Dylan yelled back, “I mean it, Pops. She’s in a strange city, she’s drinking. You can’t abandon her. If you can’t promise, tell me now and I’ll stay. Can you get her to her room later?”
Alex grimaced at him. “Chill out, Dyl. She’ll be fine. I’m not going to leave her. Why would I?” He winked.
“Get that look out of your eye. She’s off limits.”
“D-Barnes,” Alex shouted over the beat. “Why do you get to monopolize all the women?”
“Not all. Just two. Seriously, stay away. She’s engaged,” Dylan said.
Screwing with Dylan was so easy, Alex couldn’t resist. “I don’t see a ring. I think she’s into me.”
“Fuck you, Alex. I’m going. See you tomorrow.”
Dylan said something to Clare, then kissed her cheek. He patted Alex’s arm as he walked away.
An hour or so later, Clare and Alex entered their hotel, exhausted, and made their way through the busy casino.
“There are so many people here,” Clare said. “Nobody sleeps in this town?”
“Too much to do,” Alex said. “The night is young, Clare from Nebraska.”
“Well, let’s go explore, Alex from Brooklyn.”
After a quick stop in the hotel room to grab Clare’s camera and supplies from the minibar, they walked the Strip with the thousands of happy tourists.
The lights and sounds of Sin City provided the backdrop for their conversation. They talked about Nebraska, baseball, and Los Angeles. They talked about photography, horses, and Vegas. Finally, Clare stopped walking and spun around. “What do you think?” she asked, pointing behind him. “Possible photo?”
Alex followed her gaze. The Strip stretched before them, glowing. Almost every hotel could be seen. “Perfect.”
“I wish I wasn’t so gosh-darned short, though,” she said. “Hey, give me a boost.”
“A boost? I’m way too drunk to boost anything right now.”
“Come on, don’t be a baby. Just squat down and I’ll hop on your shoulders.”
Alex hesitated.
“Are all you New York people so boring? You have the same look on your face that Dylan gets when I ask him to do something for me. Let’s go. Squat.”
Well, okay. He squatted, and Clare hiked up her skirt and hopped onto his shoulders, wrapping her legs around his neck.
“Now stand,” she said.
Alex got his bearings and carefully stood with Clare on his shoulders. His cheek rested on her thigh, and he felt her smooth skin. “Your thigh smells like soap,” he said.
“Soap’s a good smell, right?” she asked, wiggling around with the camera.
“It’s not bad. I’m sort of getting turned on right now.”
“Well, turn off. Dylan warned me about you. I hear a cool breeze can turn you on.” She steadied, and the camera clicked.
“That son of a bitch,” Alex said. “Fucking Barnes.”
After Clare snapped a couple of pictures, Alex helped her climb off. “So, how long have you been in love with him?” He sat down on the side of the street and pulled out the minibar bottles from Clare’s camera case.
“Excuse me?”
“Come on. You can be honest with me. It’s pretty obvious.”
Clare blushed as she sat next to him and took a bottle. “I am not in love with Dylan. We’re—”
“Just friends,” Alex finished. “Um-hmm, right.”
“He told me you had an obnoxious streak,” she said, twisting open her tiny bottle.
They sat on the ground at the very beginning, or end, of the Strip, downing their drinks. Clare fooled around with her camera. “How long have you been in love with Jenna?” She picked it up and snapped his picture.
Alex thought about lying or making a smartass comment but knew he didn’t have to. “Since about five minutes after I met her.”
“That long? I think that’s a record from what I hear from Dylan.”
Alex smiled and Clare stared into the sky. “Gosh, aren’t they just so perfect for each other?” she said.
“It’s fucking annoying, right?” Alex tried to look at the sky too, ignoring his spinning head.
“Why does she have to be so tall?” Clare asked, more to herself than him.
“Yeah, and he’s so…”
“Gosh-darned amazing,” Clare finished.
“That’s what I was going to say. Gosh-darned amazing.”
He offered her his hands and pulled her up until she was in his arms, then danced with her on the sidewalk. “You sure are cute, Clare from Nebraska. I think you’d be really easy to love,” he said, checking her out as they swayed together. “I could show you a good time.”
Clare laughed. “Alex from Brooklyn, I do appreciate the offer. You look very yummy yourself, but unfortunately I have too many man problems to add a drunken romp with you to the list.”
“It’s probably better that way. Dylan said he’d murder me if I touched you.”
“Great,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. “Not only is he clogging my emotional progress, he’s literally cockblocking me too.”
“You said ‘cock’!” Alex teased.
“Vegas. This city does crazy things to people, huh?” Clare joked.
They danced for a while, then started walking again. Eventually they found their way back to the hotel, and Alex invited her to his room. They sat on the bed and ordered room service.
Clare flipped through the channels. “This whole Jenna-Dylan thing is your fault,” she said. “You should be with her by now. What’s the holdup?”
“Me? If you had gone to the premiere in New York, he’d never have hooked up with Jenna.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“He thinks you’re engaged.”
“It’s complicated,” Clare said. “What’s your excuse?”
“Fear of commitment. Messed-up childhood. The usual. Basically scared to death.”
“Ah,” she said. “Letting the past control your present and future.”
Alex didn’t feel like psychoanalyzing himself. He kissed Clare on the top of the head and showered. By the time he finished, room service had arrived and Clare was asleep on his bed. He took off her shoes and tucked her in, then ate and watched television next to her.
In the middle of the night, Clare woke, startled to see she was with Alex. “Can I stay here?” she asked, exhausted.
He offered her one of his T-shirts, and she went to the bathroom, washed her face, and changed.
“Of course. I’ll be good. I promise,” he said.
“I’m not worried,” Clare said. “I like you, Alex Popovich. You’re an okay guy.”
“Thanks, Clare from Nebraska. I like you too. Now go to sleep.”
Alex shut off the television, and he and Clare got under the covers and fell into a sound sleep.
***
Dylan
“So fucking awesome,” Dylan said as Jenna woke him up by nibbling his earlobe. She’d been too tired to do anything but sleep last night, which suited Dylan. They’d made small talk and then fallen asleep within minutes. Now, though, Jenna’s tongue tickling his neck woke up every part of him.
Unfortunately, she pulled away. “We slept through the alarm. If I don’t get back to Scott’s room, he’s going to kill me. Walk me to the elevator?”
“Can I convince you to stay?” he asked before kissing her neck. Dylan sat on the side of the bed and pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. He watched Jenna dress in her pajamas, her hair falling over her back as she stretched her arms into her tank top. “Jen?”
She turned and smiled.
“Where’s this going?” Although he hadn’t formulated a formal speech, his heart found a way to say the words.
Jenna raised her eyebrows. “You’ve asked me that before,” she said. “I don’t know.” She moved toward him and grabbed his hand. “Does it have to go somewhere?”
Yes. He wanted a relationship that went somewhere. Maybe he didn’t the night he saw Jenna on the danc
e floor, but he did now. He wanted what his parents had and what Maggie couldn’t give him. Commitment.
But she had to dance today. I’m an asshole for doing this now. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s not the right time. I shouldn’t have brought it up.”
Jenna led him into the hallway and to the elevator. “We’ll talk about it later, okay?” She kissed him and pressed the Up button.
Nearby, a door clicked open. Dylan did a double take when Clare walked out of Alex’s room in Alex’s T-shirt and shorts, carrying her clothes. A sleepy Alex followed with her camera and gear.
When she saw Dylan, her eyes popped. “Oh, hey guys,” she said, her voice husky from sleep. “Where are you going?”
“I have to sneak back before Scott misses me,” Jenna said.
Dylan looked to Alex, who looked to Jenna, who looked to Clare.
“You missed a fun time last night,” Clare said, taking the camera equipment from Alex. “You’ll come out with us tonight, right, Jenna? You are going to do great today. Dylan, wanna get breakfast later? I need another hour or two of sleep.”
Clare yawned, and Dylan stood speechless, wanting to kill Alex. Strangle him right there for taking advantage of Clare. He held it together for Jenna’s sake. “Yeah, of course. Breakfast.”
The elevator dinged, and the girls stepped on. Dylan put his hand out to block Alex from joining them. “I’m going to talk to Alex for a minute. Jen, I’ll see you later?” He leaned in and kissed her. “You’re going to be fantastic.” He smiled and touched her cheek, then glared at Clare as the doors shut.
“What’s up?” Alex asked.
Dylan rubbed his face to wake himself up. “I told you, hands off Clare.”
“Relax, Dylan,” Alex said, scowling. “And fuck you, asshole. You just spent the night with your girlfriend. What do you care?”
“I asked you to stay away from her and get her back to her room, and you did neither.”
“You sound like her father chastising me like we missed curfew,” Alex said, walking away. Dylan followed as Alex stopped at his room and put the key card into the lock. “Clare’s a big girl. She can take care of herself. Maybe you should figure out why you’re so riled up about this,” he added as he shut the door and disappeared.
Dylan cursed Alex as he made his way back to his own room and plopped onto the bed, exhausted. His phone rang with a group text from Clare to him and Alex.
Clare: Breakfast at 9. Pool?
He ignored the message and shut his eyes. Nine meant he had three hours to sleep. Then he would go to breakfast and deal with whatever the hell was going on between Alex and Clare.
***
Dylan sat in the restaurant alone until Alex and Clare walked in together, smiling and talking. They slid into the same side of the booth across from him, and Dylan grimaced.
“Whoa,” Clare said. “What’s up, Lusty? You wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”
“Lusty?” Alex asked.
“It’s my nickname for him,” Clare said. “It’s innocent.”
“I’m fine,” Dylan mumbled. “Let’s order.”
They ate pancakes, eggs, bacon, and potatoes as if they hadn’t eaten in a week, drank a pot of coffee, and then headed to the pool. Although it was only ten in the morning, the temperature in Vegas was a solid eighty-two degrees and the sun was shining.
They found three lounge chairs in a corner, away from the few people out that early, so Dylan wouldn’t be noticed. Dylan sagged into his chair and hid behind sunglasses, feeling grumpy.
“Wow, Clare from Nebraska. You’ve got a bod, huh?” Alex teased.
Dylan rolled his eyes at Alex’s reaction to her red bikini.
“Shut up, Alex. Here,” she said, throwing a plastic sunscreen bottle at him. “Lotion me up.”
“With pleasure,” Alex said.
Dylan watched Alex as he squirted the lotion onto Clare’s back. “You’re doing it wrong,” he huffed. Clare’s sunscreen was usually his job. “Give it to me.”
Alex handed it to him, and Dylan twirled his finger, indicating to Clare to turn around.
She turned her back to him.
“You have to rub it in your hands before you put it on her back,” he said. Clare held her hair up. Her neck felt tiny under his hand as he rubbed in the lotion.
“Clare, can I do your ass?” Alex asked.
“Really, Alex?” Dylan scowled.
“You’re such a flirt,” she said to Alex. Dylan recognized her playful tone as she took the bottle.
Alex brazenly watched her douse herself in lotion as Dylan glanced at her from behind his sunglasses.
“Oh, Clare,” Alex whispered, “I’d love to get my hands on you—”
She threw the bottle at Alex, hitting him in the shoulder.
“Ouch!” he said, rubbing his shoulder. A red mark formed where it had hit him. “Jenna throws things all the time, but she never hits me. You have a good arm. We should play catch later.”
She ignored Alex and turned to Dylan. “Speaking of Jenna, how is she? Nervous?”
“She seemed more nervous about Scott finding out she was with me last night than the competition. Hey, did you do your ears?” he asked.
“I did, I think.” Clare turned her face to the sun.
“We’re in the desert. Do them again,” he demanded. He waved at Alex, who threw him the bottle. He caught it with one hand and handed it to Clare.
“Okay, okay,” she said, squeezing the lotion into her hands. “Jenna’s a pro. She’s prepared. She’ll do great.”
“Hopefully you didn’t tire her out. You two are like rabbits,” Alex muttered under his breath.
Clare giggled. “I’m sure she’s fine, Alex. A little lovin’ won’t tire her out.”
“Obviously, you’ve never been loved by D-Barnes,” Alex teased.
“Oh and you have?”
“I’ve heard the rumors.”
Dylan concentrated on remaining miserable.
“You are so inappropriate,” Clare said to Alex. Then to Dylan, “Is he always this inappropriate?”
“Yes,” Dylan answered. “Don’t listen to anything he says. He gets around beautiful women and then spurts out nonsense.”
“All you have to do for a woman’s attention is smile. I have to work to get my women,” Alex said, then growled at Clare.
“Stop making animal noises at me. There are plenty of women in Vegas besides me,” she said.
“You’re the one he’s spending his nights with,” Dylan mumbled.
Clare and Alex stared at him, eyes wide, but he didn’t care. He ignored them and went back to sulking.
“On that note,” Alex said, “I’m going to take a swim.” He jumped into the pool, splashing water at Clare as he swam away.
She squealed. “Gosh, he is a pain in the behind, isn’t he?”
Dylan didn’t answer.
“What’s your problem, Lusty?”
“I don’t have a problem,” he lied.
“Did you and Jenna have a fight?”
“Nope.”
“Why are you being so weird, then?” Clare asked, shaking his arm to get his attention.
Dylan knew he had no right to his feelings, but he glared at her anyway. “Alex, Clare?”
“What about him?”
The hot sun had already turned her shoulders into one giant freckle. He sat up and rubbed her shoulders roughly, adding more lotion. “Ow, slow down,” she said as he frantically applied lotion to her back. “Give me that.” She grabbed the bottle and placed it on the ground.
“You spent the night with Alex.”
“So?”
“So?” Dylan said. “I thought you had more class than that.”
“Excuse me?”
Dylan cheered up, happy to engage and piss her off. “My best friend, Clare?”
Clare poked him in his bare chest. “You? Of all people. What about you and Jenna? You assaulted her in a bar, and now you have the audacity—”
>
“Audacity?”
“Yes, audacity to start a relationship with her without regard for Alex’s feelings. And then you beg me to come here with you and you abandon me—”
“I didn’t beg, Clare, and you knew I was coming to see Jenna.” He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “I didn’t think you were like that, that’s all. It was a little slutty of you.”
Clare stood over him, blocking his sun. “For your information, Dylan-I’m-so-perfect Barnes, I did not sleep with Alex last night. I mean…technically I slept with him…but we didn’t…you know. Not that it’s any of your business.”
“You didn’t?”
“No!”
Suddenly, he felt hot and fidgety under Clare’s glare.
“That being said, you are a jackass. A judgmental, hypocritical jackass, and I don’t feel like being around you anymore.” She grabbed her towel and her bag, stuck her chin in the air, and walked into the hotel. Heads turned to watch her stomp away in her red bikini.
Oh great. He had crossed a line. Still, he didn’t understand why the women he loved had to love Alex too. Did I just admit I love Clare? Of course he loved her. She was his friend—his friend who kissed like a maniac.
She’s engaged, Dylan repeated to himself for the hundredth time since Clare smashed her truck into his car. And he had Jenna. Beautiful, insatiable, adorable Jenna.
Dylan’s head hurt, so he shut his eyes and willed himself to relax. He pushed aside feelings of guilt for calling Clare a slut. Maybe that was awful, but too bad. She would come around. In the meantime, he would think about Jenna as he lay there next to the pool to enjoy the beautiful Vegas day.
Five seconds later, he sighed and stood up, then left to find Clare to apologize.
Chapter 28
Clare
Clare marched straight to her hotel room, threw her bag on the floor, except for her camera which she gently placed on the table, and ran a bath. She poured liquid soap into the water to make bubbles and peeled off her suit, hoping to scrub off all the suntan lotion cranky Dylan had rubbed into her skin.
As the tub filled, she wrapped herself in a towel and wandered into the room, plugged her camera in to charge, and pulled her book out of her bag. She had an hour until Jenna’s competition, and the idea of spending it reading in the tub sounded ideal.
The Love Square Page 24
