by Cari Quinn
Chloe hid her head under her pillow. “I can’t think about eating.”
Jinx stumbled out of bed. “Oh, it’s all grease. Bless you.”
“Definitely not eating.” Chloe curled into ball.
“It’s bacon,” Jinx spoke around her food, “and pancakes with real syrup.” She bounced onto the bed.
“Get off the bed with that.”
“Shut up, Mom.” Jinx flipped back the bedclothes. “Bacon.”
Chloe yanked back the covers. “I don’t care.” But her stomach started to grumble. They hadn’t really eaten anything but the damn salads the night before. Which of course was why the drinks had hit her like a freaking sledgehammer.
“Bacon,” Jinx sang.
Chloe sat up and filched a piece from her plate and shoved it in her mouth. “Happy?” She groaned as the salt and deliciousness hit her tongue. “Oh, man.” She rolled onto her knees and when the contents of her stomach didn’t rebel, she stole half of a silver dollar pancake.
“Get your own.”
Ivy crossed the room. “Here you go.”
“See, one of the Johnsons loves me.” She took the plate from Ivy. “Thank you.” She folded her pancake around the bacon and dipped it in the little cup of syrup. “Glorious.” She inched back against the huge headboard. “Please tell me you didn’t go work out,” she said around another bite of salt and carbs.
Ivy grinned and plopped down on the bottom of the bed. “I ran off my sins. Kills the rest of the hangover.”
“Still not doing it,” Jinx muttered around her food.
Chloe held out her little breakfast sandwich toward Jinx. “Hear, hear.”
Jinx tapped her bacon against Chloe’s food. “Damn straight.”
Ivy rolled her eyes. “Well, you snooze, you lose. I get the shower first.”
Jinx collapsed back against her pillows. “Well, at least I don’t have to worry about her using up all the hot water for once.”
Chloe curled her arms around her knees. “I obviously have to make an appearance at the show tonight, but I think we’re pretty much open for anything else today.”
“Good. Because I was looking on my phone last night. You know when you two were sawing off logs.”
“I do not snore.”
“Sure, you don’t. At least you’re not as loud as my sister. She barely makes a peep normally. Put tequila into her and holy crap.”
“Is that why I got a bedmate this morning?” Chloe asked.
“It was either that or suffocate her.” Jinx picked at the edge of her nail. “I don’t look good in orange. We should do nails today. Mine are already raggedy.”
Subject change. As usual with Jinx, she said whatever came off the top of her head.
Chloe slid off the bed and padded to the cart of food. She took a croissant and a big bottle of water. “Want?”
“Coffee?” Jinx crawled down the bed with a hopeful look. “My sister did the ordering so it might not be included. She’s a sadist.”
“I don’t know how she survives without it, but no, there’s two huge mugs on here.”
“Awesome. I don’t have to kill her after all.” Jinx leaped off the bed.
They bumped hips as they reached for creamer and sugar on the small cart. Coffee helped with the dead animal taste in Chloe’s mouth, but she desperately wanted a shower.
And her toothbrush.
Luckily, Jinx wasn’t paying attention when Ivy came out, so Chloe sprinted for the bathroom and slammed the door in her face with smile. The fact that she rarely was allowed a leisurely shower made her linger a little longer than she normally would.
A twang of homesickness started to grow, but she sloughed it away with an orange blossom scrub she’d found on the counter. Talk about high-end cosmetics. Some were from the spa, but the ones offered by the hotel were just as luxurious.
Scrubbed pink as a lobster, she finally gave into the pounding from Jinx. She shrugged on her robe of glory and made a turban with her towel for her hair. A plume of steam escaped as she opened the door. “So impatient.”
“Dude, you were in there for days.”
“The day you have a two-year-old is the day I’ll feel sorry for taking extra time.”
“Bah.” Jinx gathered all her toiletries and sailed through the door. “If you used all the hot water, I’m cutting off your hair and selling it on eBay.”
“Is everything violence with you?”
Jinx turned around with a tight smile. “I said cut your hair, not scalp you, didn’t I?” And she shut the door.
Ivy was sprawled on the bed nearest the window. She swung her crossed ankles. “She’s in a surprisingly good mood this morning—well, afternoon now.”
“Not sure how you guys do the living together thing.”
“Eh. We just stay out of each other’s way on the shitty days. Otherwise she’s barely home anyway.”
Jinx worked more jobs than she did, and that included motherhood.
“So, my sister mentioned nails. There’s a cool mani-pedi place on the seventeenth floor we can try. Maybe change up our color for our new outfits. There’s a bunch of eateries there too. Hydrate up for tonight.”
Chloe sat on the edge of the bed. “Yeah, the concert will definitely require that.” She was excited to see Brooklyn Dawn. They were one of her favorite bands. Oh, to be lush and blond with hair down to her ass. Not to mention having men drool over her. Lindsey York was amazing, and her voice was kickass.
There’d been a time when she’d longed for that kind of life. Dating a rockstar had been thrilling at first, then reality had splashed a bucket of cold water on that dream. She’d hated wondering where Snake was every night and had hated even more that trust was in short supply.
She’d never had proof that he was unfaithful, but she’d been too afraid to dig for answers. He’d tried desperately to get clean so many times. She’d wanted to believe in him. Longed to believe in him with each hopeful smile he’d given her.
God, she’d swallowed every one of his lies. For her own sake, and for the life that had been growing inside of her. Axl hadn’t been planned, but he was the very best of both of them. Snake’s charm and crooked smile, her ease with people.
Ivy rolled to a sitting position and snapped her fingers. “Earth to Chloe.”
“Sorry.”
“Axl’s fine.”
Chloe rolled her eyes and gave her friend a sheepish grin. “For once it wasn’t Axl.”
“Oh.” Ivy nibbled on her lower lip. “Snake?”
“Yeah. Usually I’m too busy to think about him, to be honest. I’m not used to being free to do what I want.”
“You deserve some fun. Sunday we can go back to being responsible people.”
“You’re right.”
“See? I don’t get to hear that one often.” Ivy stood up and wiggled her hips until her shorts straightened out. “We may not be gambling types, but we are definitely exploring types. And we don’t even have to leave the hotel. Which is a good thing.” She picked up her phone. “It’s, ummm, one-hundred-and-fourteen degrees outside.”
Chloe flinched. “That’s hideous.”
“Yeah. So, air-conditioned hotel it is. We’ll get all beautified and find some new outfits.”
Chloe scrunched up her shoulders. “I brought stuff.”
“Come on. When do you get spoiled? This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
“Nick is just being nice.” And he already spoiled her son plenty.
“Our mere thousand dollars’ worth of—”
“Thousand?” Chloe spluttered. “More like three.”
“It’s chump change to him. He probably spends that on guitar strings.”
Chloe hauled her suitcase onto the bed and pulled out shorts and a very cute Target top. This was plenty for her. She didn’t need three-hundred-dollar shirts. “That’s not the point.” Where the hell was her bra?
“Just check your phone, would you?”
Chloe stopped digging and
looked up. “What about my phone?”
“You got a text. I didn’t look at it really. Well, I looked to make sure it wasn’t Axl—”
Chloe crossed to the bedside table where her phone was plugged in. She perched on the side of the bed and nibbled the edge of her nail. “It’s from Nick.”
“Read it.”
She was afraid to swipe it up to look at it.
Just look, you idiot.
Hey C – that tab seems way too small for three babes. You aren’t spending your own money, are you?
Another text had come ten minutes later, according to the stamp.
I’ll kick your ass if you’re spending your own money. Consider it a late Christmas present, for fuck’s sake. Have fun. That’s an order.
Don’t make me come down there.
Chloe couldn’t help but laugh. She could hear his gruff voice in her ear as she read the text. He really was the sweetest guy on the planet, with a grumpy bedside manner. Even back when they were kids fumbling in the dark, he’d been far kinder than a lot of the guys she’d been with.
We’re behaving, that’s all.
He replied almost immediately.
Well, stop it.
Who are you? You’re usually arguing for a sale price.
Retail fuckers can give me a discount. They already marked it up 200%. This is Vegas. You don’t look at the check. You just sign. Don’t make me find Jinx. I know she’ll spend my money.
All right. Jeez. Understood.
See you at the show. Buy all the things.
She laughed. “All right. Looks like we’re spending all the money today.”
“I heard that,” Jinx yelled from the bathroom.
“Of course you did.” Chloe quickly got dressed and put on a light touch of makeup. By the time Jinx got out of the bathroom, they were all ready to go.
Hangovers a thing of the past, they did a bit of retail therapy. Clothing, makeup, and of course a manicure killed a few hours. They refueled with coffee and frozen custard before another round of shopping. They put themselves in Meri’s capable hands. By the time they walked out of Luxe, she’d been numbed to the idea of signing her name to every damn receipt that day.
She soothed herself with a walk through the shark exhibit, which they pre-gamed with a frozen drink called Shark Attack. There was much rum involved. And much more laughter as they shared an appetizer under a few thousand pounds of water with a terrifying number of predators swimming right over their heads.
Jinx dunked her deep fried mozzarella medallion in the spicy dipping sauce. “So, we have Warning Sign, Brooklyn Dawn, and Oblivion at the show tonight? How the hell are we going to survive that?”
“Earplugs?” Ivy asked.
Chloe elbowed Ivy. “I think she meant more of a triple threat of awesome.”
“You know I love a good show. Are you sure I can’t lure Deacon away from his wife?” Jinx chewed thoughtfully. “He seems to like blonds. I might even let him call me wifey’s name. What was that again? Helen?”
“Harper,” Chloe said with a laugh. She knew Deacon far too well. The girls had met him at the Christmas party at Nick and Lila’s new house. He was huge, tattooed, and disgustingly devoted to his wife. “Sorry, not a chance.”
“Damn. He’s probably a fucking stallion. Those thighs and shoulders…ugh. That back tattoo. So wrong.”
Chloe picked around the dregs of their sampler platter and found a crab fry. “It’s like lusting after a brother.”
“Even Nick?” Jinx grinned as she took another sip of Shark Attack number two.
Chloe coughed around the last bite of her fry. “Nick was a long time ago.”
“And we’ve never gotten the details.”
“And you never will.” Chloe gulped down half a glass of water.
“That bad?”
“Teenage sex is not something I think about anymore.”
Ivy sat back in her chair as she spun her drink in a puddle of condensation. “My best sexual encounter was at seventeen. Of course he was twenty-two.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Unfortunately, most have been duds ever since.”
Jinx blew raspberries. “That’s because you pick prudish bookish types.”
“Oh, I should go for the tattooed, biker assholes you go for?”
Chloe grinned behind the rim of her glass. This was a conversation they had almost weekly, and it never stopped being entertaining. And it reminded her—eternally—why she was firmly out of the dating pool these days.
“Don’t go grinning over there.” Jinx laced her fingers over her middle as she tipped back in her chair. “You wouldn’t know an orgasm if it bit you on the boob.”
Chloe frowned at her, then looked around the room. There were a lot of kids in this particular restaurant. “Really?”
“What, like they haven’t heard the word ‘boob’ before? Some of them are still on the boob, for God’s sake.”
Okay. Time to go. Jinx a little rowdy in a bar was one thing. In a family restaurant—well, at least partially a family restaurant? Yep, time to split. Those Shark Attacks were potent enough that she signaled the waitress for the check.
Room number flashy-flashy and they were out and about again.
“Why are you being such a prude? This is Vegas.”
“Look, I’m a mom too.”
“Not this weekend you’re not.” Jinx batted Chloe’s hand away as she pulled her down the huge domed hallway.
“I’m always a mom. It comes with the kid.”
She didn’t want to ruin anyone’s fun. And okay, she was probably overreacting a little. For the most part, she didn’t care about curling into bed with someone. Hell, she was barely conscious by the time she actually found her bed. Between her job and Axl’s less-than-awesome nighttime habits, she was always in the negative column when it came to sleep.
So no, a guy—especially one offering up an orgasm—was not high on her list. A guy offering to get up with an almost two-year-old who wanted a glass of water at two in the morning was more of a draw.
But there were times when she missed sex.
And seeing all the couples littering the hotel had given her more than one moment of jealousy. Sure, there were a number of families, but overall, Vegas was for lovers and people looking for a hook-up. And she couldn’t forget the gambling, though the three of them were more than willing to avoid the games.
She playfully ran around Jinx and pushed her toward the jewelry store that she’d been begging to go into since they’d started shopping. It was dangerous to put a woman with no self-control into that arena, but she didn’t want to fight.
She didn’t want to own up to wanting a little something more.
So, yeah, compromise using Nicky’s wallet. She tried not to wince when Jinx squealed and ran for the gemstone cases.
Ivy and Jinx cooed over diamonds and tanzanite in various settings. Chloe ran her fingertips over the gilded edges of the display cases. Having a toddler made her cognizant of keeping her fingerprints off the glass. Rubies fired, diamonds sparkled, amethysts gave off their cool, understated luminosity.
But it was the sapphires that drew her.
Had always been the deepest of blue that she loved. The ocean, the sky at night—a perfect mix of the two that was only found in the deepest and darkest blue of a perfect sapphire.
“Would you like to see something?”
Chloe curled her fingers into her palm at the sound of the male voice. “I’m fine.” She smiled at the older gentleman with silver at his temples. “You can take care of my friends. I’m sure they’ll make you a really nice sale.”
“I’m not worried about the sale.”
She raised a skeptical brow.
“I make plenty of sales, young lady. I’m more worried about finding the perfect piece for someone.”
“I’m sure.”
He held out his hand. “I’m Nathan.”
Manners had her accepting his handshake. “Chloe.”
“Now that’s a
beautiful name.”
“Thanks.”
He pulled a key away from his belt and slid the case open.
“Oh, don’t do that.” Her breath came out in a whoosh as he set the tray of sapphires on the glass top. Earrings, bracelets, and a host of pendants all fired off black velvet. Spotless, lintless, perfect velvet.
She couldn’t stop herself from drawing the edge of her nail across the tennis bracelet. Each sapphire was bisected by a diamond. Beyond beautiful.
“They are, aren’t they?”
She hadn’t realized she’d said it out loud. “Yeah. I know most people go for the flash, but I’ve just always loved the deep blue.”
“As a personal preference, or because you know the deeper the blue, the more they’re worth?”
“Really?” She’d never done her homework about gemstones. They were always so far out of reach that she barely had a hint of want. “Just reminds me of the ocean at night. When the light hits it right, it just glows.”
“And that should always be the reason to love a gemstone. That’s true love right there.”
She shrugged. “Impossible love for me. I’m more likely to get a gumball from my son.”
“Son?”
She smiled. “Light of my life.” She took out her phone and flashed him the screensaver. Messy red hair and the biggest brown eyes she’d ever seen to go with the most mischievous smile ever captured on film. She saw it nearly every day, but it was rare to catch it in a photo.
“Now that tells a story.”
“Yeah, you have no idea.” She surreptitiously checked for a message from her father before she dropped her phone into the deep pocket of her shorts. “So, yeah. I’m definitely all about sticky peanut butter and jelly more than a pretty ring.”
“What about this one?” He slid away the tray of bigger stones to reveal a slim channel of sapphires and diamond rings tucked into more black velvet.
“Oh.” She immediately went for a ring at the edge of the display. A fragile line of diamonds and sapphires made up an infinity symbol on either side of the ring, with a larger sapphire in the center.
