“Do not!”
“Uh huh! Freshly fucked glow!” Jenni howled with laugher, pointing at Katie’s flushed countenance.
Katie covered her face and laughed. “Oh, gawd…I do!”
For the first time, laughter filled their time together.
***
After missing Juan at the elevator, Travis headed down to the lobby and found him nowhere in sight. Confused, he walked toward the front desk and found Peggy printing out what looked like a map of their area.
“Peggy, have you seen Juan?”
“Uh-mm…no. Not recently. ”
Travis leaned against the counter and thought for a second. “Can I see the duty roster?”
“Sure,” Peggy answered, and handed it to him. She began to use a highlighter to draw circles around areas on the map.
“So Juan didn't just come down to see the roster?”
“No, no. ”
Travis sighed with relief. Maybe Juan wasn't trying to track down Jimmy.
“Something wrong?” Peggy’s big eyes regarded him curiously. “I saw him stalking around earlier this morning before everyone got up bitchin’ about Jimmy. He looked at the roster then. ”
“Shit,” Travis exclaimed, and quickly found where Jimmy was supposed to be. Juan’s temper was building up to an explosion.
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing,” Travis lied, heading back to the elevators.
As he listened to the whir of the elevator rising, he stood in quiet frustration. Couldn't they have just a nice little period of no major drama? Couldn't they just fucking enjoy the hotel without all of this?
Hell, he couldn't even enjoy being with Katie this morning. He was already in work mode.
The doors slid open and he strode out swiftly. Ahead of him, a door was propped open and the early morning rays were filtering into the long hallway in a stream of light. Juan walked out into the hall and stood there, looking angry.
“Juan, you didn't do anything-”
“He's not fucking at his post,” Juan answered. “I told you he was a pussy. ”
Travis lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”
“Not there. We have no coverage in the front of the hotel. The fucker is off picking his ass. ”
Travis walked into the hotel room and looked around. There was a chair near the window, which was open, and the curtains were pulled back. A table was strewn with soda cans and an ashtray.
Moving toward the window, he looked out. The street had a few of the shambling-type of zombies wandering around.
“I told you he is a fucking pussy that doesn't give a shit about anyone or anything,” Juan ranted behind him.
Travis looked directly downward and froze. “Shit, Juan. What did you do?”
“Huh?”
Below him, in a bush, was what remained of Jimmy struggling to get up.