by Beth Fred
Chapter 3
“I heard the hotel manager talking to the police. Too many noise complaints and a girl ran naked down the hall. And I think there was a fight.”
Wow. Way to go Kammy and your boneheaded friends. “I have to go,” I said, pulling my laptop from the charger. “You've been nice, but I handle disasters on my own, and I don't know you. I've already told you more than I should.” I yanked the charger from the wall and shoved both the charger and the laptop back into my purse before slinging it over one arm.
“You'll need a translator.”
It was so annoying. This guy was hot, and I had no idea what he wanted. Besides, I was leaving in two days, but he was right, I did need a translator.
“Come on,” I said.
We heard the commotion before we ever got off the elevator. We raced down the hall and to my suite only to find someone standing in front of it like a door guard.
I ran for the room, but the cop guarding the door stopped me. I looked to Luke who spoke to the officer and then to me. “You can't go in.”
“I paid for the room.”
He said something to the officer again and then gave me a look that told me it would be bad news. “He actually wanted to arrest you. But I told him you were downstairs the whole time, and we came up when we saw the cops.”
“Wow. What happened?”
“In addition to everything I told you downstairs, a girl tried to steal a tip from a stripper, and he punched her.”
I shifted around until I could see inside the room. The redhead from earlier was bleeding. She must have been the tip thief. Kammy was in handcuffs, and I didn't think they belonged to the naked cop. A police officer came from outside the room, dragging my sister as the door guard went in. I was about to ask Luke why, when a stripper, wearing only chaps and a cowboy hat, hit a cop. In another corner of the room, a cop struggled to fight off two strippers. As he ducked to dodge a swing from one, the other hit him.
“Why are they taking Kammy?”
“I think she may have been the streaker.”
Oh, God. Now, I had to figure out how to get my sister out of a Mexican jail.
Kammy giggled and said, “Hi, Tiffy,” as they passed us. Only Kammy could think this was funny.
The fight in the room between the cops and the strippers grew more and more out of hand. “I have to help,” Luke said. “Go wait for me in the bar.”
“Gawd, I can't wait in the bar. I feel horrible dragging you into all this, and I have to find out where they took my sister. What's going to happen with the rooms, and are they arresting anyone else?”
“This is out of control. Staying here isn't going to help anyone, and you won't be able to find out any of that until things calm down. Go wait in the lobby, and I'll help you ask the questions you need.”
“Lucas...”
“I have to go. I'm obligated.” He sprung through the doorway and joined the madness. I never went downstairs. Instead, I stood across the hall and watched through the open door. I felt horrible not even trying to help. But I stood five foot even, and all those guys were so big. I really thought I'd only get in the way. Do more harm than good.
I watched Luke take out two strippers at a time. Once they were all handcuffed, I stepped into the room. “Luke?”
He turned to look at me, and I noticed a gash above his eyes. Fresh blood glazed it. Oh, God.
“Oh, I'm sorry,” I said. “You really shouldn't have gotten involved with this.”
He shrugged. “I did what I wanted to.”
A police officer started leading the guys out by their chains. “This might be a bad time, but could you ask what's going to happen to the girls?”
“I know one is being arrested, but the manager mentioned several times he wants them all out.”
A moan escaped my lips. I wasn't into bachelorette parties, but Kammy was my sister and I was the maid of honor, so I was here anyhow when I had way more to do back home than any person should ever. I didn't want to come on this trip, but she guilt tripped me into it. She and her friends arranged for the strippers on their own. But I was hosting, which meant now I would have to find alternative accommodations for Kammy's friends while trying to figure out how to spring her from jail. And God knows what the damage to these rooms was going to come to.
Luke gave a soft chuckle. The kind you give out of sympathy, not because something's funny.
“Are you okay?”
“With that thing over your eye, I think I should be asking you that.”
“It'll be gone tomorrow. What's wrong?”
“Nothing,” I said. I don't think I have enough money in my 401K to cover this.
His eyes studied me, and finally I said, “What do I do with the girls?”
“Why are they your responsibility?”
“I'm hosting.”
“They caused the problem. I'd say screw them.”
“I can't do that.”
Luke ignored me. He looked over my head and across the room where the hotel manager stood. They had a brief exchange that I didn't catch a word of, and then Luke said, “He says the hotel shuttle will take them to the airport.”
“Their plane doesn't leave until Sunday. It's only Friday night.”
“I don't think anyone's going to kick them out of the airport here, and they can check in tomorrow. You should tell them they have a ride to the airport, or they're welcome to find their own rooms.”
“Are any of them even sober enough to understand?”
“A few of them probably are. Miss, there is one more problem.”
“Another one?”
“You're part of this party. They want you out, too.”
I cast my eyes around the room taking in the broken lamps, shattered beer bottles, and empty containers. “Oh well, I couldn't have stayed here anyhow. I actually found strangers fornicating in my room.” I blushed as I said it. “That's how I ended up in the bar.”
Luke laughed.
“Can you ask where my sister is?”
“I know where they would have taken her. It's a little bit of a drive from here.”
Great, now I need cab fair in addition to bail. I dug in my purse for a pen and my address book. “Could you write the address down, so I can get a cab?”
The cops had gone already with the strippers behind them in cuffs. But the manager now spoke over me in Spanish.
Luke looked at me. “He says you all have to get out of here, now. If they want to take the shuttle, it's waiting outside.”
I looked around at former cheerleaders and current sorority girls. None of them had a clue. “We have to go,” I said loudly and started for the door.
Luke must not have found my announcement acceptable. “There is a shuttle waiting outside to take you to the airport. You can change your tickets to leave early, sleep in the airport, or find yourself alternative lodging at your own expense. You're all banned from the premises.”
After his announcement, they did start to move. They shuffled toward the door in clusters of three. Sometimes one or two girls would pull along a girl too drunk to walk. In the elevator, I thought everyone was there.