Broken and Screwed (BS #1)(35)

Eric looked green around his mouth. He held a hand to his stomach, but tried for a smile. “Hey, guys.”

Angie’s eyebrows went high. “And she’s drunk.”

Justin chuckled and clapped a hand on Eric’s shoulder. “Been drinking since you got here?”

He nodded, and gulped for breath. His cheeks swelled suddenly.

Justin’s laugh grew in volume. He swatted him once again. “Yep, sounds like Marissa’s influence has done its job. Good job.”

Eric jerked forward, clapped a hand over his mouth, paled, and then fled down a hallway.

“Honey!” Marissa followed after him, with clumsier movements.

“Hey! What about us?”

“Oh.” She put the brakes on and skidded back. A key card was flung at us from her purse before she turned back around. “You’re all in room 5214, right next to us. You’re checked in and everything. I’ll come over in a bit.”

“All of us?”

A distracted wave was her response.

Angie sighed in disgust. “I can’t believe she did that. We should’ve gotten a suite with three separate rooms. That would be less awkward then.”

“Uh…” Justin glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “Um, honey. We’ll be fine. It’s no problem.”

“No problem?” she seethed. “This is all Marissa’s fault. She called us at the last minute and demanded we all do this, and then she doesn’t think things through. Honey, we’re in Vegas and we can’t—”

Then she stopped and turned to me. Horrified.

The knots in my stomach had dropped like stones, but I swallowed my pride and shrugged. “It’s fine. I can get my own room somewhere.”

“Oh, my God. I am so sorry, Alex. I didn’t mean—” She balled up her fists and pressed them to her forehead. “None of this is going the right way. I can’t believe I said it like that. I’m really sorry, Alex. I really am. I’m mad at Marissa, not you, never you.”

But, I was the problem. And she knew that I knew that. A deep guilt started to settle in when Justin threw his arms around us both and pulled us tight. He squeezed us together and said in a cheerful tone, “No worries, Alex. Me and Ang can have daytime sex if you’re not around.”

“Justin!”

He grinned at me as he was swatted in the back of his head. “I prefer sex during the day anyway, so you’re kind of helping me out here.”

“Shut up, Justin.”

But he hugged us tighter and turned both of us towards the hallway. “Come on, ladies. Let’s go find our room.”

Angie glared at him. “I’m going to make you pay for this, you know.”

“Yeah, but that’s another reason why having Alex around is a good idea for me. You can’t fillet my ass.”

She opened her mouth, ready for another seething retort, but then she jerked in the air and gasped. She whirled around, red in the face and eyes, as a hand reached around to her butt. Her mouth opened and closed like a goldfish’s for a second and then the scathing look intensified. “You pinched my ass!”

Justin hooted before he burst ahead of us down the hallway.

“Justin!”

He waved the card in the air. “Good luck getting into the room. I’ve got the key.”

“AH!” And she took off after him.

I stayed back and watched as the two chased each other down the hallway. Justin was giggling, Angie was growling, but right before she turned the corner, I saw the smile on her face as well. I sighed on the inside. They were in love. They had been for such a long time.

I wanted that. I did, but then an old feeling inside of me triggered again.

People didn’t find the love they had. Not really. And if they did, they were lucky, incredibly so.

With that thought, I knew I had to get my own room. I was the fifth wheel on this trip. When I went back to the front desk, a worker told me that there were no empty rooms. I needed to have a reservation at least a few weeks in advance. After she told me all this, with a blank expression on her face, I wondered if Marissa had booked two rooms from the beginning.

“Street girl?”

And then I stopped wondering about it.

Cord Tatum stood behind me with his arm around a girl’s waist. He was dressed in Grant West University gear, with athletic pants and a sweatshirt that looked like it might’ve cost over a $200. Two other guys were with him, dressed the same. The girl wore a skimpy red top and jeans that were like a second skin.

He flashed me a grin. “Marissa’s friend, right? You bitched me out on the street by Benson’s house.”

I gave them a wry grin. For some reason, I was uncomfortable that he remembered that. “Yeah, I guess so.”

His gaze flicked past my shoulder to the front desk worker. “What are you doing? You getting a room?”

“That’s cute, thinking you can get a room here.” The girl flicked her red hair over her shoulder and laughed. She trailed a hand down his arm and rested it on his chest.

My eyes narrowed at her, but I responded to him, “My friends already got rooms, but they’re coupled up. It feels weird, you know?”

“Ah. Got it.”

One of the guys nudged him from behind. Cord’s eyes lit up. “Hey, we have a few empty beds with the team. You could bunk with one of us. We’d have to put you with a decent guy.”