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“Fucking get off!” he was muttering.
She pulled the door handle and looked over her shoulder. Lyle was brushing his skin now, stark naked but panickedly trying to swat non-existent ants or bugs off himself. Like they were burning him. Biting him. She fled the room.
Penny took a step out into the corridor. She had to find help. Her bare feet made no noise on the carpeted floor. Where was everyone? It was early in the morning. She hadn’t checked the time. God she didn’t have any pants on. Lyle’s T-shirt barely covered her butt, she hurried down the silent corridor. The rooms all stared blankly back at her. Whose bedrooms were these? Should she just bang on a door? Randomly pick one? Would anyone help? Lyle was a danger to himself. He was going to hurt himself. She couldn’t help him. Someone would care, right? Someone would be up and about and willing to help… right? April and Sophie’s words rung in her head. About how much of a fuck up he was, how disappointed they all were in him. How he’d left them for a week, and no one had really missed him. Her heart pulled in her chest. She streaked down the stairs, the cold air causing goosebumps to prickle on her skin.
So quiet. She pushed open the door to the bar. Dark, silent. Crap.
Where could she go? Should she go back and attempt to restrain him? What if he’d already blundered into the lamp shade, or smashed his not-beer bottle and there was glass on the floor, what if he was already lying in a pool of blood again? She’d already seen that. She’d known the guy only for the blink of an eye and seen him already collapsed in a pool of his own blood. She was panicking. She knew it. Maybe she should try to find that girl, that medic. She seemed capable, but she’d been a flyaway little thing herself, could her and Penny physically pick Lyle up, if he was on the floor?
No. She heard a whimper escape her lips. She wasn’t enough. She needed more. She needed more to help Lyle.
She stumbled on her own feet, backtracking out of the bar, and pushed on the door. But someone had opened it from the other side. She fell forward into thin air before colliding with a solid, warm chest.
“Oh!”
“Fuck!” she heard a male voice exclaim with surprise. A familiar male voice. In the low light of the foyer, she looked up into his face. Ash. It was Ash. She felt shooting, palpable relief.
“Penny! Hey, what are you doing up at this time?” he said, warm, welcoming, as always.
She snuggled shamelessly into his chest. The sobs came unchecked.
“Hey, hey, what’s up? Penny, what’s wrong?” Ash’s carefree smile immediately turned to genuine concern, as he held her close and stroked her head. Penny took a moment to just enjoy this warm, young man holding her, offering her shelter, offering her respite.
“Lyle, it’s Lyle…” she gasped out, pulling away from his chest a little to talk. She’d left wet patches on his T-shirt, crap, she was crying, her mouth and nose were gooey, too.
Ash’s face clouded. “What has he done?” he asked with anger and despair.
“He’s… wild, I think he’s having some sort of episode or something, he’s… I’m worried he’s going to hurt himself-”
“Has he hurt you?” Ash’s tone was immediately concerned.
“No, no, but, I can’t help him… I wanted to help him back to bed but, he’s too big, I’m not strong enough-” She hiccuped.
“Fuck,” Ash said simply. He looked at Penny, a real hard look. Penny just realized he was tired. He looked exhausted. They’d been out on a run, hadn’t they? Driving for hours? And here she was, crying into his arms, the poor guy probably was looking forward to a quiet night, he didn’t owe her anything.
She bit her lip and pulled away. She’d only slept with him once, and it had been purely physical, he wasn’t hers to ask for help, to share her feelings and fears with. She cleared her throat. “Sorry, I just got alarmed, it’s not your problem, sorry, you probably don’t need this-”
“No,” he immediately cut her off. “Your problem is my problem. Lyle’s problem is my problem. All of our problems.” He seemed to set his jaw, take a breath in. He nodded once. Yes, he had probably been looking forward to a quiet night after a long hard day, but he was going to step up and help, because that’s the kind of guy Ash was. A good guy. Reliable. Duty-bound. Kept a clear head in a crisis.
Penny whimpered, watching the young, devastatingly handsome man in front of her, volunteer to take the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Come on, take me to him, let’s go.” He patted her butt lightly to propel her toward the stairs.
* * *
They entered Lyle’s room,and all was quiet at first, the gentle light from outside spilling in. Ash went in first, steering her to follow behind him as he quietly slinked past the open hotel door.
And then Lyle lurched forward from the shadows. He let out an unearthly howl, his movements jerky, wild.
“Fuck!” Ash cried out, jumping back. “Lyle, buddy?” he said tentatively.
Penny hovered, biting her lip. Ash backed up a little, and Penny held his shoulder, peering around Ash’s torso.
But then Lyle stood, looking lost, scared, hunched up. He cried. He gasped and cried like a child.
“Fuck Penny, this is serious…”
“I know,” Penny whispered back. “I think he’s still asleep, should we try to wake him?”
