The Bet (Addison #2) by Erica M. Christensen

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER ONE
     
     
    What is that damn noise? I grab my pillow to place it over my ears, but notice the pillowcase is made of cheap cotton…not Egyptian cotton. It is not my pillow. There’s the noise again, the sound of knocking on a door. Following is a woman’s raspy voice shouting, “Housekeeping!” I jolt up and squint toward the window where a stream of light is shining through between the curtains. My head feels as if it it’s going to explode and I feel like I could blow chunks at any moment. I swing my legs up and out of bed and realize I’m completely naked. Oh my God, what the hell did I get myself into last night? I turn the lamp on next to the bed and find my clothes scattered on the floor from the hotel room door straight to the bed. Fabulous . The old lady shouts, “Housekeeping!” once more.
    “Just a minute!” I kindly holler back. I throw on my clothes, grab my purse, and dig in it to find a hair tie, which is basically like trying to find a needle in a haystack. I swear I buy hundreds of these damn things and I can never find them when I need them. When I need bobby pins, I find a hair tie. When I need a hair tie, I find fucking bobby pins. I attempt to finger comb my rat’s nest and fail miserably. As I head for the door to leave I look around the room, hoping something will catch my attention and I’ll remember what happened last night. But of course, nothing does. The last thing I remember was making some stupid bet with a tattooed hot guy…well, from what I recall he was hot. Hell, who knows…maybe I was just seeing him through beer goggles. Please God, please, tell me I did not sleep with him.
    I get up to the desk to check out of the room and the short chubby woman with salt and pepper hair is talking on the phone.
    “Okay, you’re all checked out. Thank you for staying with us, sir, we hope you enjoyed your stay.” The woman hangs up the phone and looks at me with a sour face.
    “Are you checking out?” she asks bitterly.
    “Yes, I’m checking out of room 221.” I glance at the woman’s name tag, Sandra. She looks a little puzzled.
    “Sweetie, I just got off the phone with him and he already checked you guys out.” Who is he ?
    “Who checked us out of the room?” I question. Sandra looks at my hair and face in disgust.
    “Have a great day, thanks for staying with us.” Sandra turns back to her computer screen. My phone starts ringing, it’s Shelly. Shit! I totally forgot I’m flying back today!

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
     
    It doesn’t take a miracle to change someone. Change is a choice. You either want to be a better person or you want to be shit. Either way, you choose. The universe doesn't, you do.
    I know I’m only twenty-four years old, but at the rate I’ve been going lately…my life is going to go nowhere. Drinking until I black out every single weekend, waking up in a lonely guy’s bed once or twice, maybe even six times, I don’t even know! Oh, and we work together, which makes everything awkward. What do I do this shit for? To fill some void in myself that’s still there in the morning along with the weight of regret and a pounding headache? It’s only been a little over three months since I’ve left Iowa and I’ve gone south in more ways than one. I need to change, I want to.
    Luckily, I get my license back in about two and a half months. And after a little over a month of work I was able to save up enough money to move into my own place. It’s a bit small, but it’s pretty much perfect for me. My dream job is nothing I thought it would be. I wake up and dread going into work almost every damn day. The pay is nice, but that’s it. I get no satisfaction from the work I do…okay, maybe I do a little bit. Maybe I’m just bitter at the moment because I pissed off one of our biggest clients. But really…the long dreadful hours, the never-ending stress, the ungrateful clients, and the