Running A Hotel Is Hard When You’re A Ghost
Chapter twenty
Running A Hotel Is Hard When You’re A Ghost
Alex
Immediately following Jake’s victory over his father, I promote Brandon to acting manager. I’ll still run things behind the scenes, so to speak, but we need a living face for this hotel, and Brandon has proven himself more than capable. When he’s not hidden away working on his book, that is.
“I’d be honored to help run this place, little dude. Kayla pretty much showed me all the ropes already, so I know what to do. I won’t let you down,” Brandon vows.
“I know you won’t. How much was Kayla paying you, by the way?” I need to one up her.
“Oh, um, nah I wasn’t getting paid per se.
She was letting me stay in the attic free of charge in exchange for my services.
But no cheddar exchanged hands. I just wanted to be helpful, you know?
You guys have done so much for me.” I gasp.
That sounds like something Kayla would do.
Pawn off the actual work to unpaid interns.
“How does fifteen dollars an hour sound? Free room and board in an actual room this time?”
Brandon thinks about it for a minute. “Can I still take smoke breaks with Seth?”
“You drive a hard bargain, Sinclair. No more than two per day when you’re on the clock. Deal?”
He stretches his hand out, and we shake. “You’ve got yourself a deal! I’m gonna go take my first official smoke break now. Be back in ten!” He runs off, calling for Seth. I just sigh.
That taken care of, I walk out front and find Jake staring down at the lawn. “Are those blades of grass communicating with you?” I tease. He looks up and smiles, shaking his head.
“Just thinking. Now that you’ve officially employed me as head gardener, I need to start working on revamping this place. Cut back the overgrown hedges, weed the flower beds, and put actual flowers in them. There’s so much that needs to be done, it’s kind of overwhelming.”
“If you need help with anything, we can hire you a cute assistant. Only, you’re not allowed to talk to him.”
“He wouldn’t be very helpful then, would he? No, I think I can handle this. I want to do this on my own, prove it to myself that I can.”
I wrap an arm around his waist and lean my head against his shoulder. “You’re gonna do amazing, babe. It’ll look so good, just make sure to keep it looking slightly haunted. We have a reputation to maintain now.” He squeezes me.
“I’ll see what I can do.”
I leave him to tend to the yard and go back inside.
I sit at the front desk computer and type in the admin password.
HotelHell420. I smirk at that. Brandon and I came up with the new password after Kayla got arrested.
I need to revamp our website to make it more in line with our current marketing plan.
I add little clip art ghosts to the home page, surrounding a picture of the hotel, and add a blurb about the property being a hotbed of paranormal activity.
“Most haunted hotel in America!” I write in a text bubble, and copy-paste the one-star review Derek left on google.
“So scary it’ll have you running away in fear!
” “Enter at your own peril!” I type in another.
This’ll bring all the ghost enthusiasts to the yard, for sure.
“Brandon!” I call out, hoping he can hear me.
“Get back to work!” I hop down from my chair.
Next on the agenda is doing an inspection of all the rooms to make sure they’re up to my cleanliness standards.
I want to fire Frankie just on principle, but between running this place, haunting the guests, and romancing Jake, I have to be realistic with myself that I just won’t have time to do the cleaning as well.
Maybe I could dust a few ceiling fans for old times’ sake.
***
My marketing strategy is working. I’m a genius. It’s early summer and the hotel has never been this busy before. We have SIX guests. At the same time. And they’re not all from the same family! I pat myself on the back. People love haunted houses; they’re guaranteed moneymakers.
I look over my schedule for the evening.
Hauntings start at seven o’clock, right when the sun is starting to set.
I’ll start off small, a few loud bangs on the walls just to set the mood, nothing major.
Then, as soon as the guests start to retire to their rooms for the night, I’ll hit them with the creaking door.
“Oh my, I thought I closed this door,” they’ll say as I push open the bedroom door they just closed, slowly for maximum creakage.
After that I’ll take a small break, let them settle in.
Just as soon as they let their guard down, BAM!
Flickering lights. Guests love that one.
The climax of the night will be me walking up and down the corridors of each wing, moaning like a plague riddled Victorian child.
After that, I’ll retire to my own chambers with Jake.
God, I work so hard.
***
It’s just past seven, which means it’s time for the real work to begin, and I can barely contain myself. This is our bread and butter right here, what’ll make us famous. This is my favorite part of the job, and the guests love it too.
I head down the halls to the north wing when I see a guest. I quickly make myself invisible.
This guest is a younger guy. He’s wearing a baggy sweatshirt and sagging, loose fitting jeans.
He has headphones around his neck, and he’s looking at his phone while he walks, not paying the slightest bit of attention.
Oh yes, I’m going to have some fun with this guy.
He walks past me, and I bang a hand on the wall, causing him to jump.
He looks over to where I’m standing, seeing right through me.
“Who’s there?” he asks. No one’s there, buddy.
He shakes it off and continues walking. I follow him and hit the wall again. He spins around, looking for any sign of where the noise is coming from.
“What the hell, man? Is someone there?” he calls out again. This time he hurries down the hall a little faster. Using some of my energy, I make a hall light flicker as he walks past, before making it explode, filling this section of the hallway with darkness.
Panicking now, he turns on the flashlight on his phone, waving it around wildly.
“Show yourself!” he screeches.
I walk up to him and put my mouth right next to his ear and give a demonic laugh. He screams and turns to run, but before he can get far, he trips over his baggy pants and falls to the ground, phone skittering across the floor.
I run over to the phone and crouch down so the light is illuminating my face and make myself semi-transparent. I give him a wicked grin and say, “You should have worn a belt,” before laughing again.
“OH SHIT!” he yells and scrambles to his feet, trying in vain to pull his pants up.
He runs down the hall, back the way he came, and trips over his pants a couple more times, my maniacal laugh following him as he flees.
The phone is left abandoned on the ground.
I shrug and turn off the flashlight so his battery doesn’t die.
I leave the phone where it is and continue down the hall, looking for my next victim.
He’ll come back for his phone, guaranteed.
I’m actually surprised he ran off without it.
Most of our younger guests care more about those things than their physical safety.
They’re about to be viciously mauled by a vengeful spirit and the first thought is, “Wait, don’t kill me yet, I need to open my TikTok! This is gonna get so many views!”
I shake my head as I wander the halls, looking for more guests to terrorize.
***
“How was work today, babe?” I ask Jake when I enter the room after a fun night of haunting. The guests loved it, and the attention and adoration is starting to go to my head a bit. “Don’t let me turn into a diva, Jake. I need to remember my humble beginnings.”
“What?” he chuckles and wraps me up in a hug. I breathe him in, and when I don’t elaborate, he says, “Work was good. I made progress in the side garden.”
“That’s good. I love your hugs. They’re the best. They’re so… enveloping.”
“I’m glad you approve.”
“Mmmm,” I hum and run my hand down to his lower back.
When he doesn’t move or say anything, I move my hand a bit lower, right over the swell of his ass, and let it rest there.
He still doesn’t say anything. I want to push my luck a little, but I don’t want to scare him off either. “This okay?” I ask.
“Yeah,” he says with his face in my hair. I flex my fingers on his ass.
“Are you up for a little fun, or are you tired? Maybe we should go to bed and recharge.” Please say fun.
“Well,” he drawls, “what kind of fun did you have in mind?”
“The fun kind, where we take off our clothes.” I look up and waggle my eyebrows, drawing a laugh from him.
“Hmm, that does sound fun. Okay, take your clothes off, brat,” he commands in that husky voice of his, and my god, it’s so hot.
I step back and pull off my shirt, giving him a second to enjoy the view before I unbutton my pants and let them fall around my ankles.
I kick them off and stand before him in my boxers.
“Don’t forget who’s in charge here Jake,” I say, trying to sound commanding and seductive. I don’t know if I pull it off quite like he does. “Take your clothes off, too. I want to see your sexy abs.”
As always, he’s slow to remove his clothes. I know it still makes him a little nervous, so I let him go at his own pace. He pulls his shirt off and lets it drop to the floor. His hand hovers over his jeans button, and I see the hesitation on his face.
“Remember you’re safe here,” I remind him and he nods. “Nothing happens without your permission. Do you want to stop?”
“No, I want this. I’m being silly, sorry. I always want this with you.” Before long, we’re both standing in our boxers. I run a hand down his stomach appreciatively.
“I’d kill for muscles like these,” I say absentmindedly. “You’re so freaking beautiful. I want you to use these to destroy me tonight, understand?” He nods.
“Perfect,” I say. “Take off those boxers. Gorgeous, and already hard for me.” I wrap a hand around him lightly and purr. “Still good?” He gives me another nod and hums as he runs a hand through my hair, looking relaxed again.
“Still good,” he says.
“Get on the bed, then. Sit up against the headboard, I’m going to ride you and when I’m too tired to hold myself up, you’re gonna show me what these muscles are good for.”
“Yes, sir,” he says as he gets on the bed and leans back. I climb on his lap, and his hands immediately settle on my ass, squeezing.
“I was a bad boy tonight, Jake, terrorizing all those guests. I think I need to be punished a little bit. Are you going to punish me?”
He growls and kisses me before saying, “So hard, brat. Change of plans.” He flips us and I land on my back with him hovering over me. “On your stomach. I’m going to fuck you hard and when I’m tired, you’re going to ride me and make me come. Understand?”
I lay there for a second, breathless. “That was so fucking hot.” I quickly turn over. “Give it to me, babe. Now!” I add, just to remind him again that I’m still the boss.
He swats my ass hard and I tilt my hips in invitation as he lubes his cock.
He tosses the bottle of lube and swats me again before covering my body with his, chest flush against my back.
His weight on me feels so good that I practically melt into the mattress.
He threads his fingers through mine and holds my hands down beside my head as he enters me.
“Are you good?” he asks quietly into my ear before nipping it.
“Uh huh. Fuck me now, Jake. Please don’t tease me,” I beg. He kisses a line down my neck, making me shiver.
“Just remember, you asked for it,” he growls sexily before obeying my command.