Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning to find myself alone in my bed. I looked over to the other bed, Yup, there he is. Fast asleep all by himself. I shook my head and rolled out of bed. Grabbing a change of clothes, I headed for the bathroom. I set the clothes on the counter and looked at myself in the mirror. My hair, usually kept up in a ponytail or in a braid or two, was a wild reddish mess. My eyes looked puffy, as though I had been crying all night, or I hadn't slept good. They were a dull shade of blue. I took off my pajamas so I could examine the rest of myself. I was in pretty good shape. Well, I guess you kind of have to in this line of work, and I'd been working out extra for the last couple of months to prepare for my debut.

I looked at my tattoos one at a time. I had one on my upper left arm, a spider between tribal thorns that wrapped around my arm. On my back, I had a spider web between my shoulder blades, with a spider hanging off of it. I had a butterfly outline filled in with a tiger face on my right ankle, a red dragonfly on my pelvic bone, right side; a firefly with the word "Serenity" under it on my left. I had plans for more, as well. I was starting to see a theme…

I turned away from my reflection and turned on the shower. When I felt the room start to warm, I stepped in. Twenty minutes later, I was out, again, refreshed and ready to take on anything. I brushed my hair and set it in to braids, then I put on the clothes I had grabbed earlier, brown capris and a baby blue tank top, threw on a small amount of eyeliner, eye shadow, and lip gloss, and headed back to my room. Jay was just stirring, which meant he'd probably go back to sleep if I didn't wake him up. I grabbed my wallet and headed back out to the living room.

Jeff was just coming out of the bathroom, wearing nothing but a towel.

"Hey sexy," I said, with a playful smile.

"Hey yourself. Where are you going so early?"

"Down to the bar for breakfast. Join me?"

"Hell yeah. Give me two minutes to get ready."

"More like an hour," I teased. "Hurry up, Rainbow."

He chuckled, then headed back to his room. I sat on the couch. Half an hour later, I was still waiting. Jay stumbled out of our room, looking sleepy.

"Morning Sunshine," I said.

"Mmhmmm…," was all I got in reply. He headed into the bathroom with a towel and some clothes in hand. Damn it…So much for seeing him naked today…

He came out of the bathroom about fifteen minutes later. I was STILL waiting for Jeff. What takes that boy so long to get ready? He's worse than a woman! Then I realized that Jay had no shirt on. Oh LORD, he's so hot! Jay's chuckle pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Take a picture, Delia. It'll last longer." He came and sat next to me on the couch. "You're looking nice to just be sitting around here all morning."

"Yeah, I'm waiting for Jeff…we're heading down for breakfast." I sighed. "Two minutes my ass."

Jay laughed. "You should have known better than that. How long have you been waiting?"

"About 45 minutes now." I shook my head. "So, you want to join us?"

"Sure. I won't say no to hanging out with my prisoner all morning." He smiled at me, and leaned in close. "I thought about climbing into bed next to you last night," he said, his voice lowered.

"You should have." I raised an eyebrow. "I hate sleeping alone."

"Hmmm…maybe I will tonight."

My eyes were locked onto his, and I suddenly couldn't breathe. We stayed that way for a moment, then he leaned in closer still. Finally!

Then the door to Jeff's room opened, and Jeff came out. We both jumped back a bit, and smiled. "Hey, Jay. You joining us?"

"Yes, I am, Jeff. And might I say, you are looking beautiful this morning." He laughed as he dodged the shoe Jeff threw at him.

"Alright, lovebirds. Let's go. I'm starving." I put an arm around Jeff and took Jay's hand, and led them both to the door.