Page 3 of Redemption in the Dark (The Righteous 5)
She could feel the silent guy’s eyes on her. She casually glanced back, and their eyes met for a brief moment. However, he immediately looked down. The baseball cap and dark shadows concealed his face once more. It was enough to make the hair on her arms stand up, but of course, that stirred a hard shot of desire in her gut. Fear and desire were a terrible combination of emotions for someone like her.
Trying to ignore her ‘feelings’, she stared at the little glowing map on her phone. Its pointer on the map told her to cross the street and walk another three blocks up. She could make out the half burnt out sign that was flashing, ‘MO,’ and was pretty sure that was the correct spot.
She couldn’t confirm or deny if the guy was following her, so she purposely stopped and stepped off the sidewalk to look through her backpack for something, but the guy kept walking. Her eyes tracked his every move and even the subtle flex of his hand as if he expected violence.
Re-zipping up the pack, she continued on, but now she had the advantage of watching him from behind. And what a fucking nice behind it was. She sucked her lower lip into her mouth with the thought of what all was hiding under that jacket and jeans. His ass flexed with each stride, and even through the jeans, she could pick out the muscled definition. A coin could definitely bounce off that sucker.
Focus Maeve, you can’t stop to have more sex.
Listening to her inner voice for a change, she shook off the idea and restrained herself from staring at the tempting piece of man candy, keeping an even pace with him. There was something about him that she couldn’t quite put her finger on like he was a little too perfect or something. Well, if she could see his face clearly and he was as sexy as she pictured, then he’d be too perfect. Either way, the chill hooded vibe he was going for wasn’t working. Surprisingly, there was a light on in the motel office. She’d half expected it to be closed, and she would have needed to break into a room.
Quiet-guy held open the door to the motel for her, and she flicked her gaze up and met his dark glare as she stepped over the threshold.
“Thanks,” she muttered as she passed him.
No one was behind the desk, but there was a bell, so she hit the little dinger until someone yelled they were coming.
“Holy lord, hold your wild, freaking horses,” the man exclaimed as he sauntered out from the room marked ‘office.’ He looked like he’d either been having sex or sleeping. It was a toss-up either way with his shirt untucked and hair standing on end.
“Sorry, just tired,” she lied and smiled sweetly at the man.
“Yeah, yeah. What’re your names?”
“Oh, we aren’t together,” she said, but her body flushed with the idea of being forced to spend the night with this guy. “My name is Annie, you know, like the play?” She broke into the first line ofThe Hard Knock Lifebut stopped as mister grumpy behind the counter looked at her like he might toss her out the door if she didn’t shut up. Geesh. She couldn’t help that she was a social creature.
“Annie, your room is number six.” He placed the key on the top of the counter, and she grabbed it and then pulled out her wallet. “Sixty-three dollars,” he said.
She thumbed through the cash Kes had given her and bit her lip. She really shouldn’t have partied so hard in Vegas. She was down to her last few hundred bucks, and unless she wanted to walk, a good portion of that was going to be used on another bus or three.
“I got it,” the quiet guy said.
His voice was like velvet in her ears. His tone was deep, far deeper than she’d expected, with a touch of gravel that made it sound like he’d gargled with whiskey. She looked over her shoulder at the guy as he pulled out his wallet.
“I don’t need you to pay for me. I have enough money.”
“Suit yourself,” he muttered.
Pulling out the required amount, she handed it over to the man behind the counter and watched it go into the register, wishing she hadn’t been so hasty to turn down the generous offer. She really could’ve used that money. Her stomach was growling, and the bags of cheese puffs weren’t holding her over. To make matters worse, she’d either eaten or lost the power bars that had been in the go-bag Kes had given her. The fact she couldn’t remember which it was, was also concerning.
“Do you have a vending machine?”
The man’s face twisted into a look of disbelief. “What does this place look like, the Ritz? No, of course, we don’t. We have an ice machine, though, if you want to chew on a few pieces.”
“Geez, it was just a question. Can you at least tell me if there’s any place to get food that is open?”
“Sweetheart, the only place open is the Wild Pony, and it’s back down the road at the far end of town. Food may be scarce other than peanuts and nachos, but you’ll find lots to drink.”
She made her way out the door and found the room easily enough. It was an end room which was exactly what she would’ve asked for if grumpy had seemed open to requests. The door was sticky as she tried to get the lock open but did manage to get it and flicked on the light to the small room that needed a serious upgrade. No, scrap the upgrade. It simply needed a match. The bed covering looked older than she was, and it was easy to see the dust on all available surfaces.
“Great.” She’d managed to rent a room in the middle of nowhere that was probably going to give her bedbugs.
With that in mind, she tossed her bags on the table rather than the floor and only took twenty bucks to head to the bar. If she took all her money, it would be gone before she left. Her control was only so good.
Quiet-guy was opening the door next to her own as she headed out and locked the door. She was about halfway to the other side of town when she felt eyes on her again. She searched every dark space and looked behind her, but she couldn’t see anything that would set off alarm bells, yet her body was telling her someone was watching.
Her instincts had been honed from an early age. Growing up in an abusive home would make anyone hyper-aware of other people around them. I mean, wasn’t that the allure to drinking more than her fair share a little too often? It was the only way she could get her body to shut off for a while and give her some peace. Well, either doing that or having sex, both could be a lot of fun, and together they were fabulous.
The golden glowing sign was right where Grumpy Pants said it would be, and a couple of people were standing outside with a smoke. The door to the bar opened, and she could hear the country music playing inside. Her spirits lifted because this was her jam. Give her a place to eat, drink, and party, and she was right at home.
