Chapter Seven
When I reach the house, I head inside. It’s light enough now that I can see without having to turn any lights on.
I grab a duffel bag out of my room and begin filling it with my things.
Once that’s done, I pull a small suitcase out of the closet before dragging it to Lane’s room.
I take out his nicest clothes and toss them into it before filling the remaining space with necessities.
As I zip it up, I debate getting anything out of the safe, but I know James can take care of that.
With everything I need, I head out to the car, tossing both bags into the back seat before driving back to the hotel.
When I pull into the parking garage James is by the hotel entrance with a very impatient look on his face. Ignoring him, I get out of the car and grab the suitcase out of the back seat.
“Mind telling me where you took my car?” he asks.
“To Lane’s house,” I say.
“What’s in the suitcase?”
“Some of his stuff.”
“Do you want to get killed?”
I shrug. “Why? Was there someone there to kill me?” I ask.
“There could have been.”
“I doubt it. You have officers watching the house,” I say.
He looks slightly surprised but quickly covers it up. “What makes you say that?”
“There were two men in a parked car in the alleyway. I noticed one got out of the car as soon as I arrived. He was also on the phone, so I’m assuming he was talking to you.”
“Yes, he was. Now don’t do that shit again.”
“Okay, I won’t. I’m fired, remember? I was just getting some shit. How long’s Lane going to be here?”
“I don’t know.”
“A while?”
“Depends.”
“Okay,” I say. “Let me drop this off, and I’ll meet you in the lobby in half an hour.”
“Fine.”
I nod and drag it over to the elevator. Inside the elevator, I lean against the wall as I rub my aching head.
Even though I felt better getting up and moving, my head is still pounding.
The door opens, and I head over to the room before swiping the card and letting myself in.
Lane is sitting on the bed and looks up quickly when I walk in.
“Where did you go? You’re supposed to be resting.”
“I brought some of your stuff,” I say as I open the suitcase. I pull his clothes out, still on hangers, and hang them up. Shirts on the left, pants on the right.
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“I just told you,” I say. “Are you getting deaf in your old age?”
“You should either be lying down or leaving with James. You’re not safe with me.”
“Yeah, I’m meeting him in the lobby in half an hour,” I say as I grab his toiletries and set them on the bathroom counter in the same order they were at home. When I’m finally finished putting things away I notice Lane has not moved nor said anything.
I walk over to him and grab his arm. “Get up.” I tug at him and he gets to his feet.
I lead him over to the door and turn him around, so his back is against it.
“Alright…walk two feet and here’s the door to the bathroom,” I say as I take his hand and press it against the door.
I use his hand to push it open. I pull him inside.
“Directly right is the sink,” I say as I lead him over to it.
“Your stuff’s over here,” I say. “Toothbrush, toothpaste, pretty much everything is just as it is at home,” I say as I set his hand against each one.
I turn him straight again. “Left is the bathtub, the sink is on the right, which is the opposite of home and in front of you is the toilet. Above the toilet are the washrags and towels,” I say as I walk him out of the bathroom.
“Straight ahead is the closet. Pants on the right, shirts on the left. Turn left…if you walk straight you’ll run into the bed, so you have to do a bit of an angle here,” I say as I pull him.
“Then the TV is to the left, bed to the right. Straight ahead is the window. Got it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I put my MP3 player on the nightstand. You can have it. I downloaded that new book you like. See ya,” I say as I let go of his arm and head toward the door.
“I’m sorry…about what I said last night,” he says.
I snort. “Yeah, I heard you last night. Sorry all I’m good for is a fuck. Now have a good life,” I say as I pull open the door and slam into James
“Is that what Lane said to you?” he asks.
“What?” I ask as I look up at him. “No, I’m going out to the car. I have a headache.”
James pushes past me, into the room.
“Lane,” James growls.
“What?” he asks.
“Did you tell him that all he was good for was a fuck? ” James asks.
“I already apologized. I didn’t fucking mean it! I was frustrated!”
Suddenly James has ahold of his shirt and yanks him toward himself. “The kid was seriously hurt because of you and that’s what you tell him? Lane, sometimes you’re just so damn stupid.”
“I apologized to him, now get off me.”
“You shouldn’t have said it in the first place!” James yells.
“I didn’t mean to, I was angry.”
“Angry at Felix? He did nothing wrong!” James says.
“No, I was angry at myself. Angry that I let this happen. And I said that shit to him because I wanted him to leave so he can’t get hurt again. I didn’t mean it.”
“I’m leaving now, Lane. I’ll find some place for you to go, but in the meantime, you have my number if you need me,” James says briskly, almost in a businesslike manner.
I try to pretend that I hadn’t been watching and head toward the elevator, but my head really hurts.
“You alright?” James asks. “You look pale.”
“Fine,” I lie.
“Why don’t we just get some sleep in my room? We can leave in a few hours,” he says.
I don’t want to agree with him, but right now I just want a dark room away from light and noise. So, when he heads to his room next to Lane’s, I follow right behind him.
***
“Felix?”
“Hmm?” I mumble as I slowly open my eyes.
“I just got an important call. I have to run down to Marrion. Will you be okay for a few hours alone?” James asks.
“Perfectly fine,” I say as I slowly stretch my achy limbs.
He nods and leaves the room, leaving me alone. It doesn’t take long for me to drift back to sleep. I don’t wake again until it’s nearing night and my phone is ringing.
“Hello?” I mumble into it.
“Felix?”
“Hmm?”
“I’ve run into an issue, I won’t be able to be back until morning. Are you going to be alright?”
“Fine,” I say as I sit up and inspect my bruises. I feel like they should look worse than they do to match how achy I am.
“If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to call me.”
“Okay.”
I get up and check myself in the bathroom mirror to make sure I look appropriate enough to step out in public.
I pull open the door and instantly notice that Lane is leaning against the wall almost opposite of my door.
Honestly, I’m not sure if I’m surprised or irritated or maybe it made me feel a little happy…
but just a little. I begin to walk quietly toward the elevator as his head follows me.
“Felix?”
I ignore him.
“Felix, I know that’s you,” he says.
In perfect Spanish, I say, “ Go away, you old hag. ” I don’t know a ton of Spanish, and that line is probably the only line I am fluent saying.
Mostly because my mom said it almost every day to the homeless lady that lived on the corner of our street when I was a kid.
But I have heard enough Spanish to understand some of it when it is spoken to me.
He hesitates, but he must really trust his ears because he rushes after me. I slip into the elevator and quickly hit the close button as many times as I can, but he slips in before the doors shut. “Felix, can I talk to you for a moment?”
“Why are you so fast for a guy that’s blind?”
“Can I talk to you?”
“You can talk, but I’m going to refuse to listen,” I say as the door opens. Quickly, I get out. He rushes after me, but in the noise of the lobby he greatly slows down.
“Felix?” he asks as he turns his head, searching for a single sound from me.
“I told you I don’t want to listen to you,” I say so he can follow my voice. I don’t know why. Do I feel bad for him? “So, don’t talk.”
He reaches out and grabs a handful of my shirt as I head off, dragging him along.
I walk through the lobby to the small restaurant that’s connected.
It’s busy with people looking for a beer after a long day.
I walk up to the counter and the woman smiles at me before looking curiously at Lane who is still hanging onto me.
“What can I get for you?” she asks.
“I’ll take a grilled chicken sandwich with no mayonnaise to go.”
“Would you like fries?”
“Sure,” I say.
“Okay, and what would you like?” she asks Lane.
“He doesn’t want anything,” I decide. Lane doesn’t say anything, but he tips his head toward me. I glare at him. “What do you want?”
“Whatever is fine.”
I sigh and look at the menu. “Cheeseburger with extra, extra mustard and fries,” I say, knowing that Lane hates mustard.
He doesn’t say anything to stop her and for some reason, I feel slightly guilty.
“Never mind, no mustard on that,” I say with a sigh.
She types it in and tells me the price, which I pay with Lane’s card.
After I’m done paying, she has us step to the side as they make the order to go.
We’re silent as we wait, but I wish they would hurry up because the loud noise of the bar is making my head pound. Thankfully, the lights are dimmed.
After a while, I see the chef pass a bag through the open window and the cashier reaches back to grab it. Hoping it’s ours, I step up toward her as she turns toward me.
“Here you go,” she says, and I take it.
I notice her eyes linger on the bruise around my wrist from being restrained, so I quickly grab the bag and go. Lane continues to follow me into the elevator that quickly fills up with the smell of food. My stomach growls as the door opens, and I finally escape the confines.
I stop by his door. “Here’s your door. Where’s your key?”
“I-I can’t find it.”
“What?” I ask.
“I had to leave it inside because I couldn’t find it.”
“Why’d you come out here?”
“To talk to you!”
“And if I never came out of my room?”
“I don’t know,” he says.
I grit my teeth in annoyance. “So, there’s the wall, I’ll send James a text when I think about it.”
“Felix—”
“Don’t try to make me feel bad for you,” I say as I swipe my card. I yank the door open and push him inside in annoyance. I walk over to my bed and sit at the foot of it as I pull out my sandwich.
“Are you feeling okay?” he asks. The sound of his voice and the look on his face tells me that he really does care. It makes me feel like I’m repeatedly kicking down an innocent dog.
“I’m fine,” I say.
“I’m sorry.”
“I heard.”
He’s still standing by the door, unsure of where to go or where I’m at. “Felix…I really am sorry I said that stuff.”
“I heard you!” I say. “Sit down.”
He slowly walks over to the bed and sits, so I toss the box on his lap.
He fiddles with it for a moment before getting it open and pulling out the sandwich.
In order to fill up the silence of the room, I turn the television on and watch it while I eat.
When I’m finished, I toss all the boxes and wrappers onto Lane’s lap since I’m not interested in getting off the bed to find the trash can.
“Clean that up. I’m not getting paid anymore, so you might as well do it.” I lie down on my side and close my eyes since there’s nothing good on TV. “You can sleep in the tub.”
“You know it’s only seven?”
“Obviously, but I’m tired.”
“Not even going to brush your teeth?”
“No.”
“That’s healthy.”
“I know,” I say as I look over at him. He tosses the trash onto the floor. “Turn the light out.”
“Where’s the light?”
“I don’t know, by the door,” I say as I watch him get up. He stumbles around, running his hand along the wall until he finally figures out where the light is and flips it off. He walks back to the bed and sits down.
“You want the TV on?”
“You can watch it if you want, otherwise I can turn it off.”
“You can turn it off,” he says so I hit the power button on the remote and set it next to the alarm clock.
I watch as Lane undresses before lying down next to me.
He reaches out to me, hand stopping short of me.
“I know…saying anything won’t help, but…
a man I’d been working with was killed not that long ago.
It was really hard to deal with. When you didn’t come home right away, I just couldn’t stop thinking about that, and there was nothing I could do.
I couldn’t go out and find you. Even if I found you, how would I even help you?
I can’t do anything, Felix. And I had to sit in that house and just wonder if you would even come home.
If you were lying dead somewhere because of me.
When you said someone was following you at the mall, I should have done something.
I didn’t think…I didn’t think he would have found me this quickly, so I didn’t think anything of your comment.
It was stupid of me. All of this was stupid of me, and I’m sorry, but I just can’t handle getting another person killed.
So, it’s not that I want you to leave because I don’t like you or that I’m sick of you, I want you to leave because he could have killed you.
You could be dead right now and it would be my fault.
I just can’t have that happen again. Okay?
So please, please believe me when I say I didn’t mean what I said.
I said it because I was angry at myself.
I said it because I hoped it would make you leave because I don’t know that I can force you to leave.
This new place I’ve found myself in since the accident is so different, and I don’t like it.
But you’ve helped me more than you’ll ever know.
So…will you leave? No matter how much I don’t want you to, I need you to.
When James comes back…please leave so I don’t have to see you get hurt again. ”
I watch him for a moment. I never imagined seeing such raw honesty coming from Lane. His words are so real and for some reason, it makes me feel wanted. Like he really didn’t want to make me go. It makes the thought of leaving all that much harder. “Okay…I’ll leave with James in the morning.”
“Thank you,” he says as he reaches for me, but before I can take his hand, he pulls it back to himself and rolls away from me.