Page 102 of Lyrical

“Probably? What the hell, Cassie?”

The one holding his crotch hobbled past me, giving me a nasty look.Good. I hope I popped a side.

“They were just doing their job. Ugh, so sorry again. These guys are really hard to contain. I think the party downstairs pumped them up a little too much.”

“That doesn’t explain why the fuck they’re in my room assaulting me.”

“Assaulting’s a little harsh, don’t you…?” The daggers shooting from my eyes obviously shut up that thought. “Okay, well. They were scheduled for Perry, and they had the room number, and I stopped them as soon as I realized….”

“Perry wouldn’t want this shit either.”

“Yes. No. Of course not. It was a mistake. It won’t happen again. Um, hope Perry’s feeling better?” She sucked in her bottom lip.

“Maybe she will be if there’re no more fucking disturbances.”

“I’ll just go, then. Let you both get some sleep.” She gave me a little wave as she stepped out into the hall. “See you tomorrow.”

I shut the door, triple-checking to make sure the chain was bolted tight. Stupid, stupid me, letting strange men inside my hotel room. But I had no reason to think at the time that it wasn’t legitimate, considering the actual broken thermostat. What the hell was going on?

I peeked in on Perry. How she continued to sleep through that was beyond me. I took a hot shower, then crawled into bed, everything sticking to me with a vengeance. I was uncomfortable and disgusted and just wanted the night over with. I took no issue with chiseled male specimens wanting to show off their assets for a living, but I sure the fuck took issue when those same bodies tried rubbing their junk all over me.

The sooner I fell asleep, the sooner I’d be home. I’d just closed my eyes when I heard the moaning coming from the room next to ours.Are you fucking kidding me?

I put the pillow over my head. The “oh, babys”and “deeper, harders”got even louder. I got up and gave a couple knocks to the wall, thinking they’d get a clue to keep it down. Silly me. Like they’d hear my pounding over their own.

I went back to bed, wishing I were the type to go over to their room and confront them in person. But I did not want to put faces to the grunts and groans. I smashed the pillow over my ears instead.

I dozed off here and there just to be woken up again. I swore I was in a brothel. There was no way one couple could make it that long without getting laryngitis. The sweat dripped down the sides of my face. At one point, I called down to the front desk and reported loud noises coming from the room and could they please call and tell them to knock it the hell off?

It didn’t work. I took my pillow and blanket and went over to Perry. There was no couch on that side, so I lay on the floor. If I didn’t love her so much, I’d just knock her ass over and take part of the bed.

Instead, I curled my knees to my chest, the offending sounds much diminished, but now I was frickin’ freezing. I tightened further into a ball, shivering, the hard, uneven floor making my hip feel like I was rolling over a cheese grater.

What a fucked-up night.

I could not wait for morning so everything could get back to normal again.

Igot home and literally dragged myself into bed around 8:00 a.m. Put both arms in front of me, grasped onto the mattress and pulled my limp body in. I had a couple hours to sleep, and I prayed I’d miraculously wake up refreshed and full of spunk.

Exactly like Perry had been at six that morning when she’d bounded out of bed, landing inches from my head. She’d made a full recovery. One positive to come out of the shit storm.

It felt like only seconds had passed when I started taking a sledgehammer to the brain. The bright sun was spreading its love by stabbing jagged rays straight through my closed lids, and I couldn’t ignore it anymore. All I wanted to do was cry, then go back to sleep for a full week and one day. I’d wake up beautifully relaxed right about when Chase was coming home from New York.

Stop being such a wimp, Jillian. Fucking get it together.I had to make it a good day for Perry since she’d missed out the previous night. It wasn’t as if I’d never handled barely any sleep before. I’d just handled it better when younger.Consider it practice for a baby.Fuck.I could not start stuffing in those thoughts now or my skull would completely shatter. One thing at a time.

Right then I had to put all my energy into getting into the shower. I rolled over and my foot hit something solid. I finally opened my eyes a crack to notice a fuzzy form at the foot of my bed. I screamed bloody murder. I couldn’t think straight and was operating on instinct.

“Shhh… Jillian. Stop yelling. It’s me,” the voice came softly right into my ear.

“Chase?” I rubbed my eyes hard and brought him into focus. “Chase, what are you doing here?”

I’d only expected to talk to him, not see him until later that night when we gave each other a proper goodbye.

He wasn’t answering me. Or at least I didn’t think he was. I rubbed my ears hard too. “Chase?” I attempted to prop myself up on the pillows. Wow, he kinda looked like… shit. The only time he’d looked like that was when we’d broken up. “Are you okay?” I asked, knowing that I probably looked far worse, shit left to fester in the hot sun for days, teeming with maggots.

“Not exactly, Jillian.”

“Oh my God, what’s wrong?”

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