So she’d given up her quest and I was free. For some reason, I didn’t feel elated. Quite the opposite actually. I shook my head, refocused on my words.
But the disappointment had set in. I’d won and easily too. Apparently Alice wasn’t as like me as I’d thought she was.
But that was fine. Perfectly fine.
I excused myself from the table and went to the bathroom. There I splashed some water on my face and looked at myself sternly in the mirror.
You’re free. And she’s a quitter. Now whatever ‘attraction’ there was can die its natural death. My face frowned back at me.
They never are as great as you think they might be.
I left the bathroom, wondering how the hell I was going to keep my mind off the impending wedding now. I got my answer quickly.
There, in a cracked doorway, was Margot. I stifled the urge to twitch back in shock. The woman was like an unusually attractive demon, popping up everywhere to tempt me.
“Are you going to disappear again?” I asked her.
She smiled, a seductive grimace. “I think you’ve learned your lesson for leaving me in the bar,” she said.
Games. I hated games. But I had zero interest in Margot beyond a couple of quick screws over the week so I could stand it just this once.
She grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me into the empty banquet hall. I took control immediately, auburn hair and brown eyes cycling in my mind’s eye, soon to be erased in favor of blonde hair and… blue eyes? Green? I’d forgotten. I tried to catch a glimpse, but couldn’t tell as she pressed against me. Oh well. It didn’t really matter, did it?
She kissed me and I tried to enjoy it. I really did. But she smelled strong, much stronger than I would have liked. Too much perfume, like she’d been basted in it. It over-powered me and made my eyes water. I tried to focus on the kiss, but her tongue was thick and oddly wet, too much of it in my mouth and on my lips.
Come on, man! You’re making out with a bombshell, a femme fatale right out of the movies! Enjoy it!
But I couldn’t and I broke away, pressing her against the wall and running my hands down her body, hoping to find something better there.
She must have thought that I was going for her zipper because she stopped me. “No, not now. Later. Come at eleven.”
Come where? I didn’t have time to ask. She pulled me in for one more sloppy lick and then swept from the room like Scarlet O’Hara.
I wiped my mouth. She didn’t seem disturbed at all by the terrible kiss. Was it really that bad? Or was I just not feeling it? Did I really want to sleep with her later? I still had no idea where I was supposed to be meeting her, but I supposed she’d probably pop out of my closet at the stroke of eleven like a deranged cuckoo clock, tongue leading the way.
I stopped by the buffet and then went back to the table, confused and horny. I tried not to look at Alice.
She was lucky she’d decided not to try to follow me tonight. I’d had a plan in mind, one I thought she’d back out of at the very thought. Too bad I’d never get the chance to test my theory. What a disappointment.
“Well! Sam Callahan! I’ve been keeping an eye out for you.”
Our table turned as one to see Edgar Lorne. This time he was in a bright white suit though still flanked by those four massive bodyguards.
Sam’s eyes widened in surprise. “Edgar. It’s good to see you. I was wondering if you were around.”
Lorne’s smile widened. “Yes, yes, I usually spend a good bit of time here. Hard not to!” He laughed and Sam echoed it. “I hope you’re happy with the wedding arrangements?”
“Yes, I am. Tuzas Suns came highly recommended.” The professional, business-like Sam had taken over at the drop of a hat. “Allow me to introduce my fiancé, Beck.”
“Well, well. You are just lovely.” Lorne actually reached for her hand to kiss, which Beck allowed, a smile frozen on her face.
Sam’s expression was strained, but he didn’t comment, just took Beck’s other hand in his. “I hope you’ll do us the honor of stopping by if you’re still here on Saturday.”
Lorne nodded, obviously pleased. “Well, I’ll have to ask the wife, but I’m sure we’ll be able to drop by, at least for a bit. I’ll tell you. Marriage is a beautiful thing. The most important thing, after God and country, I always say.”
Sam nodded, that stupid, polite smile still on his face.
“Ask me what, darling?” a woman’s voice said behind Lorne.
He turned around, revealing her, and I managed to catch my jaw before it dropped. Oh that was definitely not great.
Margot slinked forward and joined her apparent husband. They couldn’t have been a more mismatched couple, but they smiled at each other like every day they renewed their vows.
She must have been a performer before she got into the business of sugar babying.
Margot didn’t look at me at all, and I quickly pulled my gaze back to my steak before my fish-out-of-water expression was noticed by anyone else.
What a snake! Did she use the resort specifically for hooking up with randoms while her husband got massages? It explained the secrecy, but not the gall. Yet another reason marriage could go jump in a lake.
I angrily speared the meat on my knife and ate it from the tip like a caveman. As I was chewing, I caught Alice’s eye.
She was looking at me strangely, angrily. It was the most emotion she’d shown me since our time in the steam room yesterday.
I raised an eyebrow at her. What?
Her eyes narrowed. Then she looked pointedly at Margot and back to me.
I swallowed. How the hell did she know? I had no answer but it was obvious she did. And I might have claimed innocence for the past, but this time I was well aware of how bad this all looked.
If Margot’s husband caught me screwing his wife, he’d throw me off the resort. Hell, he might throw us all off the resort. And that was exactly the kind of apocalyptic, wedding-ending disaster that Alice was trying desperately to avoid.
I couldn’t have planned this better if I tried. Not, of course, that I was going to go through with it. No, even if Margot hadn’t been a lousy kiss, even if she hadn’t lied by omission, and even despite how much I hated that Sam was marrying himself off, I wasn’t going to risk torpedoing my friendship with Sam on the off chance this actually did destroy the weekend.
But Alice didn’t know that. A twinge of anticipation started in my stomach.
Lorne and his wife said their goodbyes and moved on to their own table. Conversation resumed.
“So,” Alice said, “what are we doing this evening?” The question was directed at me. Kylie groaned. But I smiled. Game back on.
“I’ve got some ideas,” I said.
12
Alice
“Are you sure about this?”
The worry was evident in Beck’s voice. Her large eyes peered over my shoulder and reflected back at me in the mirror.
I adjusted my shirt and checked the time. It was close to eight o’clock. Mac would be waiting for me at the entrance. That was, if he wasn’t secretly screwing Margot Lorne in a maintenance closet. (The thought might have worried me, but I got the impression that Margot only had sex on five-thousand-plus thread count silk sheets.)
“I’m sure,” I said firmly. When her eyes dropped and she didn’t respond, I turned around. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be fine. We probably won’t even be gone that long.”
“It’s just that they told us not to leave the resort. The city—”
“I’ve been to other cities in Mexico,” I said, cutting her off. “They just don’t want to worry about getting sued if people disappear. Not,” I added, “that I plan on disappearing.”
“Nobody plans on disappearing,” Beck said flatly.
“You know what I mean,” I said. “Mac’s full of shit. He’s not going to take me anywhere sketchy. And he’ll be there! I mean, I hate the guy, but you have to admit he could be intimidating if he wanted to b
e.”
Beck still didn’t look convinced. “I’d just rather you stay here,” she said softly. “We made girls only plans tonight.”
I bit my lip. “I wish I could come with you. Trust me, this is not something I want to do. But Mac is an issue.”
“I still don’t see—”
“Just trust me,” I repeated. I really wanted to spill the secrets, tell her about Mariana and Margot, but there was no way she benefited from knowing. No, unfortunately she was just going to have to continue thinking I was paranoid. At least until we were back in New York and I could tell her everything.
Beck looked away, nodding slightly, a frown settled on her face. “Okay, but try to get back quickly, huh? We might still be out.”
“I will! Definitely,” I said, turning back toward the mirror and examining my makeup.
Beck lingered in the doorway but finally disappeared back to join the rest of our friends.
For all my confident words, Mac’s announcement to the table that he was going to go traipsing around the city of Tuzas to ‘see what he could see’ had shocked me just as much as the others. But the dare was in his eyes again and I wasn’t going to back out. Not after what I’d seen in the banquet hall.
I went down to the front of the resort where an attendant was unsuccessfully trying to reason with Mac.
“Sir, Tuzas is a fine city, but you don’t know the area. There are spots—”
Mac, wearing jeans and a black t-shirt, looked bored by the man’s protests. “I told you. I’m fine.” His eyes traveled over the man’s shoulder and landed on me as I walked down the steps. He grinned with half his mouth and shot me a wink. “We’re fine.”
The man followed Mac’s gaze to me. His eyes practically bugged out of his head. “Sir, I have to insist—”
“Look,” Mac said firmly. “I don’t remembering paying you for your advice. Why don’t you go and get some more hot towels for the guests? We have to get going.”
“Tuzas Suns Resort can not allow its limos to drop you off in the middle of the city. I’m sorry, sir, but it’s just not happening.”
The smile that spread across Mac’s face was nothing short of devilish. “That’s not a problem. My ride should— Oh look. There it is.”
The attendant and I followed his gaze up the long drive where a green taxi was rolling toward us. It pulled up in front of us looking like it just drove its way out of a sewer, with faded and dirty green paint, a cracked windshield, and one window wiper moving despite the cloudless sky. Against the backdrop of the resort, it looked like it came from another world entirely.
Mac held the door for me and I ducked inside immediately, trying not to laugh at the employee’s face.
“Good evening, madam,” the cabbie said, turning in his seat. He was an older Mexican man, completely bald on the top of his head with gray hair on the sides and on his bristling mustache. He grinned, showing very straight, white teeth and offered me his hand.
“Good evening,” I said, grinning myself at the formal tone and shaking his hand. I wondered if he was ever called to pick people up at the resort and where the hell Mac had gotten his number.
Mac was busying himself with tearing away from the panicked employee, who, no doubt, was seeing in his mind’s eye tomorrow’s headline: Billionaire Liquor Baron Murdered While Staying at Tuzas Suns Resort. Not the best publicity in the world.
I felt the first real bump of worry as Mac slid into the cab and told him to take us to the city. I looked through the back window as the attendant watched us leave, a nervous look in his eyes. I really hoped Mac knew what he was dragging the both of us into.
“Where in the city you want to go, sir?” the driver asked as we got on the highway.
Mac shrugged. “Where’s the action?” he asked.
“The what, sir?”
“The action. You know. Bars, clubs, gambling.”
“Ah, that would be on Corgas Street.”
Mac clapped his hands together loud enough to make both me and the cabbie jump. “Fantastic!” he said. “That’s the one. Drop us there.”
As Tuzas flew by outside the windows, Mac whistled loudly and played with an app on his phone. He glanced at me, feeling my eyes on his face.
“You ready to have some fun?” he asked, grinning like an idiot.
“Knock it off,” I said.
“What do ya mean? Tonight is going to be a night you’ll never forget.”
Yeah because I’m not going to be alive long enough for it to fade from memory.
“I can’t wait,” I said. “But stop pretending like this is what you wanted to do with your evening.”
He stared at me for a beat and then said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You wanted to screw Edgar Lorne’s wife. And if you think you can scare me into leaving you alone fast enough to get back to the resort in time to ‘meet her at eleven’, you’re shit out of luck.”
Finally that irritating smile was gone. He threw his phone down on the seat between us and wiped his face with one hand, pinching his eyes shut and appearing to send a mental prayer for strength in dealing with me. He was going to need a hell of a lot more help than that.
“You were spying on me?” he finally asked.
“No, of course not.” He snorted. “I wasn’t,” I insisted. “I overheard you on the way back from the bathroom. You were hardly being inconspicuous. Seriously, what is it with you and public places? Is it some kind of fetish?”
“Well, what’s with you and sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong?”
“I would have figured it out anyway,” I said, my voice rising. “All I needed to do was picture what the worse case scenario could be and then act like that’s your intention. I mean, come on! The resort owner’s wife? I know she’s hot, but there are a million women here. Why don’t you pick one that’s single and doesn’t have the power to destroy Beck and Sam’s entire wedding?”
He didn’t answer me. He ran a large hand through his thick black hair and shook his head.
“So can we turn around now?” I asked.
He glanced at me, his green eyes shining. “What do you mean?”
“I know your plan. You won’t be able to ditch me and I won’t let you sleep with Margot Lorne. So we might as well go back to the resort.”
He crossed his arms. “That’s all your own theory, love. Sure, I wanted to sleep with Lorne’s wife, I won’t deny that. But to say the only reason I want to see this lovely city is just to throw you off is insulting to this man’s hometown.” He indicated the cab driver who, wisely, stayed out of it.
Way to make me the asshole, asshole. So he was committed to finishing the night out, huh? Well, that was fine with me.
“Great,” I said. “Because the resort was starting to get a little boring.”
“I’m glad you agree.”
“Me too.”
We looked at each other with smiles that didn’t reach our eyes.
You’re going to wish you stayed home, his said.
Bring it, was my response.
We drove the rest of the way in relative silence. Spanish music played over the radio as the cab drove off the highway and down into the city.
Corgas Street ended up being less of a single road and more of the entrance to an entire neighborhood of nightlife. Already the sun was setting and the late night crowds were starting to hit the streets, entering the colorfully lit bars and clubs and walking in loud groups down the sidewalk.
I watched their faces and was relieved to see a fairly typical collection of people. Mostly locals but quite a few tourists as well. The way the guy at the resort was acting, I had expected massive, muscled motorcycle gangs hanging out at every street corner and prostitutes lurking in the doorways. It really didn’t look much different from a night out in New York.
Mac must have been thinking the same thing, because he said to our driver, “You can just drop us here.” The man nodded and pulled over to the side of the r
oad. Mac passed him a wad of bills and thanked him as we exited the vehicle.
I watched the cab drive off, disappearing down the street before turning to Mac. “Well, there’s no going back now.”
“Why would you want to?” Mac asked. He inhaled deeply, that familiar city smell that was mostly exhaust, trash, and stale piss. “That’s the stuff,” he said. “Smells like home.”
This all might have started as a way to make me uncomfortable, but Mac actually looked genuinely happy as he nodded down the street. “That bar,” he said, pointing to a two-story building with a canopy and rooftop seating. “Look good?”
“Sure,” I said. “Lead the way.”
We went inside and were seated immediately on the rooftop by a friendly waitress who brought Mac a glass of whiskey and myself one of the same.
“Are you sure?” Mac asked, as I ordered whatever he just had.
“Why not?” I asked.
He shrugged. “You seem like a fruity cocktail kind of girl,” he said. There wasn’t any derision in his voice, just a statement of facts.
“I’ve fallen into a pattern since college,” I admitted. “But come on, have you ever had a fruity cocktail?”
He admitted he hadn’t.
“Well, there’s no nicer way to drink,” I informed him. “They’re like juice boxes for grown-ups. Sweet and fruity with just a subtle reminder that you’re a card-carrying adult.”
We got our drinks. I sipped the amber liquid and made a face. “That’s not great,” I said, coughing as the strength hit the back of my throat.
Mac chuckled at my reaction, drinking his own. “It’s an acquired taste,” he admitted.
“Why though?” I asked, regretting my decision to imitate him.
“Because a tough guy like me can’t be seen getting fruity girl drinks,” he said with a laugh.
“I don’t know,” I mused, looking over the railing at the people walking below. “If I saw a big tough guy drinking out of a pineapple, I’d assume he was the baddest ass in the room.”
“And why’s that?” Mac asked.
“Because he’s confident in his badassery,” I said. “Nobody can tell him what to drink.”
The Groomsman: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romance (Billionaires of Club Tempest) Page 12
