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“This must be the honeymoon suite,” says Mary Beth, grinning at the king bed like she’s imagining all the positions it could handle.
Colleen stares out at the city with her nose to the window. “I’ve never been this high before without bein’ on an airplane,” she says, leaving a small patch of steam on the glass in front of her face that disappears as quickly as her attempt to join the conversation.
“That’s amazing, Colleen,” Johnny mutters, as he kicks a sweet spot on the side of the minibar fridge that pops the door open. Then he helps himself to both of the baby Tanqueray bottles––whatever he’s not immediately drinking goes into his pockets. The girls each take a bottle of vodka and a bottle of cranberry juice and mix Cape Cods in their mouths, sip by sip. Cam cracks open a mini-bottle of Jack Daniel’s and pours it into his room service glass from earlier.
Johnny fishes a tiny glass vial from the front pocket of his gray Levi’s and empties white powder onto the laminated room service menu on the desk.
“You first, Daltry,” he says, as he cuts out a few lines with his license––all four edges frayed and stained white.
“Is that speed or blow? asks Cam.
“Ask me in about five minutes.”
Mary Beth cackles and Johnny pulls a crumpled single from his pocket and rolls a crude straw. He leans over the desk and two lines disappear. He straightens up from the desk with the sniffles and passes the bill on to Mary Beth. She tries to re-roll it but it’s nearly gone to cloth by now. As she fishes through her purse for a better one, Cam reaches into his pocket and slides out a crisp hundred.
“Try this one,” he says, coolly.
“You hit the jackpot down there or what?” asks Mary Beth.
“He hit the jackpot when he was born in South Highlands,” says Johnny.
“There wasn’t jack in it by the time I showed up,” says Cam.
“Shit, your last name alone’s got dollar signs in it,” says Johnny.
“You’re from South Highlands, too, man.”
“His momma sure picked a good doorstep to leave him on,” says Mary Beth.
Cam’s breath locks up in his chest as Johnny levels a hard stare on Mary Beth. She ignores it and leans over the desk to polish off a line, then casually thumbs her nostril and hands the bill back to Cam.
Cam avoids Johnny’s stare as it shifts from Mary Beth to him. He cautiously unrolls his hundred on his thigh, wipes the residue off on his leg and returns it to the envelope in his pocket.
“Jesus, Johnny, take a joke,” she says, with a hint of fear breaking through her sass.
“I got a few of those you wouldn’t take that well, neither.” he says, straight-faced.
Mary Beth’s smile drops completely and her eyes lose their shine.
“Don’t I?” says Johnny.
Mary Beth lowers her eyes to the chipped-away pedicure poking out of her tired black open-toed flats, and gives Johnny a slow nod.
“You got any ice?” Johnny asks Cam.
“Man, I didn’t mean to––“
“You got any ice?” he repeats, firmly.
“There’s a machine down the hall,” Cam says quietly.
“You mind?”
Cam shakes his head.
Johnny picks up the leatherish ice bucket off the desk and hands it to Cam. “Why don’t you go with him, Colleen,” he says.
She nods and follows Cam out into the hall. Cam peers in at Mary Beth and Johnny as the door swings to.
“Is he mad at her?” asks Cam.
“Why?”
Cam listens at the door.
“What?”
“Nothing,” says Cam, starting down the hallway with her at his side.
“That’s a real nice room,” she says.
“Wish I had it for more than a night.”
“I don’t get why you’d stay at a hotel in your own town?”
Cam shrugs. “Just ‘cause it’s somethin’ I’ve never done before, I guess.”
“That’s a weird reason to do things.”
Cam chuckles to himself. “I know.”
They reach the ice alcove and Cam drops a load of ice into the bucket. When they get back to the room, the clock radio on the bedside table is bottoming out from a hip-hop radio station rattling through it at maximum volume. Johnny is wiping a licked finger on the room service menu and rubbing it on his gums, smiling toothily at Cam as they come back in. Mary Beth is holding a stare out the window that doesn’t waver at the sound of their return.
“Thanks, man,” Johnny says, but he doesn’t come over to get himself any of the ice.
Cam pulls the paper hat off the top of a courtesy glass on the desk, dips it into the ice and makes Colleen a proper drink.
Mary Beth comes over from the window, grabs Colleen’s glass out of her hand and takes a healthy sip.
“Want me to make you one?” asks Cam.
“I’m fine,” she says, returning the glass to Colleen with a third of it gone. She wipes her mouth on the back of her hand and wanders into the bathroom.
“Nice Jacuzzi,” she says from inside.
Johnny puts a hand on Colleen’s shoulder that surprises her, and leads her over to the couch. Cam starts to follow them, but catches movement in the corner of his eye and looks over at the bathroom doorway as Mary Beth gives him a little quick “C’mere” flick of her head.
“Can I take a bath,” she whispers, as he gets within whisper range.
“Just a little one,” she says, off his reluctance. “How do you turn it on?”
“Just fill it up and press that button in the corner. You can unscrew that cap inside if you want more bubbles.”
She pulls a towel down from the rack and lays it over the crook of her arm, then turns on the faucets and adjusts the temperature against her palm until it’s right.
“Thanks,” she says.
He turns to leave as she unbuttons the top button of her jeans.
“Can you hit the lights?”
He flips the switch and the bathroom goes black, except for a column of light from the room that follows the angle of the open door and spotlights a rhinestone stud in the center of her taught stomach as she pulls up her shirt. She isn’t wearing a bra. “C’mere a sec?” she says, her words muffled by the folds of her blouse as it brushes across her mouth.
As he steps closer, she drops her shirt and comes at him with soft plump lips and an eager tongue. Her hand works down the ridged muscles of his stomach down to his crotch, and against his chest he feels her nipples harden from rubbing against his coarse dress shirt. She backs him across the floor with the force of her kiss and rams the door shut with his body. Then she slows down, gets quiet and puts her mouth against his ear.
“You kiss better than he does,” she whispers.
Cam goes back in to kiss her, but stops on the loud knock at the door.
“Why’d