AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“This is your fault. I swear, you’d think they could have spared just a couple more inches of fabric on this thing.” Syd giggles. “I hate you.” I grab a glass of champagne and lean back against the seat.
She rests her head on me. “No, you don’t. You love me.”
“I do. But right now I don’t like you,” I joke and lean my head on hers.
A few minutes later our limo stops in front of the Hard Rock Hotel. Syd grabs my hand and pulls me out of the limo. When I stand, I make sure the small scrap of fabric called a dress is covering all the right places.
“Why are we at a hotel?” I ask Bryn as we’re walking into the lobby.
“You’ll see,” she answers with a large smile. She and Harper wrap their arms through mine, and we follow Katie and Syd through the casino. I look around at the constant sounds of dinging slot machines and cheering off in the distance. The machines I look at confuse me. I’ve never played slots before, but I always had it in my head there were three wheels and you match the cherries or something simple like that. These machines are complicated. There are tons of lines crossing each other in every direction. I watch a person play for a second and wonder how they know they won. Syd pulls me away as I’m trying to figure the damn things out. We walk out of the sea of machines toward the side of the casino. The bright sign catches my attention.
Magic Mike Live. My eyes go wide. I whip my head around to Sydney. Her smile reaches her eyes as she waits for my reaction. She knows I secretly love that movie. We watched it five times while it was at the theater, but I would never admit that to anyone.
“Is Channing here?” I ask excitedly.
A girl who overhears me steps beside me and says, “Nope, I hear he rarely comes to these.”
“Well, that sucks,” I reply.
“It does, but don’t worry, there are sexy-as-hell men in there who will light your panties on fire. They’ll make your fiancé seem mediocre.” She obviously doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Aiden could very easily be a stripper. I laugh at my thought. The drinks are making me silly.
“Girl, I have a man who looks like those guys,” I say, pointing to a poster of the Magic Mike guys. “Aaanndd he’s FBI.”
The girl looks at Syd for confirmation, like she thinks I’m lying. Syd nods. “Lucky woman! Most of the guys I date are losers.”
“Hey, me, too,” Bryn says loudly to the girl. “These two have freaking gorgeous men with guns, literally.” She points to Syd and me while she laughs at her own joke and ends up snorting. Her hand quickly covers her mouth, and we all start giggling at Bryn as her cheeks redden. I wrap my arm around her and hug her.
“Don’t worry, Bryn. We’re going to find you one,” I say. “You just need to stay away from Ryker.”
The girl’s eyes widen. “Ryker who?” she says slowly. I smirk and nod, confirming what she must be thinking.
“Holy shit! Ryker Dallas?”
Bryn rolls her eyes at the girl’s overzealousness. “He’s not all that,” she says pointedly. “Just another loser.” Her arms flail out.
“I wouldn’t even care if he was the biggest loser ever, I’d still ride that boy, given the chance.”
Bryn quietly snickers at the girl. “Be careful what you wish for,” she murmurs and then walks toward the entrance of the club, leaving us behind.
“We are so hanging out with you guys tonight,” the girl says. Harper introduces us all as I walk over to catch up with Bryn.
“You okay?”
“Yes. I promised myself I wouldn’t let him get to me on this trip, but seeing him today…” She pauses and lets out a moan. “Why does he have to be so gorgeous and nice to me?”
I tilt my head and laugh. “I’m going to kick his ass for being nice to you,” I say sarcastically. “What’s really wrong here, Bryn?”
“He says he wants to take me out on a real date.” I don’t know what I was expecting her to say but that wasn’t it. I stare at her, waiting for her to continue, but she doesn’t. “And?” I finally say.
“And look at me?” Her hands flow down her body. “A guy like that would never settle for a girl like me.”
“Are you kidding me? You are gorgeous and he’d be one lucky guy to have you. You’re smart, independent, and have a lot to offer a man.”
She sighs. “He’s…Ryker Dallas. I’m just Bryn the accountant. He’d get bored with me within a week. Hooking up at a party was okay, but now he wants a date.”
“Where is the confident woman I know? Where is all this self-doubt coming from?”
“Ugh. I don’t know. I’ve seen the girls he’s dated before. Models from freaking Australia. I can’t compete with those types of women.”
