I sniffed, and I knew that I still smelled like him. I felt sticky between my thighs.
Time for a shower.
I went over to my shower, and I took off everything. Last night was a mistake, a huge one. I'd finally succumbed to Chris King's charms. I'd wondered about them for years, of course, but now I had the bite marks to remember him by.
I didn't mean to get tangled up with Chris King. I'd watched him change girls more often than he changed clothes, and I didn't want to get involved with that.
I knew that Jordana had tried to run game on Chris King. She had tried to force him to settle down with her, telling him that she was pregnant right after they'd had sex. It was ridiculous. She had tried really hard to catch him in the baby trap, but nobody had believed her. In a shocking twist, in the subsequent months, she claimed that she had a miscarriage. Jordana had disappeared for a while. There were rumors that she had moved to Canada, but nobody knew exactly where she was. Chris had dodged a bullet with that one.
As I turned and felt the ache between my legs, I thought about telling Laila that I'd been with her brother. I should probably give it a lot of time … she was still in the happy honeymoon phase with Trouble, and she would be shocked by me hooking up with her older brother. She knew that I had a thing for him, but I had never acted on it.
And now I had. I was smarter than getting involved with Chris. I figured that it would be a one-time thing … our secret. It wasn't as if Chris trumpeted whom he'd been with, especially since it changed so fast. He was very quick to let girls go.
I didn't know why I was worrying about all of this. It was a one-night stand.
That's when I noticed that there was a sparkly princess-cut diamond on my ring finger.
Waking Up Alone
Chris
I woke up in bed with my cock aching and leaking a little bit. I could smell the scent of a woman in my sheets, and I rolled over to grasp her tightly around the waist.
But I gripped empty air.
I opened my eyes. I was alone in the bed. I sat up. My door was closed, and my clothes were nowhere to be seen.
Where was I?
I looked around and saw how sterile everything was. Right. Hotel room.
Yesterday came back. Trouble and Laila had decided to get married, and I …
I looked down at my hand, and I saw my gold wedding band.
Oh shit.
I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked like hell. My head throbbed, and I needed some coffee stat.
I lifted the telephone, and I called the concierge.
"I'd like eggs, bacon, and coffee for breakfast, please."
"We'll have that up to your room in 30 minutes, sir."
"Thank you."
I hung up my phone and went to the shower.
I went to the Jacuzzi, and I frowned. I apparently hadn't drained it last night and it seemed a little pink. Did the hotel have pink mold?
Reality slapped me in the face. I remembered surging into a female body while I took her hard.
Had I hurt anybody? I was very, very careful to get consent beforehand.
I got completely still as realization washed over me. I'd had a virgin last night.
I didn't have many rules, but absolute honesty was one of them. A virgin had no place in my bed.
I stared at my wedding band as if it were an alien.
Why was I married? Was this a practical joke?
I took a shower, and I felt a little more human afterwards. I brushed my teeth, and then I got dressed. A guy on the hotel staff knocked on my door and brought in my breakfast. I tipped him and closed the door behind him.
I ate my eggs. The bacon tasted crispy, and I regretted not asking for toast to eat with my eggs. Next time.
I drank coffee, and then I was finally awake.
I saw a piece of paper on the table near the door.
It was a marriage certificate. Why had I taken Laila and Trouble's marriage certificate home?
A cold ball of fear and dread settled in my stomach as I read it. It had my name on it.
I was married.
To Nora.
Finding Nora
Chris
I went to my chair and sat down hard. I had no idea how I ended up married.
I did the math. Vegas. A lot to drink. Did that equal the marriage certificate in my hand?
I needed to talk to Nora.
I walked down the hallway, and I saw that her door was open. There was a housekeeping cart next to it.
I walked into her hotel room, but it was spotless.
"Hi," I told the maid, who was staring at me. I pulled a $20 out of my pocket. "Here's a tip. I was wondering if you could tell me where the occupant is?"
She shook her head.
I switched to Spanish. "Where is the occupant?"
"She's gone. I got the order to clean up this room two hours ago. That's all I got."
I tipped the maid the $20 bill, and then I walked out and went back to my own room. Nora had run this morning.
I sighed. My sister probably had Nora's number, but the morning after her wedding probably wasn't the best time to contact her.
To be strictly honest, it was the morning after my wedding, too.
I started packing up my stuff in my hotel room. I didn't have much, since I wasn't expecting to hit Vegas. I had my suit and a change of clothes that I'd bought quickly yesterday.
My phone rang.
"Are you ready to leave?" That was my dad. Pretty direct.
I looked around my room. "Yeah. I'll meet you in the lobby in 2 minutes."
I picked up my stuff, went to the hallway, closed my door, and headed towards the elevators.
They were very fast, and I was in the lobby in no time.
My parents were standing there.
"Hey, slugger." My dad clapped me on the back. "Are you ready to go back to LA?"
"Yeah. So, what, are we just ditching Laila and Trouble here? What about Nora?"
"No, we'll send the plane back for them. Mr. McKane needs to get back to work, and so do I. Instead of making his jet come out here, we figured that we'd hitch a ride with Allen."
"Allen?"
"Yes, I guess we're on first-name terms with Trouble's dad." My dad shrugged. "Let's get going, kid."
The three of us walked straight out in the pure, searing heat of Las Vegas. It was so dry here that I could practically feel my skin crack.
My mom had already called a limo, and it took us to the private hangar of the Vegas airport. Mr. McKane - I was never going to think of him as "Allen" - was sitting there with his laptop. He waved when we got in but didn't make conversation.
As soon as I sat in my soft leather seat, I yawned. I guessed that I hadn't slept much last night. I heard the gentle thrum of the engines as we taxied. As we took off, I went out like a light.
* * *
When I woke up, I texted Nora. No response. I nudged a private investigator I used sometimes, and I gave him her number.
He got back to me a few hours later to say that he couldn't trace the phone at all. He said that she probably was keeping it in a Faraday cage.
It looked like I would need to wait for Nora to get back to me. I was not a patient man, and I'd look for her, even if my PI thought that it was hopeless.
Part II
Pregnancy
Porcelain
Nora
THREE MONTHS LATER
I woke up for the fourth day to immediately worship the porcelain god.
I was on my knees next to the toilet, and I felt my tears start to fall. They splashed softly on the cream tile of my bathroom. I knew what it meant. I couldn't lie to myself that I had a stomach bug. I knew what had happened.
Yesterday, it had crossed my mind that Chris and I hadn't used protection when we were together that night. I was a coward.
Laila had given him my number, but she told me that she didn't want to get between the two of us.
I hadn't been answering any of his texts or calls. It looked like I would need to.
I stood up and washed my mouth out with a little mint Listerine. I went back to my bedroom to pick up my iPhone, which was charging on my nightstand.
I looked at my missed calls and called Chris.
The phone was picked up on the first ring.
"Hello?"
"Hi, Chris."
"Nora, where have you been?"
"I want to meet you."
"So do I. Why else would I be calling you?"
"Are you free tonight?"
"Yeah, I'm free anytime you want to talk about our marriage."
Marriage. The concept made my blood turn to ice. Who knew that marriage would even happen for me? I had planned to be single forever, but I'd gotten married in Vegas. I shook my head at drunk Nora.
"There's a diner where we can talk. I'll see you in an hour. Do you have a pen?"
"Give me a minute."
"You know what? I'll text it to you instead."
I pulled the phone away from my ear, and I texted him the address.
I didn't realize until I hung up the phone that I was crying. Not gentle, delicate lady-like tears. I was sobbing, and he'd probably heard it while I was on the phone.
What was I going to do? If I had wanted to abort the baby, I wouldn't have told Chris, but calling him was my first instinct. I knew that if I had a baby, I wanted him to be part of the child's life.
What would Laila think? She definitely knew that something was going on between me and her brother, but she also didn't want to get involved … but she would be if she had a niece or nephew cooking.