“Jesus, Court! Do you know I have ONE duffle bag?” I shook my head at her and just laughed. After the boys shoved the bags into the car and managed to shut the trunk, we set off for the airport. Court and I had decided that we were going to hit the strip and possibly a male revue. I could hear the guys talking about heading to just a club and having a few drinks.
We finally made it to the airport, apparently late morning traffic on a Friday the highway was just as bad as it is on a Friday at 4pm. We all agreed that sitting down for breakfast was not going to be a possibility so thank goodness for McDonald’s in the airport. I was starving anyway and I could only imagine the hunger that Courtney was experiencing. We scarfed down our breakfast sandwiches and headed towards our gate.
Liam held my hand as we waited to board and snuck in kisses here and there. I caught Court staring over with looks of disapproval. I wanted to ask her what was up, but we had plenty of girl time together later. I was so ready to be lounging by the pool with drink in hand.
We all tried to sit together but ended up sitting across the aisle from the two of them. Liam and I snuggled up together and played a puzzle on his phone. Courtney had cuddled up to Jason, as well, but she ended up falling asleep. I could never sleep on a plane but she made it look so incredibly peaceful.
Thankfully the flight was smooth all the way to Vegas. I hated flying as it was and when you add turbulence to the mix, I was just a hot mess. After we landed we had quickly gathered up our bags, Courtney’s luggage set and headed to find a cab. We all were surprised when we saw a sign reading GOODSON WEDDING PARTY.
Courtney turned with a smile and found that Jason was nodding at her.
“Did you do this?” Courtney squeaked and wrapped her arms around Jason who was already loaded bags. “Yes, I wanted you to ride to our hotel in comfort. I also got it for you girls, if you’re going out tonight.” Jason said as he tried to hug her back, but instead gave her a quick kiss and led her to the stretched Hummer.
We all piled into the luxurious limo and headed tothe hotel. The entire time that we were in the car, Courtney and Jason were all over each other.
“Get a room you two!” I joked.
I could hear her giggle and whisper something to Jason and then they straightened up. We finally arrived at the hotel and found that when you pull up to the hotel in a limo you get the complete A-Lister service. Bellhops surrounded us making sure that all of our bags were tended to and asked if we needed anything prior to checking-in to the room.
While the guys checked us in, Courtney and I were checking over some of the nightlife scenes around the strip and just ended up deciding on heading to the Coyote Ugly and that way we could dance and I could have a few drinks. First thing was first, though; get into our rooms and hit the poolside.
“Okay, so we’ll meet down at the pool in an hour? Did we get the cabana for sure?” I asked anyone that was paying attention, as we rode the elevator to our floor.
“I show, hang on.” She paused as she glanced over a piece of paper. “That we do have the Cabana! So, we will see you in an hour!” Court said excitedly. As she and Jason headed towards their room. Liam and I walked down the hallway to our suite. The room and the view were equally amazing. We somehow lucked out and got a view of the strip. I did a quick bounce on the bed and sprawled out in the middle as the blankets swallowed me in.
“Comfy?” Liam asked as he sat down next to me.
“This bed is amazing! So, yes I am extremely comfy.” I smiled at him. I began to act as if I were falling asleep. “Before you fall asleep.” He paused and leaned in for a kiss on my neck. “Would you like to break in the room?” He whispered into my ear.
He climbed up on top of me and started to kiss me up and down my neck and nibbling on my ear. I don’t know why it felt so incredibly wrong, but I lightly gave him a push on the shoulders. He lifted himself up and gave me a look of disappointment.
“Ryleigh, are you serious? We haven’t had sex in a few weeks now!” He huffed out. “Look, Liam. I am still really hurt by you! I just, I don’t know. I want to but I just don’t think I can. Can we just enjoy the rest of this weekend without arguing? I would like to just spend time with you.” I desperately looked at him.
“Yeah. I guess.” He tried to be in agreement with me, but I knew that he was getting more disappointed with me by the minute. We laid in bed watching tv while we waited to head back down to the pool to meet up with Courtney and Jason. I felt like I was going to fall asleep, so I pushed myself up and explored the suite. We had a full mini bar and the view really was amazing. I constantly felt like I was checking the clock. When it got closer to our meet up time I unpacked my new bikini and was thrilled about finally getting to wear it.
“I don’t know how long I am going to be able to keep my hands off you, especially when you are wearing something like that!” Liam said as he handed me a towel. “Look, I love you. Maybe we can really try to be intimate this weekend?” He almost sounded like he was begging.
“Yeah, we can try. I am sorry. I just think it was the flight, my stomach is a little upset, so yeah let’s try later.” I smiled. “You think the bathing suit looks okay then?” I asked with a wink. He grabbed my ass as we headed out the door.
We headed down the hallway and literally ran into Jason.
“Oops! Sorry Jason!” I leaned in and gave him a quick hug. “Is Court coming?” I asked looking around the corner. “Actually kinda glad I ran into you, can you go in there and talk to her? She is upset because she thinks she looks huge in her bathing suit and doesn’t feel like coming down to the pool now.” Jason said shaking his head. I could tell he was worn out from trying to talk to her and obviously was having no such luck.
“Oh, of course! Honey, why don’t you and Jason head on down. We are supposed to be set up in Cabana Four. If you get a chance, can you order me a margarita? I will be down in a few minutes.” I leaned in and gave Liam a kiss. “Jason, don’t worry, okay? She will be just fine.” I said with a smile.
“Dude, I will be there in just a second. Mind if I talk to Ry for a second?” Jason asked Liam. Liam shook his head and gave me a wink as he headed for the bank of elevators. “Thanks for your help, Ryleigh. It’s been a rough week, her hormones are insane. I know that she’s pregnant but, I mean when she told me what she was hearing from Caleb about what was going on with you and him and then Liam.” I interrupted him.
“Wait! What? She’s been talking to Caleb?” I could feel my heart begin to race.
“Shit. She didn’t tell you? Fuck! Ryleigh, I thought you knew! Fuck! Look, please don’t say anything to her about what I just said. I know that you don’t want to believe it right now, but she means well and…” He paused. “Ry, look, Courtney didn’t mean to go over your head, and then Caleb called her and needed a friend to talk to. He was really down about what happened between you two.” He paused and shook his head. “I met him one night, gotta say, he is a really cool guy. Just saying.” He tried to give me his million dollar smile that Courtney always is trying to brag about. I was just a little hurt at the whole situation to fall for it.
“She’s in the room?” I said coldly. “Yeah, just be nice. She really is emotional aboutthe bathing suit, but then when we got to our room she broke down saying she had to come clean to you. It was easy to hide when she wasn’t so close to you, but now she is spending the weekend with you and doesn’t want to lose your friendship.” He said as he unlocked the door with his keycard and then began to head towards the elevators.
“Don’t worry. I am not mad. Shocked and a little hurt, but not mad.” I headed in and found Courtney coming out of her bathroom.
“Hi.” I said quietly. “I see you got in your bathing suit after all.”
“So, he told you?” Court asked blowing her nose.
“Yeah, how’d you know?” I asked shocked.
“I could hear you guys by the door. I was going to come down and find you guys, but heard him talking to you. I broke down again.” She said as sh
e wiped her eyes.
“Court, you know you can tell me anything! I would never stop being your friend or talking to you for that matter. I love ya, no matter what! I am a little shocked that you talked to him!” “I know, but he didn’t want me to tell you though. He was really hurt the way things ended. Ryleigh, he loves you so much. I know he told you that, but theamount of passion he put behind it when he told me! I couldn’t believe that you let him go!” Courtney sounded astounded.
“Courtney, I. Am. Married. That is why I let him go. Yes, I screwed up and we slept together but…” Courtney interrupted me.
“Is that how you see it? That you two just slept together?” She asked confused.
“I don’t know. I know I felt a lot there between us, but Court I really, I mean, what was I going to do continue seeing him and going home to my husband?” I started to bite my nails. “No, you leave the scumbag and go get prince charming!” Court shouted. “I don’t think that I could. I don’t think I can. Courtney, I love you to death but let’s wait until this weekend is over with to talk about this. This is your big weekend and I want to have a great time away from everything.” I reached out to pull her into a hug.
“Alright. We can put this off until we go home. Can you do me a favor though?” She came in and hugged me back.
“Sure.” I said into her shoulder. “Don’t start having babies with Liam right yet. I love you and I think you will be a wonderful mother, but I don’t think that you guys are ready. I think that you have a lot of issues and I don’t know if I trust him enough for you to start a family. I know it’s not my choice when you start, but just wait for a little bit, please?” She squeezed me a little harder.
“I promise. I don’t think that I am quite ready for that step anyway.” I said as I started for the door. “I wanna be able to spoil your little one anyway! Now, can we stop crying and fighting and go sit by the pool for a little while and then we can go have some fun tonight?”
“Yes! Let’s go!” She smiled and we headed downstairs. The pool was amazing, the water was just the right temperature and the weather was just absolutely perfect. The boys decided to stay in the water while we decided to lay in the sun for a little bit and grab a snack. Liam had ordered all of us a margarita. I had taken a couple sips but it didn’t seem to sit right, so I quickly ordered lemonade.
“Court, quick question?” I asked.
“Sure, what’s up?” She asked popping some grapes into her mouth.
“Were you out with Caleb the other night when I called you?” I smiled over at her.
She about choked on her grapes. I thought I was going to have to perform the Heimlich maneuver on her!
“I will take that as a yes. Bitch.” I laughed at her. “You should’ve choked!” I joked with her.
“Yeah, I told him that we were going to be in Vegas for my wedding. He wanted to give us a wedding gift and then ask about you. I knew that he really onlywanted to talk about you.” She said with a wink.
“Like what kind of stuff does he say?” I asked curiously as I grabbed some grapes as well.
“I don’t know. He mostly wants to make sure you are okay. He asked if you are really happy with Liam.” She sat down in the lounge chair next to me and signaled for the waiter to come over. “What do you tell him?” I said noticing my voice going up an octave. “I tell him the truth, Ryleigh. I tell him that you are okay, but not sure what is going on right now. As far as you and Liam, I gotta be honest. I don’t know how you two are. Like right now, I would have to tell him that you are good. A couple weeks ago, I would have said miserable.” She popped a few more grapes in her mouth and then turned on her side. “So, Ryleigh, how are you guys?”
“We’ve been good. Things are starting to feel like they are getting back to normal, I guess.” I shrugged.
“You guess? What do you mean?” Court asked confused.
Just as I was going to answer, Jason and Liam came walking up. I decided it best to wait until we were alone again to talk more about this.
“Hi guys, have you thought about what you are doing tonight? Jason, baby, this is your last night as a bachelor! You gonna be okay?” Court asked as she got up to hug him, laughing all the while.
“I’m sure that I will survive.” He chuckled and then grabbed her ass. Then I thought that my heart melted as I saw him lean down to her bare belly andgave it a sweet kiss.
“That has to be the sweetest thing I have ever seen, Jason.” I said sweetly. He turned and just smiled. Liam shook his head as if he was thinking I was a total sap. Our waiter then came over and we all ordered another round of drinks and some food. Courtney was sad that she couldn’t enjoy the drinking festivities but was more than happy to order a burger and some greasy fries. I laughed with her and ordered the same.
“After lunch, I say we head in and go get our nails and hair done then relax. We can head out about 9pm?” I asked.
“I think that would be great!” At that point I don’t know if she was excited about going to get dolled up or the fact that our food was coming over to us. I laughed and shook my head. I couldn’t tell who enjoyed their food more, me or Courtney. The guys had ordered burgers but each got a different kind, they both had some sort of critique over the burger but I was in love with my food. I was not a picky eater and I definitely loved meat,it wasn’t so much how it was cooked but the flavors. I just knew that this was the best burger ever.
As we were eating, I know I wasn’t the only one that saw her. A beautiful blonde woman had come out of the water and headed to the cabana two down from us. You would have thought that I was nonexistent to Liam after that moment. He had just stared at her like she was a piece of meat and he had not eaten in months.
“Liam, darling? Would you like to stick your tongue back in your mouth?” I asked rudely. “You’re such a dog!” Courtney said as she rolled her eyes. I was definitely feeling a little hurt at the fact that he didn’t try to make it conspicuous, but rather made it completely obvious. I put my plate down and signaled for Courtney to head in. I needed to break away for a second and now was as good a time as ever to start getting our pampering.
Courtney kissed Jason and then whispered something in his ear and he smiled and then followed me in. I didn’t bother saying goodbye to Liam.
It wasn’t until we had reached the door that Liam caught up with me.
“Ryleigh! I didn’t know that looking at someone was going to get me in so much trouble!” He said angrily. “No, Liam. Go ahead look all you want. It’s the fact that you made it so obvious that you were drooling all over her, RIGHT in front of me! The fact that you didn’t even care to think of how that might make me feel, that’s what hurts me!” I tried to hold back the hurt in my voice. I didn’t want to have this conversation anymore; I turned my back on him and walked into the hotel.
This time he didn’t bother to follow.
“Ryleigh, you okay?” I looked up to see Courtney waiting by the entrance to the salon. “Yeah, I guess. That fucking pissed me off. I’m not innocent, I will check out other guys. Hell, I will drool all over them, but come on! I don’t make it obvious when my HUSBAND is right there next to me!” I was really irritated.
“I thought it was disgusting. I know that Jason caught a glimpse; he wouldn’t be a guy if he didn’t. I just didn’t see him rolling up his tongue. Don’t let him get to you; we’re going to have some fun!” Court grabbed my arm and we headed into the salon.
We both had the most amazing pedicures and manicures. These ladies definitely made us feel extremely relaxed and after the scene at the pool, it was exactly what I needed. As Court was having her hair washed, I decided to do something a little drastic; I had the stylist cut my hair into a bob! My, past my shoulder length hair was chopped up to my chin. I thought I was going to cry, but in the end was rather happy with my new decision.
Court came around the corner to see my new style and I thought her jaw was going to drop to the floor.
“Oh. My. God! Wow! You look g
reat with shorter hair!” She squealed.
“You think so? I was nervous about it, but I wanted to do something different. Do you think Liam is going to shit?” I asked biting my nails. “Quit biting your nails! Who cares what he thinks?I think you look hot! It’s my wedding and so that is all that matters!” She laughed and pulled me out of thechair. “Let’s go back up to the room and chill out, watch a movie and then we will start to get ready.What’d you say?”
“Sounds like a plan. My room or yours?” I asked checking myself in the mirror once again before leaving the salon. We headed to the bank of elevators to head back up to our floor.
“Mine. I don’t really want to see Liam, sorry. He kind of ruined my day and honestly I don’t want him to ruin the rest of my weekend. So needless to say, I really don’t want to be around him very much this weekend, sorry.” Court said with as a matter of fact attitude.
“I understand. I kinda feel that this was a breaking point.” I said seriously.
“What do you mean Ry?” Court asked as we entered the elevator. “Court, you and Jason have this amazing relationship. I always thought that I had that with Liam. We have always been happy and have had a lot of fun together. Then when I saw Jason kiss your belly, I almost cried! Not because it was the sweetest thing ever, but more because Liam saw it and he rolled his eyes and shook his head. He almost seemed as if it disgusted him. That to me is a big deal, I don’t want to feel like that I am so unimaginably disgusting when or rather IF we were to get pregnant and feel horrible the 9 months. I want him to cherish me as much as Jason does to you and he can’t even keep his hands to himself!”
“So what are you saying? Are you thinking that you’re going to leave him?” She looked back up at me as we exited our floor and headed to her room. “I don’t know. I can honestly say that I can’t picture myself having kids with him anymore. I thought that this weekend was going to bring us closer and its actually driving us more apart.” I could tell I was more shocked at myself for saying this all out loud rather than thinking it, but it was all starting to make more sense as I said it.
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