Chapter 3 Worth it

An hour later with so many drinks consumed between the both of them, mostly by Carissa, she sure took the 'escaping reality' personally. Adonis watched with bemused interest as she kept emptying glasses, he wondered what reality she was trying so desperately to escape, from all indications, it seemed to him like she succeeded in escaping her reality cause she kept chatting excitedly about nothing and everything in general.

He was a little high himself and he wanted to retire for the night, he looked toward the booth where he left Brian and his girlfriend, but the booth was empty, scanning the room he saw them on the dance floor and he knew that his friend had no plans of leaving anytime soon not when his party-loving girlfriend was with him. He looked at his drinking partner, then tried scanning the crowd trying to know if he would recognize her friends but it was a futile attempt as he didn't know them, with an irritated sigh he gave her a nudge,

"Hey, Rissa"

"Huh"?, Came the slurpy reply

"You think you could manage on your own"?

"Huh"? Was still her reply

With an exasperated sigh, he knew that a conversation with her would be useless and he couldn't leave her there cause he didn't know if her friends were still around and if they were, he didn't know what time they'd be ready to leave and he didn't want her drinking more, he had already told the barman to cease the supply of the drinks amidst her protests. Coming to a quick decision, he stood up pushed his seat back, signaled to the bartender, asked for his bill, paid, tipping the bartender heavily, turning to a tipsy Rissa who was bent forward on the bar aisle, tapped her.

"Hey, tipsy"

She stirred, raised her head, and tried returning to her former position, but Adrian stopped her.

"C'mon, let's call it a night"

Grunting a little he assisted her in standing upright and muttered under his breath,

"You're miles away from your reality now", he chuckled

"Your return journey starts in a few hours or so, get ready! "

Taking her bag from the counter, looked around to make sure he wasn't forgetting anything of his or hers and made his way to the door assisting a very tipsy Rissa too.

Stepping outside the bar, the cool evening breeze cleared his head a little, he dragged in fresh air and thought about his next course of action. He contemplated driving but decided against it, Brian was with his key and that would require him to go back inside to get it, which would require him to search for Brian which he knew wasn't going to be an easy task, he didn't think he could handle being behind a wheel not forgetting the tipsy damsel being supported by his arms. Just then a cab pulled up in front of them, assisting Rissa into the back seat he got in beside her and told the driver his destination. A few minutes later, the cab pulled up in front of the hotel, Adonis got out, assisted Rissa too, paid the driver, and then proceeded to assist Rissa into the lobby. One of the lobby boys came forward to assist him but Adonis waved him off making his way to the elevator, he got them in and then punched in the floor number where his suite was on. He got to his suite, took out his key card from his pocket, and let them in, he then made his way to one of the rooms with Rissa. He planned on just putting her in bed and leaving but on second thought, he decided to clean her up. Immediately they stepped into the bathroom, Rissa gagged as if on cue, gently guided her towards the toilet seat, and held her hair back as she emptied her guts. He took off her clothes after much internal debate as to the sensibility of such an action and assisted her in getting into the shower, he tested the temperature of the water and adjusted it to his taste, bathing her was quite a task but he managed, he dried her in one of the big white towels in the bathroom afterward, then took her into the bedroom, and settled her into bed. She fell asleep almost immediately her head touched the pillow. With a second glance, he turned the lights off and left the room.

Taking a shower was not so easy a task for him as he tried fighting images of Rissa's body, he wasn't one to be moved by a lady's nakedness not to talk of a tipsy one but she affected him, from the moment he saw her, she seemed to pull him in against his wish, frustrated the more from the fact that he just met her and the last time he had this strong attraction towards anyone, it hadn't ended well. He came out, settled into bed, and tried falling asleep but even that seemed to evade him, mad at himself that the object of his discomfort was sleeping peacefully just a few steps away from his room.

"So much for escaping reality", he scoffed and lay staring at the white ceiling of his suite room. After some moments of tossing and turning without sleeping, he decided he might as well get some work done, his cell phone rang just then.

"Donis, where you at"? it was Brian.

From the noise in the background, Adonis knew his friend was still at the bar.

"I'm home", came his curt reply.

"C'mon, you still mad"?.

Thinking about the sleeping damsel, he didn't know what he felt anymore.

"How did you get home"?

"The normal way"

"You're still mad"

"I'm not......I'm just tired"

"Oh!.....saw you sitting at the bar with a lady.....came to get you now but couldn't find you ......or the lady", Brian said teasingly with a hint of suspicion.

"Oh....."

"Decided to call, to know where you're at"

"Home"

"And the lady"?

"She's where she is"

"Donis......"

Cutting in, "Brian, I'm home now and I'm so tired.....mind if we talk later", without waiting for a reply, he hung up. Tossing the phone to the side, all thoughts of work gone too, he settled back into bed, trying effortlessly to shut down his mind. He eventually fell asleep in the wee hours of the morning.