Page 4 of Guarding the Shadows
After finishing washing, I stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my waist. I cleared the steam from the mirror over the vanity sinks and caught sight of myself in the mirror. I might have been exhausted from the past few weeks at work, but in that moment, I looked healthy, clear-eyed and dare I say, good for a man in his thirties who regularly burned the candle at both ends.
Gwen always said I was a catch, but being a modest guy, I didn’t really see what a bombshell like her saw in a guy like me. But I’d take punching my weight and whatever she saw in me any day of the week because it meant that girl was mine.
The stupid, annoying song I’d chosen as the alarm on my phone began to play at 5:40 a.m. I growled and grabbed my cell off the nightstand. Peering through one bleary eye, the first thing I did after dismissing the noise was check if Gwen had responded. Disappointment ran through me and I let out a sigh once I knewshe hadn’t, and I hated the thought that she’d been up all night, on a shift as a nurse, at our local hospital.
Easing my way off the bed, I hit the bathroom, brushed my teeth, then sent a WhatsApp message to the security message group.Hitting the gym … anyone else?
Bodhi- ten four. See you in 5.Bodhi instantly replied.
Mikey- guess I’m staying on the floor.
Me- that’s what happens when you’re tardy, Mikey. lol.
I chuckled because despite the punishing schedules we worked, whenever possible, it was always a race to get gym time. However, Bodhi demanded at least one of us guys stay on the floor with the band in case one of them tried to go walkabout.
Dressing in sweatpants and a muscle shirt, I grabbed my cell phone, keycard and earbuds, because we needed to have a means of communicating with the guy left behind in the event we were urgently needed. Sometimes the music in some of the leisure suites was played loud to motivate their patrons, so I generally had my earbuds linked to Bluetooth. That way, if Mikey or Bodhi called for assistance during a gym session I could respond straight away.
Fortunately, Bodhi and I were in luck when we reached the gym and had the facility all to ourselves. As we only had about an hour that day, we both headed straight to the bench press, then cross trainers and ropes. With time running short we finished with some full body strength and conditioning on the high bar and a three-mile race on the treadmills.
“That’s better, I felt like a zombie yesterday,” Bodhi admitted.
“Me too, but I could have done with a couple more hours,” I grumbled because I had just started to settle into my workout.
“Lack of gym sessions, not getting laid and hanging around for hours is all contributing to a lack of conditioning. Still, we’regoing home after this one and we have two weeks off. Bet you’re looking forward to seeing Gwen again,” he suggested, as we pushed through the door from the gym and headed back to the elevators.
We never used the showering facilities in gyms and returned to our own rooms to shower, to ensure we were on the same floor as the band, again in case we were urgently needed.
“Yeah, missing her,” I muttered as we stepped into the elevator. “I’m going to make the effort to carve some quality time away with her this time.”
“She could probably do with that too, since her sleep pattern gets disrupted more than yours.”
“True,” I agreed as the elevator car jolted, and the door opened again on our floor.
“What happened?” Bodhi’s sharp tone drew my eyes down the corridor. Mikey stood, bare-chested in shorts, with a white hotel towel over his shoulder.
“Greg. He messaged the crew WhatsApp to say he was taking a walk.”
“Where is he now?” Bodhi asked.
“In his room. Worse for wear. He’s been drinking with Deakon. Or should I say he’s drank Deakon’s wet bar dry. Deakon let him into his room last night after he said the light in his bathroom wasn’t working.”
“Why didn’t he call guest services … or-or one of us to sort that shit out,” I stammered.
“The light’s fine. It’s the wet bar he was after,” Mikey muttered, tiredly.
“Deakon should have known better than to drink with him when we had so little time to rest,” Bodhi spat out through a growl.
“Oh, Deak wasn’t drinking. He let him into his room and Greg did go into his bathroom. But the problem was that Deakonpassed out exhausted while he was in there. And you know Deakon … he sleeps like the dead?—”
“So, Greg’s plan all along was to get to the alcohol in Deakon’s room,” I muttered, interrupting Mikey because I was seriously pissed that I’d gone to all the effort of clearing Greg’s wet bar out.
“It would appear so. When Deakon woke, Greg was lying flat-out drunk on the floor in his room, singing Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”. Deakon’s so pissed that he WattsApped the crew chat for someone to get him the fuck out of his room.” Mikey sighed again, like it had taken some effort to do that.
Bodhi wiped sweat from his forehead with his forearm, huffed in frustration and frowned. “What’s he doing now?”
“I just tossed his ass in a cold shower for ten minutes straight to sober him up. He’s had three cups of coffee, and I’ve called the IV nurse to come administer some fluids,” Mikey replied.
“That bad, huh?” I muttered.
