Who Are You?

~Chapter Five~

Chris walked me to my door at the hotel. I thanked him for walking me to my door.

"You're welcome. You have performance anxiety, don't you?"
"Yes. I do. I usually get really nauseated beforehand."

"That is normal for more of us than you realize. You are coming more out of your shell and it's showing. Keep going. I'll see you in the morning?"

"Yes, you will see me in the morning," I said smiling up at him.

He quickly leaned down and kissed me on the cheek before walking off. It tickled me. Unlocking my door, I went into my hotel suite. I immediately went and took a shower. The hot water felt so good rolling down my body. I made sure I got the rest of the fake blood off. When I finally felt like I was good and clean, I got out.

In my robe, I went over to the mini bar and poured myself some disaronno, straight with nothing else. Crawling up on my bed, I sipped on it and just laid there. My phone startled me when it pinged. Picking up my phone, it was Jolly.

Are you up?

Yes, why?

Can I come to see you?

Sure.

I put my phone down and took another sip of my drink. I then heard the knock. Setting the drink down, I went to the door and opened it.

"Hi," he said breathlessly.

"Hi."

"May I come in?"

"Sure."

He came in and the door shut behind him.

"So," I said as I made my way back over to my bed to crawl on it. "I've gotten a lot of feedback from the others. I want to know what you think about what I did."

"Ingrid?"

"Yes, Joakim?"
He smiled as I said his name.

"That was fucking brilliant," he said as he sat down beside me.

I saw his eyes look down and then back up.

"What is it?"
"I can see a piece of your tattoo."

"Oh, would you like to see it?"
"If it's permissible."

I rolled over onto my side and pulled up my satin robe on my right side so he could see it.

"Oh, wow. You said it was musical, but I didn't realize it would look like this. You have band names in the shape of a treble clef. This is incredible."

"Thank you."

His fingers began tracing the treble clef as he read the band names. It tickled a little bit, and his touch made my skin warm.

"Joakim," I said softly.

He looked up at me; "What is it?"

"If I asked you to stay, would you," I asked as I turned my head to look over at him.

"I would love nothing else than to stay with you," he said softly.

"You would have to be gentle with me."

"I would treat you like the queen you, Ingrid."

"Then I want you to stay."

What the hell was wrong with me? What just happened? I watched him get up, go the door, grab the do not disturb sign and place it on the outside of the door.  When he turned around, the look in his eye was different. Stopping at the end of the bed, he looked down at me. I could tell he kicked his shoes off. He bent down, obviously removing his socks. I watched him stand up and take his t-shirt off. He was more ripped than I expected him to be. Looking at him made me feel inadequate.