“Ladies.” He said taking down my information.
“Well, hello, hello….” The hair on the back of my neck raised in goose bumps taller than the Paris needle and the Luxor pyramid.
“What the hell?” I turned to face my brother who was supposed to be at home running his vet practice and shagging his own girlfriend while we tore up the town. Taylor was already gone having jumped out of the car and was already locking lips with her fiancé while Whittaker pulled Lia into his arms for a little PDA groping. Chase observed the couples looking bored. Damien stood off to the side grinning like he knew this would have bothered me, and he was right.
“Little sis.” Chase tried to rub my hair with his knuckles in a noogie and I pushed him back.
“I guess this is why Mom wasn’t at all bothered to send us to Vegas knowing your responsible ass was going to be here.” I flicked my brother in the chest who smirked back, annoying man that he was.
“Or… she’s just making sure you don’t end up married to some crazy asshole you met twelve hours earlier.” He said winking in the direction of Damien. Of course Chase would think that. Those two were friends on the football field since high school but barely on speaking terms off of it. Yet another glaring factor that stood in the way of Damien being anything more than secret sex buddies.
I rolled my eyes hard enough I thought I strained the left one. The desire to poke him in the eye was strong but Chase was well aware that mom and I had an understanding. Unfortunately, having to see the arrest record with the alleged disorderly person charges from Taylor’s house party damaged my credibility. Thank god that was all dropped but it was good to know my own mother had thrown me under the bus and didn’t trust me on my own outside of town. This was exactly why I moved out as soon as I finished college and got my first accounting job at that shitty firm I was still at to this day.
“Chase, I hate you.” Teasing my brother was better than stabbing him.
“You know she loves you.” He said trying to convince me of the obvious I didn’t want to hear.
Of course I knew mom loved me, but she had a funny hard ass way of showing it and whose parent practically expects them to make decisions like random Vegas weddings? She did raise me, didn’t she? It would seem one bad decision tainted me in her eyes forever. If she had been more involved growing up she might actually know me a person, an adult instead of her big disappointment. Chase and I had that in common. I would never make mom happy and dad would always be riding my brother about his bum knee.
“Hey, we’re in Vegas. Let’s make the best of the time we have here, okay?” I said dismissing the hurt from home; I left that baggage in New York after all.
“As long as you don’t expect me to get a tattoo from some guy you met online, or the airport, or wherever you found him.” He squeezed my shoulder.
I pushed him back. “Whatever, let’s get settled in our room and go out.”
Chase winced. “Should I break the news to you now or later?”
“Oh please Chase, the second I saw your ass I already knew mom finagled rooms either next to each other or on the same floor.”
“Okay, bad news then.” He smiled and we walked inside arm in arm to settle everything up.
****
We were busy primping in the room because the guys decided to take us out to a late dinner. I suspected they wanted to s
hower off the smell of skank from the club they went to but I wasn’t going to oust them to Taylor and Lia who were way too gaga over seeing their guys.
One – because this was Taylor’s weekend as much as it was Hunter’s and I had plans for her.
Two – I also didn’t know what was going on with Whit and Lia enough and thought it would be better to curb my shenanigans. Even I wasn’t the kind of vindictive witch to ruin a brand new relationship fraught with possible insecurities. Nope. I was only good at ruining my own.
In other words, this could be either a lame weekend or an epic one. It hadn’t manifested itself in one direction and instead remained to be decided.
Lia dropped her bags on the sofa and told us she would take a quick shower before we left. Taylor was exploring the suite we would be occupying for the next few nights and I hit up the mini-bar. Hey, the Judge paid for it so I might as well take advantage of it. I had no plans on driving the sweet little car I rented anywhere except back to the airport at the end of the weekend. I was dangerous enough walking in high heels under the influence.
“I can’t believe how pretty this room is, we need to call your mom and thank her.” Taylor peeked out of the bedroom with the king sized bed all three of us could fit on, though I bet Lia would take the queen sofa bed.
Pouring in vodka into a tumbler filled with ice and orange juice I took a refreshing sip. “Can we do that after dinner?”
Taylor smirked rolling her eyes. “Will you be sober enough?”
Laughing I shrugged and she took out her phone dialing my mom. Taylor made sure I kept my manners. The phone rang and went to voicemail so we left a thank you message for her to hear later when she checked her phone. Mom probably didn’t want to know if we got into trouble, but Chase was here, so what could possibly go wrong?
Right?
We waited for Lia as we freshen up in the master bathroom. I’m sliding smoky black eyeliner over my lid when Taylor riffles through her own makeup bag. My best friend turns to me, our eyes meeting in the mirror. “You know I love you…” she says and I can tell she has something on her mind. “But I think we have to talk about… well, what’s been happening lately.”
I didn't want to talk about how I felt like our friendship was taking a backseat since she nailed Hunter. Taylor Jane deserved to be happy and I was only ruining it with my jealously over a friend who was now her fiancé and soon to be husband. I knew she was going to question my hesitation of her marrying Hunter, part of me knew I was losing my best friend to her best friend and I had not been handling things well. Demon didn’t help the situation and I was quickly becoming a bitter old hag.