amargosa h.s.

chapter 1

It was hot. Really, really hot. Hot in a way she had never felt before. Dry, direct. The California sun beat down on her, blazing at least at 110°. She had a growing concern for how the engine sounded as it chugged in her little blue car, so unused to the climate and heat. She needed to find a place to stop, and fast.

Her eyes scanned the horizon, squinting despite the heart shaped sunglasses sitting on the bridge of her nose. She was so focused that she almost missed it, off in the distance. A long building, gleaming white, maybe a mile down the road. She could make it there, absolutely.

She kept her car chugging along for another two minutes, the white building coming more into focus. It was a long, one story building, a walkway in front of a large amount of doors lining the wall, arches also going down the walkway. The windows and doors were lined with a bright blue trim, like pictures of Greek islands she had seen. It was clearly a hotel, right here in the middle of the desert, exactly where she needed it. She truly couldn't believe her luck. Right across the road seemed to be an even greater stroke of luck: a slightly run down garage. She smiled to herself in victory.

Somehow, someway, her car made it to the courtyard of the hotel. The building was shaped like a rectangle, with the longest wall running parallel to the street and two shorter heading perpendicular to it, allowing for a large open space in the middle. A circle of nearly dead shrubs and small trees sat in the center, with space for cars to park all around. She pulled her little car up close to the lobby door, putting it into park. She just hoped someone was around.

She opened her car door and stepped out, the nearly white sun beating down on her pale skin. The scarf she had tied over her hair protected her scalp from the burning sensation, but she could feel it hitting her shoulders and probably turning them pink. She'd always been highly susceptible to burns.

She walked toward what seemed to be the main door, two large words looming overhead in a plain black print: "AMARGOSA HOTEL". Amargosa. She wondered what it meant. Perhaps it was a plant, or a word belonging to a native tribe of the area. She reached for the door handle and attempted to twist. Locked. She sighed, heart thumping as she prayed someone was around and knocked on the door one, two, three quick times.

After only a few seconds she could hear rustling on the other side, making her let out a deep sigh of relief. There was someone here. She straightened her shoulders and looked up as the doorknob twisted as it was wrenched open, revealing a grumpy looking man on the other side.

And boy was he a man. He was wearing a dirty white t-shirt with the sleeves rolled up, arms crossed over his, rather large, chest so the muscles in his arms bulged. He wore light wash, loose denim jeans, and light brown, quality looking cowboy boots. Her eyes trailed back up his body and met his, causing her breath to catch a little.

He was glaring at her, green eyes narrowed in suspicion. He had a toothpick bobbing between his teeth, using his tongue to move it from one side of his mouth to the other. His jaw was covered in a light layer of stubble, with a full mustache atop his upper lip. He had an unruly mop of brown curls on top of his head that was obviously pushed back by his hand constantly. Speaking of hands, her eyes flickered down to look at his. They were huge. She was a big and tall girl herself and knew what it was like to have big hands and feet, but hers did not compare to the sheer size of his, not to mention how calloused and rough they looked from whatever hard labor he did to pass the day by.

She jumped slightly at the sound of him clearing his throat, looking up as he spoke lowly, "We're closed."

Her eyebrows pinched together and her eyes went back up to meet his. "Please, I'm trying to get to Los Angeles, and my car is not going to make it there at this rate. I saw there's a garage across the street? Does someone work there?" She watched as he eyed her up and down, biting down on his toothpick and letting out a heavy exhale.