𝐒𝐓. 𝐆𝐄𝐎𝐑𝐆𝐄 𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃, b.

𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑

❝𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐥 𝐜𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐥❞

𝐭𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝟐𝟑𝐫𝐝, 𝟐𝟎𝟏𝟖

"i think i threw everything i had," ski said, making a show of emptying his pockets.

"that's dumb, why bring your life savings to a strip club?" i questioned.

"i didn't bring all i had, nigga," ski countered, "i brought just enough to give the bitches a livable wage."

"there's no way this nigga said he providing bitches with a livable wage," jahseh mumbled beside me.

"there's no way that he believes the measely five hundred he threw was a livable wage for a stripper," i mumbled back.

"i can hear y'all niggas talking," ski said loudly.

"shut up and keep it pushin'," jahseh responded.

the limo had just dropped us off at some rinky dink motel. of course, this wasn't in tonight's plans, but quinnley was on the verge of sleep and we couldn't let her fall asleep around us. as much as we tried to keep her awake, we knew that it was only a matter of time before she succumbed to slumber.

the limo pulled off when we arrived, since the driver had fulfilled their job for the night, meaning that we would have to be walking back home in the morning. i was worried because i didn't know my way back to st. george from this motel, but i'm sure that one of the guys did.

what worried me the most about this motel was that i didn't know how strong it was. simply meaning, would the locks on the door—fuck it, would the door itself—be strong enough to hold quinnley inside once she fell asleep and went on a murderous rage?

for now, all we could do was watch as ashley paid for the motel. like ski said, he spent all he had, and he was supposed to be the money for our trip, so that meant that the expenses for anything we did until we returned to st. george had to be handled by somebody else.

the room had one bed and one tv, and it surprisengly didn't have that old animal piss smell. as much as we wanted to look around and make sure that everything was clean, quinnley was already climbing in the bed, meaning that we had to get the fuck out of there before she finally fell asleep.

as soon as quinnley was tucked in, the guys picked up the large wooden dresser and hauled it out of the room. once all of us stood outside, the dim overlights of the motel providing a dull glow, jahseh closed the motel door and ski helped him push the dresser up against it.

"that should be enough to hold her. and if it isn't," jahseh turned to us and grimaced. "then we're just gonna have to do what we can to restrain her. everybody has weapons right?"

i opened my mouth to protest but jahseh held up his hand. "i know, i don't want to resort to that either. but i don't wanna fuck around and find out. better to be safe than sorry."

"let's go down to where the pool is at or something. i don't wanna be too close to the door in case she tries to break out," xyla suggested.

"alright, sounds like a good idea," jahseh shrugged.

we were on the second floor of the two story motel, so we made our way down the rickety stairs, jahseh's arm slung around me as we did so. his warmth was comforting; night had fell a while ago and it was now extremely cold. i regretted not bringing a jacket with me or at least not wearing a warmer shirt, but there was nothing that i could do about it now.