Wewalkedbackto the hotel in silence.
Scarlett had shut down again just like she did in the car ride here. The fight in her went to sleep, and the spark in her eyes died out to something bleak.
She didn’t say anything when we got to the room or when I took the handcuff off from around her wrist. She just went over to her bed, picked up the pen on the nightstand, and crawled onto the mattress where she began to draw on her wrist.
We spent the next few hours in that same sullen silence. The T.V. was on in the background, but neither of us were paying attention to it. Scarlett had finished up whatever she was drawing and had moved to scrolling on her phone.
The longer we sat there not talking, barely moving, barely living, the heavier the droop of my eyelids got. Not sleeping after Scarlett got back last night wasn’t my brightest idea, but I also had no other choice.
We were out of whiskey.
With that reminder, I rolled over to the hotel phone and called room service for a restock. I ordered half of what I drank last night, still kicking myself for getting drunk on the first night of watching Scarlett. We would not be having a repeat tonight.
The sleeping pills in my go-bag would make sure of it.
There was a knock on our door ten minutes later and a hotel worker on the other side holding my personal brand of sleeping aid. I could never take the sleeping pills when I was working, which was almost always. Those I only used on vacation where I had nowhere to be.
“Thanks, man.” The hotel worker's dreary face disappeared behind the door as I shut it. Green eyes jumped across the room to the bag in my hand, showing the curiosity her expression was clearly trying to hide.
“Want a drink?”
Scarlett furrowed her brows at my offer, sticking her attention back to the phone in her hands.
“Are you sure you really wanna do that whole song and dance again? Last night wasn’t exactly a shining moment for you.”
“Last night was a mistake.”
“Wow.” She blew out a breathy laugh. “You sound like you’re breaking up with me after a one night stand.”
Holding the bottles of whiskey in my hands a little firmer, I ignored her jab. “I meant the game. No games tonight. Just straight whiskey and silence.”
The space between us was held up in question as Scarlett took her time to answer. I used the pause to move into the bathroom, keeping my hearing strained for any movement from Scarlett as I went for my go-bag on the counter. After a few seconds digging around in there, my fingers brushed the rounded edge of what I was looking for.
Strolling back out with some extra sedating passengers in my pocket, I found Scarlett had changed positions on the bed to lay upside down with her head at the foot of the bed. Her tangled curls brushed the carpet, and her eyes jumped to me.
“All right, I’m game. Pour me one.” She shot me an upturned smirk and reached up her raised pinky finger. “Want me to pinky promise I won’t run?”
Smartass.
“Single or double?”
“Always a double.”
Double whiskey. If she weren’t off-limits and off her fucking rocker, I’d say she was my kind of girl.
I scooped ice into two glasses like the ones we drank out of yesterday, but clean. Over my shoulder, I kept an eye on Scarlett as I poured our drinks. Whiskey jumped out of the glass as it met the ice, burrowing into my skin to my blood where it would end up anyway.
Scarlett was nose deep in her phone as I fished the two Ambiens out of my pocket. She was small, right? Two should knock her out for at least eight hours. Long enough to get some sleep and get us on a plane headed straight for Quantico.
The two white pills dissolved into nothingness against the dark liquor, and Scarlett was none the wiser as I handed it to her and she took her first sip.
Now all I had to do was wait.
A few minutes of silent drinking passed by before she spoke again.
“You never did answer me.”
“About what?”