Blackout: A Romance Anthology

by Stephanie St. Klaire

  Sarah was trying her hardest not to laugh the entire time Carrie was talking, and she finally loses it, falling over in her seat in a fit of giggles.

  Carrie throws her napkin at her. “It’s not funny!”

  “Oh, it so was!” Sarah says while trying to catch her breath. “We were meeting at that new bistro place downtown, and we knew they only served wine and beer, so we decided to go to happy hour at Los Jalisco.”

  “Happy hour, my ass. You guys showed up an hour after I had to sit with the guy.” Carrie turns to us. “And get this. They were completely drunk off their asses. I mean, a twosome of laughing hyenas.”

  I glance to Sarah for conformation. She’s smiling from ear to ear at the memory. She and Bryan are so cute together. With just the two of them, they can turn a boring Tuesday night into a memory they’ll remember forever.

  “Are you surprised though?” I ask.

  “We aren’t that bad,” Sarah says after she hits my arm.

  “No, you guys together are that good,” I say.

  She smiles sweetly, and Carrie grunts. “But not the point! They were there to help me! And did they?”

  Sarah is laughing again, covering herself with her napkin, shaking her head.

  “No, they didn’t. They made it worse.” Carrie sits back in her seat, folding her arms. “They thought it would be fun to go dancing with this creep.”

  “On a Tuesday? Where?” I ask.

  “Exactly. On a Tuesday. At Spikes.”

  I almost spit out my drink. Spikes is not exactly a dancing place. It’s more of a run-down bar where bikers hang out, and you have to be careful where you put your purse because it might be covered in sticky grossness when you pick it back up. They have a jukebox, but that’s about it.

  “And guess who was there?” Carrie says, all dramatically, making Sarah fall over from laughing so hard. “My dad. Yep, my father and his new girlfriend were hanging out at the old people’s bar.”

  Sam and I join in on their laughter, imagining what that scene must have looked like. Her dad is a big teddy bear of a man with a mean edge. He drives a Harley and has a gray beard down to his stomach with a ponytail to match in the back.

  “So, there I was, with these two drunkards—a guy I’m pretty sure was on some kind of drugs and my dad trying to get it on with his new girlfriend.”

  I’m laughing so hard now. I sit back in my chair, and when I do, my vision goes straight to the guy from across the hall of our hotel room. Still sitting there, he looks up and sees me. A genuine smile graces his face when he sees us laughing before he goes back to his conversation with the guy in front of him.

  I try not to blush as I bring myself back to Carrie’s story.

  “Come on, it was still a fun night,” Sarah says.

  “For you, maybe! I had to keep the creep off of me. He thought everything was just hunky-dory because you two were having such a great time and wouldn’t get the hint that I wanted nothing to do with him.”

  “Was he really that bad, or is she just being overly dramatic?” I ask Sarah.

  “Yeah, he really was.” Sarah laughs hysterically as she dodges Carrie’s assault from across the table.

  “Then, why didn’t you help me?” Carrie pouts.

  “Because we knew it would be an awesome story later. And look”—Sarah cuddles up to me, hoping I’ll protect her from Carrie—“I was right.”

  When our food arrives, we’re all grabbing our stomachs from laughing so hard, and even I order another drink. Being with these girls feels good, and letting loose tonight is sounding even better than before.

  As we finish our meal, a man approaches our table. “Hey, I know you!” he says too loud, pointing to Sam.

  She’s always one to accommodate, so instead of blowing the guy off, she acknowledges him. He is now leaning on our table with wafts of alcohol coming my way.

  “Do you? I’m not so sure.” She places her finger to her lips like she’s thinking as she winks at us.

  “Yes,” the guy slurs. “We danced last night at the club over at—” He turns to his friend, who places his hands on his shoulders.

  “I’m so sorry, ladies. Please excuse my friend here. He’s obviously had too much to drink.”

  I take this new guy in—tall, maybe Hispanic, definitely a darker complexion, and absolutely Sam’s type.

  She straightens herself, batting her eyelashes and flipping her hair over her shoulder. “It’s not a big deal. That’s why we’re here, right? To drink too much and meet new people.”

  He’s quick to catch on, and he notices her interest, so he sticks out his hand to her. “I’m Carlos. This is Ian. We have some other friends back there.”

  I look to where he motions, but the guy from earlier is heading in my direction. I tune out the rest of their conversation as our eyes stay locked on each other with every step he makes.

  When his lips tilt to a small smile, my heart flutters, but it is stopped short when Carlos’s friend loses his balance and topples over, directly on top of me. Carlos picks him up, and when I gain my bearings again, the man I wanted to talk to is nowhere to be seen.

  CHAPTER 3

  When we enter Chateau Nightclub on top of the Paris hotel, the lights streaming through the room, dancing to the beat, make my hands tingle, and my face light up. I hope I’m never too old to let the music guide me until I lose all my senses and nothing is there but the beat.

  Thankfully, the guys from the restaurant went their separate way after the one landed in my lap, so it’s back to just us girls.

  I can’t help but move to the sounds reverberating all around me, biting my lip and shaking my ass.

  “There’s my sister!” Sam yells, so we can hear her.

  She knows this is the one place I can truly be free, not worrying about who I am or who’s watching me. I raise my eyebrows to her, throwing my hands in the air and bouncing to the techno music the DJ is spinning. The beat slows down, building in the bass, and when it drops, we all holler at the top of our lungs, jumping and spinning around with the other partygoers.

  We dance with ourselves and then with guys trying to cop a feel and even with other girls we don’t know to put on a show. It’s a fun cycle and one that I’ve been craving for a while now.

  The phrase dance like no one’s watching was made for someone just like me. And, believe me, I let loose and don’t care one bit who’s watching.

  Carrie taps my shoulder as I wipe the thin layer of sweat from my brow. “Let’s get another drink,” she shouts into my ear over the music.

  I nod, and we make our way through the crowd and onto the rooftop venue with views of the Eiffel Tower completely lit up in its golden glory.

  Sarah’s able to snag us a table, so Carrie and I offer to grab the drinks. She’s able to catch the attention of the bartender pretty fast as I catch the attention of the guy sitting across the bar.

  I noticed the glasses first, but the way he picked me out of the crowd, even from this distance, makes my body tingle for the third time tonight. How can eye contact from far away affect me this way? Memories of the way his hands gripped me in the hallway make my body go flush.

  He mouths, HI, with a nod of his head, and I smile, waving back.

  There’s an empty seat next to him, and he tilts his head toward it, motioning for me to sit with him. I do the same, except to show him I’m with Carrie.

  I’m hoping he tries again to get me to come to him, but instead, he stands up and, to my surprise, heads directly toward me.

  I grab Carrie’s arm to let her know what’s going on. She smirks and hits me with her hip, shooing me away from her as she hands me my drink, carrying the other three drinks in flawless server fashion back to where everyone else is sitting.

  “I’d ask if you’re following me, but something tells me you’ve been here awhile,” he says when he steps to where I am.

  His statement throws me off, but I like the fact that he didn’t use the standard, lame pick-up line.<
br />
  I stand up straighter. “What makes you think I’ve been here for a while?”

  His hand reaches to softly rub the line between my forehead and hair where I’m sure a thin layer of sweat lies. “You’ve been dancing.”

  I laugh in embarrassment. “Are you saying I’m a sweaty mess?”

  He steps a little closer, so I can hear him better over the music. His dimple reappears when his lips slightly tug up as he says, “There’s nothing wrong with a little sweat. The best things in life make you sweat.”

  Tingles go straight to my core, and I smile, liking how this guy seems to say things I don’t expect. Visions of being tangled up, sweaty in his arms, start to run wild in my mind.

  “Since I already know where you’re staying, and I’ve already made you fall for me, do I get your name, too?” he asks.

  “Ha! Fall for you? A little presumptuous, aren’t we?”

  He smirks. “I meant, how I tripped you earlier. I guess I should make up for that. I’m Jason. I’m sorry I made you that happened, by the way. I’d offer to buy you a drink, but I see you already have one.”

  I nod, showing him my glass. “Thank you anyway. I’m Gemma.”

  He holds my eye contact, staying silent while nodding slowly.

  After a few seconds, I have to laugh. “Nothing else to say?”

  He shakes his head this time with a slight smile gracing his expression. “Nope, I’m coming up completely blank.”

  “I take it, you don’t do this often then.” I place my straw between my lips to take a sip, being as flirtatious as I can. I haven’t been this attracted to a guy in a long time, and I want to see where this goes.

  “Is it that obvious?” His dimples make my heart flutter.

  I hold up my fingers to show a small distance between my thumb and pointer finger. “Just a little bit. I guess that’s a good thing though. Unless you’re married and that’s why you’re out of practice.”

  He holds up his hand to show me his ring finger. “Not married. You?”

  “Nope, as single as they come.”

  Another gap of silence. Funny thing is, it’s not awkward or weird. We sit, taking each other in, memorizing each line, eye color, and even the thickness of each other’s lips.

  “So … do you come here often?” he asks after a few beats.

  I laugh out loud. “That’s what you’re going with? The old, Do you come here often? You can do better than that.”

  “Okay, let me try again.” He takes a swig of his beer. “What brought you to Vegas this weekend?” He raises his eyebrows, silently asking if that was any better.

  I grin. “Not much better, but I guess it’s okay, given the setting,” I tease. “I’m here with my sister and her friends. She’s celebrating her divorce.”

  “Divorce? Is that something people celebrate now?”

  “In her case, yes. How about you?”

  “No, I’m not here celebrating anyone’s relationship demise.”

  I drop my head to the side, smirking. “You know what I mean. What happened to your friend from the restaurant?” I search to see if I missed him earlier.

  “Then you remember seeing me there?”

  Heat rises up my face. Of course he knows I saw him there, I waved at him. He’s playing with me, and I like it.

  “Yes, I noticed you.”

  “I wanted to talk to you then, but I thought you were with those guys.”

  “The guy who fell on me? No. He was a little too drunk for his own good.”

  “Yeah. I wondered about that.”

  “And you didn’t offer to save me?”

  “What, and act like the superhero who swoops in and saves the girls from evil drunk guys?”

  “I personally think that’d be a cool superhero. Especially in a place like Vegas. You could stay very busy.”

  He raises his eyebrows in admiration of our little chat. “That I would. Should I get a cape, or do I get to rip off my clothes like Superman does?”

  I choke on my drink I was taking a sip of and try to play it off like I didn’t while I say, “I don’t think ripping off your clothes will help get you the girls.”

  “Now, why not?” He looks offended while he turns his eyes down to his clothes and slides his hands down his chest, showing off his lean form underneath.

  I’m laughing out loud now. “Because, if you tried to save me from some drunk guys hitting on me without your clothes on, I might not look at you like a superhero. I might ask the drunk guys to save me from the naked guy.”

  “Oh, come on.” He playfully shakes his head. “You know what I meant.”

  “I know, but it was so cute to see your face right now.”

  The phone in his hand goes off, and his stern facial expression makes me step back.

  “Everything okay?”

  He types something on the screen, shaking his head in obvious frustration.

  I lean down to get in his sight again. “Jason, everything okay?”

  He pops his head up and puts his phone down. “Yeah. Sorry. I-I have to go.”

  And, just like that, the guy who knocked me down in the hallway knocks my spirits out the window as the fun conversation we were having ends abruptly.

  I head back to the girls, confused on what just went down.

  “What happened to the hottie in glasses? I didn’t think we’d see you the rest of the night,” Carrie asks.

  I shrug as I down the rest of my drink and place it on the table. “Not sure. We were having a great conversation, totally flirting with each other. Then, his phone went off, and he left.”

  “Oh, he’s even mysterious like double-oh seven. I like it,” Carrie says.

  “Well, his name is Jason. Maybe we should change his nickname to Bourne. That seems more fitting after him taking off like that.” I wave my hand in front of my face, trying to rid myself of the memory. “Someone give me a shot. I need to level out after that high to low randomness.”

  “Hell yes!” Sam yells, standing up and grabbing my hand, pulling me back toward the bar.

  CHAPTER 4

  Last night was a blur once we hit the dance floor again. The guys we had seen at the beginning of the night showed up again, buying us more cocktails than necessary.

  As the drinks flowed, our bodies jumped, swayed, and got down with everyone around us.

  The guys tried hard to get Sam and Carrie to go back to their hotel room, but the obsessive amounts of alcohol didn’t work in their favor, and there was no way Sarah and I would allow them to go back with them in that state.

  It wasn’t until three in the morning that we stumbled into our hotel room, all together.

  I had to shower even though it was hard to stand up straight at that point. There was no way I was going to bed that sweaty.

  Waking up this morning, I’m so glad I did, especially when I glance over to Carrie, who’s passed out with makeup running down her face and hair a ratted mess.

  I move to sit up and quickly think it’s a bad idea. Why did I drink so much?

  But it’s not only the alcohol. I feel like my body has been through a marathon. Every muscle in my body feels run through.

  “Why is the room still spinning?” Sarah asks in obvious pain.

  “Shh, stop yelling,” Sam responds, making me laugh out loud. I’m glad I’m not the only one hurting this morning.

  “Coffee. I need coffee,” Carrie whines.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  “Room service,” someone says from behind the door.

  I turn to Sam. “Did you order something?”

  She shakes her head, pulling the blankets back up and covering her head with the pillow.

  The knock hits again.

  “One, two, three, not it!” Carrie says with Sam and Sarah chiming in as well.

  “Fine, I’ll get it,” I say, throwing the blankets off me and slowly making my way to the door.

  Once I open it, I see a man standing with a table full of coffee and pastries. It smell
s amazing, but I have to say, “Um, we didn’t order anything.”

  He stops, pulls out his black leather case, and checks the room again. “Ah, yes, sorry. It says here it was sent from someone named Jason to this suite. The bill is going to”—he pauses, turning around—“that room.” He points across the hall to the door that says 7007.

  Memories flash through my head. We saw him in the hall at the end of our night. I drop my head against the wall in frustration. I made a total fool of myself in front of him—again.

  We were all singing at the top of our lungs in the elevator, and when the doors opened, he was standing there.

  “You!” I held up my arm, pointing at him. “Where did you go?”

  We exited the elevator, and I walked straight up to him, getting as close as possible. His scent filled my nose, and I inhaled so deeply that the girls around me broke out into a fit of giggles.

  “I was having fun, talking to you, and then you just left,” I said dramatically as I held my hands out to my sides.

  “I had to leave, and I’m sorry I have to now as well. Are you going to be okay?” he asked.

  “I’ll be fine but too bad for you. I might have just put out for you, but I guess you’ll never know,” I taunted.

  I walked away as the girls fell against the walls, laughing, when they heard what I said to him.

  I stare at his door, wishing I had my own superpower to see through his walls, wondering if he’s watching me through the peephole.

  Why must I be reminded of why I don’t drink every time I do?

  With a deep sigh, I step to the side and allow the man to walk through, pushing our cure to hangover city into the middle of the room.

  “Here, let me get some cash for a tip,” I say, trying to get by him.

  “No need. It’s been taken care of. Enjoy the rest of your morning.” He exits the room.

  I briefly wonder if I should knock on Jason’s door to thank him, but then I remember how I look and how I’m sure my breath smells, so I decide against it for the moment.