The XOXO New Adult Collection: 16 Full Length New Adult Stories (335 page)

“That’s a chunk of cash you managed to snatch.” Audrey didn’t look my way, but I knew that secretly, she was happy it was a good wad of money. We needed it, badly. Life as a singing duo didn’t always pay the bills on time.

The dusty windows let the last bit of the day’s light through, sending the colors turning into orange and red. The part desert, part forest around us was sparse and filled the horizon with a vastness of endless canyon road and desert land. I loved it with every fiber of my being. Travelling was an acquired taste, and we’d done our fair share and then some of that lately.

I wouldn’t trade any minute of this away for anything else.

Audrey

I COULDN’T SLEEP
, but what else was new? Liv drove the second half of the night. We didn’t want to stop, not until we reached the coast, just in case that idiot Ruben was in pursuit. Still, I couldn’t ease my nerves. They were strung up tight, and I shifted in my seat restlessly. Why my sister had bothered with that sleazebag was beyond me. He gave me the creeps. The way he raked his eyes up and down her body like he was undressing her every time we stopped by his bar was disgusting. Even now, a shudder ran through me as the chill of his malice made my blood run cold.

The old soft leather of the seat sighed under my weight, creaking as I turned to stare out into the inky vastness of night. The restless energy lingering in my bones made me want to jump out of my seat. Times like these I wished I was more like Liv. She could relax anywhere. She had fallen asleep without difficulty earlier, slumped in the seat, oblivious to all.

I envied her in some ways. Yet she frustrated me to no end.

“Mmm,” Liv let out a howling yawn as she stretched. “Audrey, hey, you awake?”

“What?”

“I’m dead tired, can’t drive anymore. I’m pulling into that motel up ahead.” She waved toward the dulled lights glowing in the distance. The motel was one of dozens we’d seen along the road. This one seemed to be in no better shape than the previous ones. Its exterior was fortified with peeling paint and weeds crawling up the sides of the masonry. It made me wonder how well-kept the inside was. The faint street lamps made it look more foreboding than comforting. I gulped as I stared at it, my skin crawling at the thought of sleeping there for the night, but from the looks of my dead-tired sister, and my own overwhelming fatigue aching in my bones, we were done driving.

“Okay, just park in the back after we check in. We don’t want the car to be seen from the road.”

“
I know.
” Liv rolled her eyes, smacking her gum endlessly as she maneuvered the car into the drive near the office. Putting it into park, she leaned back and glanced at me as I unraveled several twenties from one of the bundles of money. “Guess Ruben wasn’t all that bad for me, huh? This was the least he could’ve given us.” She winked and opened her door, spitting the wad of gum onto the gritty ground.

“I wouldn’t really say he
gave
us anything.” I stuffed the bag back under the seat and jumped out of the wagon, grabbing my well-worn purse. It was my favorite. The patchwork pattern was frayed, and the muted colors even more faded, but I still loved it and would adore it until it fell apart.

The office looked empty, save for the old radio playing its static-filled techno music in the corner behind the desk. I glanced around, studying the old wall paper that used to have small yellow daisies on it, but had long ago faded and rubbed away to almost nothing. The counter was clean but nicked in so many places I wondered how old this building was.

When no one approached us, I hit the lone bell that sat atop the counter, letting its smooth ring resonate across the room, hoping someone would show up soon. I needed to lie down in a bad way or I’d fall over any minute now.

“Hello?” Nothing but space and static responded. I made my way around the counter to peek into the back office door that stood partly cracked, exposing a small room with a couch and TV. I slipped in through the gap to get a better view of the back. A pair of cowboy boots perched on a stool was connected to a pair of jean clad legs. The man wore a plain white T-shirt and laid slumped back with his baseball hat covering part of his face. His thin frame and the lack of facial hair on his smooth jawline told me he was definitely not legal. His soft breathing told me he was out for the count.

“Get back here, Audrey!” Liv hissed at me. “You’re going to get us kicked out before we even get a room. I’m beat and I don’t want to find another motel or sleep in the car.” I could almost feel her arms waving frantically behind me, but I refused to budge. I shushed her while pushing the door open a bit more, taking in the small tidy space before me. Besides the sleeping man, the place was void of anything personal—just the worn leather armchair he snoozed in and the stool he had kicked his boots up on. The TV hummed softly on an old sitcom I vaguely remembered.

My eyes met with his golden brown tanned skin, telling of time well spent in the sun. Maybe he was the owner’s son and did odd jobs around the motel to pay his keep. His blonde hair hung out in wisps under the cap, messy but clean. The guy was bony, but not a total skeleton either. I wondered if he was the only one on tonight. He seemed far too young to be the boss here.

“Hello?” I knocked on the door, but the sleeping attendant didn’t rouse. Sighing, I pondered if I wanted to shake him awake or kick him. Both seemed like good options, especially since I was exhausted and felt like I was about to fall over any second now. Bending over him, I snatched his cap off his head and dropped it onto his lap. His long bangs fanned over his face but failed to elicit any response, so I sat it back on top of his messy hair. He was dead to the world, obviously not expecting any business this late into the early hours of morning.

Stepping back, I kicked the chair from under his feet, sending his legs slamming into the floor.

“Hey!” He stumbled up, wide eyed, hair wild as his baseball cap flopped to the floor. He looked like a drowned cat, which I would have laughed at but crossed my arms at him instead.

“We need a room.”

He frowned, groaning as he reached down to pick up his fallen cap, brushing the wild mess of hair from his youthful face. “Yeah, okay. Sure. One night only, right?” He cleared his throat and pushed past me to the counter, still straightening his rumpled shirt.

“Yes.”

“Two beds?” He glanced up through his eyelashes toward my sister, his eyes lingering over her face and sliding down over her chest for a moment too long. Liv shifted in her shoes, pretending to be interested in the old Thomas Kinkade prints framed on the walls.

“
Yes
.” I slammed the money onto the counter, loud enough to make him jump. He avoided my glare and started typing madly into the computer, which sat idling. His two finger typing was getting annoying, taking too long, and was keeping us from some rest. I wanted to shove him aside and type in our info ourselves, but I remained planted, determined not to let my impatience get the best of me, or my temper. A five year old could type faster than him. I resorted to drumming my fingers on the worn, chipping veneer of the counter.

He printed out our receipt, flicking his eyes at my fingers as they tapped away. His annoyance seemed to evaporate, more amused now than anything now. “Where are you ladies headed?” He slapped the paper in front of me and dropped a pen for me to sign.

“None of your concern,” I muttered, scratching my signature onto the carbon copy paper and sliding it back to him.

“Hey, let’s not be harsh now.”

Liv leaned on the counter and batted her eyelashes at him, making me roll my eyes at her. There she goes, flirting with scum again. “Of course not. How ‘bout you forget we were even here for a little bonus?” Gum smacking, she sweet-talked the poor kid. “What do you say there, boss?” I jerked my gaze back to her, surprised and ready to drag her out of there the moment he handed me our room key.

“Uh, yeah, sure. What kind of um...bonus?”

I hope she isn’t thinking about...
My eyes shifted to the attendant, his lovesick, gooey eyed face oblivious to me now.

Liv giggled, blowing a bubble that grew in proportion as she slowly exhaled into it, at the same time twirling her wavy hair in her slender, black nail polished fingers. The gum snapped, and she tongued it back into her little mouth, staring at the clerk the entire time. I was going to be sick.

“Liv.” I motioned her out of the office as he clumsily placed the key in front of her. He was smiling widely, turning a brilliant shade of red as he stuttered to speak.

“Oh, you know...” Liv slapped a hundred dollar bill in front of him, bringing it up to wave it in his face as she continued, “the kind that makes you
forget
you ever even saw or heard about us.” She smiled, the brilliance of it diminishing the bruised colored circles under her eyes. Her fatigue was apparent to me, but definitely not to the drooling young man who was all enthralled with her. “What do you say?” She gave him another lash-batting wink.

“Uh−yeah, okay.” He took the bill from her and smiled, still entranced with Liv’s beauty. I had to admit, she had a way with the opposite sex. She held them entranced with some spell she casted, turning them into spineless, sputtering idiots at any attention from her. She knew how to work it, and she used it well to get whatever she wanted. Only I seemed to notice the emptiness it caused her. Like the Band-Aids wrapped around her slender fingers, hiding the scabs from the splinters she had picked out of her hands, she hid the resonating hollow that was her heart. It wasn’t her fault. In fact, I blamed myself every day for it. I owed it to her to never let anyone hurt her ever again.

We slipped out of the office without any further probing from the creep and jumped back into the station wagon, easing it around the back of the motel building to an inconspicuous spot behind a row of pitifully starved trees. There was even an emptied, cracked plaster pool here, sitting unused and filthy. Despite that, I didn’t care anymore. If the place had a mat on the floor, I was ready to take it and crash.

I pulled my bag from the back seat before turning to stare at the run down state of this motel. It was painted a baby blue that required frequent touch ups, which didn’t seem to have been kept up. I let a breath out, scratched my head, and proceeded to the room, which luckily wasn’t too far from where we had parked. Liv followed behind, her own bag and the money pack in tow. Sliding the key card into the lock, it flashed green, and I shoved the heavy door open.

To my surprise, the interior was clean and simple. Smooth sheets lay on the beds, and an ample amount of pillows were strewn across the heads of the beds. I shut the door behind us, making sure to latch the lock, and breathed a sigh of relief as I leaned against the wood. Only then could I relax the tension that endlessly sat in my shoulders. Liv had already dived onto the bed nearest the window, pulling three of the pillows under her head and chest, hugging them fiercely.

“Heaven!”

I grinned—I had to agree with her for once. I stepped over to the second bed and dropped my bag to my feet. Pulling off my sneakers, I slid back onto the cool crisp sheets, which smelled like bleach and detergent with a faint floral scent mixed in. How about that—a clean motel that looked like crap outside? Go figure.

I was out before I could turn off any of the lights, but not before I’d heard Liv’s soft, even breaths from her side of the room.

Liv

THE TANGLES OF
my hair caught in my fingers as I ran them through the wet tresses. I dug through my bag for a brush, shoving all the little trinkets aside as I sifted through to find it. Finally grabbing the handle, I tugged the bristles through the mess. My long black hair was layered and hung with soft curls framing my face. If I didn’t get it untangled before it dried, it would turn into a fuzz ball afro in just minutes.

I managed to get all the knots out without cursing enough to wake Audrey. She hadn’t even changed out of her clothes either before crashing. I smiled, glad I had my sister with me on this crazy road of life. I wasn’t sure if I’d be okay without her. She grounded me in a way I was sure no one else could. I pulled my hair back into a loose bun and slipped my shoes on. I wanted to sneak out to grab my guitar from the wagon; my fingers itched to play the strings. Strumming the music was like a soothing medication to my soul. I ached for it, and it had been way too long since I had gotten to really just sit and tinker with it.

I pulled the guitar out of the trunk and quietly slipped back into the hotel room. I knew if I played softly, Audrey would continue to sleep for a bit. She fought sleep like a toddler, but man, once she was out, she was like death to the world. Sitting on my tossed up bed, I softly tuned the strings first, a habit I had done since learning how to play at the age of ten. Finishing with that, I softly strummed a set of chords, relishing the soft twang of the strings as the pick clicked over the metal coils. The sound resonated across the wood hollow of the guitar and filled the room with a soft melancholy.

Stretching my callused fingers to form the chords, I started to play one of my favorite Extreme songs, More Than Words. I loved its soft tempo and thumped out the percussion softly on the face of my guitar. Letting the melody fill me, it helped me to relax as the morning wore on. I fused it into the soft lullaby of an Anna Nalick song called Wreck of the Day, tapping my foot softly to the rhythm and losing myself in its soft reverence. I loved it and knew that if it was all up to me, playing music would be all I would do.

A slow tumble of a feeling crept up my side as I realized I was being watched. The window drapes were opened, letting in the soft sunlight of the morning, but just outside on the edge of the walkway, a man stood gazing in the direction of the window. He didn’t seem to be staring at me, though he was definitely listening to the music. I stopped, wondering if he could see me through the grimy glass pane. As I jumped up to pull the drapes shut, he jerked his head up toward me.