Salvage

Ten - Part 2

"Ros?"

Aurora glanced down to where Ros was leaning back on the giant stack of hotel pillows next to her. She was passed out, head tilted back, mouth open, and had started a heavy not-quite-snoring.

"Crap."

With a sigh, Aurora leaned back on her own mountain of pillows and flopped her hand over, feeling across the bed for the remote. The evening had started with a serious discussion of events, and deteriorated into a vodka-fueled dance party, ending in a True Blood marathon. Now Aurora's brain felt muddled, her eyes were dizzy and swimming, and the show was over. An infomercial was playing, but Aurora's questing fingers couldn't locate the remote, so she gave up.

Rolling over away from Ros, Aurora's eyes slid closed, unable to stay open under the weight of exhaustion and alcohol. She curled her body up in the fetal position, aching head and burning face soothed against the cool, soft pillows. Hypothetically, this was the part where her stressed brain would finally take comfort in sleep. All she had to do was wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Even though her brain was pushed to its limits, even though all she wanted was the sweet release, if only for a few hours, of sleep... She couldn't drop off. Every time her brain would drift close to the edge, her whole body would tense, muscles jumping, tightening, fear pounding through her body from head to toe.

She knew it was Ros behind her. Knew it with certainty. Still, her body was dreading the sensation of a big meaty hand, groping between her legs from behind. A rough paw pushing against her ass, kneading her breasts. Two hands coming down on her out of the dark, pinning her shoulders, while mouths and tongues and fingers worked into her-

Gasping, Aurora sat up, breaking through the sickening grasp of unconsciousness. "No!"

She was safe. It was Ros's weight on the bed next to her. The muffled sounds from the television filled up the frightening empty spaces between each quick heartbeat as she dragged in deep breaths. She gave herself a few moments to calm before glancing over once more at Ros's sleeping face.

"This isn't working," she mumbled, rubbing her eyes. Reaching over, she grabbed her phone and swiped it on, squinting at the glare. Only three o'clock. If she had to lay here until morning she'd go insane.

Instead, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and eased away from Ros's sleeping form. As Aurora heard a faint snore, she felt a flash of irritation. Aurora was paying for this damn hotel room, she should get to enjoy the ridiculously comfortable mattress. But as quickly as it came, the frustration faded. Ros knew about Aurora's issues, it had to be an accident that she'd fallen asleep.

Her mouth tasted like butt. Following her instincts, she stepped outside the room, making sure she had the key, and began wandering down the hallway towards the vending machines. Her head still spun from the shots she'd taken with Ros, but she was past the pleasant part of being drunk, and wishing she could sleep and wake up with it all gone.

Her idle wandering brought her to the vending machine, so she leaned against it tiredly and inserted a few coins. Running her fingers over the buttons, she randomly selected one and pushed. Swiping up the bottle of lemonade that tumbled down, she chugged down half of it without stopping, then wiped her lips.

There was a little lounge in the front foyer area, so Aurora headed there next. It was empty. Completely quiet. She'd guess, in a small town like this, most of these rooms were empty. It was a pretty good price, she could afford to stay here another month, if she used all the money from Adam. Though of course, she was trying not to do that...