Page 67 of The Deceptions

Before I climb into the shower, I double-check the lock on the door and climb under the hot water with a sigh, running my fingers through my hair. I swallow hard when I get to the short ends of my shaggy cut. After so many years of keeping my length, it’s all gone.

I squeeze my eyes shut and blow out a breath. In and out. Over and over. The heat of the shower curls around my flesh, anchoring me in the moment.

Don’t lose yourself to the memories. Hold yourself here in the present. Here, they can’t hurt you again. They may be physically close–a breath away. You’re safe. You’re in control. You’re…

My eyes fly open when the doorknob jiggles again and again. Someone pounds a fist into the wood, echoing through the tiny space.

“I’m showering!” I shout above the sound of the water.

I hold my breath when the jiggling stops. I swear I hear a voice on the other side of the door, but can’t make it out.Apparently, though, whoever it is doesn’t get the damn memo I’m in here. The bathroom door flies open and hits the drywall with a thud. He mutters under his breath, something I can’t quite make out again. Feet shuffle, thudding hard against the floor, like he’s staggering in here disoriented and drunk.

Fuck.

My heart thunders in my ears, barely cutting off the sound of the toilet lids raising and smashing into the back of the toilet without care.

Ice flows through my veins. Oxygen stalls in my lungs. The sound of water hitting water and the smell of urine fill the room. Good God. What did that man eat? Asparagus? I think he needs his damn bladder checked out.

I put a hand over my mouth and nose to stop the gag in the back of my throat. The last thing I need to do is wretch in the shower and have whoever is pissing their life away, peeking inside and finding a naked woman. Instead of their roommate, Oliver. Instinctively, I take a step back from the white shower curtain concealing me. Or not so concealing me. My breath shudders when his shadow moves, swaying left and right. Fuck. I shift backwards, praying to whoever is above that he can’t see my shadow through the curtain like I can see him. I’m not shapely, but if he looked hard enough, he’d see the outline of my breasts. Or the shape of my muscular ass.

I hold my breath until the last drop of his nasty urine hits the toilet, and he flushes it.

“Sorry, bro!” he grumbles, hitting the shower curtain with his hand, knocking it into the steam of the shower. “Had to go.”

It was locked, you asshole! Is what I want to say. I grit my teeth and uncover my mouth, moving my hands to hide my breasts.

“No worries,” I say in a low voice, trying to sound okay with it. Even though I want to nut punch whoever it is.

From the sound of it, it's not Simon. Dane is gone. So, it has to be Wade. The collared shirt guy who Simon says is nice. Yeah, so nice, Si. He just burst in while I was showering. Is there no privacy here?

I count down the number of staggered footsteps until the door slams shut again. Everything goes quiet except for my breath frantically escaping through my nose. My eyes roll toward the ceiling, and I shake the nerves skittering through my body.

Peeking through the crack in the curtain, I make note of the empty bathroom. Great. I thought I’d at least have privacy here with it being the only lockable door in the suite. But I was wrong. Very, very wrong.

After getting dressed in the bathroom with my back to the door so nobody else could barge in, I come back to my room and fish out my laptop. Plopping down into my provided computer chair, I log into our secure network and reread my case instructions. Everything will be there on the portal for me to view. Even the papers Jonathan handed me before coming and what I studied in the hotel room.

I can never be too careful.

Oli

Jordy! One of those fuckers just walked in on me in the shower! I didn’t know I’d be rooming with another version of you…

I snort, setting my phone on my desk. Just as my phone dings with a message.

Carter

I got your fucking tracker.

I cock my head. Right. I sent it in the mail to him before I left the hotel, so he could look it over and tell me if he found anything.

Oli

And?

Wait! How did you get this phone number? You creeping?

There’s nothing that gives me more pleasure than busting Carter Cunningham's chops. He’s so grumpy and pissed off at the world. Sometimes I wonder how Kaycee and the other guys put up with him. But they’ve all been together for a few years now.

That’s beside the point, though.