Krish’s smile to the attendant was no more than a baring of teeth. “Excuse me.”
The girl shrugged and picked up her phone.
Krish turned to Sejal, his eyes like hazel daggers. “Dear, I know you’re mad at me, but we’re only getting one room. We’re short on money at the moment. Remember?”
She studied him. He must be super tired to think that anyone would believe she liked being calleddear. “I am mad at you. Darling. And I think the money will be well spent on both of us having a comfortable night in separate rooms.”
He rolled his shoulders. “Honey. I don’t want you to be too comfortable without me.”
Oh. He was worried she would run away, despite their truce. Well, valid fear, she supposed. Because she was ditching Krish as soon as she finished her business in Vegas. Ideally, before she even did her business in Vegas.
“Fine, but I’m not having sex with you.” Out of the corner of her eye, Sejal noticed the girl lowering her phone, and the attention made her drop her voice and inject a note of tearful hurt into it. “I just cannot have marital relations with you, no matter how much you cry and beg me. You know how you cry before, during, and after sex? It makes everything so moist, and not in a good way.”
Krish’s eye twitched, and he turned back to the girl. “As I was saying. One room. Two beds.”
The clerk popped her bubble gum. “Actually, we don’t have any two-bed rooms left. Only one-bed rooms.”
Sejal’s silent groan echoed Krish’s loud one. “Is there a couch in the room?” he asked, grimly.
That tickled the girl. She almost smiled. “No. There’s a bed and a chair.”
“Are there any other hotels in town?” Sejal cut in.
“There’s a Holiday Inn about five miles up the road. But they’re usually booked up.”
“It’s fine. I’m too tired to drive another mile anyway,” Krish admitted, which surprised Sejal. She didn’t think he was any better than her at confessing weakness. “I’ll sleep in the chair.”
“Awesome,” the girl said in her flat voice. She put her hand out, and Krish handed her his credit card and driver’s license.
Sejal sniffed. “Okay, but we’re especially not having sex now. Not after what you did with my sister! And let’s not even start with my brother.”
Krish ignored her, but the girl did give her a curious glance, which Sejal patted herself on the back for. She imagined it took a lot to get that one’s attention.
The girl handed them a physical key attached to a triangular key chain. “Room three.”
“What happened to not calling attention to ourselves?” Krish said as they left the lobby and walked down the cracked sidewalk.
“She probably does her best to forget everything she sees in this line of work. Anyway, should you be using credit cards if we’re trying to stay under the radar?” Sejal asked.
They stopped at a door. The “3” on it had come unbolted so it hung upside down. “I’m using a fake ID and a credit card to match.”
“No.” She drew back. “You? You seem way too straight-edge to have a fake ID.”
“I’m not using it to sneak into bars underage. It’s for emergencies such as this.”
“For the record, I’m also not using mine to sneak into bars.”
“Right, you’re using it to fleece unsuspecting people.”
She looked at him askance as he opened the door. This was more than a little edgy. “Are you hangry or something? ’Cause it makes you a wee bit bitchy.”
“I am not ‘hangry.’ I am exhausted from not sleeping a wink the entire night, and then having to drive for eleven hours while you slept.”
“I told you I would drive.”
“And risk you running us off the road or getting into a race for fun? No thanks.”
“For the record, I have too much self-preservation to run us off the road— Oh wow. She wasn’t kidding when she said there was just a chair, huh?”
