What Happens In Vegas

by Anders, Tarrah

  She nods as I speak and takes in all the information with ease as I give it to her until I tell her the one part that involves her company.

  “You mean you want to have my company on reserve for party planning and my name will be in the referral?” she asks.

  “That would be my choice, but of course, it’s the call of your boss.” I tell her.

  “I don’t plan to go into the actual party planning role of the agency, Max. I enjoy the aspect of managing the office versus the planning aspect. I’m not entirely sure whether or not I want to go into managing projects, or people. That was part of why I turned down Seattle.”

  “So, I should take your name off of my proposals?” I ask.

  “Please? While I enjoyed the planning of that one company’s rebranding, I’m not sure that is the part of the company that I’m suited for,” she tells me, with honestly.

  “Okay, I can leave you out of it, if that would make you feel comfortable. But can I still have permission to refer our companies to yours?” I question.

  “Of course, just leave my name out of it.” she says. “I’m sure Mr. Frederick would be thrilled about the referrals.”

  I nod, “Now, can we stop talking about work, and can I kiss you? I haven’t kissed you in weeks, and it’s killing me.”

  She smiles and leans in as I meet her half way and our mouths connect with our tongues in a delicious battle.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “This one time in Vegas, I gave a small skinny Spiderman a couple dollars for a photo & he tried to lift my fat ass off the ground, he got me a good inch or two!”

  PEYTON

  It’s been an interesting twenty-four hours to say the least. Yesterday, I was minding my own business while decluttering the bookshelves in the living room, and singing along with the movie while I worked as Quinn snored away in her room, when someone knocks on the door.

  I wasn’t expecting to see Max on my doorstep.

  I was expecting a phone call as soon as he received the divorce paperwork, but what I wasn’t expecting, was him in the flesh.

  He is adamant on not signing the paperwork and just says that he’s making a move. A pretty big move, if you ask me.

  Am I really worth the risk? The change in his life?

  A risk of completely changing his life. Moving from one city to another, for what? For me?

  Do I want this?

  Absolutely.

  But can I ask this of him when, I was not willing to take that risk?

  I ignored his calls for a week and told him that I couldn’t move. And that was the truth. I was feeling guilt all around, for not talking to my friends about any of what was going on in my life and ultimately about my plans to move out of state, all for what? For a job? Or was it for a guy? The exact same guy who is sleeping in the other room, who is willing to turn his world upside down, because of love. Because of me.

  We spent the night together, as if nothing happened. As if I didn’t turn him down, and then send him papers to end the accidental marriage. We spent the night wrapped up in one another, making up for the past few weeks.

  And now what?

  Do we give this another go?

  Do I tell him that I can’t let him make a massive move like this when there’s no guarantee about our future?

  “What are you sitting over there lamenting about? Are you second guessing everything?” he asks, breaking me out of my thoughts.

  I turn in the direction of his voice, not at all ready for the Adonis who is standing, bare ass naked in the kitchen.

  I gulp. “Clothes?”

  “On the floor.” He shrugs coming up and taking a seat beside me. “I’m going to guess now is not a good time for naked time humor?”

  “As much as I enjoy the view, I have to be honest—” I give him a small smile.

  “Hold that thought, this moment warrants pants.” Max stands, stalks away with his tanned toned ass, almost making me want to ask him to stop.

  He returns a few moments later, with gray sweats hanging off his hips, showcasing the delectable vee that I ran my tongue across just hours ago. I lick my lips and shake my head, try to get my thoughts in order as he sits beside me.

  “What’s on your mind?” he asks.

  “Us.” I turn my gaze upon him with that single word. I take a deep breath and hold it, waiting for his response.

  “Go on?” he pleads.

  “I’m scared,” I admit. “I’m scared that you’re making the wrong choice.”

  He takes a deep breath and then turns his body fully in towards me as he takes my hands in his.

  “Pey,” he takes a deep breath. “The only wrong choice that I made, was letting too much time go between when you called me to let me know that you would be staying here.”

  “Why are you so positive about this? When we don’t know what will happen from one day to the next? We don’t know what stands in front of us. Whether or not our relationship will last or not. What if you move to LA and we break up?” I ask.

  “Then that’s just a risk that we will take,” he tells me.

  “Is it worth it?” I ask.

  “Is what worth the risk? Our relationship?”

  “The relationship was an accident from the start. We met during a drunken night and don’t even remember getting married, or anything that happened. Hell, you didn’t even know I existed for months.”

  “While that may be true, how we started—it doesn’t mean that I haven’t fallen in love with you along the way. That I’m wanting to take the jump and risk everything for you. I don’t know what it is, but I’m not the same guy that I was before you came along. And I don’t want to be. I want to be who I am, when I’m with you.”

  “So, you want to be a different person?” I ask him confused.

  “No, yes, no. I mean, I want to be the person that I am, when I’m with you.” He says with a squeeze of my hands. “You make me better. You make me want more than just work in my life.”

  “But what if—” He releases my hands and places a hand on my cheek.

  “We can come up with a shit-ton of ‘what ifs’ and a lot of scenarios where we wouldn’t work out. But we can always come up with a million different ways that we do work out. And that’s what I want to focus on, because I want that more than anything.”

  “Who would have thought that the guy that I end up with is a total sap.” I tilt my head and smile.

  “Does that mean you’ll also take the risk? We’ll do this together?” I see the hope in his features as his posture straightens.

  “Well, what could it hurt, right?” I say, and before I can finish the sentence, I’m pulled across his lap and his arms engulf me.

  “We’re going to have so much fun,” he whispers against me.

  MAXWELL

  The week was a mixture of busy, happy and confusing at the same time. The paperwork for the new building was a considerable amount. As well as the next steps of coordinating with my Human Resources team to get the process started.

  Within a few days, I was interviewing for the Southern California Human Resources team from a pre-selected pool and had flown down the director of HR along with a few board members to the area.

  On the business end, everything was running smooth.

  Not the romantic end, it was a mixture of being happy and not getting a hold of how Peyton is feeling about everything. She stayed back at her apartment twice during the week and it left me feeling like she still wasn’t sure about us, but when she would return, and she kept her promise about doing so, I couldn’t have been happier, clearing up any of the confusion that I was feeling.

  But now, I’m back in Seattle, standing in my now empty penthouse and it’s all hitting me that this is really happening.

  I sold the penthouse. I bought a new house, a modest house, not something that is as extravagant as this place, but a decent sized home in Highland Park. And I packed up my corner at the office.

  I’m ready for the new chapter in my lif
e and I think that my mid-thirties are a good time to be able to do whatever the hell I feel like doing, and since it’s for love—all the more.

  I spent the morning with my sister, planning out for when she can visit, checked in on Scout who is staying with Peyton, and finished with the rest of getting my belongings out of the place.

  “Well, it looks like your ass got robbed!” Marcus says from behind me.

  I turn around and my best friend and college roommate, Marcus stands with his hands in his front pockets as he looks around the empty space.

  “I hope they get some good money for some of the stuff,” I reply with a smile as I walk towards him. He’s standing in the kitchen and leans back against the counter.

  “I can’t believe that you’re doing this,” he shakes his head.

  “Doing what? Following my heart?” I ask.

  “Becoming such a fucking pussy. I mean Seriously, when did you grow a vagina? Is it shaved or the all-natural type?” He smirks.

  “It was only a matter of time. First, you’re tied down, and then some of that rubs off on the other guys. Who’s next? Jason?” I joke.

  “God, that man wouldn’t know a good woman, if his life depended on it. He’s too consumed with money and boobs. The more that he can get his hands on, the better.”

  “Ain’t that the truth.” I say, and the room goes silent.

  For the first time in our friendship, we have an awkward silence.

  “So, maybe we can come and visit you? Make a trip and you can show me the sights. I’ve never been to Los Angeles, you can be my tour guide and shit,” he grins.

  “Yeah, we can work that out.” I tell him slapping the island counter. “So, shall we? We don’t wanna keep the rest of the douches waiting on my last night, right?”

  “They can wait all they want, this is our special time.”

  “Are you going to start crying?” I ask.

  “Only if you try to hug me, so let’s just keep this distance and we’ll be good.”

  “What if I touch your hand, like brush my finger right here.” I reach and fuck with him. He pulls his hand back and holds it against his chest.

  “One touch may not be enough.” He warns pointing at me.

  “Let’s get out of here, I don’t want to hear any bitching,” I tell him.

  * * *

  We walk into the bar and walk directly to our usual table. The other guys look up from their conversation as we slide into the circular booth.

  “It’s about damn time! Were you two making out in the car on the way over here?” Cooper smirks.

  “Maxi-pad here was admiring how big his penthouse was for one last time and thinking about how he’s going to move into something the size of his kitchen. It was a sad moment, there was consoling and then tears.” Marcus jokes.

  “Seriously, those homes in LA are probably a lot smaller than anything that you would buy here. What did you get, a shoebox?” Jason asks.

  “There’s areas with bigger homes, but I figure as long as I’m set with what I need, I won’t ask for much else.” I shrug.

  “He means pussy,” Conner laughs, but it’s cut short with my elbow into his ribs.

  “So, do you have a tight pad? Up in the Hollywood Hills? Maybe Malibu?” Jason asks.

  “I bought a four bedroom craftsman house in Highland Park. It’s actually really beautiful.” I tell them.

  “Beautiful? You sound like a total chick. Do you shave your lady bits too? Do you have a landing strip? Maybe a full on bush? Do you and Peyton use a double-edged dildo?” Cooper laughs hysterically.

  “I asked him the same thing,” Marcus laughs.

  At the end of the night, the guys have each taken their respective jabs at me and I let them. We ended the night with a celebratory shot and a round of man-hugs, the type where you don’t really hug, but half hug with a hefty pat on the upper shoulder. There may have been grunts and some light sniffles from Marcus, but ultimately, we finished the night on a high and with laughter.

  When I walked into the dark and empty penthouse, the weight of the night crashed on my shoulders.

  I’m leaving.

  I’m leaving the state and starting a whole new life. Perhaps, a new adventure.

  And I’m doing part of it, to be with a woman I am one hundred percent in love with.

  And my new life starts, tomorrow.

  One more sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “This one time in Vegas, was playing a slot machine at one of the casinos and a guy asked me if I "worked" at the casino.”

  PEYTON

  “You have something on your face,” Max leans over and with a brush of his thumb, he wipes the remnants of my condiments from my double-cheese cheeseburger from the corner of my mouth.

  Max ordered his burger without the cheese and when the waiter returned with his meal, with cheese on it, Max bit his tongue and as soon as the waiter left, with a death glare at his meal in front of him he started cursing.

  At that point, I grabbed his plate and began to scrape the cheese onto my burger, doubling the cheese happily to my burger. It would be a horrible idea to let a perfectly good slice of cheese go to waste.

  “I don’t understand your issue with cheese on a burger. Cheese is the best on meat. I mean there’s so many different variations that you can add and they all have a different taste. Except Bleu cheese, that will never happen. Nope.” I pop the “p” and say.

  “I like cheese just fine. I just don’t like the combination together.” He says with a mouthful. “But thank you for doing what is right in the world and putting it on your burger.”

  “Anytime, I will promise to always take the cheese off of your burgers.”

  “That’s why I think this relationship will work out, just fine,” he grins pulling a French fry off his plate and absent-mindedly feeding it to the dog.

  “Oh, that’s why you think it will?” I tease.

  “Well, that and the obviousness of how much I’m into you.”

  He is into me, and I’m into him.

  We’re in love, and that’s not something that I thought would happen.

  He moved to Los Angeles a month ago and bought a beautiful craftsman house, which is a bright color of teal, on the top of a small hill you can get to from the street by a cobblestone stairway, or from a driveway on the backside of the property.

  I fell in love with his home instantly, from the mahogany framed doorways and windows throughout the house and all the natural light to the wrap around window seat in the den. While I’m still living at my apartment with Quinn, I do spend most of my nights at his house. And slowly, my stuff is landing at his house as well. We haven’t discussed officially moving in together, and I’m not entirely sure I want to just assume that’s what he wants to do, and so soon. Also, I don’t want to leave Quinn in the lurch, but she and I have discussed it, that way, I’m not making the same mistake again, by keeping my friends in the dark.

  So, every other night, I sleep over at Max’s place and the other nights, Quinn and myself hang out, sometimes with Hanna.

  I look over to Max and smile, wishing that we could stay in this spot forever and bottle up our moment. Happy, healthy and with full tummies.

  “I’ve got to head back to the office, but I’ll see you later tonight?” I ask standing.

  “Of course, I have an afternoon full of meetings and interviews. Care to pick up dinner on your way over? I still need to get the hang of grocery shopping or delivery.” He stands up and wraps an arm around my waist to pull me close to him as he kisses my temple. I smile and lean into the kiss.

  Yeah. I would bottle up this moment in an instant.

  MAXWELL

  My nerves are at a record level high, and I’m not even sure that I’m breathing properly. I’m sure that I’ve forgotten a few things in the transition between Seattle and Los Angeles, but I have an amazing group of staff who have worked hard the past month to get this location up and running.

  Tod
ay is officially the first day that we have all staff on board and our doors are open, figuratively. And once I’m finished with the first official business day, I have a full room to decorate to ask Peyton an important question.

  But first, the day must begin.

  We start with a full company meeting, we announce all key managers and break out in groups for team building activities. The day flies quickly, and I see plenty of happy smiling faces while I walk around. I did what I could to make myself available, to listen with intent and to be an interactive leader since I was virtually a stranger to all of them.

  After lunch, we have more discussions, then I release everyone early.

  Once I’m home, I walk into the second bedroom that I haven’t started to fill up with furniture and begin opening the boxes and displaying the contents evenly around the room.

  I finish in record time and stand back from the doorway and look at everything that I’ve done. Calendars and planners line every inch of the bedroom, including the ceiling. I know that Peyton is obsessed with Calendars and hope that she will not only be shocked when I bring her up here after we eat dinner, but will no doubt say yes to me.

  * * *

  “You outdid yourself with dinner tonight. Have you been watching YouTube on how to cook?” Peyton jokes placing her silverware on her plate and sits back in her chair.

  “I may have had a little assistance in the kitchen. I found this awesome app that shows you step by step how to do it. There was a lot of pausing and rewinding, but I’m glad you liked it.” I smile and stand while leaning over to pick up her plate and mine to take into the kitchen.

  “Well, I salute you. It was delicious. Hey, do you mind if I run a load of laundry? I forgot to take home some of my dirty clothes the other night.”

  I place the plates in the sink and turn to her, my hands behind my back and placed on the edge of the counter.

  She’s given me the perfect prompt. Let’s do this. It’s time.