Bad Reputation

by Nicole Edwards

  She’s not quite as subtle at this point in the evening.

  “Yeah. Dark hair, dark eyes. No ring. He’s right up your alley, huh?”

  “Too short,” she slurs.

  “Too short?” I can’t believe she went there. It’s been one thing after another with this woman. She’s come up with more excuses than a single female has a right to. Nose too big, nose too small, not enough eyebrows—apparently only having one is a deal breaker. Too tall, too thin, too muscular. Suit’s too cheap, too expensive, nonexistent.

  And now too short.

  “He’s what? Six foot?” Probably.

  To be honest, this guy is perfect for Cassie. I try not to think about the fact that I like that she has no interest in him though.

  “And don’t forget,” I add, “we’re all the same height lying down.”

  Cassie snorts. “I’m not lying down with him, Chase.”

  The next two shots are delivered and I know this has to be it. I’ll probably have to carry Cassie out of here as it is. If it weren’t for the barstool holding her up, she’d probably be on the floor at this point. In a few minutes, we both will be there.

  “Drink up,” I tell her and hold my glass up.

  She lifts hers and smirks. Her eyes are glazed, her lower lip puffy because she’s been chewing on it for the past hour. It’s a nervous tic of hers, something she works hard not to show. It’s clear she’s drunk. Then again, I’m drunk and I’ve got quite the tolerance for alcohol.

  “What are we drinking to?” she inquires.

  “Casual sex.” I clink my glass to hers, but only barely. Cassie leans at the last second, nearly wasting a perfectly good shot. “It’s the name of the game.” I toss back the liquor and she does the same.

  She shakes her head a little too adamantly. “Not my game.”

  “No?”

  “Nope. After that last ridiculous encounter with Andrew the Tongue, I’ve come to a decision.”

  “What decision is that?”

  Cassie’s steel-blue gaze lifts to meet mine. She smiles. “I’m not having sex until I’m married.”

  I laugh. “Wanna get married?”

  Okay, that shouldn’t have come out of my mouth.

  Cassie laughs, leaning against me. “Sure. I’ll be Mrs. Chase Barrett and my mom will be over the moon.”

  It sounds like she’s joking, so I’m laughing along with her. More laughter ensues when she practically leaps off her barstool, grabbing on to my arm as she teeters in her heels.

  “Where’re you going?”

  “To get married,” she says, still giggling. “Don’t you know they cater to that stuff here in Vegas?”

  I won’t lie. I’m interested in seeing where this is going. I shouldn’t be, but I am. “Do they?”

  “Yep. And I wanna go check out one of those places.”

  “Those places?”

  “You ask too many questions.” Cassie is dragging me along at this point. “We need a limo.”

  In an effort to keep her from crumpling to the floor, I wrap my arm around her. Even with the overabundance of tequila in my bloodstream, my dick instantly takes notice of the soft woman at my side. I have a desperate need to know what’s different between today and yesterday. I wasn’t obsessed with fucking my best friend yesterday. But today…

  Wait. A limo?

  “No limos,” I tell her.

  “Fine. A cab. Or Uber. A shuttle. I don’t care.”

  “We should probably get you up to bed,” I tell her, trying to remember that this isn’t a good idea.

  “I want to see a wedding chapel.”

  “No, you don’t.”

  Cassie spins in my arms, practically slamming up against me. Her eyes are dancing with amusement and she’s grinning like a loon. Her straight white teeth flash and heat envelops me. Goddamn I want to kiss her.

  “I’ve heard that it’s super-easy to get married in Vegas. They’ll give a marriage license to practically anybody who wants one.”

  “Says who?”

  “My mother.” Cassie giggles. “And if anyone would know, it’d be her.”

  I’m not sure about all that, but I don’t have an argument.

  “Come on.” There’s an extra whine in her tone, which she’s prone to making when she wants to get her way. “Don’t be a Debbie Downer.”

  I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but never that.

  “Please?” Cassie puffs out her lower lip. “I just want to see if it’s really that easy.”

  This is a monumentally bad idea. I know it. Cassie would know it too if she weren’t three sheets to the wind.

  My feet are moving before I can contemplate my next move. Then we’re in a cab and the fate of my evening is in the cabdriver’s hands because Cassie requests he take us to the best wedding chapel in Vegas after we swing by to check out the place that hands out marriage licenses.

  Whatever happens next, I only hope like hell Vegas is true to its reputation and neither of us remembers tomorrow.

  Cassie

  It’s like someone is beating on the back of my eyeballs with a gavel.

  Although it’s completely dark in my room, my internal clock is telling me that it’s morning and I shouldn’t be lying in this bed. The problem is, if I move, it’s quite possible I’ll be sick.

  I shift to check.

  Scratch that. I’ll definitely be sick.

  Of course, with that revelation, my cellphone decides to buzz on the nightstand. I blindly reach for it and pull it over to the pillow. Thumbing the button, I bring the phone to life but quickly smash it again to shut off the light. A wave of nausea roils through my stomach and I take a deep breath.

  I swear to God I am never, ever, ever going to drink again. “Never ever,” I say aloud for good measure.

  My phone buzzes beside my head and I damn near come off the pillow. That makes a jackhammer start in my skull.

  Shit.

  I have to get out of this bed. I have to find some aspirin and water.

  Yes. Water’s good. I’m sure I can beat this hangover if I hydrate.

  Forcing myself to sit up—a feat that takes a few tries in order to keep whatever the contents of my stomach are in place—I wake my phone and squint at the screen.

  There’s a text from Natalie.

  I’m in the hotel lobby. Where are you?

  Oh. My. God.

  It’s 8:15 and Natalie’s here waiting for me. I’m supposed to be down there to meet her so we can have coffee and talk about today’s schedule before the first seminar.

  I quickly text back: Sorry. Alarm must be messed up. Give me thirty and I’ll be down.

  Without waiting for a response, I force myself to my feet. Gravity does not agree with me and I plop back down on my butt and inhale deeply while my head spins.

  I hope like hell this day gets better. After all, it couldn’t get much worse.

  By noon I’m feeling somewhat human. However, the two cups of coffee and bagel I had earlier have long since worn off and I’m starving. I haven’t heard a peep from Chase, so I have to assume he’s still asleep. Lucky bastard.

  But I can’t worry about that now. I’ve got too much to do.

  “You wanna grab some lunch?” Natalie asks when she appears at my side.

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you care where we go?” she questions, looking around.

  “No.” I’m tempted to pull out my phone, but I refrain, then sigh. “I should probably call Chase. See if he wants something.”

  She finishes tapping out a message on her phone, then peers back at me with a smile. “Already done. He’ll meet us at the buffet in ten minutes.”

  I glance at my watch as I fall into step with Natalie.

  I allow her to lead the way.

  “So, what did you and Chase do last night?”

  I shrug. For the life of me I can’t remember what we did, nor do I know what time we made it back to the hotel room—or even how we got there, for that matt
er. Based on how I felt this morning, I know it involved copious amounts of alcohol and probably a few bad decisions.

  “It must’ve been amazing if you managed to oversleep.”

  I never oversleep. Ever. I’m the type who wakes up before my alarm goes off. Then again, I’m also the type who goes to bed by eight o’clock on the dot.

  “Were you drinking?”

  I cast Natalie a get real look. I mean, really. She’s seen what I look like today. It’s obvious I had more than my fair share to drink last night.

  “Come on. You and Chase Barrett out on the town together. What kind of trouble did you get into?”

  “We didn’t go out,” I tell her. “We went to the hotel bar, had some drinks.” That’s all I remember anyway.

  “Pfft. That sounds boring. Tonight we’re gonna do it up right. Mark’s flight arrives at two.”

  “Mark’s coming?” Why is this the first I’m hearing of this?

  “Yes. Remember, I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago?”

  No, I don’t remember. Not that it’s any of my business. Natalie has the right to enjoy herself while she’s here. If she wants to bring her boyfriend along, who am I to judge?

  I instantly shake my head. “No way am I drinking tonight. I’ve got the presentation tomorrow…”

  “You are drinking tonight,” Natalie insists, and then proceeds to tell the woman at the register to charge three buffets to my room.

  “Not going to happen.”

  The cashier jerks her head my way.

  “Sorry, not you. Her.”

  The woman nods, then hands over a receipt for me to sign.

  “We’re in Vegas, baby,” Natalie whispers. “We’re not wasting a second.”

  I don’t have the brainpower to argue with Natalie right now. For one, I’m starving, and two, she’s a pit bull when it comes to getting her way. As much as I want to call it an early night, I know I’m not going to get my way.

  Which means I’ll just have to suck it up and let the night lead me where it may.

  I only hope I’ll survive two nights in a row.

  Chapter 14

  Chase

  I was getting out of the shower when Natalie texted me to let me know that I needed to meet her and Cassie for lunch. It wasn’t a request either. It was a demand.

  The woman was kind enough to give me just enough time to pull on a pair of jeans and a Henley with a follow-up message that said: You better get your ass out of bed or I’m coming up there to get you. You don’t want that. If you know Natalie, you know she doesn’t make idle threats. Plus, you really don’t want her waking you up in the morning. Granted, I like her. But she’s obnoxious as hell.

  Thankfully, I remembered to grab a ball cap on my way out the door. It’s not a fashion statement I usually go for unless I’m chilling or going to the gym, but it does significantly reduce the possibility of me being recognized. Not that I mind the fame that comes along with my sport. However, there’s a time and place for everything and when my brain’s fuzzy and I need sustenance, I’m not open to much small talk with people I don’t know.

  When I finally make it downstairs, nursing a hangover complete with a blinding headache, I’m glad to see that the restaurant isn’t overly busy. I figured being that it’s Friday, there would be people everywhere. My head is appreciative of the lull, regardless.

  “Chase!” I recognize Natalie’s voice as soon as I step into the open area, so I scan the room to locate where she is.

  I find her sitting at a four-seater table with Cassie. It’s the first time I’ve seen Cass since the wee hours of the morning, when we stumbled back to our hotel room. I take a moment to look her over from head to toe. She’s buttoned up tight again today, and I can see the fatigue around her eyes. I’m still fuzzy on what happened last night after we left the hotel, but at some point I sobered up enough to ensure that I got us both safely back to our room. I might have tipped a bellboy a hundred dollars to help make that a possibility though. I’m not positive on that, but I’d say it’s highly likely.

  “Damn, you look as good as Cassie does today. What did y’all do last night?”

  I honestly can’t answer that. It involved drinking, a cab ride to somewhere, and then some really bad…organ music? Damn. There’s a song playing in my head now, but I can’t put my finger on it. I’m sure I’ll remember eventually, but I can’t seem to get through the fog in my brain right now to make out the events.

  “Good grief. The two of you are ridiculous.” Natalie nods toward the buffet. “Go get some food. Want something to drink?”

  “Water.” I need lots and lots of water.

  I glance down at Cassie and she seems to be avoiding my gaze. Something in my chest tightens, but I’m not sure what to make of it.

  As I peruse the brunch buffet, loading up on bacon, sausage, and eggs, I try to remember what we did last night. The hotel bar comes into sharp focus in my memories. We laughed, joked, and ultimately made fun of people. At some point, I think Cassie wanted to go somewhere….

  Shit.

  No idea and I’ll make my headache worse if I try to decipher it all right now.

  With my plate piled high, I join the two women at the table.

  “I hope the two of you plan to take a nap this afternoon because we are going out tonight,” Natalie says definitively.

  I nod. I’m game to do whatever. This is Vegas and I didn’t come here to sleep. With summer training starting in a couple of weeks, now’s my time to get it all out of my system.

  “I don’t know.” Cassie takes a sip of her coffee, her forehead scrunched. “I’m thinking about calling it an early night. I’ve got my speech in the morning and—”

  “And you’re twenty-eight years old,” Natalie tacks on. “You can sleep when you’re dead.”

  “Ah, gee. Thanks.”

  Natalie grins. “No problem.”

  For a few minutes, the three of us eat in silence. Cassie’s picking at a salad while Natalie is chomping down on fruit and a biscuit. I clean my plate before they get halfway finished with theirs. I can’t help but glance at Cassie. There’s a niggling in my gut and I doubt it’s the sausage. For some reason, I get the strong feeling I need to remember what happened last night.

  “So…” Natalie glances between the two of us. “Where’re we headed tonight? Jewel? It’s right here in the hotel and with two hockey-hotties, I doubt we’ll have to wait to get in.”

  Hockey-hottie? What the hell?

  Wait.

  “Two?”

  Natalie shoots me a megawatt grin. “Yep. Mark’ll be here in a couple of hours.”

  “Ah, hell. Then we might as well call it an early night.” It’s only fair that I mess with her, since she likes fucking with me.

  “More like an early morning,” she counters.

  “If we do go out,” Cassie notes, “I’d rather not go to a club.”

  “Is that what y’all did last night?”

  Cassie and I look at each other and for the first time since I arrived, she smiles.

  “What?” Natalie asks. “What did I miss?”

  “Truth is, I don’t know.” Cassie holds my gaze. “Do you remember last night?”

  I smile in return, some of the tension in my shoulders easing. I’m not the only one who forgot, so that makes it a little easier. “Nope.”

  “You guys have all the fun,” Natalie whines. “I wanna have a night I don’t remember.”

  That gets the three of us laughing, the remaining awkwardness all but drained away.

  I peer over at Natalie. “Well, we’ll see what we can do about that tonight.”

  Cassie looks at me, still smiling. She offers a slight head nod, her silent affirmation that she’s on board with that plan.

  “Are you gonna eat some real food?” Natalie asks.

  Cassie glances down at her plate. “Yes. Actually. I am.”

  With that, Cassie gets to her feet and heads back to the buffet.

  “So, y
ou seriously don’t remember last night?”

  I shake my head and grab my glass of water.

  “That good, huh? Did you meet some chick at the bar?”

  I frown. “Actually, no. I spent the entire night with Cass.”

  Natalie’s eyebrows lift with amused curiosity. “Do tell.”

  “Not like that,” I clarify.

  “How do you know? Neither of you seem to remember.”

  It’s true I don’t remember, but I would know if I slept with Cassie last night. Hell, I’d like to think I wouldn’t forget if we kissed. Which I pray we didn’t do because seriously. This is Cassie. The last thing I want to do is go and fuck up our friendship. Nothing could possibly ruin it faster than me kissing her. And it would likely suffer a fiery demise if I fucked her, too.

  “Well, maybe when we go out, it’ll spur your memories.”

  Maybe.

  Although, something tells me that remembering could quite possibly change my life.

  Cassie

  Going out two nights in a row shouldn’t be difficult for me. I mean, like Natalie said, I’m only twenty-eight. However, last night was brutal. Not only did I drink too much, I drank so much that I can’t even remember what the hell Chase and I did.

  But it’s time for me to put that in the past and move on. Natalie has already texted me twice to make sure I’m getting ready. I haven’t bothered to text her back. After all, I owe her. She put me in the same room with Chase; therefore, she deserves to sit there and wonder. Not that she is. Knowing Natalie, she’s already down in the hotel bar knocking back some drinks and flirting with Mark.

  A light knock sounds on my bedroom door, followed by “You about ready?”

  I give myself another once-over in the mirror. I’ve been ready for twenty minutes, so the simple answer is yes. If it weren’t for the fact that I’m second-guessing my outfit, I would probably be down in the bar right now, too.

  “Almost,” I say. Even I notice that I sound defeated.

  “You decent?”

  I chuckle. “Define decent.”

  Chase steps into the doorway and I peer at him through the reflection in the mirror. His eyes instantly widen and the flash of approval that brightens his gaze sends a weird hum through me.