“The drive must’ve tired her out, no doubt. Where ya two kids traveling from?” I wanted to laugh at the woman for referring to me as a kid. I supposed in her point of view that’s all I was, I hadn’t been a kid in almost ten years.
“Los Angeles,” I lie. “My girl was tired of the congestion. It’s a damn tourist trap out there nowadays.”
“Oh, I bet it is, darlin’.” Dottie glances over to a sheet on her right. “You two staying the night or longer?”
“Just tonight,” I confirm.
“That’ll be sixty-three dollars, please.”
“Keep the change. Just tell me if this diner is any good.” I open my wallet and hand her sixty-five dollars.
“Well, I’d say it’s pretty darn good. I’m the one woman show that runs this joint!” I chuckle at her admission.
“Noted, Ma’am. I may pop over in a while and grab me and the girl some food to go.” I tell her, knowing very well how hungry I am. Food, then sleep.
“Pfft. Don’t you stress about comin’ over. What do ya both like? I’ll start cooking it up while y’all get settled into your room.” I wanted to disagree with the woman, to thank her for her kindness and tell her I’d come over in a bit – I was fucking beat. However, there was no way I was gonna disagree with a woman who was trying to make my night a little easier.
I thought long and hard about what Roxy liked, then about what I did. “You got a mean burger, chicken tenders and fries?”
“Sure as heck do. What kinda shakes ya want? You can’t have greasy food without some liquid sugar to wash it down.”
“Chocolate and a Strawberry please.” I pull another twenty out of my wallet and hand it over to her. “Keep the change.”
She smiles politely up at me, pulling a key off of the wall behind her with a tag marked “5”.
“You’ll be in room 5. If you make a left when you leave the office, it’ll be the fifth door on the left. Your food’ll be ready in about twenty minutes.” I nod at Dottie’s words as she places the key tag to our motel room in my hand. In almost every motel you go to they ask for your Driver’s License. If I had to do that I would’ve left a trail to me – and to Roxy. Luckily for the both of us, Dottie didn’t ask for it.
When I get back to the truck Roxy is fast asleep against the window. I take the opportunity to grab our duffel bags filled with clothes, walking up to room number five, inserting the key, and opening the door. The room is standard, everything looks normal – bathroom, TV, wardrobe, bedside tables – the only thing out of the ordinary was that there weren’t two beds in the room. There was one queen sized bed.
I walk back to the truck, trying not to think about all the worries I had deep within me. I’d covered my tracks well, told Rage I was up at my mother’s for the week. I knew he wouldn’t check. I’d done nothing to break his trust. Yet, I worried how I was supposed to be here for her and keep up my appearances at the club. It wasn’t like I could just vanish into thin air. Rage would figure it out, so I’d do what needed to be done. I’d go back to the club. I’d be involved. I’d do anything that I needed to do, but I’d do my best to be there for her as much as I could.
I didn’t fight for her hard enough before. This time, I’d be there for her when she needed me.
***
Roxy
I stumble awake at the sudden movement of falling to my right. I was airborne, and then I wasn’t, just like that. “Ugh,” I groan, moving my hands up to my face, wiping my eyes.
“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to wake you.” Tex’s voice is smooth and tender as I look up to the man who has taken me in his arms before I’d fallen. He was exhausted, brows furrowed, all energy drained after a few hours of driving, yet he still has the energy to lift me up, pulling me into his arms, and starts walking to what I assume is our motel room.
It is warm out, a little hotter than I would have liked. I could feel beads of sweat pooling and dripping down my back the second Tex lifts me out of his truck. We were driving north, it wasn’t supposed to be so damn hot up here.
He slides the key in the door and turns the knob. I hold onto his shoulder as easily as I could. He was using both hands to get us into the room, acting as if carrying me was nothing more than what he routinely did.
The light flickers on with a brief move of Tex’s hand. I take a good hard look at the room we are staying in. Fluffy brown carpet that I wouldn’t be caught dead barefoot on, an old TV from at least the seventies; the room looks like it hasn’t been properly cleaned in ages. That makes my skin crawl beyond belief.
There is one other big thing wrong with this room. There is only one bed.
I stare at the bed as if one would magically appear if I wished for it.
“You take the bed, I’ll sleep on the floor.” He moves the covers down and slides me in, propping the other pillow up behind my back so I was sitting up.
“No,” I argue. “You aren’t sleeping on that floor.” I point to a corner in the room where there had obviously been furniture not too long ago. You could see the drastic difference in the color. The corner was a light tan, and the rest of the room was almost a chocolate brown.
“I’ve slept it worst places than this, Rox,” Tex huffs, rolling his eyes, acting as if I was some dumb girl who didn’t know any better. What he said irritated the living hell out of me.
“You think I don’t know that?” I shoot out, glaring at him. I knew exactly the type of places that the boys slept in. The woods. The whorehouses. The clubs. I knew everything, this wasn’t news to me. I was giving him an option to not sleep on that germ riddled, dirt infused carpet.
“That’s not what I meant,” Tex sighs, taking his hand back, combing his fingers through his hair as he takes a few steps towards the window on the opposite side of the room. I could see lights inside of an inground pool. He stares out the window, and I stare at him. Both of us sit in silence for minutes until a rap comes at the door. Tex is over there in no time, opening the door. I could hear a little bit of his conversation, not being able to see him because of the wall.
“Thanks, Dottie, I will. Yeah, we appreciate it so much. Sure thing.” The door closes quickly, and the locks are turned. He was holding a tray with two plates of food. I spied chicken tenders, a juicy burger, fries, and two milkshakes.
He walks over with the tray, sits it on the bed next to me, and plops down next to my legs. “What’s it gonna be: chicken or beef? Chocolate or strawberry?”
I laugh, harder than I should have – so hard that my body was hurting. With everything that happened the past few days I was blown away that I could even laugh like that. I look back up into Tex’s eyes. He is smiling down at me, and he starts laughing too.
When I had just moved to town, Tex had taken me out on a date. Mind you, this was before Rage and I were an item. He picked me up in his beat up old truck that looked like it was on its last leg, insisted on driving to a burger joint, and wouldn’t let me go in. The next thing I knew he was coming outside with a bag that was perfectly sealed, smelling heavenly, and two milkshakes. The man wouldn’t tell me what he got, but I let him get away with that. I was okay with the mystery, the mystery of what he’d purchased, and the mystery of him.