Hummingbird // AHS Hotel

Chapter Ten: The Trio

♪ What's Your Pleasure? - Jessie Ware ♪

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I walked up to the bar, spotting Liz. Part of me worried that I was spending too much time and money at the bar, but James had paid for my drinks the first two times, and Liz and I enjoyed each others' company. I figured she'd be excited to hear about what had transpired recently between me and the Countess. I sat down on a stool, opening my mouth to speak, but Liz beat me to it.

"The Countess said she wants to see you, in the penthouse," Liz said. "And she said to bring James."

I paused, baffled. "She said to bring James?" I repeated, looking at her in confusion. She shrugged, clearly not knowing any more than I did.

I stood up from my stool at the bar, pondering what she could possibly want with both of us. "Well, thank you for telling me," I said to Liz. "I'll come back later."

I headed down the hallway towards the elevator. For someone I had been actively trying to avoid just a short while ago, I seemed to be making an awful lot of trips to James' room. I pressed the button for the elevator, entering when it opened. I looked around me as it rose beneath my feet, thinking of how James and I had kissed in here, and then shortly after I had hurried in here, trying to escape him. And now here I was, just walking to his room as if I were visiting a totally normal person.

The doors opened and I stepped out, making my way down the hallway. Considering how many rooms this hotel contained, along with the amount of ghosts I assumed there were, it was astonishing that I kept walking down deserted hallways.

I knocked on the door of room 64, less embarrassed this time because I was only delivering a message, as opposed to me coming to see him on my own.

He opened the door, and I wondered if he would ever stop looking surprised to see me.

"The Countess asked to see us upstairs," I said plainly.

"What for?" he asked, echoing my same confusion.

"No idea," I answered.

"Just a moment," he said, closing the door again and disappearing behind it. I waited for a minute or so until he returned to the hallway, closing the door behind him, this time wearing a suit jacket over his collared shirt.

I started off down the hallway, but he grabbed my wrist. I stopped, turning to look at him.

"Who gave you these?" he asked, a strange expression coming over his face as his eyes fell on my neck.

"No one," I said without thinking, immediately remembering the hickeys. I pulled my wrist out of his grasp, moving my hair so it covered my neck more.

"Well clearly someone gave them to you," his voice had an edge to it as I turned, continuing down the hallway.

"Someone did," I said. "But their identity is none of your business." I smiled to myself as he caught up to me, walking next to me. The Countess was right; it was fun to watch him squirm.

"It was the Countess, wasn't it?" he asked.

"Why does it matter? Are you jealous?" We reached the end of the hallway and I pressed the elevator button.

"I simply like to know the goings-on in my own hotel," he said, clearly peeved.

The elevator doors opened and we stepped inside. He pressed the button for the penthouse floor and the doors closed.