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I hadn’t realized how loud my screams were until I heard a knock at the door and a voice calling my name from outside.
I scurried over to the door, keeping my towel tight around my chest, and opened it to see Sage standing on the other side like he was about to kick the door down, and in only a pair of tight black underwear. Had I not been on the verge of puking or fainting from the horrific sight of the flies, I would have ogled his fine body.
He placed his hands on my shoulders, looking me over in panic, his brows expressive and his pupils strangely dilated. “I heard you screaming, I’m sleeping right next door. Are you okay?”
I quickly shook my head and pointed at the window. “No. I don’t know. Look at all the flies. I woke up and took a shower and just noticed this. ”
“Jesus,” he swore under his breath. He looked behind him at the door and quickly shut it. “Do the windows open? Better them leaving through there than through the hotel. ”
I nodded and noticed my hand that was clutching my towel was shaking slightly. I then noticed I was just wearing a towel.
“It’ll be okay,” he said quickly, his hand moving up to my head, brushing my hair behind my ear in such an intimate gesture that I wanted to swim in it. “It’s gross as fuck, but it’s just flies. This happens sometimes. ”
“Oh yeah?” I asked, my voice trembling.
He smiled and took off for the window, taking the warmth of his hand away. “Yup. Back on the farm, sometimes I’d head into the mudroom as a kid and flies would be everywhere. They’d just appear out of the blue, like this. Maybe the housecleaner—” he paused and then shook his head, “maybe there was rotten food or something that wasn’t cleaned up properly. ”
Though he was talking quite fast and making a lot of sense, it wasn’t making me feel much better. The flies looked so inhuman, like bloated aliens made of tar and pulsing eyes. They made me feel sick to my core, no matter how Sage spun it. Their buzzing sound seemed to take over my whole head, something that would surely drive me mad if we didn’t do something.
But Sage did do something. He cautiously approached the window, the lazy flies barely moving out of the way, and pushed the windowsill up. That was another thing—I knew I had fallen asleep with the windows open. Although I suppose they could have fallen down if they weren’t secured properly, and I would have been too passed out to even hear it.
Once the window was up, he asked me to hand him a pillow. I did so, and he started swatting at the flies until they rose up in a black cloud and eventually flew out into the night.
I had a good view of his broad shoulders and muscular back as he did this, my eyes focusing on that small pleasure instead of the last flies that were making their way out of the room.
I zeroed in on long, red marks going from the shoulder blades down to midback.
Five marks on each side. There was no mistaking what those were, but I still hoped and prayed I was mistaken.
When all the flies were gone, he shut the window and turned around to face me, a satisfied look on his face. “Well, I think that will take care of that for now. In the morning I’ll speak with the manager. I’ve already had issues with his staff. ”
I just stared at him, my mouth wet with a new kind of terror.
He raised his brows. “What is it?”
“Your back,” I croaked then cleared my throat. “Your back has scratch marks down the sides. ”
I watched him closely, trying to pick up on every facial expression. His mouth came together firmly and he swallowed. His grey-green eyes flared, caught up in an internal debate.
“What happened?” I asked. My heart was racing so fast now.
“Oh, Dawn,” he said, shaking his head and taking a step toward me.
“No,” I said, stepping back. “You should probably call me Rusty in this instance. It makes more sense now. ”
A wash of pain came across his brow and his jaw clenched. He sighed and looked down at his feet, still shaking his head subtly, his loose curls going in his eyes.
Shit. “Who is she? Those looked fresh. ”
He exhaled again and said, “It doesn’t matter. It’s done. ”
Oh God. Oh God, this hurt.
“I guess there are so many you can’t keep track. ” I tried to keep my voice as monotone as possible. It was damn hard.
He looked at me sharply. “No. It’s…it was Angeline. ”
Fuck. Fuck this. Fuck me.
“Fuck you,” I sneered, surprised at the ferocity with which the words left my mouth.
His head jerked back, but I could feel my face turning into an angry sneer.
“The girl from earlier, the French promoter,” I went on. “You fucked her? When did this happen?”
“Dawn,” Sage said again. “It’s not what you…I…I don’t know why I did it. I was fucked up. I am fucked up. ”
“You sure fucking are!” I said. “When did it happen?”
He licked his lips and his gaze went to the carpet. I was not going to like this answer, no matter what.
“Last night,” he admitted.
I gasped, feeling like my chest was being chewed up from the inside out. I was being shredded to the bone. “You fucked her last night? You knew I was coming today,” I spat out incredulously.
“Hey, I didn’t know what we had,” he said, having the audacity to argue back. “I didn’t know where we stood with each other. ”
“Well, you decided that pretty quickly, didn’t you?” I sneered. “My God, you fucked that…that…French…bitch. ”
“She’s a promoter,” he said weakly.
“Oh, and that makes it better?” I stared at him, at this man I had put so much stock into and felt nothing but shame and remorse for doing so. “My God,” I said to myself and put my hand to my forehead. “My God, I am such a fucking idiot. ”