Romantic Promises (Alluring Promises Series, #2) (45 page)

“Hey, would you stop it?” Matt smiled at me, taking my hands and stopping me in the middle of the sidewalk.

I looked away from him darting my eyes to the ground feeling as if I might cry. My stomach was churning and my mouth was so dry; I felt like I had just eaten a row of crackers. Dry ones. The saltines. And there was no water in sight.

Matt chuckled as he bent his knees and tried to look into my eyes. I finally looked up at him as tears welled up, which he quickly brushed away with his thumbs, then he gave me a soft kiss. Walking me over to the nearby brick wall, he gently nudged me against it as he cupped my chin, tilting it up to his face. “Hey, they’re just regular people. They’re my friends. They just want to get drunk and hang out,” He tried to joke so I would stop worrying so much.

I nodded just to appease him. His little joke did nothing to help my nervousness. He pressed his soft lips against mine, his tongue begging for me to open my mouth. I opened mine slowly, wanting him, needing him to comfort me another way. His tongue caressed and teased mine, helping me relax in the way he does best. God, I love his mouth.

He pulled back, smiling at me and pecked my lips again with a soft kiss. “Better?”

I shrugged and gave him a small smile, knowing it did help a little. “Is your plan to kiss me all night to help my nervousness? I think your friends might think it’s really odd if our lips are locked the entire time.”

“They put on their pants one leg at a time too, Gorgeous. You should stop caring about what others think of you so much.” I bit my lip knowing he was right, but still felt nervous. I nodded my head as he pulled me in for a hug, wrapping his strong arms around me.

“Mmm,” I sighed into his chest. 

“Did you just moan?” I nodded into his chest as he kissed my head. “Is that all it takes? I guess I don’t need to work so hard next time we go at it.”

I pulled back and smacked his chest lightly as I smirked. He grabbed my hand and tugged me to start walking. “Come on, the gang is waiting.” I rolled my eyes as I let him lead me to the bar to meet all his friends.

The “gang” turned out to be just about the entire bar. I knew Matt had a lot of friends, but the entire place was filled with his friends. We walked in and it seemed like everyone yelled out, “MATT!” at the top of their lungs. People were running up hugging him, slapping his back and high-fiving him. Every thing guys do to say “hi” was done. And the women…
There were a lot of them
. More than I had even anticipated.

Even though Matt was pulled into a sea of people, his eyes continued darting around until his blue eyes landed on mine. He smiled bright and pushed his way back to me. He grabbed my hand and tugged me into the center of his friends. Introductions were flying and Matt stood behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. After awhile, when he felt I was comfortable, he stood at my side either holding my hand or held onto my waist. Either way, he was making sure I felt welcomed and secure as he continued to chat with his friends.

I was regaled with stories about Matt and Alex’s pranks on their friends, silly evenings they’ve had. There were even stories about women that turned them down, mostly by Alex and how he was slapped more than a few times. As the stories flew, I noticed that drinks were constantly being passed to him. A beer was given to me by someone, but since I really wasn’t in the mood for it, I politely sipped it.

Laughing at their stories, I broke away, squeezing Matt’s hand to let him know I was headed to the bathroom. With his eyes, he asked me if I were okay, pulling his blue eyes together and I nodded in reassurance with a smile.

After finding the bathroom and making my way back to the crowd, I decided to head to the bar for a drink. Kara had me hooked on Cosmos now after that first night at Allure and I felt like having one. I sat on an empty stool waiting for a bartender and turned to look at Matt and all his friends. He was definitely the life of the party and it warmed my heart for him.

A waitress walked up next to me and asked in the most beautiful southern drawl if my name was Vanessa. I nodded my head and she introduced herself as Cassie. Cassie with chin length, straight blonde hair and had the absolute most perfect body I’ve ever seen, aside from Aubrey’s. Normally, I would feel jealous or compare myself to someone like her, but Cassie’s smile was so endearing and welcoming, I felt anything but threatened.

She asked me what I’d like to drink and I went ahead and ordered a Cosmo. I watched as her blonde hair bobbed as she ran behind the bar, chatting with me the entire time. She told me how everyone missed Matt and he’s pretty much everyone’s brother and a close friend to them. She didn’t bother mentioning anything about the women surrounding him.

I glanced over and noticed him looking around for someone with a worried expression. My heart melted when his eyes landed on mine and he smiled so bright. Cassie touched my arm to let me know my drink was there as I smiled back at Matt. He mouthed, “You okay?” I nodded, knowing that he wanted to see his friends. I took my glass from the bar and held it up to show him I’d be all right. He nodded back as a friend pulled him into another discussion.

I turned around as Cassie came around the bar and sat on the bar stool next to me.

“So, how long have you two been together?” She asked, smiling. Her blue eyes were so bright and gorgeous that I had a hard time not getting lost in them.

As I quickly remembered she asked me a question, I swallowed unsure of how long to quantify our relationship. “Umm, a couple months, I think.”

She quirked her head the side questioning me with her eyes. “You think?”

“Well, we haven’t…I mean we’re not really…”

“Oh is he not saying anything to ya? About a relationship?” She asked, as if she knew him really well.

I wasn’t sure how much to say to her and I was pretty sure they’ve had sex. At least I think so. I can’t imagine him not at least trying to have sex with her. I mean, my God look at her…perfect facial features, perky little mouth, cute little nose. I took a long drink from my glass staring at the beautiful woman in front of me. I tried not to get jealous, but staring at this adorable woman, a sudden surge of it went through me.

“You’ve had sex with him, haven’t you?” I blurted out with a desperate voice and I wasn’t sure if my facial expression matched the sound in my voice.

Her teeth tugged at the corner of her mouth, her brows pulled in together with concern written all over her face as she gave me a brief nod. Her hand touched my arm as I was pulling my Cosmo back to my lips to take another drink. Okay, it was more of a gulp. I could have inhaled the drink the way I felt suddenly.

“It….he. Hmm,” She let out a deep breath as she seemed to try to figure out what to say to me. I looked over to Matt and noticed all the women surrounding him and closed my eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay. Cassie tried again with her sweet southern voice. “Matt…well, he’s always been a bit of a player here.” She stopped and looked around before she continued, “But, from what I understand, he really likes ya a lot. It seems. I mean…well, I…”

I looked back to her, waiting to hear what she was trying to say. She cringed as she continued, “He turned me down the other night and from what I saw, there was some other woman here that he also turned down. Alex wound up taking her home,” she informed me with a slight giggle. I wondered who that woman was and also questioned if he should have told me. Of course, I haven’t told him about Charles and all the gifts I’ve been receiving from him. I was keeping little lies like that from him also.

“Do ya want another Cosmo?” She asked, her expression was sympathetic as she touched my arm again and then stood to grab my glass. I gave her a brief nod, not that she waited for me to respond. She quickly made me another drink as I watched her pour the alcohol, noting that she was making it stronger than the last one. I needed it and she must have realized that.

As she set the glass in front of me again, she told me, “I didn’t mean to upset ya. I just…he doesn’t seem like he’s his old self that he was down here. I think he likes ya more than just one of his usual girls.” I took a drink not knowing if that was supposed to make me feel any better. She realized what me taking a drink meant, because she laughed as she told me, “Yes, that’s a good thang. He only turned me down once and that was because he had some girl visiting him.” She gave a thoughtful glance away as she told me, “I think she was a stripper.” I literally spit my drink out. Yep. Sprayed the front of her top. Lucky for me, Cassie has a great sense of humor and laughed as she wiped up her polo shirt with her cleaning rag.

After several more Cosmos, I don’t remember much more of our conversations. I will say that by the end of the night, I was calling her my new best friend.

******

I opened my eyes to two white pills and a glass of water on the nightstand. That seemed to be a recurring scene for me.

“Uh,” I moaned as my head throbbed just remembering that night. The bed kept shaking and I placed my hands flat on the mattress hoping it would stop moving. It didn’t. I rolled over feeling Matt’s body next to mine. I moaned hoping he would wrap his arms around me and stop making the bed move. He seemed to be laughing and I was getting upset. His laughter made the bed continue to move. Jiggle. The contents of my stomach were jiggling too. I reluctantly opened my eyes staring into a pair of the most amazing shade of jade eyes I’ve ever seen. Thick black hair covered the pillow as I stared at an unfamiliar face. Although he looked familiar as he whispered, “Good morning, beautiful. How are you feeling?”

I jolted upright, freaked out by who was laying next to me. I looked around the room and suddenly realized I was naked. I held the sheet close to my body as I watched the guy next to me roll with laughter and start clapping his hands. Completely confused and feeling extremely queasy, I watched in horror as the man sat up and started to wrap his arms around me. I shoved him away as I grabbed the sheet even tighter and quickly stood up trying to figure out what was happening.

“Oh my God. I cheated on Matt. Oh my God!” I shrieked as I stared at the naked man in bed; the bed I was just laying in completely naked.

“Oh come on, Vanessa. It was fantastic. You’re fucking wild in bed. Man, you’re insatiable,” he exclaimed, smiling as if he wanted more.

I felt my stomach roll as I placed a hand to my mouth and darted into the bathroom. I made it just in time as I dry heaved and heard him laughing from the other room. He sounded like he was talking to someone in between laughs. Another man. Oh my God. I had two men. I stared into the mirror chastising myself.

I looked down and saw a toothbrush. I picked it up and started brushing my teeth knowing I could stall a little while I thought my “situation” through; and also get rid of that disgusting taste. Not to mention, if I just slept with two men and don’t remember it, I probably needed to cleanse any and all germs out of my mouth.

I stared into the mirror trying to take in what just happened. Oh God. I cheated on Matt. I really like him a lot and here I was a slut — at his own party — in his own town. I wonder what all those people must have thought of me.

I tried to remember the events of the evening. I remember talking to Cassie a lot. I remember hugging her constantly, telling her she was my best friend. I closed my eyes, cringing at what she probably thought of me. I had memories of talking to several of Matt’s friends. One was telling me how much Matt talks about me and not just in a sexual way and thought that was an odd thing to be told. Visions of dancing with Matt several times.
Oh my god.
I think I remember getting onto a table and shouting something.

My head began to pound harder as I tried to recall last night and how I could possibly wind up in bed with two men. Was that another man’s voice I heard laughing? What if it was a woman? What if I had a ménage à trois and don’t remember? I had so many fantasies of having one and here I didn’t remember finally doing it. Wait. That’s not the point. What if Matt wasn’t in there somewhere?

Matt. Where is he? Why isn’t he here? What if he watched me leave with two guys or a guy and a girl and is pissed off at me? Of course he’d be angry with me. Why wouldn’t he? His exclusive friends with benefits or whatever the hell we’re calling ourselves walked out with two other people.

I stared at my reflection begging myself to remember something from last night that would help me figure out who the hell was out there. Their laughter continued and I listened intently. It was definitely two men. God, you had two men last night Vanessa and you don’t remember a thing. I wonder where my cell phone is so I can call Matt and find out what happened.

I looked around the vanity and was relieved to figure out that I was in our hotel room and that I actually used my toothbrush a second ago.

“Vanessa?” I heard Matt’s voice call out.

“Matt?” I frantically whipped the door open to see Matt standing there dressed the same as last night, with tears in his eyes.

“Matt, I’m so sorry. I don’t think I cheated on you. I mean, I don’t remember what happened last night at all, but whatever I did, I’m so sorry!” I clutched the sheet to my body with one hand and threw my other arm around his neck holding on for dear life, praying that he would forgive me for whatever I did.

His whole body was shaking and I couldn’t figure out if he was laughing or crying. Crying. He had to be crying since I just broke his heart and cheated on him. I pulled back reluctantly, not wanting to see how badly I hurt him, only to find him laughing. Laughing so hard he pulled back and wiped tears from his eyes as he hit his thighs. “Oh man, that was so fucking funny. Vanessa, that was perfect.”