Chapter 3
The covers felt soft beneath Tiana as she lay down on top of them. Tabor crawled over her, his body cool from the night air. His muscles rippled as he moved over her, pulling her underwear down, off of her legs.
She watched his eyes move over her pussy, taking it in.
She remembered blurrily that she’d asked for a wax while she was at the salon getting her hair and eyebrows done. Tabor seemed to like how exposed she was. His fingers moved against her for a few seconds as he looked at her, and then leaned down and kissed her between her legs.
His tongue against her pussy felt amazing, and she was relieved that he’d removed the barrier of her panties. His tongue was hot against her clitoris, and he lapped it against her steadily, using the same rhythm that he’d created in the hot tub moments before. She felt herself moving along with him, his kisses building pleasure inside of him.
When he stopped kissing her between the legs, he continued crawling over her. When his lips were over her breasts he leaned down and kissed them, sucking on her nipples as he had her earlobe. His tongue circled her taut nipples.
She groaned.
He continued moving up her body, and soon his lips were near her ear.
“You taste so good,” he whispered.
She felt his dick find a place between her legs, and he began moving back and forth. She felt her pussy become hotter and wetter. She opened her legs, and felt him slide against her opening, up and down. She was so wet, so ready. She longed for him to enter her, but he made her wait.
She moaned. “Fuck me,” she said. “Fuck me, fuck me,” her voice was breathy, peaking at points, vacillating between a whisper and a scream. She felt desperate. Her pussy was begging for him.
“Oh, god,” she begged, writing against the blankets. “Fuck me, hard.”
She felt Tabor move slightly so that he was on his knees. He rolled a condom over his long, hard dick. When he returned to his position, with his dick between her legs, she was trembling with need.
As he plunged his dick inside of her, she screamed in pleasure.
It felt so good.
He let out a cry as well, and then began moving against her, in and out. She held her legs open, in a wide V. She felt his balls slapping against her as he thrust into her.
She cried out each time he drove into her, unable to contain her pleasure.
He lifted his torso up, bracing himself against one of her legs. He moved faster.
All sense of time faded away. She became completely lost in the sensation of the rhythm he created inside of her.
“Is that good?” he asked.
She could barely answer. Finally, she felt words tumbling from her mouth. “Oh yeah,” she said. “Yes, yes!”
“Do you like that?” he asked again, encouraging her to speak.
“Yes!” she cried.
“I want to be behind you,” he said. “I want to fuck you doggy style.”
As he guided her, Tiana moved so that she was on all fours on the bed. She felt Tabor’s hands on her hips, and he entered her again. He moved faster, fingering her while he fucked her from behind. She braced herself against the bed as sensations swirled inside of her, reaching a peak just as he did. He yelled out as he came, and her own cries joined his, creating a joint moan of ecstasy.
When Tiana’s eyes closed, several minutes later, her last conscious thought was of how happy she was — as if she hadn’t a care in the world.
******
Tiana’s cares, so blissfully absent the night before, came crashing back to her as she opened her eyes, squinting against bright sunlight.
Her head pounded.
Her mouth felt dry.
Where am I? she thought, looking around her. The night before began trickling into her consciousness, growing with speed as the memories built up, one after the other.
The reunion.
It didn’t go well.
They laughed at me.
Faye, Betsy, and Nancy.
I crossed the street, and went to the bar.
The bar — the handsome man — Tabor Knight.
She glanced over to her side.
There he was, his naked torso exposed, sheets tangled around his waist, eyes closed. He was sleeping deeply.
Tiana grew conscious of her own body. A quick check confirmed that she was completely naked as well. Her hand flew to her mouth. Oh my god! We had sex. Oh… yeah. We did! She began to remember the feel of him inside of her, the way they had moved in the bed. We really did. For a long time — and it felt good.
Some of her mounting anxiety began to dissipate.
But – she
thought, a sense of tension once again sweeping through her, removing
the calm from her memory of the good sex. What now?
We were
drunk.
We were both really, really drunk.
Is he going to be an
asshole when he wakes up?
He’s going to regret what
happened. And I can’t handle that. On top of my experience last
night, with Faye, Betsy and Nancy, that will break me.
Snap me in two.
If I want to maintain any sense of dignity, and any sense of fondness about this memory, I have to get out of here.
Tabor rolled over, and a lightning strike of fear zipped through her. His breathing changed pace, and she held her frozen position, listening intently.
After a second, his heavy, sleep-filled breathing returned.
Now, she thought. I have to get out of here, like, right now.
She tried to move as softly as she could. Sitting up slowly and carefully, she turned the sheets to the side. She managed to get out of the bed without making much noise.
Tip-toing, she moved across the room, gathering up her panties and then looking for her other clothes. They must be here somewhere, she thought frantically.
She saw a suitcase with Tabor’s clothes, but nothing of her own. A white towel was thrown across the back of a chair, and another one was on the floor. The towels jogged her memory.
The hot tub, she thought. We were in the hot tub! But did we really — her hand flew up to her mouth again as she recalled the feel of Tabor removing her bra, and feeling her naked breasts.
She gasped audibly.
Tabor shifted in the bed, reacting to her gasp.
She held her breath, waiting for him to fall back to sleep. Her heart was hammering in her chest.
Gotta get out of here. Fast.
Think. Come on, Tiana! Think.
Okay, we were in the tub. I was almost naked. Oh God, were there cameras? How embarrassing! Okay, don’t worry about that right now. How am I going to get my clothes? She remembered watching Tabor gain access to the pool area with his hotel key.
Her eyes swept over the room, searching for a key. Her attention landed on a low dresser, where a small paper envelope sat next to the base of a flat screen television.
She tiptoed over to key, holding her hands over her breasts as she walked, incase Tabor happened to wake up. When she caught sight of herself in the mirror, trying to protect her privacy with her hands over her nipples, she felt like a fool.
I’m a mess, she thought, giving up her attempt to cover up. She reached for the key. Hopefully, my clothes are still there, and haven’t been cleaned up by the staff yet. Please, she prayed. Please, please let my clothes still be there.
The throbbing in her head built in intensity suddenly, and her stomach lurched. A gnawing sense of nausea stirred inside of her.
I shouldn’t have drunk so much, she thought. Why in the world do people drink gin and tonics? The mere thought of the drink made her want to throw up. Never again, she thought, struggling to fight through the nausea.
Not here, she thought. I can’t be sick here.
I have to leave.
She headed towards the door, and then a bolt of clarity shot through her hazy, hungover mind.
I’m practically naked, she thought, her hand on the door handle.
How am I going to get to the pool area?
She backtracked into the hotel room, and her eyes landed on Tabor’s suitcase.
She went to it kneeled in front of it. She began tossing items out onto the floor around it. There were a few tee shirts and button ups, and pants with narrow waists. None of his shit is going to fit me, she thought with a sense of panic.
Standing, she eyed the only other room in the suite — the bathroom. Rushing into it, she looked around. There was a deep Jacuzzi tub, polished double sink, and separate closed off room with a toilet. Thick, lush towels hung from several racks. An expansive, crystal clear mirror let her know just how disheveled and naked she was.
She held up her hand so that she wouldn’t have to look at her reflection, and just as she did so, she saw two robes, folded neatly by the tub.
Boo-ya, she thought.
She yanked one up off of the stack, causing the other one to fall to the floor. Without pausing, she threw it around her as she rushed back towards the door.
Once she was out into the hallway, she managed to tie the sash. Her hands were shaking.
Thank god I got out of there, she thought. Now, I just have to get my clothes.
As she walked down the hallway, she found that she remembered vaguely where the pool area was. Every new slice of visual input brought back a fresh memory from the night before. She was surprised to find, as the memories built, one after another, that many of them were good. She remembered walking down the hallway with Tabor, holding his hand and laughing. He’d pulled her into him, there near that statue, whispering in her ear.
She reached the pool area and unlocked it.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she saw the black form of her silk top, lying in a heap near the hot tub. Not far from it, a form that she recognized as her jeans formed a crumpled pile.
She crossed the empty area, sending up her gratitude for an answered prayer. Lastly, she found her bra in a still damp pile at the hot tub’s edge.
Okay, she thought. Now, I’ll just get dressed, and head over to the Marriott. I’ll head home. Everything's fine. Everything’s--
Her thought stopped short as she remembered the clunking sound her car had been making the evening before.
-- not fine, she thought.
Well, at least I have my clothes.
It was easy to find a bathroom in the Lightman lobby, and she dressed quickly, drying her bra under a hand drier before putting it on. Though her clothes were wrinkled and looked worn, she felt immensely better in them than she had in the robe.
Exiting the Lightman and crossing the street made her feel even better, as though the four lanes of highway created a barrier between her and the wild recklessness of the night before. The distance made her feel sharper, and more like herself.
I got this, she thought, straightening up. She eyed the Marriott. The banner that had hung over the entryway the night before was down.
The sun was creeping higher into the sky as she walked on the walkway leading up the Marriott's lobby. Bird’s chirped in the trees, and behind her, cars flew past on the highway that divided her from the Lightman Hotel and her bad decisions.
The sunlight felt warm on her skin, drying and warming any lasting hints of dampness from her clothes.
Coffee, she thought.
I need coffee, if I’m going to figure out what the hell to do about my car.
And breakfast. A good, greasy, big breakfast. That’ll kick this hangover in the butt.
She straightened her shoulders and marched forward. The automatic doors slid open like a mouth, and then swallowed her whole.
Inside, she was relieved to see that the table of nametags from the night before was gone. In fact, she saw no signs of the reunion. An elderly couple wearing matching Hawaiian shirts and fanny packs was wrestling large suitcases across the polished tile of the lobby.
She breathed out a sigh of relief, and as she inhaled again, she smelled something delightful. Pancakes? she thought, sniffing in deeply. Waffles?
Waffles! Belgian waffles I bet, with heaps of whipped cream and fresh fruit. And a side of bacon or sausage and scrambled eggs. Before she knew it, her feet were carrying her towards a dining area, where an extensive continental breakfast was laid out.
She honed in on the waffle maker, a large stainless steel contraption with a line in front of it. Slowly, she began noticing people in the line, as well as people in little clusters at the tables.
My classmates, she thought. I bet a lot of them stayed at the hotel last night.
She felt afraid for an instant, and looked around for the mean girls. She didn’t see them, and her desire to fill her grumbling stomach won over her repulsion at the thought of seeing them again.
She walked to a coffee maker and tilted the nozzle, pouring hot brown liquid into a white ceramic cup. Steam rose out of the cup, and she breathed it in deeply as she stirred in cream and sugar. This will set me straight, she thought. It has to; I have a lot of shit to figure out.
She sipped the tasty, rich coffee as she waited in line for waffles, avoiding eye contact with the others in line so that she wouldn’t have to talk. When her plate was at last filled with a stack of three fluffy, inch-thick Belgian waffles and a heaping side of curly, crisp bacon dripping with fat, she found a table and sat.
The food was incredible, and she washed it down with her coffee, refilling the dainty mug twice before the meal was over. She also rustled up a glass of refreshing icewater, which she guzzled down in one big, minute-long gulp.
Sufficiently fueled and caffeinated, the cobwebs in her mind began to clear.
The hydration and caffeine eased her headache, until it was merely a dull throb in the back of her mind. Her stomach settled, and she felt ready to face the day.
I got this, she said again, standing up from the table. She continued her pep talk as she walked out into the now sultry, eleven-o'clock air. The sun, high in the sky, beat down on the parking lot. She had always loved the heat, and she didn’t mind the warmth as she surveyed her car.
It looks okay, she thought. She felt a moment of panic as she considered where her car keys might be, but as she dug into the back pocket of her jeans she felt the key. At least I didn’t lose my keys, she thought. But what about that god-awful sound I was hearing? I should get it checked out, right? I have a four hour drive home, after all. I can’t…
She placed the key in the door and unlocked it. The driver’s seat was hot to the touch, and she allowed some air to circulate over it before settling into place. She put the key into the ignition.
… I can’t drive home with it making that sound. What if I damage the engine? I need this car to get to work, and I need to work so that I can pay rent. I can’t afford another car right now, and the bus doesn’t go all the way to the Shop and Start.
I need this car to work, she thought.
Yeah, I better play it safe and get it checked. But a trip to the mechanics is going to be expensive. I’ve spent everything on getting ready for this dam reunion.
Who did I think I was fooling with all of this makeup and salon shit?
These fancy clothes?
Well, I fooled Tabor Knight, she thought, recalling the way he’d looked at her.
Maybe it was worth it.
She turned the key, and the engine fired up. She placed both hands on the wheel and listened intently, cocking her head to the side so that she could hear better. It fired up smoothly, and then purred, growled, and finally gave two loud spurts and then a clunk.
It sputtered, and then revved up again.
What in the world was that? she thought, turning the engine off again. Timing belt? Shit, when was I supposed to get that changed? She looked at her odometer.
There were 150000 miles on the car. Probably a while ago, she thought.
Damn it. That’s gonna cost me.
Mamma’s ring! She thought excitedly. Maybe I could sell Mamma’s ring! Maybe there’s a reason I have it with me, instead of tucked away in the shoebox of keepsakes, in the back of the closet, where it usually lives.
It will suck to sell it, but mamma would’ve wanted it this way. She’d be glad to know that she could help me, in this way.
She looked to her hands, eager to see the glowing diamond that her mother had proudly passed down before death.
As her eyes turned to her hands, which were placed on the steering wheel, she felt her heart lurch in her chest.
The ring.
It was gone.
She felt her heart slam against her rib cage, thudding like a trapped wild animal. She raised her hands up, staring at her bare finger, and then slammed them down over the steering wheel. She hammered her palms up and down, slapping the black pleather wheel.
“No!” she shouted, rocking back and forth. “No, no, no, no, NO!”
I lost it, she thought despairingly. Where could it be? I had it last night, when I was going into the Marriot.
I remember looking down at my finger, and seeing it.
But then, I forgot all about it. Did I have it on when I was talking to Tabor, at the bar? What about in the hot tub? In his hotel room?
Shit!
She got out of the car, and slammed the door with frustration.
It gave her a sense of much-needed satisfaction, so she opened it and then slammed it again, twice more, shouting out “Shit! Shit!” with each slam.
Then, tired out, she stood panting by the car. In her peripheral vision, she saw a cluster of people, who had been walking to their cars, eye her. She did not look directly at them, afraid they would come over and offer her help.
Pitying stares from her classmates was the last thing she felt like dealing with. She turned away from the parking lot, ignoring her onlookers, and gazed up at the tree branches above the car.
What now? She thought.
I need that ring if I’m going to get this car into working condition. Okay, think, think, think.
I have to find it, she thought. It’s either here, at the Marriott, or across the street, at the Lightman.
She had a sinking feeling that the latter was a more likely scenario, but it was easier, and less intimidating, to start her search at the Marriott.
With slow steps, she forced herself to walk back to the hotel lobby.
A quick but thorough conversation with a friendly front desk staff member led to a second conversation with the head of housekeeping. Tiana laid out all of her actions from the night before, including her walk through the lobbyway, quick stop to pick up her name tag, and then entrance into the banquet hall.
“I got a drink at the bar,” she said. The head of housekeeping had let them into the empty hall, and Tianna pointed to the back corner where the temporary bar had been the night before. “And then I crossed over to that corner.” She pointed again. “I talked to some--” she almost choked over the word ‘friends’, and quickly changed it to ‘women’ so that she could get the sentence out. “And then, I left.”
“Did you stay for dinner?” the housekeeper asked. “Where did you sit for your meal?”
Tiana shook her head.
“Did you go out to the patio in the back, where the band was playing?” the housekeeper asked.
“No,” Tiana said. “I mean, after talking to those… women… for like five minutes I literally turned around and left.”
“Not a good night, hm?” The housekeeper asked, raising her eyebrow.
None of your damn business, thought Tiana.
“Did you find a ring?” Taina asked, ignoring the question and redirecting the conversation. “Maybe when you were vacuuming or something? Maybe when I reached into my wallet to pay for my drink, over at the bar, it slipped off onto the floor, and…”
Her voice died down as she saw the maid shake her head. “No,” the housekeeper said. “I didn’t get a report of any lost rings. The night cleaner was here to turn over the room. She had one girls working with her. I looked over their report, which is where they would put a note about lost and found items, right before meeting with you. I checked because I knew you were looking for jewelry, so I wanted to see if they found any. There were three sport coats, and one purse. That’s pretty standard. No ring.”
“Are you sure?” Tiana asked. “Maybe they tucked the ring into the purse, thinking they went together?”
The housekeeper shook her head. “I’m sure they would have reported it separately.”
“Could they have, you know, pocketed it? It’s worth quite a bit--” she stopped herself before elaborating on the dollar value of the ring that she suspected it would command on resale.
She didn’t want the housekeeper to get any big ideas.
“I mean, not too much, but it’s got sentimental value, to me anyways. My mother gave it to me, before she died.” She affected a sad face, hoping that any sympathy she could earn might help her plight.
The housekeeper frowned. “I’m sorry to hear about your loss,” she said. “I wish I could help you out. But I’m sure my night crew wouldn’t dare take anything. They’d lose their jobs! We have very strict policies here at the Marriott.”
“Okay,” Tiana said. She was only hearing what she expected. In the back of her mind, she knew that it was much more likely that she’d lost the ring across the street.
“You could leave your number,” the housekeeper suggested. “And we’ll call you if something turns up. But I’m afraid that it won’t.”
“I’ll do that,” Tiana said.
“Leave it at the front desk” the housekeeper suggested. “Is there anything else I can help you with?” she asked.
Can you help me go back to a hotel where I might face extreme embarrassment? Where a man I slept with last night might be in the lobby, checking out, while I go in and have to grovel around for a ring?
Can you help me with that? she thought.
Outwardly, she shook her head. “No,” she said. “You’ve been very kind. Thank you.”
She walked to the lobby and explained the circumstances at the front desk. Then she filled out a form that the attendant handed to her. She wrote quickly, and then faced the doorway.
Before heading out into the blazing sun, she took a deep breath.
Exhaling, she thought, here goes nothing.
She opened the doors and headed back to the Lightman Hotel.