desk clerk looks like he’s about sixteen years old, with acne on his face and a cell phone glued to his hand. As soon as he sees me walk in, he blanches. Probably because of my current state of undress. He fumbles on his phone, typing away, but drops it by the time I make it up to the counter.
“Hi. Can I get a room?”
He stutters and starts shuffling papers around nervously. “Yeah, let me just…” He gives me a sheepish look. “Sorry, computer’s down. It’ll just be a few minutes.”
I shrug and meander around the lobby as I wait. All I want to do is soak in a bathtub and ride out the rest of my wave in peace. With a vibrator. Unfortunately, I don’t have one of those stuffed in my borrowed boxers, so my hand is going to have to do.
It takes forever for the kid to finally check me into a room. Way longer than I want to be waiting in the condition I’m in. At least no one else has come in and seen me like this.
I’m just finishing up paying with Hugo’s cash and getting my room key when I hear, “Addie?”
I whirl around in surprise and see the last person I want to run into right now. My jilted date, Mario Perez.
9
Addie
Mario saunters over to me as I snatch up the keycard and turn to face him. Am I grimacing? Yep, I’m grimacing. What should I do with my hands? Should I wave? Offer him a fist bump?
Crap. I just saluted him.
“Hey, Mario,” I say, trying to sound nonchalant to cover up the weird salute thing, but really, there’s no coming back from that.
He stops in front of me, and his eyes take in my bare feet, loose boxers, huge t-shirt with no bra, and my tangled hair, which looks like I tried to build a nest in it. I can feel caked-on eye makeup stuck to my lashes too, so I probably have raccoon eyes. To sum it up, I look awesome. He, on the other hand, doesn’t look like a hobo. He’s showered and dressed and everything. I still have sex juices stuck to me. Kill me now.
“Are you okay? What the hell happened last night?” he asks me with a frown.
Hmm…what’s the best way to explain why I ditched him—after he paid for my dinner and drinks—to jump three strangers in the parking lot and have an animalistic orgy…?
“I…umm...”
Yeah, I got nothin’.
“Are you with those guys?” he asks, sounding hurt.
“No,” I answer automatically, shaking my head. “Last night… Last night was a big fat mistake. Three really big, fat mistakes,” I amend. Then I grimace again, because now it sounds like I’m calling their dicks big. Which they were, but still. It’s not polite conversation. Plus, I think I just made it obvious that I ditched him not just for one of the guys, but for all three. Again, not polite conversation.
Mario brushes his hair back and blows out a breath. I shuffle my feet awkwardly, and, ew. I just realized how gross this lobby carpet is on my bare feet. Pretty sure my feet pores need to be cleansed after this. I wonder if that raw potato trick works…?
“Listen,” he says, breaking me out of my train of thought. “Why don’t we go to breakfast and talk?”
My blonde brows shoot up in surprise. Mario saw me with my limbs wrapped around Penn last night as I sucked his face off. He saw me get into the back of someone else’s SUV and take off, after I’d basically told him I would go home with him. And now, he’s seeing the evidence of my walk of shame, but he still wants to get together to talk to me? I feel like such an asshole. He’s way too nice for me.
“Umm, sure. But, maybe not...right now,” I say, cringing at my appearance again. “How about this weekend?”
He seems to remember my sticky appearance and quickly nods. “Sounds good. Let me walk you to your room at least.”
Aww. What a cutie patootie.
“Okie dokie.”
We make our way outside and I follow the signs to find my room number. This motel is only two levels and not very big, so it’s not too far of a walk. Which is fortunate, since the sidewalk is also pretty gross. As I sidestep a questionable brown stain, a used condom, and then a crushed lollipop on the ground, I find I have a newfound appreciation for shoes.
The