FOURTEEN
Hannah’s performance at The White Rabbit ran over by an hour and Sadiq stayed for the whole thing. At the end, as Hannah came off to a roar of whoops and cheers, he walked to the stage and escorted her back to the limo.
“That was wonderful, Hannah! Probably your best show yet,” he said, meaning every word of it. She had sounded different that night, more soulful, like she was singing more from her heart than she ever had before.
Hannah thanked him and sat back in her seat. She felt like it was her best performance yet, too. And she knew why. She had been a bundle of emotion and nerves when she’d got on stage. She was feeling so many things that she couldn’t describe; the only way to express them was through song. When she’d started singing, all of her fears, worries, and anger had spilled out through the music.
“I think we might be best staying in town for the night since it’s such a long ride back,” Sadiq said.
After several hours traveling and performing, Hannah was spent, and readily agreed to his suggestion.
They drove around for a while looking for a decent place to stay, but could only find a small, basic hotel on the outskirts of town. Naasir pulled up to the main entrance and went in to ask about rooms, returning a moment later with a tight look on his face.
“Sir, they have only one room available. Shall I keep driving?”
Sadiq looked at Hannah. She thought about it a moment. She was so tired, all she wanted to do was get into a cool, air-conditioned room and fall asleep.
“No, it’s fine. We’ll let Hannah have the room,” Sadiq said.
“No, don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “I’m sure there’s two beds. Why don’t you come up and you can sleep in there too?” For a moment, Hannah hoped the room only had one bed and that Sadiq would be forced to share with her. Stop it, she said to h
erself. You’re too tired to be entertaining those kinds of thoughts.
“But where will Naasir sleep?” she asked.
“He sleeps in the car. I think he enjoys the peace and quiet in the back of limo once in a while.” Sadiq smiled at Naasir as he opened the door and they got out.
A few minutes later, Hannah and Sadiq entered the hotel room. Hannah was a little disappointed that it was nothing like the luxurious accommodations she had been enjoying for the previous six weeks, but it didn’t seem to bother Sadiq. Hannah supposed that having grown up with the finest things, slumming it was probably an adventure for him.
They walked in and closed the door behind them. Sadiq flipped on the light, and that’s when they saw it. The room only had one bed. Hannah wondered if her wish had come true. She turned to Sadiq and was about to tell him he could share with her when she noticed he was already at the sofa, moving pillows around.
“Perfect,” he said. “I’ll sleep right here. Will the bed be okay for you?”
Hannah smiled weakly, feeling a twinge of disappointment. “Yes, it’ll be fine,” she said. She threw her bag on the bed as Sadiq fiddled with the air conditioner.
Hannah walked into the bathroom to change into her causal clothes. She heard Sadiq saying things to the air conditioner and then heard a loud rumble as a burst of cold air flooded the bathroom.
When she emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, she found Sadiq standing by the window with his shirt open. She almost dropped her washbag when she saw the ripples of muscles on his stomach and his dark, broad chest.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, noticing the bewildered expression on her face.
“Um, no, um, I mean, what’s up with the window?” she asked, quickly darting to the bed and averting her gaze. Oh my, he looks even better without his shirt.
“The damn thing isn’t working. I called the office but they don’t have a maintenance person on call tonight. We’ll just have to sleep with the window open.”
“Okay,” Hannah said, unable and unwilling to look at him again for fear that she might just throw herself at him. Instead, she tossed her washbag on the chair next to the bed and slipped under the covers. She turned the light out and listened as Sadiq washed up. When he came out, the bathroom light lit up his broad outline as he stood in the doorway, and Hannah wondered again if he would walk to the sofa or over to the bed, and her.
A moment later, he flipped the light off and walked over to the sofa. She heard him sit down on the cushions and then finally settle down.
“Goodnight, Hannah,” he said softly.
“Goodnight,” she said, unable to say his name out loud.
Hannah lay there, trying to sleep but unable to keep her eyes closed. She could hear Sadiq’s breathing from across the room and wondered what he was thinking. Maybe he was thinking about her. Maybe he was wondering if he should join her in the bed. Maybe…
“Is it really hot in here?” Sadiq asked.
Hannah grinned. “Yes, I thought it was just me.”
Sadiq smiled to himself; she was hot, all right. He sat up and scratched his head, trying to think. He looked out of the window and saw the palm trees moving slightly in the streetlight.
“Hey, what do you say we go up on the roof? It will be cooler up there. I can bring the blankets and we can sleep on the rooftop.”
Hannah smiled. She sat up and looked at Sadiq’s dark figure.
“Why not?” she said.
***
A few minutes later, Sadiq and Hannah were up on the rooftop, sprawled out on a pile of blankets under a canopy of stars.
“This is much better,” Sadiq said, pulling the sheet around himself. “I can actually breathe up here.”
“Yeah,” Hannah agreed. “And the stars are amazing.”