I close the door and head into the bathroom.
“Did he leave?” she demands when she hears me enter.
“Yes.”
She opens the door to the shower. “Can you believe that idiot?”
I undress and enter the shower. “Babe, guys just see things differently.”
She places her hands on her hips as her mouth falls open. “Have you ever taken a girl’s virginity?”
“I had sex with virgins while in high school, but I didn’t take their virginity,” I say honestly. “They gave it to me.”
“Now you sound like him. What’s the difference? You probably broke their hearts,” she sneers.
I shake my head. “The girls I slept with knew what they were getting from me. I didn’t wine and dine them for weeks and then take to them to bed promising them my love. They knew what they were getting—a one-night stand.”
“How can you talk about it like their virginity wasn’t important?” she asks with total shock in her voice.
How do I explain this to her without making her mad? “Parker was right in some degree.” Her eyes go wide, and I continue before she can yell at me. “Some people just want to have sex. Not all women are like you,” I say with a smile as I place my hands in her wet hair. “Not all women want to love someone or be loved in return,” I say pushing my body into hers. “And not all men are sleaze bags like Parker and myself. Some men look for love and want more than sex.”
“Missy is not one of those girls that you just explained,” she snaps. “How can you think of her that way?”
“I don’t,” I answer defensively.
“Then why are you taking up for Tate?”
I sigh. “Tate truly was upset that he slept with Missy.”
“Only because she was a virgin,” she states. “If she had slept with other men before, he would have been okay with it,” she says clenching her jaw.
“Maybe,” I say in all honestly. “We don’t really know how he would feel had she not been a virgin. Maybe it was one of those things that just happened,”
“Oh my God,” she says her shoulders slumping. “You did not just say that.” She points a finger at me.
It’s hard to take her serious when she’s standing in front of me naked. Think Slade. What can I say to get her to see where I’m coming from? “Okay how about this.”
She rolls her eyes and turns away from me to get under the sprayer. She plans on dismissing everything I am about to tell her.
I grab her and spin her around before I pin her back against the wall. She is going to listen to my reasoning.
She lets out a puff of air getting more irritated with me. Then lifts an eyebrow. At least she plans on listening.
“You were not a virgin the first night I brought you to my house, but you begged for me to fuck you.” Her eyes narrow on me. “If I would have taken you up on that offer, the next morning you would have been mad at yourself. It didn’t change the fact that you weren’t a virgin.”
Her eyes soften and she bites her bottom lip as if in thought. “That’s different,” she finally says.
I shake my head. “You’re just saying that because you know you were pissed at yourself the next morning for wanting to sleep with me. Just because you had sex before didn’t mean you sleeping with me would have been less important to you.”
“How do you know that?” she snaps.
I wrap my arms around her. “Angel. I was awake while you were in the bathroom freaking out. You think I didn’t hear you talking to yourself? Then I stood in the kitchen for several minutes and watched you make coffee. I could read your body language. I could see the inner battle you were having with yourself.”
“But you turned me down. Tate did not turn Missy down.”
I sigh. Poor Tate, she is going to hold this over his head forever. “I let you give me a blow job. And if I remember correctly that was your first one. I wanted it more than anything. I was being so selfish that I could not turn you down. I wanted it more than you probably wanted to give it.”
She rests her head against my chest and wraps her arms around my waist. “We’re different. I just hate what happened. I know she loves him, and he just used her.”
“You don’t know that,” I defend Tate. “You weren’t there. You don’t know who instigated it, or what was said.”
She pulls away from me and her eyes bug out. “Are you saying that Missy begged him for it?”
That could have been the case. We both know she likes him. But I say, “No.”
“Yes you are.” Her lips part as she inhales. “That’s why you are comparing them to us. Because I begged you.”
I shake my head quickly trying to backtrack. My jaw clenches when I see that I’m losing this battle. She always wins when we fight.
I place my hands on either side of her face. “Just try to let it go. They are both adults, and it happened. You can’t change it. And Missy told you she wouldn’t change it even if she could.”
She pulls her head back and looks up at me. “I hate it when you make sense.”
I give her a victory smile, and she playfully punches my shoulder. “It doesn’t happen that often,” I say honestly.
“That’s for sure,” she quips as she pulls away from me to step under the water.
“Hey,” I say wrapping an arm around her and pulling her off of her feet as she laughs.
“So now what?” she asks through a sigh.
“What do you mean?”
She turns her head up to look at me. “We are gonna have to pick sides. And just so you know, you’re picking Missy’s.”
“I’m not picking sides, Angel. We are not in grade school.”
Her face scrunches in anger at my response. “You just wait. Things are going to be awkward now.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
SAMANTHA
We spent the day shopping and walking the strip, and it’s been awkward, to say the least. The girls kind of stuck together as the guys followed behind us. Missy and Tate haven’t spoken one word to each other. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t even know she exists now, and I hate it. It’s not like they had just met and hooked up. They were friends who had sex. Where do you go from there?
But whatever game Tate is playing, Missy is playing it even better, which surprises me. She truly seems fine with the situation. And she looks crazy beautiful. It’s like she transformed into a woman overnight. She is still wearing her contacts, and she curled her hair herself today. Her skinny jeans and bright red t-shirt makes her look confident.
If I didn’t know better, I would think she is trying to pick up another man. Maybe to make him jealous?
This is our last night in Vegas and although I’ve had a great time, I am ready to go home. I miss our dog, Peaches. I miss our bed, and I miss our privacy. You would think that Parker is sharing a room with us. Everywhere I go, he’s there. He did apologize for calling me a bitch earlier. I wanted to show him just how big of a bitch I could be and throw the hot coffee that I was holding in my hand at the time on him but refrained myself.
I know I can be a bitch. What girl doesn’t have those days? Was I overreacting? Probably. Missy has accepted what happened and so have I. I’m not mad at Tate now but that doesn’t stop me from giving him dirty looks every now and then.
We all decided to go out to eat tonight at The Eiffel Tower restaurant for dinner before we do some sightseeing our last night in town. I think our group has had enough clubbing to last a few months. Plus we have a pregnant woman on our hands. Tonight we plan on walking the strip. And it’s so hard to visit when you are in the clubs. The music is crazy loud and that can get on your nerves.
We are all seated at one large round table. Slade is on my right and Tate sits to my left. I’m pretty sure he sat there on purpose so I would have to talk to him, or it could be because Missy is across from him. I think he wanted to be the furthest away from her. Or he just secretly wanted to watch her from a distance. I can’t figure the dickhead out.
I sit quietly looking over the menu as our waitress approaches our table.
“How is everyone tonight? I will be your server. My name is Jenny. What can I get you all to drink?” she asks in a sweet tone.
I’m looking at the drink menu when Slade speaks. “I will take a rum and Coke.”
“Oh,” she says excitedly. I hear her strike up a conversation with him, but I don’t pay much attention to it. When I finally find the wine that I want, I look up to see if she has made her way around the table to me when I see she is still talking to him. She places her hand on the back of his chair as she stares down at him with a flirty smile on her face. He doesn’t seem to be flirting back, but he is smiling. And it instantly pisses me off.
“What are you guys in Vegas for?” she asks as she flips her dishwater-colored hair off of her shoulder.
“We are here for my brother’s bachelor party,” Slade says, and my eyes narrow on him.
It’s his bachelor party as well but of course he doesn’t add that part.
I instinctively place my hand on Slade’s leg thinking he will look over at me, or at least remember he is here with his fiancée as well.
I look away from him when all I get is the back of his head as he goes on and on about all the clubs the guys have been to so far.
Looking up across the table, I see Parker watching me carefully. He can tell I’m fuming. I snatch my hand away and let out a long breath trying to calm myself. Something about the entire situation just has me pissed.
The waitress gets my attention when she laughs at something Slade said.
“I could go with you tonight,” she adds to their conversation. “I could show you around to a few things.” What the fuck? Does she not see everyone else sitting at this table?
I’m sure she would love to give him a tour of her body. Bitch!
“Oh, that’s okay. Thank you. We are just going to venture around the city, do some sightseeing.”
Well, at least he doesn’t invite her with us. I snort causing Slade to look over at me. I glare with so much hatred that if I could, I’m sure my eyes would set him on fire at this very moment.
He frowns but doesn’t say anything. He turns back to turn her down one more time when I feel my phone vibrate on my lap. Micah had found some rice, and after my phone set in it for twelve hours, it started working again. It isn’t a hundred percent functional, but it works well enough. I pick it up and open the message. The water lines make me growl in aggravation.
Unknown number: All I needed was a new number, baby. What are you gonna do? Call and block every number I contact you from?Jax.
Pushing my chair back roughly I mumble an ‘excuse me’ not caring that Slade is still talking to our waitress. Does she not see the other people sitting around the table? She must not want a big tip.
Stomping away, I head over to bar to order myself a glass of wine because I’m dying of thirst and now extremely pissed. Maybe Parker was right, maybe I am about to start my period.
*****
SLADE
“Well I hope you guys have fun tonight,” the waitress says with a frown on her face before she turns and walks away.
“Dude. What the fuck is wrong with you? Are you that fucking rusty when it comes to chicks?” Parker asks.
“What are you talking about?” Did I order my drink?
He points to the back of the waitress as she walks away. “She was totally hitting on you, and you didn’t even try to turn her down.”
I shake my head. “She was not.”
Then he points to the empty chair next to me. “And she saw it. Which is why she got up and walked away with a pissed off look on her face.”
I ignore him as I start to look around the restaurant for Angel. I catch sight of her up at the bar ordering a drink. “I’ll be right back,” I announce, standing up.
“I’d be careful if I was you,” Parker warns.
“I think I can handle her,” I smirk.
He throws his hands out to his sides. “Suit yourself,” he mumbles before he looks around the restaurant. “We need a new waitress. I need a fucking drink.”
I turn and walk away not responding to that comment. I see her staring down at her phone as I come up to her.
“What are you doing over here?” I ask placing a hand on the small of her back.
She turns to look at me. “Well, I was dying of thirst and got tired of you and the waitress talking about pointless shit. So I got up and came to the bar to get a drink.”
I frown. “What are you upset about?” Was the waitress really flirting? Was I flirting back? I didn’t mean to be, if that was the case.
She throws her cell down on the bar top. “Just forget about the waitress,” she says with a sigh. “While you were visiting, I got a text message.”
“Okay,” I say somewhat confused why a message would piss her off. “Who was it from?”
“Jax.”
My jaw tightens. “How is that possible? I blocked him.”
She rolls her eyes. “He just got a new number. Guess he’s not as dumb as Jessica,” she mumbles before taking a sip of her wine.
I run a hand through my hair releasing a sigh. “I’ll call and get it blocked tomorrow.”
“Maybe I should hear what he has to say.”
My jaw tightens to the point my teeth ache. “Why would you want to do that?” I say through gritted teeth. “What could that possibly accomplish? We all know what he wants.”
“I don’t know,” she says sounding defeated.
“Don’t you have a restraining order on him?” I ask.
She nods her head.
“Don’t delete the message and don’t text him back.”
Her phone vibrates once again.
Unknown number: Remember all the good times we had, baby? It can be that good again. You obviously don’t love Slade if you’re still seeing Tate as well.
She leans over and reads it. “I can’t believe you told him I was sleeping with Tate.”
“I never told him that. He assumed, and I didn’t correct him,” I remind her.
“Same difference,” she tosses over her shoulder as she turns and starts to walk away, leaving me alone once again.
“What are you guys doing over here?” Parker asks as he comes up to us.
I place her phone in my pocket before I turn to face him. “Just getting her a drink. We were on our way back to the table.”
He doesn’t ask anything else before he walks off to the restroom, and she doesn’t ask for her phone back. I need to do some thinking of what to do with Jax, and I need to show this message to Tate.
*****
“Let’s go up in the Eiffel tower,” Josh suggests once we leave the restaurant.
I agree as I wrap my arm around Angel’s shoulders. She looks up at me and gives me a big smile as she pushes her body further into mine. Her mood improved once we were given a new waitress—since our original one never even bothered to check on us or even take everyone else’s drink orders after I turned her down.
I’ve been trying to forget that Jax is messaging her once again, even though her phone is still in my pocket, and I can feel it vibrate every two fucking minutes. I can’t do anything about him right now. I just smile, knowing that she is here with me, wearing my ring.
We buy our tickets and take the elevator up to the top. We all get out, and Angel leans in closer to me once again. The temperature is much colder up here.
“It’s beautiful,” she says keeping her back to me but leaning over to look out at the city; she’s afraid of heights.
“It is,” Courtney agrees, walking up next to her. “Look at all the lights.” Then she points at the Bellagio across the street. “Look, the fountains are starting,” she exclaims.
We all cram over to that side, and I wrap my arms securely around her trying to make her feel safe being up this high. We watch as the fountains play to the sound of the music in the background. I sigh and rest my chin on top of her he
ad.
The girls do the usual ahhs and ohhs as the fountains get more and more lively. Once the show is over we all turn around to walk back to the elevator when Courtney gasps, causing all of us to stop and look over at her.
Angel places her hand over her mouth when she sees what has Courtney now crying. She is looking down at Josh on one knee, who is holding a box up to her containing a sparkling wedding ring.
“Courtney,” he starts out as we all stand frozen watching them. “I’ll never forget the first time I saw you enter Slade’s house. I thought you were the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.” He smiles. “We stayed up all night that night getting to know each other. You had me mesmerized. I knew then that I was falling in love with you. It ripped my heart out when you left to go back to Tulsa. I wanted to ask you to stay with me.” He swallows nervously. “I know we have been moving at warp speed since we met but I know there is no one else out there for me. I know we also didn’t plan on starting a family so quickly but I want you to know that I would be lying if I said I wasn’t happy when you told me you were having my baby. I want to be your husband. I want to spend the rest of my life with you if you will have me. I will show you every day how much I love you. I need you…”
“Stop,” she cries and pulls him to stand. A sense of panic flashes across his face. “Stop talking and just ask me to marry you,” she says wiping the tears off of her face with a big smile on her lips.
We all laugh, and he smiles. “Will you marry me, baby…?”
“Yes,” she says wrapping her hands around him and kissing him.
Angel spins around and looks up at me with tears in her eyes. “Did you know he was going to do this?”
I shake my head. “I had no idea.”
“No one did,” Josh says with a grin on his face. “I wanted everyone to be surprised.”
“Best surprise ever,” Courtney says not letting go of him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
SAMANTHA
“Can you believe Courtney and Josh are engaged?” I ask lying down on the hotel bed as Slade undresses. The clock on the nightstand reads a little past three in the morning. We spent all night walking the strip. I’m worn out and glad to have my heels off.
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