Page 19 of Epidermis

He couldn’t figure out where he was going. There was a sign for baggage claim, but it was pointing in two different directions. What number was their flight again? He couldn’t remember. Where was his boarding pass? It would say which baggage claim he needed. He patted his pockets down, shrinking away when people hustled around him, and he realized he was just standing there in the way. He didn’t know where would be considered out of the way. Hiyori and the others had flown economy, and he didn’t see them to be able to just follow them.

“Jasper.”

He jerked at the sound of his name. Konrad had materialized at his side with a hand outstretched.

Jasper grimaced. He was trying to avoid getting close to Konrad again. His conflict must have been written all over his face, as Konrad gently prompted, “I’m going to the same place. Come with me.”

He took Konrad’s hand, his nerves settling at the contact, then flaring back up when Konrad laced their fingers together the same way Jasper had done the night he fled from Konrad’s house. But he felt safer. Whatever misgivings he had about his inclinations toward Konrad, they took a back seat to surviving this god-awful airport. He stayed close to Konrad’s side and let himself be led through the crowd.

Konrad was as unflappable and confident as ever, and in that moment, it was everything Jasper needed. He pressed closer whenever the crowd grew too thick around them and Konrad would squeeze his hand. Jasper felt guilty for letting Konrad reassure him after he’d ghosted him. Even if Konrad was only there because he’d collaborated with Hiyori behind Jasper’s back, Jasper still knew he didn’t deserve the patience and care he was being shown, but the alternative was to be swallowed up by the swarming bodies and stifling noise all around him.

They got to the baggage claim and Konrad still didn’t let go of his hand. They grabbed their luggage with each of their free hands, Konrad’s a sleek, rolling suitcase that glided easily at his side, and Jasper’s a huge, raggedy duffel bag that he swung up onto his shoulder. Jasper could have kissed the ground when they stepped through the doors that finally led them outside.

Jasper gave a tense smile as he let go of Konrad’s hand. “Thanks.”

“Guys! Over here!”

Hiyori was further down the sidewalk, loading her things into the trunk of a cab. How she beat them out there when first class disembarked first was a mystery, but she was also a lot more comfortable in airports and didn’t mind shouldering her way through a crowd. “We’re all full, but you guys just grab a taxi and meet us at the hotel. You know which one, right, Jasper?”

“Yep.” Jasper narrowed his eyes at her. She was not off the hook, he just wasn’t going to air his grievances on a busy sidewalk, or in front of Konrad.

She didn’t even have the decency to look apologetic. She just waved as she slid into the back of the cab, squeezing in with James and River, leaving him alone with Konrad yet again.

Konrad hailed down the next cab and loaded both of their luggage into the back. He held the door open for Jasper and Jasper muttered his thanks as he got in. Konrad was too much of a gentleman; it made Jasper feel like he’d been raised in a barn, by comparison. He told the driver where they were headed and watched the airport disappear through the window. Good riddance.

“It’s been years since I was here last,” Konrad said when the driver let them out in front of the hotel. “Not this exact place, but Las Vegas. I got the opportunity to sous chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant for a weekend. It was really more of a favor to the owner, but I felt like I got just as much value from the experience as she did from having the extra set of hands.”

Automatic doors whirred open as they walked inside, their luggage in tow. “It’s my first time,” Jasper said, getting in line to check in.

“I do hope the city is gentle.”

Jasper laughed and gave Konrad a mockingly surprised look. “It makes jokes.”

Konrad smiled back at him, and then they were being called up to the desk. They each gave their names, signed something that said they were liable for any damages, and were both given a black plastic key card. Jasper got on the elevator and hit the button for his floor. “Where are you going?”

“Same as you.”

Easy enough, then. They stepped off onto the second highest floor, lower only than the penthouse, and Jasper checked the sticker on his key card. “I’m in thirty fifteen.”

“Hm.”

“What? I didn’t like that. What do you mean, hm?”

“It appears I am also in three thousand and fifteen.”

Jasper stopped right in the middle of the hallway. “You’re kidding. Oh, you’re not. You’re actually not.” He ran a hand down his face. “This has Hiyori written all over it.”

He kept walking until he got to his room. Their room, god help him. He pressed the card to the reader on the door until it flashed green with a quiet beep. Konrad pushed it open and held it so Jasper could maneuver his bulky duffel bag through the doorway. Konrad followed, the wheels of his suitcase almost silent on the hard floor.

“Holy…” Jasper trailed off as he saw the room.

The suite, was more like it. There was a living room area, a kitchenette that might have qualified as a full kitchen, and elevated on a platform with three wide stairs, a massive bed with more pillows than one person could possibly need. The back of the couch was against an entire wall of glass that overlooked the city. The bathroom door was open, and Jasper could see a bathroom as big as his bedroom at home. The colors were a mix of black, gold, white, and accents of dark purple. It looked like a room intended for royalty.

“I imagine this establishment is booked solid for the convention, but I assure you, I’m perfectly comfortable on the couch,” Konrad said.

Jasper rubbed his eyes. “Four people could sleep in that bed, it would be ridiculous to let you sleep on the couch. Just… pick a side.”

His lips curled in amusement when Konrad gravitated to the right side; Jasper liked the left side. His smile dropped, though, when he realized he was going to be sleeping next to someone for the first time in years. He prayed Konrad was a heavy sleeper. Jasper had a tendency to wake up covered in sweat, panting from whatever nightmare he’d been trapped in, and he really wasn’t keen to make such a spectacle of himself in front of someone. His last girlfriend had tried to put up with his neurotic behavior, but even Maya had left eventually.