For The Least Of These Read Online Free Page A

in the front, and I was the one he addressed. “Hello, Baby. Would you like to take a ride on my bed?”
    I avoided eye contact, as I said, “No, thank you. We aren’t interested.” I tried to hide the fact that he was making me intensely nervous. I pushed past him as he continued to ogle me, and he moved out of my way. I quickly unlocked number 10, and Alicia and I rushed inside. I slammed the door as he approached it. As I turned the deadbolt, he began banging on the door with his fist.
    “Come on,” he yelled. “I’ve got twenty dollars for one of you. Come on.”
    I turned around and eyed Alicia angrily. “So this is the wonderful Rest Inn with a Gulf view? That guy thinks we are hookers.”
    “No, I don’t think so,” Alicia answered in her best innocuous voice. Too bad I saw right through it. “He just wants us to become hookers. He doesn’t think we are right now…”
    “Thanks for clearing that up for me.”
    “Does he really think I would sell my virtue for only twenty dollars?” Alicia asked. She sounded deeply insulted.
    “Why not?” I asked. “You’ve given it away to worse than that.”
    Alicia hit me with her purse. “If you weren’t my best friend…you are such a bitch sometimes.”
    “Takes one to know one,” I said playfully.
    Alicia broke into a wide smile. “We’d better get some sleep. Do you think one of us should keep watch?”
    “Just make sure the window is locked. I’d almost like to leave, but I’m afraid to walk past him again. I’m going to the bathroom.”
    Inside the bathroom, I could hear our “neighbor”. “I know you’re in there, Sweet Thang. Daddy’s waiting for you to come on over.” The first thought in my head was the shower scene in “Psycho”. I began searching the walls, looking for a hole that he might be using to watch me. When I satisfied myself that there were no holes, I realized that he was just talking to himself – he had no idea that I was in the bathroom. In fact, he was still talking, but I was no longer able to make out what he was saying. Then from the next room, I heard Alicia say, “Oh, no.”
    “What’s the matter?” I asked. As I came out, I pulled the bathroom door shut, thinking it put distance between that weirdo and us.
    Alicia was standing beside the window. “Maybe I’m overreacting. Come here and take a look.” As I reached Alicia’s side, she pointed to the window and said, “The lock has been removed. Not broken. Removed with a screwdriver or something. And there is a cement block placed right under the window.”
    “A cement block?” I wondered what a cement block had to do with anything.
    “Yes. Don’t you see? The window is high enough outside that it would be hard to climb into. But someone put a cement block out there. Now it would be easy to climb into the window.” I began to see where Alicia was going with this. I also began to wonder if I had been set up in the beginning. I remembered the desk clerk using the phone as soon as I finished checking in. Who would he be calling at this hour? Maybe he was calling his friend to let him know that a woman was checking into the room next to his.
    “What should we do?” I asked Alicia. “What if he comes in while we are sleeping?”
    “We have to get some rest,” Alicia replied. “And what about tonight? Where are we going to find another room?”
    I grabbed my purse. “I’ll take my chances sleeping in the car. I don’t trust that rube.”
    “Huh?” Alicia looked bewildered. “How do you know his name is Rube?”
    “It’s a saying, Alicia. I don’t know his name. Never mind. Let’s get out of this dump.”
    “Are you going to get your money back?”
    “No. I think the guy at the desk might be involved.” I paused long enough to share my theory with Alicia. After that, we were both ready to leave. I slowly withdrew the deadbolt – trying to be as silent as possible. I cautiously glanced out of the room and saw that our friend was not in