CHAPTER SEVENTEEN. 
the receptionist.

Angeline felt a bitter resentment to Mitch as she stormed out of the bathroom ten minutes later, keeping her chin held high as she flicked the light off to the room and settled into the bed, pulling the thin duvet covers all the way up to her chin. The sound of Mitch's typing stopped for a couple of seconds and he released an aggravated huff through his nose at the sudden darkness, but then, much to Angeline's annoyance, he carried on typing.

She couldn't believe that, in that moment, she had seriously let everything get to her and she'd ended up on her knees in front of Mitch Rapp. If Angeline could, she would have gone straight to her phone and texted her group chat about what an ass he was straight afterwards, but her hands remained empty and her brain drifted from the man sat a few feet away back to her friends.

She missed Ciara and Paige and she wondered if they missed her too yet. It had only been a few days, but she wondered if her dad was covering up her disappearance or if the whole school knew she wasn't turning up any more. The thought of her slipping attendance nearly made her visibly cringe against the flattened pillow beneath her head. It was nearly as uncomfortable as the mattress under her body. She preferred sleeping in Mitch's car.

Angeline cringed when she turned on the mattress, hearing the rickety bed frame squeak underneath her. She didn't even want Mitch to look at her right now-- he didn't deserve to. If she could unsuck his dick she would.

Now she was glad he would be sleeping on the grim armchair. She hoped his back ached in the morning and his neck was so stiff it cracked every time he moved.

Out of pure pettiness and bitter resentment for the man who had been practically spying on her since September, Angeline reached across the double bed and grabbed the pillow meant for the second person, putting it under hers so he didn't have one. It wasn't quite the sweet revenge that she would like to get, but it would do for now.

What must have been an hour of staring at the wall went by before Angeline heard the lid of the laptop slowly close, and the small amount of light coming from his corner quickly diminished. She listened to him shuffle around, his chair scraping back as he stood up again and walked to the bathroom. He only spent a couple of minutes inside before he came back out, and Angeline closed her eyes, despite the darkness, hoping to appear asleep.

"I know you're awake," Mitch deadpanned as he peeled his shirt off and scrunched it up into a ball, propping it behind his neck as he sat in the chair. "And what happened tonight was a mistake. It will never happen again."

"Nothing happened for me," Angeline said disinterestedly.

Mitch remained silent, supposedly ignoring her. "You seemed fine on your own afterwards."

Angeline realised he must have heard her in the bathroom, even though she was quiet. She couldn't bring herself to be embarrassed, not when she'd literally just let him spit in her mouth. Not that it would happen again.

"Yeah, highlight of my week, actually," Angeline snapped.

No more words were exchanged between the pair as Mitch shuffled to get more comfortable on the armchair. Angeline turned so that she wasn't facing him anymore, her eyes fluttering shut as everything seemed to come rushing back to her in the silence of the room. Her father, her brother...

A few tears silently leaked from her eyes and cascaded down onto the pillow below. Angeline didn't dare sniffle or move to wipe them away, not wanting Mitch to realise that she was finally processing everything and coming to terms with the fact that her life had literally changed overnight.

Angeline couldn't remember falling asleep, all she knew was that she was exhausted when a hand grabbed her arm and shook her awake. For a few seconds, the girl was disorientated, forgetting where she was and who she was with, but it came flooding back as soon as she saw Mitch. She rolled her eyes and rolled over.

"Angeline," he warned, "We need to leave in fifteen minutes."

He stood there for about ten seconds. When Angeline heard him open his mouth again, she chucked the covers off of her body and slid out of the other side of the bed, not even glancing at him as she moved to the bathroom. Again, she forgot there was no lock, but put emphasis on slamming it anyway so Mitch would hear and not intrude.

Angeline took a quick shower, not getting her hair wet, and brushed her teeth before she left the room and grabbed her bag full of clothes. Mitch was sliding his laptop into its case, glancing up at her as she grabbed out a pair of mom shorts and some baggy graphic tee that had been very unreasonably priced at Urban Outfitters.

"Hurry--"

Angeline sent him a glare so harsh that Mitch actually pursed his lips and left her alone. Maybe she was being a bit harsh, but he'd really pissed her off last night. Not just because he hadn't reciprocated her actions, but because he had brushed her off afterwards and she was already feeling sensitive as it was.

She moved to the bathroom and changed into her new outfit, realising it was her last clean one before she'd have to start recycling her others. She took her hair out of the low ponytail she'd slept in and ran her hands through it, slipping on her shoes and leaving the bathroom.

Mitch was already by the door, her duffel bag in his hand. He extended it towards her and she took it, barely looking him in the eye. She hoped he didn't think of her as some easy teenager or anything now, like she would get on her knees for just anybody. He already thought she was a brat.

They wordlessly moved down to the lobby where the woman from yesterday was. She beamed up at them as Mitch slid the keys along the countertop, her wrinkly hand grasping them.

"Thanks, darling," she said, dropping it into a plastic container beside her. "Hope you enjoyed your stay."

"It was fine, thank you," Mitch said, turning to leave when Angeline turned to the woman.

"There's a spring sticking out of the mattress," she said, reluctantly feigning the American accent that Mitch had told her to fake. "And the water pressure in the shower was quite low, actually, I think there's something wrong with it--"

Mitch grabbed her arm and tugged her towards him. "Sorry about her," he played an apologetic smile.

Angeline rolled her eyes as she was pulled away from the counter and out of the motel. The sunlight streamed down on her body and Mitch gave an extra harsh tug towards the car.

"Look, Little Miss Rich Girl, sorry it was no casino resort or whatever, and you didn't get your jacuzzi and steam room, but you gotta keep a low profile or you're going to get both our asses caught," Mitch spat, his mouth dangerously close to her ear as he led her round to the passenger side, looking inside before opening the door for her.

Angeline climbed inside and glared at him. "I was being honest so she could improve her motel--"

"You're trying to push me," Mitch snapped.

"Sounds like you're suffering MCS, Mitch," Angeline tutted, earning a strange look from the man. "Main Character Syndrome."

Mitch's confused expression melted away to reveal one of annoyance and he slammed the door, moving around to the driver's side.

...

Hours and hours of silence was quite literally driving Angeline insane. Mitch didn't let her turn on the radio, and she'd finished her book within the first half an hour. She wasn't lying when she said she had already read it three times before anyway. She pulled her knees up to her chest, burning her cheek on them and looking out of the window as the passed by roads of nothing.

"Can we stop at the garage?" Angeline murmured, "Or the gas station, whatever you wanna call it."

Mitch's hazel eyes flickered to her briefly. "Why?"

"I want to get a new book."

"Sure. Want me to stop at Sephora on the way so you can get some new lipgloss or something too?" Mitch replied sarcastically and Angeline could have reached across and punched him.
"You know, I get this is just your job or whatever like you said before, but I thought we were fine before this. You were never this mean to me," Angeline stated bitterly.

"Mean?" Mitch repeated in a scoff, shaking his head as he checked his mirrors, continuing down the road. "Sorry, do I hurt your feelings? You haven't exactly been pleasant either."

"Well, I just found out my family are terrorists," Angeline snapped, "And you gaslit me as soon as I started to get upset about it."

"It's easier for both of us if we don't have any attachments," Mitch said, "You might have thought we had one when I was pretending to work for your father, but it was all part of the act, Angeline."

"Somehow, I doubt that's the full truth."

Mitch didn't reply, his grip on the steering wheel tightening. Angeline had nothing better to do than to drift off into a small nap, her head resting on her arm as she closed her eyes. When her eyes flickered open again, she realised that the car had stopped moving and they were outside a garage. Mitch was pumping the car with petrol, not yet noticing that she was awake.

Angeline kept her head down as she watched him head inside, moments later coming back with a bag full of things. He nudged her 'awake' as he started to drive again. Angeline feigned a small glare.

"What do you want?"

"I have food," he said, chucking her a sandwich and a packet of crisps.

He reached into the bag that was on his lap, producing a bottle of water too. He grabbed another out and used one hand to steer whilst the other guided his bottle to his lips, taking generous swigs whilst Angeline opened her crisps beside him.

"Take the bag," he grumbled.

Angeline grabbed it and was surprised at the weight of it. She reached inside and found that there were a couple of books inside, both quite thick and bound to keep her entertained for a while. The brunette's body relaxed and she chewed the inside of her cheek, sneaking a glance at Mitch and wondering if she should thank him or not.

"Want a crisp?" She asked instead, hesitant.

Mitch shook his head and said nothing, but somehow it felt like a lot of the anger towards one another had melted from the car by now. His shoulders weren't as tense as he carried on driving, well into the night. He eventually pulled over at another motel and Angeline had to purse her lips to stop herself from making a comment about how gross it was.

"These places are the best for us because they're likely to not have surveillance, or at least not good cameras," Mitch said as if he could read the expression on her face whilst they grabbed their bags out of the boot of the car. "And there are fewer formalities. Won't quiz you on your ID. Sometimes don't even ask."

Angeline frowned softly. "I see."

And so the pair moved onto their second motel so far. She wondered how many more were to come. This motel had air conditioning as they entered the small lobby area, cool air brushing Angeline's hair back as they walked towards the front desk. A young man was sat behind it, probably a year or two older than Angeline and a year or two younger than Mitch. He glanced up at them both, raising his brows and kicking his legs off of the desk.

Angeline realised he was attractive straight away. Shaggy blond hair and baby blue eyes, the boy clearly worked out, a loose vest top thrown over some shorts on his body. His gaze lingered on Angeline for a few moments before Mitch cleared his throat rather aggressively.

"My girlfriend and I need a room for the night," Mitch demanded.

"Coming right up..." The boy drawled carelessly, his hands slowly typing something into the computer beside him as if he had all of the time in the world. "Room 7c."

He grabbed the keys and dangled them for Mitch to snatch. Angeline realised he wasn't wearing a nametag or anything and assumed that it was probably a family business. He had Netflix streaming on his phone next to the computer too.

"Fifty bucks, dude," he said. "No room service included. Vending machine right there, though. Runs all night."

Mitch drew out the money and tossed it onto the countertop, not waiting for the boy to count it up before he took off in the direction of all of the motel rooms. Angeline followed, her eyes scanning all of the doors until they reached the one that read '7c'. He pushed the door open. It was exactly like the one from yesterday.

Mitch scanned the area before he allowed Angeline to lock the room door behind her. She chained it up for extra precaution and drifted towards the double bed. There was no extra armchair this time. Neither of them said anything but they knew what it meant.

"I'm going to have a shower."

And so, for the second time that day, Angeline showered. Once she got out, she tied her hair back into french braids to keep it out of her face and she changed back into her pyjamas— another oversized tee and cotton shorts.

Mitch was on the bed when she walked out, since there was no table. He had his back against the headboard and his laptop back on his lap.

"What are you even doing on that?" Angeline asked as she put her dirty clothes back into her duffel bag on the floor.

"Talking."

"To who?"

"My... boss."

Angeline huffed, sitting down on the bed next to him but scooting across to leave a fair amount of distance. She noticed the small television set at the end of the bed and gasped as she grabbed the remote. She groaned when it didn't turn on, flinging the remote towards the bottom of the mattress.

Angeline grabbed her new books out instead. Anything to distract her bored mind. She was probably fifty pages in when she heard a slight snore from beside her. Angeline jumped, her brows raising when she saw Mitch was falling asleep, his head leaning back.

She stared at him until his snores grew deeper and more even, a small smirk crossing her face when she realised he was finally asleep. Angeline stood from the bed and moved to the kitchenette where Mitch's bag was. She shuffled through it until she found his wallet and took out a couple dollars.

Creeping quietly, Angeline moved to the door and unlocked it before she slowly slid out, closing it behind her with a small click. She wandered down the hall and back to the lobby where the vending machine the boy had mentioned before was.

Angeline stopped in front of it, inspecting the rows of confectionary and fizzy drinks. She decided to go for one of the energy drinks at the bottom, inserting Mitch's dollar and punching in the correct code.

She grabbed the bottle as soon as it had fallen into the collection part below, turning around only to yelp in fear at somebody behind her. It was the receptionist boy.

"You scared me to death," Angeline muttered, placing her hand on her chest where her heart rate began to slow.

"Sorry," the blond boy gave her a small grin, shrugging. "I'm Evan, by the way."

"Angel," the girl replied, before nearly smacking her own forehead. She should definitely not have told him that.

"That your real name?" Evan asked.

"Yeah," she lied, "So... family business?"

"You guessed it," he huffed, rolling his eyes. "I hate this place."

Angeline raised her brows, figuring that agreeing with him would be quite rude. She tightened her grip on her energy drink and tapped her foot.

"I like the name Angel," Evan said, blue eyes practically telling her everything she needed to know about his intentions. "Do you live up to the name?"

Angeline smirked. "Of being an angel? Not all the time."

Evan smirked too, his handsome face sending jolts through Angeline. He looked like he was straight off a Californian beach, broad shoulders and tanning skin. He took a step closer towards Angeline and she did the same, watching as his large hand reached to grab her drink.

He tossed it onto one of the rundown couches that sat in the lobby and then grabbed her jaw and pulled her into a swift kiss. Angeline kissed back immediately, her arms wrapping around the boy who had to be well over six foot. His hands found her ass rather quickly.

God, she just needed to release some of the pent up anger and frustration and anxiety that was building inside of her, and who better to do that with than a complete stranger? And a hot one at that. If Mitch wouldn't help her out, she'd find it somewhere else.

"What about your boyfriend?" Evan whispered against her lips, though his hands made no attempt to stop caressing her.

Angeline rolled her eyes at the title Mitch had given himself.

"He's asleep," she muttered, "Let's just go somewhere more private, yeah?"

Evan led Angeline into the back room where, finally, thanks to the boy's more than skilled fingers, she was able to get a decent release. It was over relatively fast, neither wanting to be caught by any other people at the motel, but it was good nevertheless.

Angeline was panting slightly, trying to catch her breath as she pulled up her panties and shorts. Evan grinned at her, swiping his tongue across his teeth.

"You from around here, Angel?" He asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She murmured, "Doesn't matter, anyway. I have a boyfriend."

Evan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you won't tell him about that, will you? I don't feel like getting my face punched in tonight."

Angeline scoffed. "My lips are sealed."

Yanking her energy drink off of the couch, Angeline saluted at Evan and then retreated back to her motel room. As soon as she put the key in the lock, the door was yanked open and a pistol was pointed right in her face.

Her scream was caught in her throat, no sound coming out of her mouth and her eyes bulged, hands shooting up in surrender and her energy drinking dropping to the ground. Mitch huffed at her and lowered the gun, grabbing her by the shoulder and yanking her inside.

"Where the fuck did you go?" He hissed furiously.

"To get a drink, calm down," Angeline glared, numbly picking up the can off the floor and trying to regain a feeling that wasn't complete terror in her body.

"To- to get a drink?!" He spluttered a mocking laugh, running a hand through his hair. "Could you be anymore fucking stupid?"

Angeline swallowed thickly. "I'm alive, aren't I? In fact, the only danger I've faced today is you pointing a bloody gun in my face!"

"Don't talk to me like you know everything," Mitch hissed, "I was about to come looking for you."

Angeline could only imagine the horror on his face if he walked in on her bent over a desk, the receptionist boy from before having his way with her. She rolled her eyes and tried to walk past him.

"Do you understand how dangerous that could have been?" He stopped her.

Angeline cracked her energy drink open and took a long swig in response. She sighed in satisfaction and licked her lips with a small smile.

"Yep. Worth it," she chirped.

She'd never seen Mitch look so furious. He opened his mouth and pointed a finger at her, the veins in his hands and arms and neck nearly popping out, but he cut himself off and released a grunt before storming into the bathroom and slamming the door shut before he did something he'd regret.

Angeline smiled to herself and dropped down onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Grabbing her book again, she started to read, Mitch emerging about ten minutes later with a clenched jaw. He didn't acknowledge her existence as he moved next to her, grabbing his laptop out again.

She wondered if they'd ever be civil with each other again.

...

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