Voodoo Queens of New Orleans - Vol. I | ✓

Chapter 50: Lave Tet

Upon walking further into the room, Mikael and I cringed when we realized there was only one bed.

"Extra sheets in the closet," Sajida said. "But it be so damn hot I doubt y'all gone need 'em."

"But is there an extra bed?" Mikael asked. "Like a blow-up mattress or something?"

Sajida chuckled. "No, there ain't. Y'all just gone have to share." Sajida looked at me. "I doubt Miss Princess here know much about that there word, since her Mama pampered her most her life—"

"I don't mind sharing," I blurted out surely. "I'm fine with sleeping on the floor, too."

Mikael shook his head. "No, I'll sleep on the floor."

"I can't let you do that. I'm the whole reason we're here."

"Lisa, it's fine. I'll sleep on the floor—"

"I don't give a damn about who sleeps where," Sajida said to us. "Just make sure you both up at dawn. We gone have a long day tomorrow."

Mikael and I nodded. We watched Sajida walk out of the room and close the door behind her. I locked it after I could no longer hear her footsteps down the hall.

I took off my backpack and set it on the floor by the bedside table. Mikael set the crossbow down next to my backpack, then walked over to the window and rested his hand on the curtain but thought against looking outside; he wasn't sure of what he would find staring back at us.

I took off my shoes and my socks, both still damp from the bayou. Then, I took off my plaid long sleeve, only wearing my white tank top. Mikael's eyes flickered towards me; his jaw ticked when he saw my long sleeve on the floor.

"I'll set the alarm on my phone," I said to him.

"Set it for 6 o'clock."

"Alright."

As I set the alarm, I could hear Mikael opening the closet doors. I turned around to find him pulling out extra sheets and a blanket.

"What are you doing?" I managed a laugh. "It's nearly scorching in here already."

"I'm making a bed on the floor," he said to me.

I rolled my eyes, "Mikael—"

"Lisa, please. It's fine. There isn't enough room on the bed for both of us."

"Yes, there is." I walked over and snatched the sheets from him. "We're sharing the bed. No one's sleeping on the floor."

Mikael tried to protest but I ignored him as I stuffed everything back into the closet from which it came. I began turning down the lanterns; the room was eerily dim. Mikael sat on the foot of the bed, taking his shoes off slowly. I sat on the bed, too nervous to lay down. So many things were racing through my mind that I couldn't even accurately comprehend the art of sleep.

Mikael got up and turned all of the lanterns off. The room was completely dark. He then got into bed and laid on his back. I did the same. We both laid stiff next to each other, staring up at the ceiling. It was awkward, our situation; we couldn't even look at each other. The bed wasn't the largest; we didn't have enough room for ourselves unless we relaxed our muscles, but we both decided against it.

"Do you have enough room?" he asked me. His shoulders were quite broad; they were touching mine, even though he kept his body tight.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I bit my lip; I needed to talk to him about something. Anything. "Was that you who lit the cigarette on fire?"

"What?" he said, but after a moment, he understood my question. "Why would you think that was me?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I'm still finding it hard to believe that I did that."