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Sara leaned over towards the window and looked out over the city the plane was approaching. It was a nice day and Sara scanned the skyline for any famous buildings. She wouldn't have any time for sightseeing, she never did. It was somewhat regrettable, all those miles and she never saw anything but the airport, hotel and arena.
The plane landed and Sara disembarked quickly. First class did have its perks after all. She had her carryon, sometimes she checked luggage on the way home, but rarely on the way there. Sara headed right to the ladies’ room. She had, quickly and discreetly, put on another layer of moisturizer on the plane. She never put her make up on until she landed at her destination. The dry air in the plane was murder on her skin.
When she was done, Sara texted the driver who was undoubtedly waiting in the parking area. She joined the mass of people heading towards baggage claim, weaving her way out through the crowd of people jostling for the best view of the belt as the luggage spit out. Why people wouldn't just stand back and allow everyone to see was beyond Sara's comprehension. Sara headed out of the building and the air outside was cold, but far from refreshing. It was clogged with exhaust, from the dozens of cars lining up under the overpass, undoubtedly the departures drop off was directly above them. Sara looked out across the lanes and saw the limos. She headed for the crosswalk, but took care to make sure every driver saw her and was going to stop.
The limo drivers were all standing next to their cars, holding their placards. Sara scanned them and spotted her name. She headed down to the car that had been sent to her.
"Hi, I'm Sara Wilson," Sara told the limo driver.
"Miss," he said, tipping his hat and bowing slightly.
Sara had to suppress a giggle. The driver didn't seem to notice and opened the door for Sara, closed it behind her and stowed her luggage efficiently in the trunk. Sara settled into the enormous leather seat in the back and buckled up.
"You all set, Miss?" the driver asked her, through the speaker.
Sara looked frantically around for the speaker button, found it and pushed it, "I'm all set, thank you," she said and then let go of the button.
Sara watched out the window as the city slid by. She realized she didn't even know if they were headed to the arena or the hotel. Sara checked the time on her phone. Hotel, most likely. Sara had no idea which hotel. It had been unnerving the first couple of times, but now she was used to it. The limo drivers had their orders and they followed them to the letter. Sara just had to relax. She had never been very good at relaxing.
Her phone buzzed in her hand and she checked it.
"Hello," she said.
"Are you here?"
"I'm in the limo, on the way to the...hotel I guess."
"Yes, the hotel. Room 503."
"Okay, I'll be there soon."
Hearing his voice made Sara a little crazy. How long had it been this time? Three weeks. Seemed longer. A lot longer. She leaned forward in her seat and willed the limo to get there faster. She pulled her pass out of her purse and hung it around her neck. Ugly as heck, but it was the quickest way to get through security. Then they were at the hotel and though Sara desperately wanted to hop out of the car, and run into the hotel, she waited for the driver to open the door for her. There was no sign of anything out of the ordinary at the hotel. There was no guarantee that it would stay like that, however. If word got out where Covalent was staying, the street would be mobbed in an hour.
"Miss," the limo driver said again as he handed Sara back her luggage.
Sara tipped him with the money she had folded in her pocket for just that purpose. The driver took the money. He gave her another tip of his hat and half a bow and Sara realized, with a jolt, that he looked like her grandfather. It was a bit of a shock, the resemblance, but Sara shook it off. She smiled at the doorman who opened the door for her, but kindly rejected his offer to take her bag.
Sara looked around the lobby. Sometimes the elevator banks were hidden in halls off the lobby, which seemed to be the case here. In that case Sara just looked for the security guys. They were easy to spot. Sure enough, there were two burly guys, off to the right. Sara headed right for them and held the pass out. They waved her through without any questions and Sara headed for the elevators. As she walked away she was pretty sure she heard one of them announcing her arrival, via his headset.
In the elevator Sara checked over her appearance, in the mirror. She fluffed her hair and dabbed at her eyeliner gently. In five minutes she'd be a tousled mess, most likely, but she liked to look good when Ty opened the door and saw her for the first time.
It was always the same, at least if she got to come right to the hotel. She would barely get in the room before Ty would be all over her. Sara didn't mind. In fact she had come to love it, and was positively trembling with excitement in anticipation. Usually Ty would get all her clothes off in record time. Sara had long given up on trying to undress him. Instead she had come to love being naked underneath him, feeling his chest and arms through his shirt, his jeans rubbing against the soft skin of her inner thighs. Once his initial need was satisfied, they could take their time and usually did, all weekend long, whenever they could steal away from everyone. Sara was used to going home very tired and very happy.
The elevator rang out its intention to stop and Sara jumped. She had been lost in her daydream and the noise startled her. Quickly she exited the elevator to an empty hallway. That was kind of surprising. Usually the bands took over a whole floor of the hotel, it was just easier that way. Everyone was always wandering around, in and out of each other's rooms. Sara wasn't disappointed that no one was there though. She still felt kind of ridiculous, and a little sleazy, when the knowing looks were exchanged. Everyone in the band was nice, very nice, as well as all the guys in Covalent too, but having a whole bunch of people who were still, for the most part, strangers, knowing that she was about to have sex, or had just had sex, was still a little unnerving.
Sara found room 503 and knocked on the door. Ty opened it immediately. Sara stepped into the room and Ty shut the door and turned around to face him. She dropped her purse to the floor, but before she could pounce on him, and she was ready to pounce on him, he spoke.
"I think we need to talk," he said.
"Talk, really," Sara thought to herself.
"Oh, not this again," he said.
"What?" Sara said, confused.
"We don't need to talk about it. It's important, if the number one guy goes down they have no one, no back up." Ty wasn't making any sense and, even weirder, he seemed to be talking in two different voices.
"Fine, I'll give you five minutes. Well, thank you. Go ahead, talk. Tell us all about it, we have the number one quarterback in the league, Barry. Yeah, and if he goes down, then what? Then what what?" Ty was practically yelling, "Who has an amazing backup quarterback, no one, not for," a pause, "twenty years, teams don't do that anymore, you go with your number one guy, you take your chances, no one is going to blow salary cap money for a guy who is going to sit on the bench all season. I'm not saying you have to blow a ton of money..."
Sara opened her eyes. The voices were coming out of her clock radio. Ty was gone. She was alone. Bloody hell.