"I don't have a room?" Alicia asked the lady behind the hotel's desk. "What do you mean? I must have a room."
"I'm sorry Ma'am, but we had a call to cancel the reservation and we've already given the room to someone else.
"Who canceled the room reservation?"
"A Mr. Val Venis." The lady said after flipping through the check-in list.
"What about the luggage that was to be in the room?" She asked, concerned about her things.
"It arrived shortly after the room was canceled, but since we didn't have a room to put it in, we told the men to take it away."
She wanted to scream to the lady, but she knew that it really wasn't her fault and she was just trying to do her job. She turned and walked to the lobby where Mark was, hanging her head.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
She looked up into his eyes, her lower lip trembling slightly as she sat down on one of the padded benches in defeat. "Val canceled my room and my luggage was sent away."
He felt his blood boil and swore that he would have Venis's neck for hurting his angel in this way, but now was not the time for revenge. He sat down next to the trembling girl who was trying hard not to cry. He had an idea, but was not sure how she would take it.
"Alicia, let's go to my room. You can shower and at least get into some fresh clothes. It'll make you feel better. After that, I'll help you find a place to sleep.
He had spoke softly and she appreciated it since she didn't want anyone to hear about her embarrassing problem. She was too tired to argue. She nodded and the both stood up and walked to the fancy glass elevator. She tried not to cry at the loss of her things. She had never been on a trip where she had lost her luggage and to make things worse, she had packed most of her money in her bags. Now she had no money.
Mark could see that she was thinking about her lost belongings and for some reason refrained from telling her that they were safe since the WWF takes special care of all luggage and hers was probably sitting in a truck somewhere, waiting for her to claim them.
Alicia was taken aback when she saw the fancy hotel room. Large and spacious with a kitchen and living room. Thick carpet covered the floor and its color matched the cream colored walls. Mark let her enter the room first and closed the door behind them. He let her explore the room as he rummaged through his bags that were sitting neatly on the floor. He plucked out one of his large shirts with his logo on it. He closed the bag and walked around the room until he found her exploring the kitchen.
"Here." He said, holding the shirt out to her when she looked at him. She accepted the shirt with the unusual design on it and held it in both hands as she walked past him to the bathroom. She flipped the light switch on and turned around and looked at him, her tears gone.
"Thank you Mark. I really appreciate what you've done for me." She smiled at him and closed the bathroom door.
He stood in the kitchen a minute as her words sank in. His angel was happy again. He turned and left the hotel room, not wanting to, but he had promised that he would try to find her a place to sleep, although he could not convince himself that he wanted her to sleep no place but with him this night.
He want
to all the rooms of the women who worked at the WWF, but found that they
were all asleep and he didn't dare ask one of the men to take her in for
the night. On his way back to his room, he passed Venis's room that
had the 'Do Not Disturb' sign hanging on its doorknob. He fought
the urge to kick the door in and beat Venis until there was nothing left.
But tonight his vengeance could wait. Right now, he would tell his
angel that she would be spending this night with him.
Copyright 2000 by Lady Serria