After his shower, he ate and dressed in his jeans, a blue button-down shirt and his cowboy hat, the perfect attire for a day at the rodeo. It was the reason he was in Vegas, after all. By that time, he felt decent enough to try and fix a few of his mistakes from the night before, starting with Jeremiah.
As for Jessica, he doubted he would ever see her again, but if the universe aligned somehow, he wouldn’t mess it up. A third chance seemed impossible, but he would definitely keep watch for her.
He thought ahead through his day. It seemed unlikely she would be at the rodeo, but maybe he would get lucky. Then he thought of the women he was sure to run into during the day’s events, and he balked at the idea of spending his time with them.
How long had it been since he actually enjoyed the company of any of those buckle bunnies? Why had he thought hooking up with them was so great, and when had he stopped feeling that way?
He’d never before felt that fire and heat course through him the way it had done when he was just looking at Jessica.
He repeated her name to himself: Jessica. Anything less than that sensation seemed pointless when he knew that it was out there.
Even if he never met her again, maybe he’d find that feeling somewhere else, though he wasn’t sure about that. He’d never seen eyes like hers before. Or legs.
He needed help.
He heard his phone buzz, bringing him back to reality. Vegas was not the place to start rethinking your outlook on life. Aaron picked it up and glanced at the screen.
Jeremiah had texted Hey. Come over whenever you’re ready to go.
Aaron felt a little uncertain about going over to his friend’s suite. Would he be pissed about him disappearing the night before?
He tapped out a quick I’ll be right over, put on his boots and walked down the hall to the next suite.
As soon as he knocked, his friend opened the door, smiling the widest smile Aaron had ever seen. Jeremiah had barely waved him in before he began telling the story of his night. “Man, last night was awesome! Sorry you weren’t feeling great. You really missed out. Those two hanging all over you were pretty disappointed. I bet you could’ve gotten both of them. You hear what I’m saying? Both of them.
“Anyway, I dropped them off at the Bellagio on the way back here. You know Vanessa, right? The brunette with really short hair. She came back here with me. Just left a few minutes ago. You wouldn’t believe what happened if I told you. Are you feeling better? You must be hungover like crazy.”
Aaron barely had time to register what his friend was saying as Jeremiah wandered around the room, picking up his scattered clothing and gesturing wildly. Aaron was relieved his behavior hadn’t bothered Jeremiah. In fact, Jeremiah hadn’t seemed to register anything odd about his conversation with Jessica or any of the events of last night.
Aaron said, “Yeah, I felt pretty awful this morning, but I’m better now.”
It was somewhat true—he no longer felt like throwing up, at least.
Jeremiah snatched up his phone and room key card and walked back to Aaron, who was still standing near the door. Aaron considered trying to say something to Jeremiah about the night before, but decided against it. No point bringing him down.
As they exited the room, Jeremiah started talking again, giving Aaron even more reason to keep his mouth shut. “Tonight we’re having dinner with a bachelorette party, by the way. I met this sexy chick at the strip club who was there with a big group of them, but I managed to pull her aside and get her number. Her name was Marlene. No, that wasn’t it. Marilyn. Anyway, there are, like, seven of them besides the bride, and the ones I saw were all crazy hot. They’re from back East and in town for a long weekend, so I’m thinking we can get one of them to break away from the pack for you. Marilyn was all over me, so I think I won’t have a problem there—”
Jeremiah seemed so proud of himself and excited at the prospect that Aaron nodded, even though the last thing he felt like doing was trying to seduce a strange woman who was probably depressed because her friend was getting married and she was still single. He’d done it before, but it had left him feeling guilty, though the women hadn’t seemed to mind. It wasn’t as if he told them he was looking for a long-term relationship or anything; it just felt as though he was taking advantage.
Even if he had no qualms about the situation normally, it certainly would not be top of his list this weekend. He still felt terrible about Jessica, and he hadn’t forgotten how his heart pounded when he looked at her. He doubted any random woman from a bachelorette party could top that.
Still, there was nothing to be done except go along with his friend, be a good wingman and try to get out of it without hurting anyone’s feelings.
He was sure he’d be spending another evening in his hotel bed alone.
4
JESSICA SAT DOWN to lunch at their large reserved table. She was there before the rest of the party and had to force herself not to lean on her hand and fall asleep while she waited. She had assumed she would feel pretty crappy by the end of the wild bachelorette party weekend, but here it was, only Friday. They had been in town a little over twelve hours and she was well on her way to being wiped out.
She couldn’t get the sight of Aaron out of her mind and kept replaying the scene from the night before. Sometimes her imaginary self pressed against Aaron and let her hormones take over, letting her hands slide along his muscular arms and across his imagined abs. Those fantasies were the worst because they made every inch of her come alive and set firecrackers off along her spine, and that was the last thing she wanted to happen.
She needed to distract herself somehow, or she would go crazy waiting for the rest of the women. Even though she knew she would get flack for it, Jessica pulled out her phone and called her mom despite the explicit instructions not to do that while she was in Vegas. After the third ring, her mother answered. The first thing Jessica heard was a sigh. “Why are you calling? You should be having fun.”
Jessica could hear the love even in her mother’s rebuff, and it soothed her soul a little. “I missed my family. Is that so terrible?”
Another sigh. “We saw you less than a day ago. I should’ve just let it go to voice mail.”
Jessica smiled to herself. “You’d never do that to your favorite daughter.”
“I’ll be telling your sister you said that.”
“She knows it’s true. Can I talk to Dad?”
There was a brief silence, a quick clearing of a throat, and then her father’s voice drifted into her ear. Just hearing him quieted her mind. “What’s going on, Jess?”
She shrugged, even though he couldn’t see her. “I just wanted to check on the family. See how things are going.”
“Not much has changed since yesterday, Jess. I’m fine. Go do something Vegas-y.”
“I don’t know what that means. Like date a stripper? Gamble away my life savings on craps?”
His laugh, soft but still his own, came pouring out of the phone pressed to her ear. He said, “I was thinking more along the lines of walking around on the Strip or going to see a show, but those are good ideas, too. Stop bothering us and go have a good time.”
It was amazing how just a few words from him made her feel so much better. As the rest of her lunch group appeared outside the window, Jessica took a deep breath, ready to face them. “You know you miss me, Dad. Fine, I’ll go be Vegas-y. Love you.”
“Love you, too. Have fun with your stripper.”
Anna, the black-haired one whose name she had finally memorized, walked into the restaurant with the pack of sorority sisters trailing behind her. Each woman looked immaculate, with a wide lipsticked smile. Anna sat next to her, and Jessica slid her phone into her purse. “Hi, Jessica. Wasn’t last night so much fun?” Anna asked, full of enthusiasm.
It wasn’t exactly the phrase Jessica would use, but Anna seemed sincere, so she just smiled back and answered, “It was definitely a night I’ll remember the rest of my life.”
She wasn’t sure if she had managed to keep the sarcasm out of her voice, but the other women surrounding her all seemed satisfied, nodding in agreement, so she must have done a decent job. They all started reminiscing about the night before as if it were something that had happened years ago instead of a few hours ago.
“That food was so good. If I ate like that every day, I would end up weighing two hundred pounds,” said a size-zero pixie. Jessica was pretty sure her name was Destiny.
“What about those guys we danced with at XS?” asked...Mandy? Mindy?...as she nudged Alana?—yeah, definitely Alana.
Definitely-Alana covered her face with her hands, laughing. “You almost got us kicked out of the club, Amanda. I didn’t even know that was possible.”
Anna, Alana, Amanda. There was an Alexis in here somewhere, too. Why did Cindy need to have so many friends whose names started with A? It was as if she was trying to make it confusing. Jessica’s head spun as she tried to keep the names straight. Their perkiness and perfection didn’t help her mood any.
The only person who looked even remotely as bad as Jessica felt was Cindy, whose face was still slightly green. Even from across the table, Jessica could see the circles under her friend’s eyes. She made a mental note to mother her a little whenever they were free of the sea of sorority sisters.