Stace hits the end button and looks at me. “Run.”
19
“What?” I whisper.
“Run.” He growls as he grabs my hand. We turn and run as fast as we can to the end of the alley and then stop still in the shadows as we peer around the corner and onto the street.
A cab is slowly coming down the road. “I’m going to try and get it.” I glance at Stace and the blood running down his face. “Clean yourself up or he won’t let you in.”
“Yeah, okay,” he murmurs as he takes his t-shirt off and begins to wipe the blood from his face. I run out onto the road and put my hands up in front of the cab. “Stop, please stop,” I mouth in desperation.
The driver slows and I open the back door and jump in, I gesture a come here signal to Stace and he runs from the shadows and jumps in the back of the cab.
The cab driver frowns and turns to eye us suspiciously. “Is everything alright?” he asks.
“Yes, bar fight,” Stace replies quickly. “Can you take us to the Marriot hotel please?”
He nods cynically and turns and pulls out into the traffic.
I frown. “The Marriot?” I mouth.
Stace shakes his head subtly and grabs my hand in his, the warmth of it instantly calming me. He then lies down and puts his head on my lap and I know it’s so nobody can see he is in the cab. “Come down here and cuddle me,” he says out loud.
He wants me out of sight, too. I lie down across his back and we stay silent for the rest of the trip until it comes to a halt. He pays the driver and we sheepishly get out of the cab. He grabs my hand and we walk across the road in the opposite direction and along the backstreets until another cab goes by and we flag it down. “Now we can go back to the hotel,” he says softly as it comes to a halt. “We climb into the backseat.”
“The Bog Hotel, please.”
“Yes,” the driver responds, uninterested.
We drive a little way and Stace interrupts my thoughts.
“Can you let us out at the side street?”
“In this street here?” The driver gestures.
“Yes, please,” Stace replies. The cab slows and we climb out again.
“What are we doing?” I whisper.
“We will go in through the parking lot. I don’t want anyone seeing me like this.”
I turn to look at him and he’s right, his face is a mess. “Shit, are you okay?” I frown.
“Yeah, that fucker laying the boot in didn’t help.”
I run my hands through my hair as my apprehension rises. “Oh God, Stace. What are we going to do?”
“Let’s just get to the room safely.”
“What if they know we re staying here?” I whisper as we walk down the ramp to the underground parking lot.
Stace slides his key into the scanner and the security doors slowly rise.
“Then we’re fucked.”
I shake my head as my nerves start to really thump. We walk through the darkened parking lot as we both scan our surroundings. This could be the prefect place to murder us. “This doesn’t feel safe,” I whisper.
“It’s not.”