Chapter 16: The Naughtier Chronicles

The Naughtier Chronicles

Part 16

by

R.L. Mathewson

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“I’m sorry, what?” Haley said, frowning in confusion as she tried to make sense out of what the hotel manager was saying.

“We’ve had several noise complaints,” the manager repeated, looking decidedly uncomfortable, but then again, she really couldn’t blame him, not with Jason having what could only be described as a mental breakdown, only a few feet away.

“I think you have the wrong room,” Haley mumbled as she watched Jason shove his fingers through his hair as he mumbled, “He’s going to pay for this,” with a firm as he paced back and forth and-

“Are you okay?” came the softly whispered question that had Haley reluctantly looking away from her husband that could probably use some alone time with the voices in his head to the manager that was sending wistful looks at the elevator behind him.

“Probably,” Haley murmured absently as she found herself wondering about something. “What exactly did they say that we were doing?”

“Blasting music and banging on walls,” he said as Haley once again found herself glancing back in time to find Jason pressing his ear against the wall.

Okay, then…

“Anything else?” Haley asked as she glanced back at the manager that was now slowly backing away.

Awkwardly clearing his throat, he said, “They would really like it if you stopped quaking.”

“Quacking…” Haley repeated back slowly, not sure that she’d heard him correctly.

After a slight hesitation, he nodded. “Quacking.”

“Like a duck?”  Haley asked, unable to help but frown as she once again found herself glancing back at her husband only to rethink that decision when she spotted Jason ducking behind the curtains again.

“I believe so,” the manager murmured uncomfortably.

“I see,” Haley murmured as she pushed her glasses back up her nose and-

“He’s out there,” Jason said, shoving the curtain aside and quicky made his way to the door, giving her no choice but to jump out of the way so that he could stick his head in the hallway and-

“J-Just keep it down, please,” the manager said, trying for a friendly smile only to fail at that, clear his throat, murmur something that she couldn’t quite understand before he abruptly turned around and quickly made his way to the elevator, glancing over his shoulder every couple of seconds to make sure that Jason wasn’t following him as Haley found herself standing there, slowly nodding as she watched him go.

Something definitely wasn’t right here, Haley thought as she was forced to grab hold of the back of Jason’s shirt and pulled him back when his attention locked on an elderly couple making their way to the elevator. Knowing that there was more to this than her husband having a mid-life crisis, at least, she hoped there was, Haley shoved Jason back into the room, closed the door, and-

Sighed when Jason immediately checked to make sure that the elderly couple had moved on. Really hoping that this wasn’t what she thought it was, she pulled her glasses off, pinched the bridge of her nose, and said, “Start talking.”

“We need to get out of here before it’s too late,” Jason said, nodding to himself as he grabbed her hand and moved to drag her out of the door only to stop and end up glaring at the closed hotel door. “Unless…”

“Unless, what?” Haley asked, sighing heavily as she placed her glasses back on her face and waited for him to tell her something that would explain how she’d found herself in the middle of another disturbing Bradford…incident.

“Unless that’s what he wants us to do,” Jason said with a firm nod that suddenly stopped as his attention shifted back to the window and-

“Probably,” Haley said, nodding in agreement even as she gestured for him to get on with it.

Licking his lips nervously, Jason said, “You’ve gotta understand, I didn’t think that he would go through with it.”

“Of course, not,” Haley murmured in agreement, gesturing for him to keep going.

“Look,” Jason said with a helpless gesture, “I was just bored. I didn’t realize what would happen.”

“You mentioned something earlier about revenge?” Haley said, starting to have a bad feeling where this was going.

“He promised that he would make me pay,” Jason said with a firm nod.

“Your father?” Haley asked, sighing heavily when Jason bit out, “Yes!”

“What exactly did you do?” she asked, resigning herself to the long night ahead as she grabbed her cellphone and scrolled until she found her father-in-law’s number.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Jason bit out as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“I see…” Haley murmured absently as she sent a text message to Jared.

What did Jason do to piss you off?

“He’s overreacting,” Jason said as Haley read Jared’s response and-

“You cockblocked your father?”

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