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The phone was clenched firmly in his hand, although Alex had the address memorised. One thought repeated over and over: It wasn’t Danny who sent the text.
Alex’s steps were hurried as he pushed through the crowds, elbowing people out of the way with a force uncharacteristic of him. He could feel where his feet touched the ground and hear the hundreds of voices that mixed with traffic around him, the occasional Excuse me! when he bumped into someone or pushed someone out of the way, but everything faded to background noise. Alex couldn’t turn off his perception (his training wouldn’t let him) but as he ran nothing registered with him.
He knew they weren’t sloppy enough to miss that Danny didn’t have a phone of his own. It was intentional, that little mistake. They wanted him to know it wasn’t Danny texting Alex. Their message was clear: they knew about Danny Holt, and who Danny was to him.
Alex pushed his way through the crowd on the street and made his way in to the hotel, stumbling over to the counter and the woman standing behind it. He stood staring and her for a moment as he took in the sudden quiet of the hotel lobby. She looked at him strangely, her mouth open slightly; she could tell something was wrong, whether from Alex’s breathing or the way he looked at her, waiting for her to speak.
“Hello, welcome to Premier Inn,” she finally said. “How may I help you today, sir?”
“I’m here to meet someone,” Alex said. “It’s room 205.”
“Okay sir, just a moment,” the woman said. She looked at her computer screen, every so often glancing back at Alex with a worried expression. “Is… he?” she glanced up hesitantly, and when Alex didn’t correct her, she carried on. “Is he expecting you?”
“He’s expecting me,” Alex confirmed. “A notice should have been left that he’s expecting company.”
The woman looked at her computer, trying to find what Alex pointed out to her before saying, “Ah. Yes. It’s right here.” She pulled out a key-card and handed it across the desk to Alex.
Alex made his way down the hall and to the elevator. He almost pressed the button before deciding to use the stairs, taking them two at a time until he was on the top floor. It wasn’t far to the room he’d been given in the text, just a few steps down to the left. The lights were on when he pushed open the door; for the most part, the room looked undisturbed. Danny’s jacket was crumped on the floor and on the bed, curled into the foetal position, was Danny.
Alex felt his body visibly relax. He crossed the room in a few steps and climbed onto the bed, grabbing Danny by the shoulder and rolling him onto his back. His hands were shockingly steady as he pushed Danny’s shirt up his chest and lay his head over his heart, listening for anything – a heartbeat, his breath. Both were faint, and slow, but after a long moment of horrified listening Alex could hear the familiar thump of his heart and feel Danny’s skin rising and falling, brushing against his cheek.
Alex sat up, grabbing Danny’s shoulders to pull him closer. Danny was a dead weight, his head rolling back and his chin angling upwards, flashing the length of his neck at Alex. It was all Alex could do to hold him, not daring to let go or loosen his grip even though he knew there was still work to be done. Danny had never felt so small in his arms – not when Alex held him at night; or when Danny would wake up startled and confused; or when he caught Danny watching him, all wonder and amazement that only made Alex want to protect him.
He was doing a fantastic job with that.
Gently, Alex lay Danny down on his back, leaning away and watching him for a moment to be sure he’d be safe, and that he wouldn’t choke on his own sick and suffocate if Alex left him for a few moments. Besides a few twitches to the side of his face Danny didn’t stir, giving Alex some time to look through the rest of the room. He picked Danny’s jacket off the floor and did a cursory look through the pockets, checking for anything they could have planted on him. There was nothing, and so he draped the jacket over the chair and set about to look through the drawers. All Alex found were a few receipts in Danny’s name – one from the hotel, one from Tesco for a few bottles of wine, one for a train ticket, and another for some new clothes. Alex quickly pocketed them, frustrated that everything had been charged to Danny, but of course it had. He’d have to find a way to pay Danny back, discretely.
Behind him, Alex heard a low groan. He turned around just in time to see Danny propping himself up on his arm.
He didn’t stay up for more than a few seconds before dropping back onto the bed, his head hitting the pillow with a loud whump.
Alex ran back to him, kneeling beside him on the bed and carefully rolling him over so he could see his face. At first Alex thought Danny was back out again, having briefly woken only long enough to realise he wasn’t ready to be awake yet, but then Danny’s face twitched, and he brought his hands up to cover his face as he tried to roll onto his side.
Alex held him, and after a few more weak attempts to turn away from him Danny stilled, and then opened his eyes.
“Alex?” he asked, squinting and blinking a few times. He covered his eyes with his palm again. When he moved it away he blinked, looking no less confused. “What’re you – where are we?”
He tried to sit up again but Alex pushed him back down. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
Danny closed his eyes. “I don’t – I don’t remember. I was waiting for you… in that bar, where you said to meet.”
A flash of anger shot through Alex’s chest, but he ignored this. “When was this?”
“Earlier tonight,” Danny said. His voice was slurring; he tried to talk louder to overcompensate for that. “I don’t know. What time is it?”
“It’s eleven.”
“That’s… early,” Danny murmured. He squinted up at Alex. “Are you sure?”
“You weren’t feeling well. I brought you back here.”
The lie sat heavy in his mouth. He wanted for there to be another way to say this to Danny, to tell him that this was a threat and that people were using Danny to send a message to him, a warning, and that Danny was in danger. Now, there was nothing Alex could do short of stepping away from either Danny or his work that would be guaranteed to keep Danny safe, but telling him of the danger he was in would only make the situation worse.
He squeezed Danny’s shoulder, urging him to stay down.
Danny rolled over towards Alex, though, reaching an arm out. “You do so much for me.”
Gently Alex reached down, running his fingers through Danny’s hair; it was almost instantly that Danny relaxed, settling back against the bed.