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He walked into the reception and the friendly face of an older man looked past him to his ride outside.
“Sweet Harley!”
Kyle smiled at the man. “Thanks! I’d like a room for a couple of nights.” He decided to play on the side of caution with his concussion.
“Certainly! I can give you the room right there by the office so you can leave your bike where it’s parked now. We can keep an eye on it and it’s mostly out of the rain.”
Kyle looked out the window at the cloudless sky. “Rain?”
“News reported a big storm coming in tonight. I can feel it in my bones too. Should be a doozie!”
“Oh! Well, sure then. That would be great!” Kyle agreed.
The clerk set him up with the room and Kyle went out to lock his bags in the room. Then he pulled the rain cover over the bike. The clerk gave him a thumbs up through the big plate glass window. He returned it.
That done, Kyle wandered across the road to a diner and got a booth by the window.
“Coffee, hun?” an older waitress asked as she walked up to the booth.
“Large orange juice?” he answered.
“Sure nuff! Ready to order?”
Kyle nodded. “Two eggs over easy, crispy bacon, white toast.”
She looked at him questioningly. “That’s all? Hardly enough there to keep a growing boy alive!”
He smiled and nodded. “That’s all, please.”
“Yer a polite one too!”
He just nodded again and she moved off to place his order.
Kyle listened to the sounds of the families enjoying their breakfasts, happy domestic sounds. He noticed that not all the sounds were happy. A father cursed at his wife to ‘control the brats’ as he left the table. The mother passed along that anger to her kids with some bitter comments.
Kyle did his best to tune out the surrounding conversations from that point on.
Breakfast arrived and the portions were larger than he’d ordered or expected. The waitress just smiled and winked at him. It was more food than he wanted. He ate his fill and when the woman returned he thanked her and asked her for a container to pack the rest to go. She retrieved one for him and he tipped her generously which got him another broad ear to ear smile.
“Have a good day, hun!”
“You as well!” he said with a smile as he headed outside with his container. He didn’t have to worry about lunch at least.
Kyle went to his room and open his laptop. He wasn’t able to spend too much time researching as his headache came back.
Sighing, he shut down the machine and dropped himself on the bed.
He napped and ate the rest of his breakfast when lunch rolled around.C0ntent © 2024 (N/ô)velDrama.Org.
As he sat at the small table he realized how incredibly bored he was. Concussions sucked!
He supposed it was different when he was at the fancy hotel with the pool and someone to talk to.
Even though they really didn’t share much in common in terms of life experiences, he’d really enjoyed speaking with Monique. Intellectually, they were a good fit.
He moved back to the bed and laid down to look up at the ceiling.
His mind took him back to Fiona and he hoped she was well. He really hoped Cameron made a break with his controlling father and took his life back. What frustrated Kyle was, Cam was behaving like he had acted when under Gwen’s control. But he’d learned how to separate himself from her.
Maybe it was harder for Cam because he’d been under his father’s thrall for much longer. More likely, it was because it was his father. That bond had to be much stronger than his had been with Gwen.
Pondering this he nodded off.
The crack of thunder jolted him from his sleep and he looked around quickly at the unfamiliar surroundings of the dark room. The thunder continued with quieter thumps which sounded oddly like-
“Kyle? Are you in there?”
He jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. He opened it to see Monique standing there, dripping wet and shivering.
“Can I c-c-come in?” she asked, teeth chattering.
This broke him from his paralysis. “Oh my god! Yes, come inside!”
She waved behind her and a waiting taxi drove off. She stepped past him and he closed the door with a quick glance up at the dark clouds and torrential rain.
“Get out of those wet clothes and take a hot shower to warm up. I’ll get you some dry clothes!” he said as he guided her back to the washroom. She was shivering and he could hear her teeth chattering. She was still wearing the shear white top which was now completely translucent, her black bra clearly visible.
He gently pushed her into the washroom and rushed to his luggage to pull out the only fleece sweater and comfy PJ bottoms he had. He knocked on the door.
“Decent,” she squeaked and he smiled. He opened the door and she hadn’t taken anything off.
“What’s wrong?” he asked in concern.
She looked at him pitifully. “My f-f-fingers are t-too c-c-cold. I c-c-can’t work the b-b-buttons or zipper.”
“Ah. Ok, don’t mind me then,” he sighed and began undressing her. He undid the buttons down her front and eased the wet garment back over her shoulders. He dropped this in the sink then unzipped the zipper on her skirt and slid it down her legs. The skirt joined the shirt. As he knelt at her feet he undid her shoes. She put her cold hands on the top of his head to brace herself as she stepped out of the shoes. He was shocked at how cold her fingers were.
He gently spun her to face away then slid her panties off. Into the sink they went. He stood and undid the clasp on her bra and that joined the panties.
He turned and got the shower going, nice and hot and helped her step into the tub. She was a little wobbly so he yanked off his shirt and shorts, leaving his underwear on and stepped in with her pulling the curtain closed. He pulled her tight against his chest, shocked by how cold her skin was, and made sure the hot water was spraying over her.
Her hands slipped around to his back and he tried not to jump when her cold fingers landed on his lower back. They stood under the hot spray for long minutes. The hot water and his own body heat finally began to do the job of warming her frozen body.
“How on earth did you get so cold and wet?” he asked against the side of her head.
Her teeth were no longer chattering and he could feel her muscles begin to loosen with the heat. “I tried so many motels to find you. It started to rain and the taxi driver couldn’t or wouldn’t turn off his air conditioner. I got wetter with each motel I checked. Then I saw the motorcycle under the tarp and asked the nice man at the front desk which room was yours.”
“What happened? Why were you looking for me?”
Lovely brown eyes looked up into his. “I told him. I told him I couldn’t go on being the second most important thing in his life.”
“And?”
Her eyes became glassy. “He tried to bargain, to buy my love so I would stay married to him.” She sucked in a breath as a gasp. “To continue to be one of his trophies.”
“I’m so sorry,” Kyle said.