it once was, and after Jay had come
to her rescue she thought she’d feel like a princess being saved by a knight on
a noble steed. Instead she felt defeated, shamed, and helpless. All her life
she’d been the victim, and tonight was just another example of that.
“If you want,” Jay said as he pulled up to the hotel he and the rest of
his wrestling company were staying at. “I can get you your own room. I have a
suite though, and I’d feel a lot safer if you spent the night in my room. No
funny business, I can sleep on the couch.”
“Okay,” Mandy nodded, still wearing her helmet. “I don’t think I want
to be alone right now anyway.”
“Can you walk?” Jay asked after he’d parked his bike.
“I think so,” Mandy nodded, but he still offered her his arm and she
used his strength to help her limp into the hotel and on to the elevator.
“Top floor?” she noted when Jay pressed the button.
“Yeah,” he shrugged. “Suites are part of my contract. You sell enough
merch for the company and you can basically get whatever you want.”
He helped her into the room and Mandy let out a gasp. The hotel suite
was bigger than her apartment and much cleaner too. Sure, there were some
clothes laying around and a few pairs of very large shoes, but what made Mandy
blush was the boxers that were thrown on the couch.
“It’s late,” Jay said as he helped her into the bedroom. “Feel free to
use the bed. The couch pulls out and I’ve slept on worse.”
“Okay,” Mandy nodded. Part of her wanted to ask him to get into the bed
with her. Not for sex or anything like that, but she wanted to be held. It had
been the strangest, worst, and somehow best night of her life and all she wanted
was physical comfort, but she got in the bed and watched as Jay turned out the
light and left.
She didn’t know when, or even if she’d fallen asleep at all, but when
she woke she had no clue where she was or how she’d gotten there. It took her a
minute to remember why she was in the hotel bed and why her foot hurt. Even her
head was pounding from where Ronnie had ripped out a chunk of her hair. It all
came rushing back, especially thoughts of Jay.
Mandy forced herself out of bed and hobbled out of the suite’s bedroom.
She expected to see Jay asleep on the couch, but she found herself alone in the
hotel room. She almost panicked that somehow Ronnie had found them and done
something to the man who’d saved her, but she forced herself to calm down and
when she did she saw a scribbled note let on the coffee table.
“Mandy,” his note began. “Down at the gym. Be back by lunch. Call room
service if you’re hungry.”
Hungry was one thing she wasn’t. After everything that had happened,
the last thing Mandy wanted was a meal. Her stomach was still in knots and she
wasn’t sure what to do with herself. It was only eleven and she didn’t know
exactly what time Jay’s note meant by lunch.
She settled on a shower to wash off her smeared makeup and bloody foot.
The hotel’s bathroom was nicer than her own, but the whole place was just that.
Mandy was just going to have a shower, but then she saw the suite’s whirlpool
tub and she couldn’t resist it. She’d been through enough that she felt like
she just might deserve a relaxing soak and she started to fill the tub.
Mandy didn’t even bother to wait until it was full. She stripped off
the clothes she’d slept in and unwound the bloody bandage on her foot before
she stepped into the luxuriously hot water. The water swirled around her aching
muscles, her throbbing head, and her cluttered mind as she let herself relax in
the warm bath. Nothing could trouble her there, nothing could hurt her. She
could just relax and think about nothing at all.
“Mandy?” Jay’s deep voice called as he stepped in the door. “You up?”
“I’m in the tub!” she called back as she dipped herself deeper under
the bubbly water. She was worried she might be overstepping her welcome,