His job took him around the world, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. The downside was the amount of time he had to stay in hotels. Russ was currently staying in a hotel not far from the airport, where he was working. His room was at the end of the corridor. As a frequent guest, he had been upgraded. The only issue was that he was also a smoker. So he had to go outside the hotel whenever he wanted a cigarette.
He worked at strange hours, so he often wandered the corridors in the middle of the night.
As he passed each room, he could hear what was going on behind the closed doors. He did not think of himself as a voyeur, but now and again, he listened longer than he should. The noises changed almost hourly. In the early evening, people were on the phone, listening to the television, getting ready for dinner.
Later in the evening, the sounds were still of the odd person having a phone meeting or calling home or people watching the television. Then after the bar had closed, Russ would hear the sound of porn and snoring, but sometimes people having sex.
The hotel was laid out with two main corridors per floor but at an angle to each other. There were three flights of stairs, one at each end and further in the center. There were three floors of guest rooms.
Russ had gone down the stairs by his rooms to the floor below. It was just before midnight. He walked down the corridor, turned the corner, and continued along the second corridor. Nearly all the rooms were quiet except one. He listened at the door. The distinctive sounds of two people fucking could be heard. It sounded like he was excelling as the woman moaned loudly.
Russ walked to the end of the corridor and went downstairs for a cigarette.
On his return trip to the room, he walked along the first-floor corridor, but there was no noise except televisions and snoring before going up the stairs to his room.
It was about two o’clock in the morning. Russ had tried to sleep but just tossed and turned in bed. He got out of bed, put on sleepwear pants, a sweatshirt, and the hotel slippers, and wandered down the corridor of his floor. Just before the angle, he heard the sound of sex in one of the rooms.
Russ continued around the corner and then stood still. Further down the corridor was a woman. In the dimmed lighting, Russ saw that she was dressed in a nightshirt covering her buttocks, with a small cardigan around her shoulders and a pair of flat shoes. As Russ watched, she went from one side of the corridor to the other and listened to each door.