Eliza stared out the hotel room window, scanning the parking lot for anyone suspicious. So far, she only saw a couple of teenagers hanging out by some vending machines and a mother with her children scampering into a room. All seemed calm in the evening light. She let the curtain hang in its natural state as she turned around.

The room was small, fitting a queen-sized bed, a dresser with a television on top, a single bedside table, and a small couch. They could have easily afforded something a little bigger but laying low was a better idea. Donovan called ahead for them, so it'd look like they were staying at the hotel already to anyone watching them. He and Lauren were working together to inconspicuously move a few Ares' things to her apartment. Nothing too big to make anyone suspicious though.

The bathroom door opened, and Ares walked out. He immediately grabbed the television remote and sat on the edge of the bed. The room filled with chattering from the channels he surfed through. Eliza went back to checking the outdoors.

"You know you can relax."

"I'm not taking any chances."

"Lizzy." She looked at him. "The Scorpions wouldn't be a powerhouse if they chased down their targets immediately. They're going to plan the best way to take us down."

"I'm watching for trackers, not the goons they're going to send to kill us."

"They'll come to kill me. You’ll be a prize."

Eliza's eyebrows stitched together at his words. She knew he was right. The way that Teel guy stared her down was only a taste of her fate if they found them. God, why did she have to defend Ares and piss off the wrong group of people? She wouldn't be hiding out in a hotel. Who was Ares to them anyway? But really, she needed to get better at controlling her anger.

"I won't go with them without a fight," she said.

Ares sighed. "A fight is exactly what they'll want."

Eliza left her spot by the window and sat on the couch. She started scrolling through the web on her watch. "I'm ordering dinner. Is there anything you want? I figured a pizza would be fine."

"Lizzy."

"We'll have it delivered to the front desk and I'll go pick it up from there."

"Lizzy."

"Does pepperoni sound good?"

"Eliza, listen to me."

Ares was suddenly hovering over her, his hands on her shoulders. He stared deep into her eyes. Any and all humor he generally held in his features was absent. She looked at him, her eyes steady.

"No matter how strong you think you are, you can't fight them and win," he said. "They will hurt you, abuse you... God knows what else they'll do to you. They will break you. You'll be another one of their pawns or just an object to curb their appetite. The two of us can't beat them."

"I'm not spending the rest of my life hiding from them, Ares," she said.

“You don’t have to. Just don’t start a fight with them.”

They stared at each other, neither standing down.

Finally, Ares gave up, taking his hands off her and standing straight. He went to the window, peeked out for a few minutes, and then went back to the bed. He sat down. The channel flipping continued.

Eliza put the order in for the pizza and laid back on the couch. Her feet hung over the arm, but she didn't mind. She laid her arm across her eyes and worked on a game plan to get back to her apartment safely the following day. Her plan went unfinished as sleep took her.

The sound of the hotel room door shutting caused Eliza to jump up from her spot with her gun out. Ares stood at the door with one hand raised and the other holding the pizza she ordered. She put the gun down.

"How long was I out?"

Ares smiled, lowering his hand, "About thirty minutes. Pizza's here."

Dinner was quiet. They both sat on the couch, the pizza between them, and ate right out of the box. The television had some strange science fiction movie playing, but they couldn't see the screen from the couch, not that it mattered. Eliza left the last piece for Ares before she got up and went to take a shower, bringing the sleep clothes she bought with her.

The hot water felt relieving on her tense shoulders. Flashes of different scenarios with the Scorpions came across her mind when she closed her eyes. None ended with her winning. Some she was dying. Others she became a plaything for them. Ares was never in any of them. A particularly vivid outcome of her tailing around with Teel and being his lover had her stomach churning uncomfortably. The soulless stare she saw on herself had her suffocating. She had to turn the shower off and leave those terrible ideas behind the shower curtain.

All the lights were off when she came back out. She cracked the bathroom door and padded to the bed. Ares was on the couch, more of his body hanging off than hers did during her nap. He was asleep, but he didn't look very comfortable. Eliza did offer to take the couch, but he wouldn't budge. Thankfully, it was only one night they'd have to stay.

Eliza crawled into bed. She curled up on one side of the bed, welcoming the coolness trapped within the covers. She welcomed the sleep that came once she closed her eyes. Ares' snores didn't even bother her.

In the middle of the night, Eliza was forced awake when the sound of Ares falling on the floor shook the room. She sat up straight and once again pulled her gun out from the bedside table. She sighed when Ares sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. He looked completely confused.

"Just sleep on the other side of the bed, Ares. You're too big for the couch." She placed her gun down and laid back in her warm spot.

"Aren't you worried I'll get too close to you in the night?" Ares sounded more asleep than flirtatious.

Eliza groaned once.

It was quiet for a few minutes, allowing her to drift back into her dream state. She was nearly gone when weight on the other side of the bed stirred her. She opened one eye to see Ares tucking himself under the sheets and stilling, facing the wall. She didn't care that the last thing she saw before falling asleep was the muscles on his bare back. Her mind erased it from her conscious self. She even forgot she told him to sleep in the bed because when morning came, she gave him a piece of her mind and a good punch to the gut.