I bit my lip. “You don’t think this has already gone a little too far?”
We both looked over to see Megan bending over and grinding against one of the guys. She jostled her hips to the tune of the music and cried out, laughing and throwing her head back.
“She looks fine,” Amy said dismissively. “Come on.”
Amy and I rounded up Megan and the two other girls. When we told Megan that we were going upstairs, she jumped up and down out of excitement. She was grinning from ear to ear, and I somehow felt reassured that everything was going to be okay.
“This is so fun!” Megan chirped as the group of us walked to the elevator. She shot me a pointed glance. “This is the most fun we’ve had in a lifetime!”
The group of us sat around the hotel room. Megan and Amy kicked off the shoes and claimed one of the beds, while three guys sat on the edge of the second. Not wanting to share with them but unwilling to ask Megan to move, I stood nervously and toyed with my phone. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head.
“I’ll be right back,” I told the group. “I need to get something from our room.”
In the hallway, I dialed Stratton’s cell. My palms were sweaty and I kept sneaking glanced at the guys’ door to make sure that no one was coming out. When he didn’t answer, I cursed loudly and beat a fist against my thigh.
“Damnit!” I hissed, frantically hitting redial. This time, Stratton answered on the second ring.
“Hey,” he said. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you, I need to talk to you-“
“Not now,” I said quickly. “We’re with these guys at the casino resort, and they’re weirding me out. I have a really bad feeling about this.”
“So leave,” Stratton said sharply. “Go wait in your room, and I’ll come up there and get you.”
“I can’t leave Megan like this,” I told him. “Something might happen to her!” When the door to the room swung open, I artificially brightened my voice. “So it was great talking to you! Bye!”
I hung up quickly just as Aaron crossed the carpeted hallway. He put a hand on my shoulder; when I tried to brush it off he laughed.
“We were starting to think you got lost!” He joked. “Couldn’t find your way back?”
“Of course,” I lied. My phone vibrated in my hand and I snuck a peek at the screen just in time to see Stratton’s name.
“Is that your boyfriend?” Aaron laughed. “Don’t tell him you’re here.”
“Not exactly,” I said as he guided me back towards the room. But Aaron didn’t seem to hear me.
“Let’s all drink!” Aaron said as we went inside, pumping a fist to the ceiling. Everyone cheered and Megan shrieked and cackled.
“I’m getting married!” She cried happily. Her eyes looked bleary and I could tell that she was struggling to sit up on the bed. “Isn’t that great? You guys are my best friends!”
“Sure we are,” one of the guys on the bed said. He snickered and reached out to put his hand on her leg. Megan let it rest there for a few seconds before pretending to be outraged and batting it away. I turned to Aaron.
“She’s getting married soon,” I told him. “And she and Tyler are really in love, so I hope your friends aren’t thinking of trying anything.”
Aaron watched the scene on the bed with an amused glance. “I can tell she’s really committed,” he said casually. Anger bubbled through me but with his hulking frame next to me, I thought it unwise to comment.
I watched as Aaron crossed the room. He pulled a big bottle of whiskey out of a duffle bag, and started pouring it into paper cups. “Let’s all have a drink and relax,” he said. “Do I need to make yours a double?” He looked at me.
Megan cried out: “Yes! She needs to relax!” I blushed as everyone else in the room started cackling with laughter. Megan sprawled backwards on the bed, spit clinging to her chin. She reached up and wiped it off just as we made eye contact. “Love you!” She called to me.
“Love you too,” I said sarcastically. One of the guys handed me a cup so full of whiskey that the fumes hit me from a few feet away.
“Is this all for me?”
“Yup,” Aaron said. “Drink up, sweetheart.”
I wet my lips and took a tiny sip, gulping loudly. Aaron looked at me expectantly and gestured for me to drink more.
“Drink up,” he said with that big grin. “You’re not going to have fun just by standing there, are you?”
“Megan, I think we should go,” I said loudly, clearing my throat. “I’m really tired. We should go to sleep.”
Megan slumped down on the bed and waved her hand in the air. “Bully for you,” she said before hiccupping and giggling. “Just leave and we’ll meet up with you later.”
Cold panic gripped me when I realized she was too wasted to know what was going on. I shook my head. “It’s fine,” I said, trying to make my voice cheery. “I’ll stay. I’m sure this is fine.”
“Of course it is,” Aaron said in a suave voice. He pulled me close and we sat down on the edge of the bed, facing the wall. I decided to keep drinking – even pretend like I was drunker – and just keep an eye on Megan. Hopefully, I’d be able to get her out of the room when she passed out. Megan hadn’t ever known when it was time to stop drinking, and she had a habit of passing out in funny places. I remembered the disastrous night that Stratton had thrown her a party. She’d gotten hammered and passed out in the hallway after coming on to Stratton. The next day, she hadn’t remembered any of it. Now I was worried that one of these assholes was going to take advantage of her.
Aaron slipped an arm around my shoulders and I resisted the urge to pull it off. As we talked, I tried to recall everything I’d ever heard about keeping someone distracted. I asked him questions about everything that popped in my mind, just so I could keep him talking. It worked for a little while, but then I realized that he was getting irritated with me. He kept his arm propped around my shoulders the whole time and every couple of minutes, he’d start stroking my bare skin or slipping his fingers down the front of my dress.
“Hey,” I said, wriggling away. “That tickles!”
“I’m not trying to be funny,” Aaron said, pulling me closer. “Stop being so jumpy!”
Whenever I looked behind me to check on Megan, I wasn’t exactly cheered by what I saw. The guys were feeding her whiskey like it was water, and when she complained about being thirsty one of them handed her a cup with three shots in it.
“Drink this,” he said. “You’ll feel better.”
My façade of keeping cool shattered into pieces. Pushing Aaron’s arm off of my, I grabbed the cup away from Megan. “She can’t drink that,” I told them. “Come on, you know she’s already had too much.”
“Not enough to suck my dick,” one of them joked. The others laughed and slapped him on the back. Amy and I locked eyes from across the room.
“We’re gonna go now,” she chirped. “Come on, Megan.”
Megan’s head slumped over and she started to snore. One of the guys cheered and grabbed her bare ankles, tugging her down on the bed so she was lying on her back. As Amy and I walked closer, Aaron grabbed my arms. When I tried to push him away, he tightened his grip.
“Don’t be so feisty,” he told me, grinning. “You’ll get your turn, too.”
Amy got up and walked to the door, fumbling with the one. When one of the guys saw what she was doing, he grabbed her from behind and tossed her on the bed like a rag doll. The two other girls that had come with us were passed out on the floor, snoring softly.
“Help!” I cried right as Aaron slapped a hand over my mouth. “Help us!!”
“You’re coming with me,” Aaron said, giving me a nasty grin. He dragged me into the bathroom and shut the door. Through the door, I could hear the other guys jeering at Amy. She cried out sharply and there was a loud smacking sound, following by a soft thud. I cringed.
“They won’t hurt her,” Aaron. “At least not much.” He smiled at me. I backed into
a corner of the bathroom, shrieking for help and beating my fists on the walls. When I felt Aaron’s strong hands on my arms, adrenaline kicked in and I was somehow able to shove him away. Just as he came back and wrapped his fingers around my wrist, there was a loud banging sound. From the other side of the door, I heard muffled angry voices, followed by loud thumps and groans.
Aaron froze. He cocked his head to the door. Turning his eyes to me, he glared. “Stay here,” he ordered. “You think you can do that?”
I was too scared to move. Finally, Aaron pulled the bathroom door open, just a crack. Something on the other side forced it open all the way and Aaron fell to the ground. His head cracked against the sink with a sickeningly loud sound and I winced. When I saw who was on the other side of the door, my jaw dropped to the ground.
“Stratton!” I cried out, stepping forward over Aaron’s body and throwing myself into his arms. “How did you find us?”
Stratton wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. “After you called, I called the resort and told them you might be in trouble,” he said softly. “They didn’t listen to me, so I got a ride up here as fast as I could. When you didn’t answer your phone, I was scared that something had happened to you. Seems like I have a penchant for rescuing you from hotel bathrooms.”
Relief flooded my body and I felt tears coming to my eyes. “What happened to Megan? Is she okay?”
Stratton pulled me into the bedroom. There was a puddle of blood on the floor and I saw one of Aaron’s frat brothers knocked out cold. There was a bruise forming on the side of his cheek. Stratton held up his hand, showing me his bloody knuckles.
“I took care of him,” he said grimly. “But she’s passed out. And so is Amy.”
“Shit,” I muttered softly, closing my eyes. I sat down on the edge of the bed and put my head in my hands. I could feel everything I’d drunk that evening swirling around in my stomach and for a moment I thought I was going to be sick. When the moment passed, I looked up to see Stratton on the hotel phone.
“We have a situation in room fourteen-oh-two,” he said carefully. “Bring security up here, as fast as you can.”
Chapter Nine
Leda
When we were settled safely in my room, I looked at Stratton nervously. He was pacing around and looking at the floor, twisting his hands around.
“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I know I overreacted with Miriam. I’m really sorry, Stratton.”
He looked up at me and I saw concern flash over his face. “That’s over,” he said softly. “What do you want to do?”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“About us,” Stratton said. He sat down next to me on the bed. “I don’t want this to be the end, Leda. Seeing Miriam really put a lot of things into perspective for me. I realized that even though she and I have a past, there’s no future with her.”
I bit my lip. Somehow, the whole episode felt light-years away. Even further away than our trip to Aspen.
“Thank you for telling me,” I said softly. “What do you want?”
Stratton looked at me. His green eyes sparkled with an intensity I hadn’t seen in days. “I want you,” he said softly. “I love you, Leda.”
I searched his face. Every muscle, every pore seemed to be oozing sincerity. My heart started to flutter and some of the panicky adrenaline that I’d felt before slipped back into my bloodstream.
“I love you,” Stratton repeated. “And I want us to give this a real shot at working.”
“I thought I was pregnant,” I told him softly. “When we were in Aspen. I got my period when we got home, but I was so…disappointed. I couldn’t believe how sad I felt.”
Stratton looked into my eyes. “Do you want to have a baby?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “Maybe. But not right now.”
“What about with me?” Stratton reached into my lap and took ahold of my hand, squeezing my fingers in his. “Do you want to have a baby with me?” He smiled at me and desire mingled with love flooded my senses. “We might be good parents,” he joked. “But maybe not,” he added quickly. “All of this drama would have to die down first.”
I laughed shortly. It was true; the past year had been the most dramatic of my life. But through it all, through Matthew and Ursula and Miriam and Megan conspiring to ruin us, I still loved him. In fact, I loved him more than I ever had before.
I leaned forward and kissed Stratton softly. A spark jumped between our lips and I sighed happily. Being with him again felt like being home.
“I love you, too,” I whispered after I’d pulled away. “And I do want to try.”
Stratton grinned. “For a baby?”
I bit my lip. “I’m not sure,” I said, blushing. Stratton wrapped his arms around me tightly and pulled me down so we were lying on the bed together. He nuzzled my ear and I felt arousal soar through me.
“We could give it a shot,” he said teasingly, slipping his hand up my bare thigh. I shivered.
“Let’s do a trial run first,” I whispered, unable to keep the grin off my face. “I have a feeling that we’re going to need lots and lots of practice.”
“Agreed,” Stratton said as he kissed me. “But I know it’ll be perfect with you.”
THE END
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BAD BOY ROMANCE: DIESEL: Contemporary Bad Boy Biker MC Romance (Box Set) (New Adult Sports Romance Short Stories Boxset) Page 147
