Chapter 2
CHAPTER 2
Billy pushed open the door to the motel and held it for Charlie and Dex to follow, ever the gentlemen, as their eyes took in the dirt lining the floor and a cockroach scuttling into a hole in the wall. Yeah, this was gonna be a nice place to stay.
The man at the reception desk was flicking through a magazine, feet propped up, looking as bored as anyone who was stuck in this job would look, especially with the night shift. Billy knocked his fist once against the counter, leaning on the surface to speak to the receptionist.
“Room for three, please.”
The receptionist glanced at him, and Charlie and Dex standing behind, the boy staring into space looking terrified. The blood on their hands and clothes. Billy slapped a handful of bills on the counter, raising his eyebrows.
“Alright.” The man pulled his feet off the desk and looked at the computer, checking availabilities. It wasn’t his place to ask questions. “I got a room with a double and single, is that okay?”
Billy half looked back at the others, then nodded, impatient. “That’s fine. How much?”
“Just the one night?”
“For now.”
The man punched in the details on his keyboard. “That’s $64.”
Billy counted out $80, handed it over, should keep him quiet. “Keep the change.”
After taking the room key, they made their way to the awaiting Room 6 that was to be theirs for the night, a cramped and ugly room, with a broken window, but two beds and a TV nevertheless. It would do.
Both Billy and Dex scanned the room as they walked in, checked the door lock, checked the broken window, checked the tiny bathroom, until they were satisfied. Billy flopped down on the edge of the double bed with a sigh, and Charlie followed suit, slowly lowering himself onto the single bed next to it, worried that his legs wouldn’t be steady enough to hold him if he carried on standing. Dex remained standing.
“Right.” Billy ran a hand through his hair. “We need a plan.”
No-one said anything, Charlie gave a jerk of the head that could’ve been a nod and Dex was just looking at the floor. So Billy continued.
“Who were those men, kid? Why were they after you?” He fixed his eyes on Charlie, trying to express some concern on his face to make him feel more at ease, but concern wasn’t really Billy’s strong suit.
“How can I trust you?” Charlie mumbled, keeping his eyes down.
“We saved you, didn’t we?” Billy nodded at Dex, and then lowered his voice slightly. “And let’s just say that I was in a similar spot when I was a kid, and no-one saved me. So.”
Charlie looked surprised for a moment, his eyes caught Billy’s, and then he sighed, looking smaller than ever, but started to talk. “If you hadn’t guessed already, I’m homeless. And I needed money. I was… Well, I am, not doing so well.”
He broke off for a minute and Billy spoke quickly, coaxing him to tell the truth. “Keep going, we won’t judge. I haven’t been a very moral citizen myself.”
“Okay, well, I was burgling a house one night. Looked like a rich place, there was a window left slightly open, and I thought it was empty. It was supposed to be, but while I was searching through drawers in the bedroom, I heard voices from downstairs. So, I go to check it out. Creep down the stairs, look through a crack in the door into the room where there were quite a few people. Long story short- it was some kind of drug deal. And they saw me, so I legged it back upstairs and out of the window and I thought I was safe, until about a week later I noticed someone following me, and then someone else, so I led them to the bar hoping to lose them. Obviously, that didn’t go to plan.”
Charlie sighed again. He moved his hands under his legs to sit on, trying to stop the shaking. “That’s everything. I’m done.”
Dex exchanged a look with Billy; they both knew that just witnessing a drug deal was not worth sending highly-trained professionals after a homeless kid, no, there was more going on here, more that Charlie had skated over in his brief story.
“Do you think they’ll keep coming after you?” Billy shot at the teen.
“I, I’m not sure, I don’t know why they’d-”
“Are you sure you didn’t see anything else?”
Charlie rubbed the back of his head, and Dex cut in, sensing that Billy wasn’t going to stop his interrogation anytime soon. “The first step is that we get some sleep. Figure things out when we wake up.”
He glanced at Charlie, who still somehow looked terrified from the events earlier that night, attempting to mask it, but the fear was clear in his face, and paired with exhaustion. He needed sleep, the way his eyes were drooping, or he’d drop any second.
Billy frowned slightly but nodded in agreement. “Okay, let’s call it a night. Charlie, you can use the shower first, if you want. Surprisingly, the lock actually works, I checked.”
Charlie paused for a moment, then gave a half-smile. “Not sure how clean I’ll get showering in this place, but sure, I’ll shower.”
Dex snorted and Charlie glanced at him, his smile growing slightly as he walked into the other room.
There was silence for a moment. Then, the noise of the shower filled the room. Billy let the silence stretch on a bit longer, and then pushed himself off the bed with a bounce and made for the door.
“Well, I’m going to go move the car less out of plain sight.” He explained, walking past Dex.
Dex grabbed his arm, not too hard, but firm enough to stop him in his tracks. “Wait.” He paused, checking for the sounds of the shower, and Billy looked at him, trying to hide his surprise. “Why are you doing this? Why are you helping the kid?”
Billy smirked and fired back. “Why are you?”
Dex knew he wasn’t going to get a straight answer out of Billy, he might as well give up, but he let go of his arm and gave him an answer anyway, shrugging. “He was in trouble. Doesn’t seem like he has anyone else who can help him.”
“Nah.” Billy shook his head, still smiling. “You’re ex-military, like me. You’re doing this for the adventure, the adrenaline rush, the need for a mission. This has been your lucky day, you have something to fight again, someone to protect and an enemy to hunt down. You’re doing this because you don’t know how to walk away from it.”
Dex didn’t say anything for a moment, keeping his face impassive. Tried to ignore the truth in Billy’s words. “Is that why you’re doing this then?”
Billy shrugged. “Maybe. Or maybe I’m just bored.” He laughed, a short bark, and left the room, leaving Dex standing alone in the middle of the tiny motel room.
***
Not long later, Billy returned and they both took their turns showering after Charlie, who came back looking a lot cleaner than before, despite the blood still on his clothes, but nothing could be done about that as there was nothing to change into.Dex was last to go in, so while he was showering, Billy turned the TV on to make things less awkward. Neither he or Charlie felt much up to talking anyway. He flicked through the little option of channels available, leaning back against the pillows on the double bed, and eventually settled on Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Yes. Yes, it was shit, but it would have to do.
He glanced over at Charlie, about to make a joke about the show, but the kid had earphones in and was staring up at the ceiling, lost in whatever music he was listening to. Billy smiled and turned back to the show.
Soon, Dex unlocked the bathroom door and Billy, an arm folded behind his head and against the pillows, watched as he walked out, his hair wet and scruffy. He stopped by the TV.
“Keeping Up With The Kardashians, huh?”
“There’s not much good on at this hour.” Billy shot back, a reluctant grin pulling at his mouth.
Charlie popped out an earphone to listen to the exchange and added quietly. “It really is shit.”
Dex smiled, then paused, looking between the beds. “Who uh- who’s sleeping where?”
Charlie sat up, starting to get off the bed. “I’ll take the floor, I’m used to-”
“No.” Billy and Dex spoke in unison, surprising them both a little, but neither of them commented on it.
“Charlie, keep the single bed.” Billy spoke firmly, leaving no room for argument, and then he looked at Dex, smirking. “We’ll share. We’ve both been in the army, we’re used to it, right Dex?”
“Uh sure. Yeah, that’s fine.” Dex nodded, moving round to the other side of the bed, avoiding eye contact.
“Hey, don’t worry.” Billy waited till Dex caught his eye, then shot him a wink. “I’ll keep to my side.”
Dex ignored him and fought the reddening of his cheeks, taking off his denim jacket and slipping under the duvet on his side of the bed. He turned over onto his side, facing the wall, and dropped into sleep quickly, which was surprising given his normal insomnia, but less surprising after considering the events of that night. Behind him, Charlie had put the earphones back in and curled up tight onto his side, falling asleep to the soothing tones of Gorillaz. And when Billy finally got bored with the TV, he pulled off his suit jacket, hung it on the edge of the bed, and climbed under the duvet, trying not to pull at it and wake Dex. He faced the man, could just about make out the blonde in his hair in the dark, the blinds left open gave the room some illumination. He felt the warmth under the duvet, the body heat from just inches away, and eventually fell asleep to Dex’s soft snores.
***
The next morning, Dex awoke to the harsh sunlight streaming through the window, right onto his face. They’d forgotten to do the blinds last night and he’d always been a light sleeper, so that was that. And once he was awake, he was awake, and there was no point attempting to go back to sleep, despite the headache already prodding at his head, but at least coffee would solve that.
He sat up slowly and glanced at the man lying besides him, his dark hair flopping against the pillow, his face golden in the light. He’d sleep for a while longer, Dex thought, enough time for him to slip out and grab a coffee and some food before anyone would notice he was gone.
At least, that was what he’d hoped, he hadn’t been expecting Billy to wake up not much later and stare in confusion for a few moments at the empty spot besides him.
“Dex?” Billy rubbed his eyes and called out to the room, wondering if he was in the bathroom, but there was no reply.
“Charlie, wake up.” He hissed at the boy dead asleep in the bed next to him. “Charlie. Charlie.”
It was no use, Charlie wasn’t waking anytime soon, and Billy didn’t want to scare him by shaking him awake, so he left him to sleep. He looked round the room with tired eyes, all sorts of thoughts running through his mind, and not that he’d admit it, but he was about to start panicking when the door to the room opened.
It was Dex, loaded with bags and a coffee tray. “Morning.” He grinned.
He was a morning person then. Billy wasn’t.
Dex dumped the bags on the end of the bed and handed a coffee over to Billy, who welcomed it gladly, tipping it back immediately, only pausing to mutter to Dex, “Bless you.”
“Figured we could use some provisions.” Dex explained, pulling out boxes of cereal and laying them on the bed. “We’ll have to buy new clothes at some point, though. People will notice bloodstains. And, we’ll start to smell.”
“So...what, you just bought cereal?” Billy looked sceptically at the boxes on the bed.
Dex scratched the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah. Yes, I did.”
He managed to escape having to attempt to explain himself any more, because their voices had stirred the lifeless form of Charlie, who saw all the cereal boxes piled up on the bed, pulled the earphones out of his ears, and murmured, “Que fregados...”
“Morning, Charlie.” Dex’s coffee had clearly injected energy into him, from the sound of his voice. “I wasn’t sure what you liked, so I got a few options. We have Cheerios, Fruit Loops, Cap’n Crunch, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Cocoa Pebbles-”
“I’ll just have Cheerios, thanks.” Charlie cut in hastily, sitting up in the bed.
Dex chucked the box to him and Billy handed him a coffee from the tray. They were going to need all the caffeine they could get.
“So then.” Dex looked at both of them, whilst munching the Cinnamon Toast Crunch straight out of the box. “About that plan.”