Chapter 40

"We should call it a night," Holden suggested, once we had left the house. He yawned dramatically to prove a point. The moon hung over our heads and the stars mocked us gleefully from their abodes.

"We should keep looking," I argued. I wasn't tired, partly because I knew attempting to sleep would do me no good. "We should go to Zach's house."

"Do you honestly think Zach's going to open for us in the middle of the night?"

"No," I responded. "His parents will. Plus, even if we do call it a night, where would we stay?"

"We could stay in this house." Holden jerked his thumb in the direction we had just come from.

"Not a chance," I scowled. I couldn't be in a place that reminded me of Sage for too long, it would just make all the memories and regrets crash back into my head. Of course, thoughts of her never really left me, but being in her house made me relive the night I broke into it. All I could picture was the hurt and disappointment on her beautiful face as she looked into my eyes.

"A motel then? I saw one on the way here."

"Money?"

"Kaden, we're thieves," Holden smirked.

"Right," I said rolling my eyes, "and people roam around in the middle of the night with their pockets full of cash."

"Who said anything about stealing money? You steal a heart, while I steal a room access card."

"And if the receptionist is a guy?"

"Pretend to be gay," Holden shrugged. "You can pull it off, just act like Aaron."

I opened my mouth to say something but shut it again, knowing I wouldn't be able to say much else to convince him otherwise. Holden was one of those people who thought their ideas outdid anyone else's.

***

Fortunately, it was a girl at the motel reception. Well, it could hardly be called a motel: it was more of a shelter for people who couldn't afford to stay in a proper building. There were massive dents in the wall, where people had hit it in a fit of rage, probably because their lover had abandoned them, or they were heavily intoxicated. The ceiling was blackened with age and there were muddy prints that looked barely human, on the floor. People were dragging their feet up the stairs: there was no elevator. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the doors didn't lock and someone slit our throats in our sleep.

"Do it," Holden ordered, snaking off to the side and camouflaging his body with the grey painted wall.

"Hey," I greeted the cute blonde behind an outdated computer screen. She had hair that settled just past her shoulders, and she looked at me from behind heavily made-up eyes.

"Hey," she blushed, making me believe that I didn't look as crappy as I felt. "Do you need a room?"

"Actually yes, but I also need someone to share it with me," I replied, smirking at her.

"Umm," she looked past my face as if she was looking for someone. "Okay," she nodded. This was easy, too easy. "My shift finishes in about an hour," she added.

Oh shit! I guess my charms were a bit too effective and too fast acting. I looked to where Holden had been, only to notice that he was no longer there. Great. What was I supposed to do now?

"Baby, I think I need you right now," I moaned, moving over to her side of the counter. "An hour's too long to wait." This was how I acted before I met Sage. I was a complete idiot, pouncing on every available girl that came my way.

"I can't really leave this place unattended." She bit her lip, and that's how I knew that I had won her over.

"Why is a pretty girl like you playing security guard?"

She shrugged as her cheeks filled with colour. "There's nobody else to do it."

"How about for the rest of the night I take care of your beautiful body, since you've exhausted yourself taking care of this place?" I flirted. "Pleasssse," I dragged out the s trying to sound sexy and alluring.

I took both her hands in mine and brushed my fingertips over the back of her hand, wincing slightly as I remembered the promise that I made to myself: to never touch anyone but Sage like this. She stood up gently, making the effort to tilt forward, to expose the lingerie she wore over her ample breasts. There was a time I would have admired girls who showed their cleavage, but now all I could think about was getting back to Sage.

"If I kiss you, would that convince you to wait for me?" She licked her lips flirtatiously.

I ignored whatever she just said and looked past her blonde curls, noticing the keys laid out on her desk. Should have known a place as old-fashioned and low budget as this would use keys instead of electronic access cards. She was distracted enough for me to grab one.

"Would it?" she enquired, quirking her eyebrows.

"Yeah," I replied, even though I could hardly remember what it was she had asked, I was too interested in getting my hands on those keys to really bother with her anymore.

She twined both of her hands around my neck and locked her fingers in my hair. Before I could pull away from her embrace, she pressed her lips to mine. The feel of the kiss was wrong and it disgusted me. She kept crushing her body to mine, trying to get to me to react to the kiss, but I refused to be moved. I kept my fists at my sides, and I made sure my lips were utterly motionless under hers. My eyes were wide open, and I could see the clumps of mascara of her lashes, and the small pimples that dotted her forehead and the bridge of her nose.

I reached behind her, and as quickly as I could I grabbed one of the silver keys off her desk.

She smiled when she pulled away and I noticed that her lipstick was horribly smudged. I assumed I resembled a clown with half of her lipstick smeared on the bottom half of my face.

"Oops," she giggled, not bothered by the fact that I hadn't responded to her kiss. "I'll meet you upstairs when my shift is over," she told me. "Here, this is the key to my room. I live here since my father owns the place." She winked and pressed the key into my palm, before hastily giving me a slobbery kiss on my cheek.

"See you," I waved at her, as she took a compact mirror out of her handbag and tried to fix her makeup.

As soon I was out of her sight, I looked at the two keys in my hand: they each had a small white tag on them, 202 and 367. Huh, I didn't know which one was the key to her room and which one was the one I had stolen.

***

"Where the hell were you?" I met Holden halfway up the stairs. I was so close to slapping him that I had to grip the keys tightly in my hands, so tight that they pierced my skin.

"Ran into a bit of trouble," Holden replied. "Well, it's not like you needed me, you did pretty well by yourself. 2 keys? We can each take one, that way I won't have to listen to you snore."

"What kind of trouble?" I enquired, ignoring his other comments.

"Drug dealers. Do I look like a drug addict to you?" he asked, pointing at his face.

"Yes."

He rolled his eyes. "Give me one of the keys."

"The thing is...I don't know which key is which," I finished off, sighing in exasperation.

Holden raised his, waiting for an explanation.

"One of them is the key to Blondies room," I explained.

"You've had more than enough fun for one day," Holden observed, gripping my chin and titling my face to one side and then the other. "It's a shame Sage doesn't wear lipstick: this is a good look on you."

I shoved his hand away and scowled at him.

"We should stick together," Holden suggested. "Choose one key and hope we don't get interrupted in the middle of the night by a girl craving your attention."

I handed Holden both the keys, allowing him to be the one to gamble with our choices. He held each key in a different hand, making a show of weighing each one in a flat palm. He handed me the one in his right hand and pocketed the one in his left hand. "Try this one," he said.

Together we headed up the winding staircase, until we reached the third floor.

The room we entered, room 367, seemed like it was the right room. It was devoid of any personal belongings. If this was Blondies room it would have at least looked lived in. The bed was neatly made, save for a stain of an unidentified yellow substance on the sheets. The small cupboard that stood off to the side was empty, but a few dust bunnies were deeply nestled into the corners.

"Maybe I should make all the major decisions from now on," Holden said in satisfaction.

"Luck of the draw," I argued.

"Exactly," Holden grinned. "There's luck in my fingertips."

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a pillow off the bed, making myself comfortable on the far side of the room on the floor. Not something I would usually do, but Holden wasn't entirely healthy and he needed a good night's rest.

"Don't want to share the bed with me?" Holden teased, patting the spot on the bed next to him. "You might get cold," he said, putting his index finger on his chin as if seriously contemplating. "Too bad we chose this room, now Blondie won't be able to keep you nice and cosy." He made kissing noises that annoyed me more than I would admit.

"Shut up," I muttered under my breath.

I didn't think I had said it loud enough for him to hear me, but the noises stopped after that. The silence that followed was blaring, since I could hear every voice that crept into my head, haunting me and halting any chance of sleep. All I could do was stare into the darkness, and hope for sleep to descend upon me and end this suffering.