Bzzt

Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt

Dan reached out to the bedside table, his sleep-deprived brain fumbling to find his phone.

Bzzt Bzzt Bzzt.

He finally found it. Without opening his eyes he thumbed the button to answer the call and whispered, “Hello?”

“Hey! Danny boy. What’s up? It’s Byron. Hey, I have a change of plans for tomorrow.” It seemed like Byron was screaming over the phone. Dan could hear lots of background noise and realized he must still be at the nearby bar.

“I now have another business meeting I need to attend, a round of golf, you know how it is. Do you think we could get those amendments signed off tonight? I want to wrap this up and get out onto the course early tomorrow. You can make that work, right?” Even though it was technically a question, it felt more like a command.

Shit.

Dan sat up blinking his eyes.

“Uh, yeah. Sure. Give me a couple of minutes. Where are you?” Dan tried to sound awake and alert, ever attentive to a client’s needs.

“Same place you left me. Hurry up, it’s gonna be the last call soon.” Byron abruptly hung up.

Talk about a Hollywood hang-up.

Dan reached over and grabbed Sarah’s shoulder, trying to shake her awake.

“Sarah,” he whispered. “Sarah.”

She mumbled something in her sleep but didn’t stir. She was out cold.

Dan stared out the outline of Jesse’s body in the other bed. He was still snoring, likely also out cold from the **** he had ingested with dinner.

I’ll just quickly get this signed and hurry back. No need to wake her, I guess.

He quietly moved across the room and got dressed in the clothing he had worn earlier that night. He crept to the door and slowly opened it. The ever-present hallway light streamed into the room. Dan closed the door, took the elevator back down to the lobby, and walked as directly as he could to find someone to open the business office so he could print out the contract.