** a/n: Thanks so much for the response to my one-shot, "Trying to Survive". Every single comment I received wanted a book. So here it is!! Of course, the first chapter is the one-shot chapter. 

PLEASE don't forget to add "SKYLINE MOTEL" to your library!!!

A huge shoutout to ObsessedwithTidam for the book cover!!!

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Adam Rupp sat in his small office of the grocery store that he owned, gazing out the window. Business was good considering that their competition, Wal-mart, was just across town.

But people seemed to like his store a lot. The friendly atmosphere, actual checkers, baggers that carried their groceries to the car. They even delivered groceries to the elderly and the disabled.

It was a gravy job. He set his own hours. All he had to do was check in every now and then. The manager, Rob Lundquist, handled everything.

Adam's daydreaming was interrupted by Rob walking into his office.

"Adam, that guy is digging through the dumpster again." Rob says as he sits down in front of the desk.

"You know that dumpster diving ain't illegal here, right?" Adam chuckles as he goes back to checking the next order on his computer.

"But wouldn't he be better off dumpster diving at the Radio Shack next door? From what I hear they throw away some pretty cool stuff." Rob replies as he takes off his glasses and begins cleaning them.

"Well, I'm done here." The blonde says as he logs off the computer. "Maybe I'll suggest it to him if he's still out there when I leave."

"Just be careful. He could be dangerous." Rob says as he starts to leave to go back to work.

"Whatever." Adam laughs.

"I'm serious, man." Rob says. "You know Southside is not that far from here. That's a bad neighborhood. He could be from there."

"I'll scream if I need help." Adam replies jokingly as he stands to leave. "Don't work too hard."

"Never." Rob laughs as he heads back into the store.

Adam walks out the backdoor and there was indeed a man leaning over into their dumpster.

"You know, you could probably find better stuff in Radio Shack's dumpster." Adam says as he walks to his car parked close to the dumpster.

The man dropped whatever he had in his hands and jumps back.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you." Adam smiles. 'D*mn, he's cute.' Adam thinks to himself as he observes the dumpster diver. Long brown hair that hung to his shoulders, a thin beard that fit his handsome face perfectly, and brown eyes, the color of Hershey's Kisses.

"Oh. Okay." The man says quietly with a nod. He sighs before walking away.

Out of curiosity, Adam walks around the dumpster after the cute guy with the sexy low voice left.

"Oh. My. God." Adam whispers to himself as he sees a box sitting beside the receptacle with unopened outdated chips, can goods and other outdated items that had been thrown away. "F*ck. He's not a dumpster diver. The man is homeless. You're such an idiot, Rupp." The blonde shakes his head as he unlocks his car. "You just sent him to a useless dumpster. He can't eat d*mn electronics."

He relocks his car and heads back inside to find Rob. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw someone peeking around the corner of the building. Probably the homeless guy wanting to get his box of treasures.

Adam goes back to his office and peeks out of the blinds as he gives Rob a quick call.

"Yeah?" Rob answers.

"Hey, you have time to come to my office for just a second?" Adam asks as he continues to watch the dumpster area.

"On my way." Rob replies.

As Rob walks into the office, he sees Adam peeking out as if he was not trying to be seen.

"Something wrong?" Rob asks. "I thought you had left?"

"You know that dumpster diver?" Adam asks.

"Uh, not personally." Rob chuckles, causing Adam to roll his eyes. "What about him?"

"He's not a diver. I believe he's homeless looking for food." Adam says as he glances around at the bearded manager before peeking back outside. "There was a box beside the dumpster that had a few things in it that he had gotten out. He left when I told him that he could find better stuff at the other stores, leaving the box behind. But I think he was watching me."

"That's sad." Rob says as he too looks through the blinds.

"There he is." Adam says quietly. "Make sure he doesn't see you."

The long-haired brunette sneaks back toward the dumpster, carefully watching the backdoor of the building. He quickly reaches into the garbage receptacle and grabs the outdated can of unopened Pringles that he had dropped. Dropping it into the box, he glances once again around at the door before picking up the box and hurrying away.

"He's headed toward Southside." Rob says as they continue to watch from the window. "You know, I bet he's one of the homeless that have taken shelter at that old abandoned hotel there."

"You know you have an image in your head of what you think the homeless look like. I know it sounds cruel but you imagine them being dirty and really scuzzy looking." Adam says. "Besides his clothes looking a little dirty, he, himself, looked pretty clean."

"Well, I've heard that there is a public pool close by the old motel that has shower rooms. The manager actually allows the homeless to come and takes showers there as long as they respect his property and the pool users." Rob replies.

"Wow, that's awesome that he would do that." Adam says, turning away from the window after the stranger was gone from view.

Rob had known Adam for a very long time. So he knew the look in his friend's eyes. He was very interested in the long-haired stranger.

~~

The brunette makes the long walk back to the hotel. Seeing the old beat-up grocery cart outside of the room, he knew that his roommates had made it back from their search.

He glances around before giving a secret code knock.

"Food!" A man with long reddish hair and a beard smiles as he takes the box from the brunette, allowing him to rest his tired arms.

"We were about to get worried about you." A bearded man wearing a snapback says as he gets up from the bed he was lying on.

"I would have been home sooner but some blonde caught me going through the dumpster. I think he might have been the manager of the place." The brunette says as he sits down on the other bed to rest his aching feet. "Y'all have any luck?"

"I found a few shirts in the dumpster behind Kohl's. Nice shirts too, still had the price tags on them. They must have had some kind of flaw in them or something. I think we all could wear them." The redhead said as he munches on some Pringles.

"I found a nice clothes hamper that had junk in it. Also found twenty bucks inside an unopened birthday card." The other roommate chuckles as he opens a can of Vienna sausages and feeds one to the redhead. "We can wash clothes now. Oh, and I also found some more candles in the dumpster behind the Dollar Tree."

"Good. These are just about gone." The brunette replies, opening a box of strawberry Pop-Tarts.

"I might go back there tomorrow. Looked like there could be some good stuff in there that we could use." The hatted man adds.

This was how these guys survived. Going out every day, searching the dumpsters for food, clothes, or anything else they could use.

The old motel had no electricity or water. They used candles for lighting and would fill water bottles for drinking from the water cooler at the public pool where they also took showers. A few years ago, one of the guys found an unopened doorknob kit in a dumpster behind a hardware store. They were getting tired of some of the other homeless people coming in and stealing whatever they worked so hard to find. So they changed the locks and the problem was solved.

"You think that the manager is going to be a problem?" Red asks. "I mean, we need that dumpster."

"No, I don't think so." The brunette says after taking a drink of the lukewarm water in the water bottle on the nightstand. He lays back on his bed and thinks about the nice-looking blonde and his friendly but sexy smile. "He was.... very nice." He adds with a slight smile as he stared up at the fly crawling across the dirty ceiling.

The other two homeless men look at one another. They've known the brunette for several years. They definitely know that smile. The brown-eyed man must have seen something he liked in the manager of the grocery store.

********

Until next time .... ✌️