09-14-2018, 03:04 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-14-2018, 03:16 PM by Jay Carpenter.)
There was no room for dreams in that desperate sleep. He crawled from mounded blankets with awareness of someone more clear-headed than he felt in days to check the time. Alistair’s deadline loomed, but the man’s slick wallet remained quiet in the pocket of his discarded jeans. He sat there on the edge of the bed, hands in his lap, considering the pile of denim. When he rubbed his shoulders, knots protested the pressing. Jay opted for a shower instead.
The steam and soap did nothing to scrub away how dirty he felt. He’d never done anything like that before. Certainly not with someone he legitimately cared about – or did once upon a time. Probably always would. Cayli’s abject horror would haunt him, but then again, maybe it was time she discovered that her gallant older brother was no hero after all. Barely a good person. If that. The sole flicker of hope that remained was Natalie’s ignorance. He knew what it would do to her if she found out. Knew what it would do to them. Was Alistair’s price too high to pay? There had to be another way. Just hadn’t bloody thought of it yet!
He finally checked his own wallet, nervous of the backlog of messages waiting within. A frown touched his brow when it was mostly empty. No angry notes from Cayli. No check-in from mom or dad. Nothing. Except a response from Nox from yesterday's conversation. He opened it. Curiosity of what was there shoved some of the tightness from his chest. And he laughed. Enough that it rattled something free as he dropped the device aside and aimed for his bag.
A soldier’s life didn’t afford much luxury for packing extras. The one pair of jeans that Jay brought were the pair he wore in the rain. Given that it was a bad idea to walk around the entire casino in nothing but his shorts, it was something of a dilemma. He took the pants to the tub and seized the power. A rather satisfied nodding followed the drips of water wrung out. “Well there’s a perk. Adios, laundry.”
The rest of his clothes were neatly worked through with the power. Shower, fresh clothes, hotel-room coffee-pot: damn. Much more pampering and he’d start to forget that his life was a complete wreck. Still no word from Alistair, so Jay stuffed the device into his pocket. The Stetson stayed.
Having been here an entire day and no sign of people wanting to kill him, his guts might actually untangle enough to shove down a few plates of food. Rounding the lobby, Jay stopped dead in his tracks upon the threshold of an enormous room. His gaze was drawn immediately to the back. A big grin escaped as Jay pushed through the bustling tables.
A buffet.
”Oh, thank God.” He might cry.
A plate was snatched from one of those bouncy-tower dispenser things and dumped with appropriately bountiful mounds of eggs, steak-strips, pancakes, waffles, smeared with that red jelly stuff. Sausage. Greasy hash-browns. He was already chewing on a pork-link before even making it to a table. Overflow from the plate’s edges dripped like breadcrumbs through the woods as he fought his way to an empty table. The first pancake was rolled up like a taco stuffed with strips of sirloin and sausage. He had it half-way stuffed in his mouth when laughing yanked his gaze from the delirium.
“Hungry?”
A waitress was grinning, carafe of coffee in hand.
Jay emphatically shook his head. When he begged for that steaming elixir she was hoarding back, gripping the empty cup like a man dying of thirst in the desert, she happily complied.
The steam and soap did nothing to scrub away how dirty he felt. He’d never done anything like that before. Certainly not with someone he legitimately cared about – or did once upon a time. Probably always would. Cayli’s abject horror would haunt him, but then again, maybe it was time she discovered that her gallant older brother was no hero after all. Barely a good person. If that. The sole flicker of hope that remained was Natalie’s ignorance. He knew what it would do to her if she found out. Knew what it would do to them. Was Alistair’s price too high to pay? There had to be another way. Just hadn’t bloody thought of it yet!
He finally checked his own wallet, nervous of the backlog of messages waiting within. A frown touched his brow when it was mostly empty. No angry notes from Cayli. No check-in from mom or dad. Nothing. Except a response from Nox from yesterday's conversation. He opened it. Curiosity of what was there shoved some of the tightness from his chest. And he laughed. Enough that it rattled something free as he dropped the device aside and aimed for his bag.
A soldier’s life didn’t afford much luxury for packing extras. The one pair of jeans that Jay brought were the pair he wore in the rain. Given that it was a bad idea to walk around the entire casino in nothing but his shorts, it was something of a dilemma. He took the pants to the tub and seized the power. A rather satisfied nodding followed the drips of water wrung out. “Well there’s a perk. Adios, laundry.”
The rest of his clothes were neatly worked through with the power. Shower, fresh clothes, hotel-room coffee-pot: damn. Much more pampering and he’d start to forget that his life was a complete wreck. Still no word from Alistair, so Jay stuffed the device into his pocket. The Stetson stayed.
Having been here an entire day and no sign of people wanting to kill him, his guts might actually untangle enough to shove down a few plates of food. Rounding the lobby, Jay stopped dead in his tracks upon the threshold of an enormous room. His gaze was drawn immediately to the back. A big grin escaped as Jay pushed through the bustling tables.
A buffet.
”Oh, thank God.” He might cry.
A plate was snatched from one of those bouncy-tower dispenser things and dumped with appropriately bountiful mounds of eggs, steak-strips, pancakes, waffles, smeared with that red jelly stuff. Sausage. Greasy hash-browns. He was already chewing on a pork-link before even making it to a table. Overflow from the plate’s edges dripped like breadcrumbs through the woods as he fought his way to an empty table. The first pancake was rolled up like a taco stuffed with strips of sirloin and sausage. He had it half-way stuffed in his mouth when laughing yanked his gaze from the delirium.
“Hungry?”
A waitress was grinning, carafe of coffee in hand.
Jay emphatically shook his head. When he begged for that steaming elixir she was hoarding back, gripping the empty cup like a man dying of thirst in the desert, she happily complied.
Only darkness shows you the light.