, and looked in my direction. Without so much as glancing at him, I practically ran to my bed and dove under the covers.
“You can have the bathroom now,” I said while staring at an infomercial like it was the most interesting thing I’d ever watched.
“I’m good. Brushed my teeth at the house before we left. And then again at the rest stop you slept through,” he said, his voice more gravelly than I was used to. I turned towards him, willing myself to stare at his eyes and not the muscles of his chest. He scratched his chin before continuing, “there’s something about ripping someone’s throat out with your mouth that makes it necessary to grab a tube of toothpaste as soon as you get the chance.”
I found myself strangely thankful for the reminder of the afternoon’s activities. Nothing like imagining the guy
killing three people to douse whatever unwanted steamy fantasies were brewing in my mind. For the most part anyway. Who could completely resist a man with good oral hygiene?
“Are you hurt at all, from today I mean?” The steady breathing to my right told me El was fast asleep, so I kept my words to a whisper.
He shook his head. “A little sore, maybe, but fine for the most part.”
“Not that you’d admit to being hurt even if you were though,” I said, rolling my eyes. I breathed in slowly and exhaled. “Look, I didn’t really get a chance to say it earlier. I guess from the shellshock of what happened or whatever.” I paused, sliding my teeth lightly over my lip as I tried to muster the courage to continue. “But thank you. You saved my life today at the clearing. I’m uncomfortable with death, which is an okay thing to be, I think. And I’m trying to come to terms with what happened today. But I know I would probably be dead, or worse, if you didn’t have my back today. You could have let me die. To be honest, it probably would have made things easier on you with keeping a watch over El.” I smiled tightly biting down harder on my lip. After a moment lost in my thoughts, I turned quickly towards Soren when I realized he hadn’t responded or broken up my rambling.
His eyes met mine, darker than usual. I still hadn’t figured out how or why the shades of gray changed with his moods, but I watched as their gaze fell to my mouth, a soft crease forcing its way between his brows. A second later, he turned away from me, back towards the infomercial. Neither of us were interested in purchasing the home gym equipment, but we sat in silence and watched with rapt attention as if we were.
When I was certain Soren wouldn’t say anything more, I rested my head against my pillow and turned off the light. A few minutes later, he shut the TV off and turned away from me so that he was facing the door. “El would have killed me if I let you die. She would’ve been devastated.” His voice carried quietly through the darkness. “And she wouldn’t be the only one,” he added, so soft that I wasn’t sure whether I heard him say it or just imagined that he did.
Chapter Twenty
The sun was just beginning to rise when I jolted upright in bed, panting. El was still sound asleep, though she’d moved closer to me throughout the night, clinging to my pillow like a koala. My body was somehow both cold and sweaty so I threw the covers off of me, whichever covers El hadn’t managed to already cocoon herself in like a burrito.
Over the last couple of weeks I’d had a few bad dreams, almost all of them ending with El attacked by some faceless monster. Which made sense, it was what we were all terrified of and altering our lives to prevent. Tonight’s was worse though, vivid somehow, as if the threat was looming closer. My eyes greedily inventoried that she was still there, sleeping safely and peacefully.
I slid off the bed as quietly as possible, managing to walk to the bathroom without tripping over anything. My reflection in the mirror was several shades lighter than the usual light brown I was used to seeing. With my dark hair plastered against the sides of my face, it looked like I’d just gone swimming. As my hands lapped up water, I winced. Each palm was lined with small cuts that perfectly matched up to my fingernails when I fisted my hand. I was known to move around a lot when I slept, but I’d never made myself bleed before. Throwing water on my face I leaned against the countertop, applying just enough pressure on the tiny wounds to make me believe I wasn’t dreaming. I wasn’t sure if it was true what they said—that you can’t feel pain in your dreams. That dream felt pretty damn painful, if not physically.
Satisfied that it was just a dream and that I was awake now, I walked back into the bedroom, stopping long enough to grab my leggings from yesterday and slide them on. I tiptoed to the door, hoping that the fresh morning air would calm me down and cool me off enough to catch a few more hours of sleep.
We were on the second floor, so I threaded my legs through the metal posts that held the fence up and sat down on the ground, my feet dangling in mid air. I pressed my forehead against the railing, the metal cooling my skin where the cheap black paint was chipping off. The Sleep looked less ominous in the early sunlight. Sunrises had a way of doing that—of turning the most ordinary places into something quaint, peaceful even.
Or maybe the night just had a way of making everything look scarier than it really was. There was a reason horror films were always shot in the dark.
My head snapped back when I heard a door close behind me. Soren walked out, dressed in nothing but his black drawstring pants. They hung dangerously low on his hips. I tried not to stare at the way his abs edged into a deep V that disappeared below the sweatpants.
“I didn’t wake you did I? I tried to be as quiet as possible.” I turned back, once again pressing my face into the metal of the railing, this time relying on it to cool my face down for other reasons.
He sat next to me, crossing his legs. His thighs were too muscular to fit through the openings in the railing. “I hear everything, it wasn’t your fault. You were pretty quiet. For you anyway. I’m surprised you made it out here without falling over something.”
I bit back a smile, hyper aware of the proximity of our bodies. “I couldn’t sleep. I guess my body is just used to its new schedule of morning workouts.”
His hand ran through his hair, scratching the back of his neck. I watched discreetly as his muscles rippled with every small movement he made. He was strong. Not gym strong, but useful strong. The kind of muscle build that was lean and earned.
“Is that why you were whimpering in your sleep?” he asked.
Whimpering? Well that was mortifying. “Just a bad dream. I’m sorry I woke you. I seem to unintentionally do that a lot.”
“Do you have these dreams frequently?” He didn’t look at me, but a small frown graced his face as he stared across the parking lot at the sunrise.
“Not as bad as this one. I’ve always had fairly intense dreams, but the bad ones are usually brought on by stress.” Needing something to do, my fingernails peeled back small chips of paint from the railing.
“Yeah, well, I guess watching three guys get killed after being attacked and threatened is enough to make anyone stressed.” He paused, shifting his weight slightly so that our legs were a breath away from touching. “I’d offer to take you on a run, but I can’t leave El, and I’m not keen on letting you go off by yourself. That usually helps with nightmares.”
“Do you have nightmares often?” His shoulders tensed at the question. I continued anyway. “It’s just that you’ve mentioned that running helps with bad dreams before. I just figured you must know from experience?”
We sat in silence, and I tried to ignore how beautiful he looked in the soft rays of the morning. It was a strange kind of beauty, masculine with an edge of power and danger, but beauty nonetheless.
After a moment, he spoke again. “We all have nightmares from time to time, Black. No one is impervious to fear.” He turned his head, his eyes piercing my own. My breath caught in my throat as he reached a calloused hand to my face, gently pushing my damp hair back behind my ear. The warmth of his hand lingered and after a brief second that seemed to last a lifetime, he dropped it away slowly, as if reluctant. The gentle light woven into his tattoos intensified. He cleared his throat, returning his gaze back to the almost empty parking lot, his jaw pumping softly with the clenching of his teeth.
“Odie?” Luis’s familiar voice called from my left and I swung my head around as if I’d been caught doing something wrong. “Thought I heard voices out here. What’re you doing up? You usually have to be dragged from bed before lunchtime.”
“Bad dream. Needed some fresh air.” My voice was lower than usual, my nerves rattled.
His eyes glanced over Soren, his brows arching when he took in his shirtless torso. “Him too?”
Soren stood up quickly and gracefully. “I should get back, I don’t want to leave El alone in there for too long.” Without looking in my direction, Soren walked past Luis, their gazes locked, neither of them blinking.
<
br /> Luis walked over and settled himself into the spot Soren had just evacuated. “I had a bad dream too. Been having them a lot lately, ever since you guys left. Weirdly, I think I was dreaming about some of this supernatural stuff before I even knew it existed.” He shook his head gently. “I know that sounds crazy.”
I looked up at him, noticing that his hair was drenched and pressing against his golden skin. I could practically see his pulse jumping out of his neck. His deep blue eyes that were usually filled with laughter were glazed over and distant.
“Shitty thing about nightmares, isn’t it?” I asked. “They always seem to take place in creepy dungeons or forests. Just once, I want to have a relaxing bad dream that takes place on a beach,” I said.
He smiled slightly which was my intent. “Kind of defeats the purpose of a bad dream, no?”
“Exactly. That’s the point.”
Both of us sat in a familiar and comfortable silence for a while. That was one of my favorite parts of our friendship, not that we could hangout and make each other laugh. That was important too. But mostly, it was nice to find someone you were comfortable just being with, not needing to do or say anything to fill the gaps. There was something refreshing about just existing together and being perfectly content with that.
“I need you to promise me something, Odie.” Luis propped his elbows on his knees, his arms draped over them and his head ducked down so that I couldn’t see his face. I stilled and remained quiet, an invitation for him to continue. “I need you to promise you won’t leave me like that again. It was hard. Harder than I thought it would be when you and El left. It was the strangest, most uncomfortable feeling. I just—I can’t—you can’t do that again. Okay?”
His head tilted up, not making eye contact with me, but staring off at the parking lot and the sunrise, not unlike Soren had only moments ago.
“Luis, it wasn’t easy for me either. But it was to keep you safe. There’s no reason for you to be involved in all of this.”
