Leila stood in front of the hotel's bedroom mirror, touching the place where Joseph had left his mark on her neck. It wasn't big and didn't stand out anyway from the rest of the markings on her body. But she knew the difference.
The sound of the shower running in the bathroom and the city traffic getting more noisier were there to let her know that it was the time for her to get home.
She needed to get back before Mark would. If she wasn't there when he'd arrive, the consequences would be horrible.
Leila threw the tangled sheets and comforter off the bed, trying to find her dress. Joseph's pants, tie, and the white shirt were hanging neatly over the backrest of a chair beside the window.
She had still been sound asleep when Joseph slipped out of bed and headed for a wash. The memories from the previous night, the heated sex came rushing back with a fury. How he touched her, spoke to her and paid his attention to her, made her smile for just a moment.
Agony overwhelmed her seconds later. She had cheated on her own boyfriend with a musician she hardly knew. Joseph had offered her the thing she had been missing- care. Guilt washed over her next. And then regret.
She was no different than Mark. Sworn to herself to not act the way he had, didn't stop her stooping to the same level as the abusive and manipulative man she lived with.
Underneath the bed, a thread of her black dress caught her eye. She pulled it on, threw her coat and scarf over her hand and run out of the room. She felt petrified to face the man she had given in to.
Downstairs in the foyer, the man behind the counter was flipping through a magazine.
"I'd like to pay for the room. Room 345." She leaned over the wooden surface of the reception, standing on her tiptoes.
"Credit card or cash?"
"Cash." She replied in a hurry and dropped her overclothes on the nearby armchair, digging into the pocket of her coat for the money.
This was her last hundred bucks. She handed him the money.
"Is the young man still in the room?" The man asked and Leila picked up her things.
"Yes."
She was ready to leave but had to make sure of one more thing.
"If he asks for anything, or about me, then please, don't give him my full name or any of my private information." She begged him.
"Darling, we are not allowed to do that anyways."
"Thank you!"
*
Leila reached the front door of her house just moments before Marks's friend parked his car in the driveway. She hurried inside, got naked and pulled on a robe from the bathroom hanger. The hickey on her neck stood out from the rest of the bruises but she pulled the edges of her robe more up, covering it. Tossing her dress in the hamper, she covered it with random towels from the rack.
She just hoped that Mark was drunk enough to not pay her any attention.
When the front door swung open and Timothy, one of Mark's closest friends stepped in, she flinched at the sight behind him. A bruised lip, blood dripping from the cut above Mark's eyebrow colored the hallway carpet when he was helped inside his home.
"What happened?" Leila asked when her boyfriend was carried in by two more guys.
"Ah, he got into a fight with some biker." Timothy glanced at his friend and then back at Leila. She hugged the hems of her robe closer, concealing her bare body.
