It's been about a month since we've defeated the angels and drove them away from Hell. I gotta say things seem to be looking up. I was standing behind the bar as per usual cleaning glasses and stacking them in their own labeled areas. Since rebuilding the hotel, I've had to make room for some additional inventory since the blueprints called to have the bar expanded in the lobby. I was pretty tickled upon hearing that news.
My thoughts are then interrupted by a slight creaking noise coming from the main entrance. I then hear the slight click of heels touching the floor. Of course, it was Angel. He dragged himself in an exhausted manner across the floor and plopped down on the first chair he could find and stretched himself out along the couch and draped one of his top arms across his face. "Rough day?" I asked as I looked down at a glass that I was drying.
Angel lets out a long groan, "the worst." I looked back up at him only to drop my wings and arms at my side and flattened my ears. He looked like shit. I mean, typically he looks like shit anytime he gets back from work but there was something about today that seemed a bit more off than what was normal. "You wanna talk about it," I ask as I automatically start making him the hardest drink I can find behind the counter.
He lets out a long sigh, "no not really." "Fair enough." I say walking across the room to where he was, holding a glass of ice water in one hand and a glass of booze in the other. I set the glasses down on the coffee table in front of him before turning around and bringing up one of the smaller chairs and sitting down on it. He sits up slowly and grabs the glass of liquor and immediately downs it on the spot.
Shortly after he makes a strange expression, "What the hell is that?" A smirk appeared on my face as I crossed my arms in my lap and lean forward, "Spirytus Rektyfikowany." He looked back to me confused. I chuckled under my breath, "it's a spirit that was made in Poland. It has a 96% alcohol volume."
The shocked expression pretty much said it all, "Damn. Might as well have been Everclear." I grinned, "It's honestly not too different as far as strength goes. I just received it today in our new inventory and wanted to know what you thought of it." "Yeah, it's definitely a strong one," he exclaims with his eyes now wide open. "It looked like it was one of those kinds of nights," I said as I let out a heavy sigh.
I looked at him and noticed that he was covered in bruises from his face, arms, chest and legs. I flattened my ears and closed my eyes and looked a way for a second before looking back again, "Hey, uh you should wash that shot down with some of that water. It might help a little." Hesitant at first, he takes the glass and drinks about half of it. I look at the clock only to realize that's morning already, "hey, you should probably get to bed pretty soon.
Are you able to walk to your room?" He stands up rather weakly and shaky until his knees buckle under him after about a minute or two and he falls back on the couch. I get up and put a hand on his shoulder before walking back towards the bar, "okay, wait here for a minute." He nods back as he shrinks back into the couch. I go behind the bar and grab the room keys and lock up the bar for the night and put one of Angel's glasses in the sink behind the bar.
'I'll clean that up tomorrow,' I thought to myself as I walked back over to Angel. "Hey, can you grab your glass of water?" He looks numbly at the glass and picks it up as I asked. I then scooped him up into my arms and he leaned his head against my shoulder. I carried him all the way up to his room and unlocked the door before opening it.
I placed Angel down on his bed before taking his glass of water. I pulled off his boots and set them down at the edge of his bed. When I looked up, I noticed that he had already fell fast asleep. I take his covers and I placed it over top of him. It was in that instant that I noticed him nuzzling even closer into his bed.
A smirk came upon my face as I watched him sleep for a brief moment. I wanted to brush my fingers through his hair because of how mesmerized I was by his beauty, but fear got the best of me. I didn't want to touch him when he was like this. Not when he was hurt, tired and unable to give me his consent. I felt guilty as though it would be taking advantage of him.
I suddenly felt a bit uneasy in the stomach. I haven't actually carried him up to his room like that very often, so it was still all a bit awkward for me. It felt as though I was invading his space. In that instant I turned around and turned off the lights to his bedroom before quietly closing the door behind me. In the past when Angel was this tired and weak, I would simply let him fall asleep in the lobby and cover him up with one of the hotels throw blankets I pulled out from the shelf of the housekeeping closet.
However, today I thought that he might get better rest if he were sleeping in his own bed. I hated seeing my friend like that while also feeling powerless to do anything about it. He signed a contract just the same as I did and I was already struggling in trying to find a way out my own contract much less trying to find a way for him to get out of his contract. I let out a heavy sigh as I start heading down to my room. It had been a long day and I was ready to go to bed earlier than when I usually do.
Since business has been pretty slow today, Alastair and Charlie didn't mind if I left my shift early. I finally get to my room at the very end of the hall on the left and close the door behind me. I change out of my clothes and sit on the bed. I opened my night stand and pulled out a bottle of whiskey and took a couple of gulps before closing it and putting it back where I found it. I then crawled under the covers and turned off my bedside lamp before crossing my hands behind my head and staring up at the ceiling until eventually I fall into a deep slumber.