Page 29 of Room Service
“From all the sex?” she questions, her eyebrow arched.
“Stop it,” I say, but the smug smile that I can’t stop from appearing on my face totally gives me away.
“Girl, stop playing and fucking tell me,” Celeste urges. I laugh at her as she sits down on the edge of the bed, her legs bouncing up and down expectantly.
“I don’t know what to say, other than the fact he told me to get on my knees, called me a good girl, and then he sat me on the counter and fucked me so hard that I saw stars.”
“Damn… that’s… shit, Elise, that’s hot,” Celeste comments, seeming to be lost for words, which doesn’t happen ever.
I kick off my shoes and flop back on the bed. “Honestly, Celeste, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I mean, he is without a doubt the best sex I’ve ever had, but now I know he’s my boss, it makes everything awkward,” I admit.
“Why?”
“Because he’s done things to me that make me blush profusely, and I don’t want anyone to become aware of anything happening between us.” I close my eyes as I try to block out the negative thoughts threatening to ruin my high.
“Elise, stop doing that,” Celeste says, and I can hear the exasperation in her voice. “Live in the moment, and so what if anyone finds out? You’re fucking the boss, so technically, if they’re a dick, he can get rid of them.”
“Oh my god, Celeste,” I say through the laughter that bursts out of me.
“You gotta think of the perks, Elise.”
“Come on, we need to get some sleep,” I tell her. “We’ve got an early start and I’m beat.”
We both strip our clothes off and put them ready to wash tomorrow. Luckily for us, there are complimentary pyjamas waiting in the bathroom for us to wear—thank God for the posh hotel we work in.
Once we’ve finished and climbed into bed, my eyes fall closed immediately, my body drained from the entire day, and my dreams filled with one man in particular.
* * *
My phone ringing wakes me up, and for a second, I think it’s just my alarm, but then I register the ringtone and quickly jump out of bed, hoping not to wake Celeste, but it’s too late as she grumbles whilst I go to my jacket which is hanging on the back of the door and has my phone in its pocket. I squint at the morning sun filtering through the windows, and then I feel my face pull into a frown as I take my phone out of the pocket and see that my mother has tried calling me, more than once. I guess I was so tired that I didn’t hear it the other five times.
I check the time to see that it’s only six in the morning, and I groan as I go back to the bed with my phone in my hand, because I could have had another hour of sleep before I needed to be awake. No chance of that now as the dread settles in the pit of my stomach as I stare at my phone. She hasn’t bothered to contact me for days, and neither has Derrick, but I know I’m going to have to speak to her at some point. I know that she’s going to tell me to go back to my husband and live the fake life I’d found myself walking around like a zombie in. She’s going to be thinking of no one but herself, and possibly my father, but he's just as fucking bad as she is. I click the phone to silent and place it on the bedside table as I stare at the ceiling and sigh loudly.
“Who the fuck was that?” Celeste asks, her face buried in the pillow and her voice muffled.
“My mother,” I say with another sigh, and Celeste’s head pops up.
“Oh shit. And what time is it?”
“Just after six.”
“Elise, nothing good ever came from a mother phoning this early in the morning.”
“I know.” Silence ensues for a few moments as Celeste turns to lie on her back, and I stay staring at the ceiling which has suddenly become rather interesting. “No one has tried to contact me since I left. No text, nothing. I know they think that I’ll just be having a tantrum, but I guess they’re done waiting.”
“You don’t have to speak to them, Elise. You don’t owe them anything.”
“I know that too, but I also know that I need to make it clear to them that I’m not going back. I don’t know if this will give me closure or what, but there’s still a small part of me that is praying that they take my side for once. The side of their daughter, and maybe it’ll show me that I mean something more to them than just being a cash cow, even though that didn’t exactly pan out the way they’d hoped.” I’m still that girl that craves their approval, no matter what I try and tell myself.
“You’ve gotta do what’s right for you, but I think you’re setting yourself up to be disappointed all over again,” Celeste admits, and the rational part of me knows without a doubt that she’s right, but they’re still my parents. They’re still here, when millions of others have lost theirs and wish for one more chance to make things better. I have to try, don’t I?
“Ugh, I can’t deal with this before I’ve had coffee,” I say as I push myself up from the bed and walk to the bathroom to get showered and dressed, leaving my phone on the bedside table, hoping and praying that when I call my mother back she’s had some sort of epiphany when it comes to her only daughter.
* * *
I walk through reception, my feet aching already and my body still tired from yesterday, and I stifle a groan as I hear Hayley say loudly, “Elise, a word,” from behind me. Oh fucking hell, what does she want now? I wearily turn and see that she looks really pissed off. She beckons me towards her with her finger and I fight the urge to roll my eyes as I move towards her.
“I’ve still got another two rooms to do before lunch,” I tell her, hoping to put off whatever the hell this is about, but it seems I’m shit out of luck.
