“We want you to take us out!” I answered.
“Take you out where? You’re all too pissed to go anywhere tonight,” he said, shooting back the shot and then passing the bottle to Butcher.
“Just out. Somewhere that we can have a good time and shake our asses,” Joni said, eyeing over to Butcher like he was a piece of meat and I giggled.
“Might be in luck. Couple of the boys came up with us from Cork, havin’ a party out at the club tomorrow. You think that’ll be a good enough time for you lassies?” McGee asked.
“I think it would be perfect. What do you say girls?” I asked, looking at Joni who was beaming and Ana who looked like she was about to piss her pants in fright. “What, Ana? You know you’re coming with us!”
“Oh no, no,” she said, shaking her hands in front of her, “I need to stay here in case someone needs a room or something,” she explained, trying her hardest to get out of it.
“Come on, Ana. Come out and have a good time with us.” Joni looked over at her with a pouting face.
“When was the last time you had a guest besides these two troublemakers?” Mulligan asked.
“Uh…” Ana stalled, “St. Patrick’s Day last year.”
“Ok then. You’re gonna get your ass dolled up and you’re gonna come with us tomorrow night,” McGee said, leaving no room for her to say no.
“Ok fine. You thick headed lot. Can’t take no for an answer,” Ana mumbled, eyeing McGee with sharp eyes.
The group of us finished off the bottle of Scotch as we sat around the small card table in the common area of the hotel. By the time the last shot had been taken I was seeing double of everything. The banter between Ana and McGee kept us laughing the entire time, and Butcher and Joni’s constant eye fucking made it an interesting night. The sun was just beginning to come up when the guys left and all of us girls slinked off to our beds, I was out before my head even hit the pillow.
I woke the next afternoon, the room was too warm and the air too still. I jumped from the bed and ran to the bathroom, emptying my stomach of the remaining Scotch that hadn’t been metabolized while I slept. But as soon as I purged it from my system, I felt instantly better. I flushed the toilet, brushed my teeth, and then made my way into the room and opened the window to let in the cool clean air from outside. I felt my stomach rumble and went in search of something to eat, leaving Joni passed out on her bed.
When I made it halfway down the hallway, I heard Ana from the desk. She sounded nervous, scared almost, I made it closer to the end of the hall and then I realized she wasn’t alone, there was a man in the room but I was still too far down the hall to see who it was.
“The next time I come back here, Ana, I’m not gonna be so nice about it. I expect my money,” the man’s voice was harsh, just short of a yell, as he slammed his fist down on the counter and then turned to head out the door. I caught the glimpse of his back as he made it out the door. He was dressed nicely, dress slacks and a collared shirt, and had short cut gray hair. He wasn’t very big, a little more than five foot, but carried himself in such a way that made up for his lack of intimidating muscle.
I took a few more steps, debating on whether to go back to my room when I heard Ana’s soft whimpers. I made my way out into the common room and saw Ana behind the small desk, bent over in her chair softly crying into her hands. I made my way to her and knelt in front of her on the floor. “Ana, it’s ok. Don’t cry.” I placed my hand on her back and rubbed small circles in an attempt to calm her down.
“I don’t know what I’m gonna do, Starla. He wants his money and I don’t have any to give him,” she quietly sobbed.
“We’ll figure something out. I promise you he won’t hurt you,” I assured her. I didn’t even know why she owed him money, and I didn’t really care. But I knew that I’d do whatever I could to help her.
“He wouldn’t hurt me.” She looked around the quaint little hotel lobby, the walls covered with outdated wall paper, and old pictures of who I assumed were her family hanging around the walls. “He’d burn this place down. He knows that would hurt worse than any physical pain. My mum and dad owned this place, they both passed away a few years ago and I’ve been running it ever since,” she sniffled, wiping the tears from her face. “I don’t have anything left of theirs, sold everything to try and keep this place goin’. And last year shit got really hard. Everything that could go wrong did, the water heater burst, the wiring needed to be replaced, and the flooring, and I didn’t have the money to do it.”