Mystery Motel Ch. 02

I overcame my urges and I got myself to start to leave. I got out the door and I closed it and then stood there feeling relief that I hadn't done more.

The next day, my mom told me that she and Shenhua were going to pick out wedding stuff but she needed me to run the motel while she was gone. I told her I'd be busy but then she jumped on me for not helping out more and she finally threw my traveling in my face as if I'd done something wrong. I asked if Rick could help me, since he'd need to eventually start learning that but as it turned out my mom said she needed Rick to help her pick stuff out since it was his wedding too. Wow, how progressive of her.

So again I was trapped in that damn office. I walked around the premises to do a sort of inspection. I opened every room and looked for stuff for the lost and found. Then I noticed that some of the tape that had been used to block the light from that window that night had not been fully removed from the glass. I'd need to get that off. It was sort of creepy being back in that room. I got the scraper and some window cleaner and I was about to go to town on it when I heard my name and a knock at the door frame.

"What you doing?" my ex asked me as she came in and sat on the bed.

"Just routine stuff that needs to be done. How are you?"

"I'm good considering."

"Considering what?"

"I'm going to have a baby and the father doesn't even want to speak to me anymore."

"When the baby's born have a DNA test done, show him it's his kid and he'll come around. Chad's not a monster. Try to see it from his point of view."

"There's no reason for him to think I cheated on him."

"I really don't want to get in the middle of you guys. I mean, obviously he thinks there is because he thinks you cheated. If you know you didn't cheat, then you have nothing to worry about."

"My mom says he's projecting because he feels guilty that he's the one who actually cheated on me."

"Again, I'm not getting in the middle of you guys. You were very clear with me that I should stay out of it."

"But right now I need a friend."

"You're friends with my sister, aren't you?"

"She's not talking to me right now."

"What did you do to her?"

"Nothing."

"So my sister just stopped talking to you for no reason."

"I guess."

"You really think I'm stupid, don't you?"

"No. I mean it, what I said before. I want to be friends with you. Everyone is abandoning me."

"If you want to be friends with me, you're going to need to apologize to Shenhua. That is a super racist stereotype that you threw at her and I can tell you first hand that it has absolutely no basis in reality. That woman does whatever she wants to do and she doesn't listen to a damn thing I tell her. It just so happens that she thinks it's fun to cook for me and she thinks it's fun to fold all my clothes. I never asked her to do that. I actually told her to stop but like I said, she does not listen to me. She knows what she wants and she just goes for it."

"Ok. I understand." my ex conceded. "I was wrong. But I'm not a racist. I admit I was wrong but I'm not a racist. I didn't say that to be a racist thing."

I shrugged. Not a racist, huh? I could see I hit a nerve there. "She'll be back later. If you can apologize to her then, we'll see."

"Ok. I can do that. I was just surprised that you ... had someone. I mean, not specifically her but that you had someone."

"Why?"

"I mean, I thought you loved me."

"Past tense. You told me to leave you alone."

"I never said that. I wanted us to still be friends but you stopped talking to me."

I sat down on the other bed opposite her. "How can I put this? The world does not revolve around you. My emotions are valid. Ok. You hurt me. I needed time to recover and you didn't give me that chance. You attacked me."

"I'm sorry."

"You say you're sorry now but what are you sorry for?"

"All that stuff. I didn't want to hurt you. I was just doing what I thought was best at the time."

"Best for you and only you."

"Chad was always bringing you up. He was so worried that I was going to see you to have sex with you behind his back. I had to show him that we weren't a thing. He even told me he thought this baby was yours."

"When is your due date?"

"Does it matter?"

"Just tell me, when is your due date?"

She told me the date and I looked up how doctors figured out due dates and I slowly nodded. "Right, so the baby was conceived on the 4th of July. Did Chad have sex with you on the 4th of July?"

Her eyes got big as she saw a win coming her way. "Yes. Yes, we did. All night long."

"Does he deny that he had sex with you that night?"

"I don't see how he could. He took pictures. Let me see him use memory loss to talk his way out of it now."

"Did you have sex with anyone else that night?"

"No. We were together the whole night. That was when we came up with the idea for the threesome."

"Well, congratulations to the happy father and mother to be. And now I know I definitely don't want to get between you guys."

"There's nothing to get between. Chad and I broke up. Baby or no baby, me and Chad are done."

"Yeah, ok but see, I'm Matthew, not Buck the beta cuck and not Tyrone the rebound guy."

She was about to say something but then did a double take. "Why does everyone keep saying that. I'm not seeing anyone named Tyrone. I don't even know anyone named Tyrone. And even if I did, I don't ... I don't like black guys. Not that I'm racist but it's true."

I smirked. "Who said anything about Tyrone being black. It's an Irish name." I just happened to know that. I didn't remember where I'd learned it but for some reason I knew that.

"Someone told me he was a black guy but I've never met him. Chad doesn't know who he is either ok so ..."

"I thought you weren't with Chad anymore."

"People have been talking about this Tyrone guy for months. I still never met him and the baby is definitely not his, whoever he is. Ok."

I laughed. This was so funny. I was so off the hook for anything. They were going to do a DNA test and the child would be Chad's and then these two would have this nightmare of a relationship chained around both of them for the next ten years at least. I had to feel a bit for Chad. But he was going to get to be a father which I doubted I would ever do.

"I wanted to ask you if you meant what you said."

"Yeah, definitely. If you want Tyrone you're looking at the wrong guy."

"Whatever. I wasn't asking about that. I was asking if you really meant it when you said you'd help me."

"After you screamed at me?"

"I didn't scream at you."

"I don't know. You'll have to apologize to Shenhua and then we'll see."

She looked down and accepted that but then got up and came to the other bed and sat next to me. "I will. I will apologize to her and I hope she accepts it. I didn't mean anything by it. I had just been remembering how good it used to be between us."

"What are you doing?" I asked as she took my hand and she was looking at me like she wanted me to kiss her.

"I'm just feeling really vulnerable right now. Can I get a hug?"

Just a hug? "I'm not the beta bucks guy either."

"I don't understand it when you try to talk that Chinese to me. I'm just asking for a hug, you don't have to put me down."

Ok. Fine. I let her have a hug. What harm could it do?

And right as I was asking myself that question I felt her hand reach for my crotch.

"What are you doing?"

"You were always the best. I want you to know that. You were better than anyone." she answered as she came even closer to me.

"The door is open."

"Then close it."

I took the opportunity to get up and away from her. I went to the door but I didn't close it. I looked back at her and shook my head. "Don't you realize now why Chad thinks you cheated on him?"

I didn't wait for her to respond. I continued out the door and made my way to the office. I said no. I actually said no to sex. And on top of that, I said no to her. I rejected her. Well, that was actually easier than my mind had built it up, since she was certainly carrying Chad's kid. I think deep down while I was telling myself that it had to be Chad's I secretly still suspected that it might be mine but now I knew for sure, or at least I was as sure as I could be.

When I was back at the office I was expecting her to come march herself over to tell me off and confront me but she didn't come. I went outside to check and I didn't see her but I wasn't sure if it had been there before. She knew I had a girlfriend so I didn't know what she was thinking back there. I went to the computer and put the scraper down on the desk. Then I felt like I wanted to smack myself cause I hadn't actually scraped off that gunk.

I went back out to the cabin to really fix up the window this time and when I got to the door there she was. She had thrown herself down on the bed and was crying. I didn't interfere with her. Instead I just started to get at the glass. As a joke I thought I'd mess with Angie a bit.

"Man if I ever find out who put fucking tape on one of our windows I'll gut them. Don't ever get into the lodgings business. Travelers have absolutely no respect for other people's property."

Angie got up from the bed, wiped her eyes, and then came over to see what I was talking about. I sprayed the area of the class that I had just finished and wiped that off. I inspected it to see if it was good now and then I looked up at her.

"What?" I asked as I played dumb.

"I don't know. You've got a nice little business here."

I wasn't supposed to be telling people that the place wasn't actually making a profit but I was so tempted. "You interested in buying? Maybe I can talk my mom into selling it to you."

"Get real. I don't have that kind of money."

"We can finance. Make it like 12 easy payments or something."

"Oh sure. Let me just put that on my credit card."

"There you go. I'll even throw in a free lunch."

"A lunch? Where?"

"You like peanut butter and jelly?"

"For allegedly being so rich you really are cheap, you know that?"

I shrugged. "The way to have money is not spend it."

My ex said something that was supposed to be thanking me for not taking advantage of her while she was being emotional. I shrugged it off and told her not to worry about it. She told me she hoped I was happy with Shenhua and then she left as I was wrapping up with the window.

So with that task done and most of everything else done it was back to the office to just burn away the minutes of my life doing nothing. Well why the hell should I do that? I realized that my time was valuable and if my mom wasn't going to pay me or at least promote me then it was meaningless to man that office. I locked up and taped a sign to the door letting people know that if they wanted to book a room to call my cell number. I was sure I would get a grand total of zero calls from people who wanted to get a room. I had told my mom that I was going to be busy but she just had no regard for the value of my time.

When I went back into the house my sister was pacing around from room to room talking on her phone. I was tempted to go flip the switch on the jammer but I figured I wouldn't do that to her today. If I did than she might figure out it was me who was doing that to her.

I was thinking about my life and thought that maybe my ex was right. I had been taught to be so frugal by my father and had continued to be so out of necessity when it was only my mom taking care of me cause she never liked to share anything. For all her talk about this house being 'ours' and the motel being 'ours' I knew full well that it was not so. This was not truly my home it was just a place that my mother was allowing me stay.

And then it hit me. I had to move out. I had plenty of money to do that. I had plenty of money to go buy a house on a tropical island with a great beach and just retire there. My father no longer lived frugally anymore now that his dream of marital bliss had been shattered. Now he was out there having a good time and tagging ever piece of tail that crossed his path. I was a moron for continuing this way. Now that my mom had squandered most of her cash I even bet that I had more money than her. Well, that brings up a good question; just exactly how much money did I have? That was an extremely good question with no easy answer and no easy way to get the answer.

My train of thought was interrupted by my sister coming upstairs and going into her room while she was still on the phone. I had been accessing one of my accounts to see if there was a way to use that money to buy securities here in the US when she walked past my door to go get in the shower. "In the middle of the day?" I asked out loud to myself.

I tried to turn my attention back to my work but I just couldn't get my mind off of the idea that she was going to be in there naked. I got a chill and then I mechanically got out of that account without even consciously deciding to do so. I stood up and went to the bathroom door and found that the latch hadn't caught all the way. I nudged it with my foot and it swung slowly though when my sister who was in the middle of undressing noticed it she jumped very quickly to try and cover herself.

"Dammit, what the hell are you doing?"

"I gotta piss."

"Fucking wait. Damn. Why are you even up here? Who's in the office?"

"No one. So you going to let me piss."

"Use downstairs."

"Ok, but if you're going to run me off at least let me see your tits."

"What the hell? No. Get the fuck out of here. How can you even ask me that?"

"Someone told me yours were better than Angie's but I honestly don't believe it so I wanted to check for myself."

"Can you do me a favor and not have conversations with assholes about my tits. And get out!"

Instead of getting out I walked up close to her and she slowly backed away from me to the tub. I put my hand on the fabric of the garment she was using to cover her nakedness and I pulled it away from her.

"I said I want to see your tits and you're going to let me." I could not believe how much of an asshole I was being just then.

"No. What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that I want to fuck you and that you'll really enjoy it."

Her eyes were looking up at me frightened and then my phone started to ring. I pulled it out of my pocket and tried to answer but as I said hello it just kept ringing. That was weird. I looked back at my sister who was now just ignoring my presence and continuing with her shower. I looked back at my phone and tried to answer the call again but it just kept ringing.

Slam. My ankle suddenly erupted in pain and my head jolted up from by bed.

"Answer your fucking phone, dumbass." my sister said as she looked down at me. I got my phone out of my pocket for real this time and answered. It was my mom yelling at me wanting to know why I had left the office unmanned.

It might have only been a dream but I felt pressed down with shame for my actions in it.