“Nope. Just back to the hotel,” I said.
I wondered what Andrea was telling Jessica. I wondered if Jessica would spill to any of my brothers. I felt the car maneuvering me through the streets of Las Vegas and I allowed my emotions and my mind to run wild. Run free. Was it possible Andrea could be happy about this arrangement? She had a big smile on her face for someone admitting to her friend that she had gotten married and couldn’t remember it. And my encounter with the bank teller. That wasn't something I could shake. That was the first woman I had ever turned down that had blatantly come onto me, and I had no reason to turn her down. I wasn’t really married. Only on paper. I didn’t know Andrea. We weren’t committed to one another. We didn’t feel anything for one another.
Yet, it felt wrong to betray her. A woman who was only my wife on paper.
But more than that, part of me wanted the bank teller to be her. Part of me wanted Andrea to want me as much as that woman had.
What the hell was going on with me?
I needed sleep. A lot of it. I needed sleep, water, and food. My mind was obviously clouded and distracted from all of the things going on. And rightfully so. My emotions were simply mirroring the upheaval I felt on the inside, which was fine. Shit happened. I was allowed to have weird feelings about all this shit.
But when the car pulled up to the hotel and I got out, my pursuit wasn’t in search of my room. My pursuit became her.
Andrea.
And when I saw her standing at the elevator, I strode for her and slipped my hand onto the small of her back.
“We need to talk,” I said.
Then, I ushered us both into an empty elevator.
FIFTEEN
Andrea
I kept up as best as I could while Jessica tugged me out of the gambling room. This wasn't good. None of this was good at all. She pulled me over to a corridor by the front doors of the hotel before she released my arm, then she looked me straight in the eye.
“Why did you look so uncomfortable?” she asked.
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me. That woman called you his wife, and instead of laughing and correcting her, you looked like you swallowed dynamite.”
“Dynamite? That’s the analogy we’re going for here?”
“Deflection. Andrea, you always deflect when you’re uncomfortable.”
“Because you just dragged me out of a room full of people stumbling all over myself. You couldn't have been more obvious with what you were doing.”
“Tell me the woman messed up.”
I eyed Jessica carefully as my mind began to swirl.
“The woman messed up,” I said.
“Now, did the woman mess up because you didn’t want her saying anything? Or because what she said was true?”
“Jessica, come on. People are staring.”
“Andrea. Did you marry Everett last night?”
“I told you there were two things I wasn’t doing if I came to Vegas, remember?”
“Then why is Everett staring at us like his head’s about to pop off?”
I snuck a glance around the corner and saw Everett whip his head back around to the table. I knew he was worried. Panicking at least as much as I was. My mind ran through all sorts of scenarios as to how to get myself out of this situation. I didn’t need to be telling Jessica this. It was something we needed to keep under wraps. But as my back settled against the wall and I closed my eyes, I felt it on the tip of my tongue. I was scared. I didn’t remember my night.
And I needed my best friend.