He took the jacket from my lap and wrapped his arm around my waist to guide me toward the door behind the bar. When we went upstairs, he checked the number on the key and walked to one of the doors near the stairs. He opened it and walked in, closing the door behind us. I had reached my limit.
I quickly headed for the door I assumed was the bathroom and shut it behind me, dropping to my knees in front of the toilet. As I threw up everything in my stomach, he came in and knelt beside me, rubbing my back. I tried to push him away, but he did not budge at all. Once I finally felt a little better, he helped me to my feet.
I rinsed my mouth and washed my hands at the sink, then pushed a few strands of hair back into my bun and went back into the room. When I sat on the bed, he sat down next to me and studied my face carefully.
"Do you feel better now?"
I nodded silently, and he spoke with a hint of reluctance.
"I do not want to leave you alone, but we do not have much time."
I smiled faintly and took the hand that was cupping my face, gently lowering it.
"It is fine, hotshot. I am okay."
He nodded and stood up.
"You get some rest. I will try to come back as quickly as I can."
I lay down on the bed and he pulled the blanket at the foot of the bed over me before heading toward the door. He was just about to leave when I called out to him.
"Kerem."
He turned around and I spoke in a low voice.
"Be careful."
"Do not worry. I will be back before you wake up."
Once I was alone, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep so I could feel better, but the images in my head would not let me drift off. My thoughts were eating me alive, so I glanced at the pendulum clock on the wall. He had been gone for almost half an hour.
As my worry turned into anger, I started muttering about the woman who was supposed to be giving Kerem information. I could not understand what she was being so stubborn about. She should have realized long ago that Kerem was not even a tenth as dangerous as her own boyfriend, whom she had seen and talked to more than once.
I exhaled in frustration and pushed myself upright in bed. I had no idea how many times I had already gotten up and lain back down, but judging by the empty water bottle I kept reaching for each time, it had to be a lot.
In the end, I could not take it anymore and threw the blanket off me as I stood up. If I could not manage to wait calmly here, I could at least listen at their door and make sure nothing had gone wrong.
Before leaving the room, I peeked out from the doorway to check the hallway. When I saw no one, I slipped out and quietly closed the door behind me. I crossed to the other end of the long corridor and pressed my ear against the door where I had found them the last time we came.
Even after what felt like a long wait, I did not hear anything, so I pulled back with disappointment. They must have been speaking in hushed voices this time. Just then, a noise from downstairs caught my attention. I could hear the people in the bar talking clearly from where I was, which meant the door at the top of the stairs had to be open.
The loud, crude laughter of men echoed up the corridor, and I pursed my lips in distaste. I was just about to go back to listening at the woman's door when a booming voice rang out in the hallway and made me freeze.
"My woman is upstairs, right? That punk from last time did not show up tonight either, did he? Good, good. Alright, take care of yourself."
As soon as I shook off the initial shock, I burst into the room in front of me in a panic. The two people standing in the middle of the room turned toward me at the same time.
"You again, sunshine..."
I cut him off and pointed at the door with fear in my voice.
"Her boyfriend is here. We need to get out of here right now."
He snatched the paper the woman was handing him, shoved it into his pocket, then came over to me and grabbed my hand. When we left the room together, we saw the man just about to reach the top of the stairs. I looked across the hallway in alarm.
Uncle Mustafa's room was on the other side of the stairs, right in the middle. There was no way we would make it into the room without being seen.
I could not think of any other escape route, and every passing second was working against us. Even though every alarm bell in my head was going off, my eyes stayed glued to the stairs as I swallowed hard.
This time there was nothing standing between me and ending up as a third page headline in the morning papers. Remembering how Kerem had described the man as some kind of mafia type made my heart beat even faster.
Right then, Kerem grabbed me and pulled, and the next thing I knew, I found myself at the door of the room across from us. While my back was pressed against the door and I stared at him in confusion, he stepped in front of me and leaned in close.
"Do not make a sound."
I nodded quickly to show I understood, and without losing a second, he lowered his face and pressed it into the space between my neck and shoulder. Then he put one hand on my back and the other on my leg over my skirt. The fear I had been feeling turned into a messy knot of confusion and excitement at this unexpected closeness, and I heard his irritated whisper.
"Do not stand there like a log. Put your arms around my neck."
I did as he said, and when his lips brushed my neck as he spoke again, it tickled, making a giggle slip out of my mouth. I felt his chuckle against my skin.
"So you like that, huh?"
Another giggle escaped before I could stop it, and I hissed at him in annoyance.
"Cut it out, hotshot. It is making my skin crawl."
His low laughter only made things worse for me, and when I saw a large shadow fall on the opposite wall, I held my breath. I could hear the footsteps getting closer, but Kerem was blocking most of my view, so all I could see was the man's big bald head.
He stopped in front of his door and paused for a moment, then turned toward us. My whole body tensed in fear and I tightened my arms around Kerem's neck. The hand on my back stroked my waist reassuringly and I forced myself to stay calm, closing my eyes.
Seeing a couple fooling around in the middle of a hallway like this was not something anyone would find particularly strange in a place like this, but even the slightest suspicion would be enough to ruin us.
A moment later, I heard a door open and let out a quiet breath of relief. It seemed our act had worked.
When Kerem pulled back and looked at me with that crooked grin of his, I glared at him in irritation.
"So you knew exactly when the guy would show up and that there was nothing to worry about, huh?"
"You are the one who said there is no such thing as a flawless plan."
That was not the kind of answer someone like him would normally give. Something was off, not just in his words but in his entire demeanor. He had been unusually calm ever since I burst into the room. That thought brought back another memory and I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.
"Wait a second. That phone call in the car... You knew he was coming tonight, did you not?"
"We can talk about this later. First we need to get out of here."
Which meant he was basically admitting it.
I barely restrained the urge to punch him in the face and stomped toward the stairs, breathing angrily through my nose. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right. If we stayed here any longer, we would be inviting trouble.
We were almost at the stairs when one of the doors behind us opened. We both turned around instinctively and when I saw who it was, my eyes widened in horror and I felt the blood drain from my face.
"You have got to be kidding me."