Chime-chime-chime…
Chime-chime-chime…The tintinnabulation clangs closer and louder, a death toll of muffled bells solemn and heavy as metal. A sweet herbal mélange filters through the heaviness, a buoyant, fragrant garden, waking me from sleep. For a moment, I’m lost to my whereabouts until Stacy’s soft snores breeze from her pillow beside me on the king-sized bed. I wipe blurriness from my eyes and stare around the shadowy hotel suite at vague images swimming into view.
Noise rustles on the stairs; footsteps sound from the duplex’s lower floor. I lift my heavy head and wince when it throbs. Believing the guys are awake, I sit upright with my palm pressed to my forehead and stare at the wrought-iron stairway adjoining the upper room to the lounge. When feet patter again, I slip from the
