String Beans (The Girls of Beachmont #2) (19 page)

“We just met.” I didn’t admit that
just
meant, literally, ten minutes
before.

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah.” I looked over at Emma again and then back
to Wyatt. “She seems really happy.”

“You haven’t been around lately, and I wanted to
talk to you about that night.”

“It’s not a good time, Earp.” I used his nickname
as a way to make things seem as normal as possible. Unfortunately, it felt
anything but. “I should get back to my table.”

I turned to walk off, and his hand reached for my
elbow to stop my retreat.

“Can we talk tomorrow?”

“I’m going out of town,” I answered and saw Emma
walking toward us.

“Vi…”

“You two have a good weekend,” I said with a
forced smile, and Emma’s face contorted to confusion.

As I stepped away and walked toward Owen, who was
still waiting at my table, my regret about telling Wyatt about Emma grew. He
told me he wasn’t in any rush. He said that he would have waited for me until I
was ready, but it wasn’t true.

“You okay?” Owen asked when I joined him.

“I’m great. Thanks for that.”

“Not a problem.” He looked over where Wyatt and Emma
stood talking intently and gave me his attention again. “Ex?”

“No. Just a friend.”

“You sure about that?” he asked as he raised his
chin toward Wyatt, who started walking toward us.

I grabbed Owen’s hand and pulled him away from the
table. “Let’s dance.”

“I thought you don’t dance,” he said as we walked
through people to get to the dance floor. “I’m not sure I can handle your
Dynamite
moves.”

“I’ll do my best,” I laughed.

When we were lost in the crowd, we stopped walking
and turned to face each other to dance. Owen was pretty decent; at least he had
rhythm. I tried to move freely, but I was too concerned that someone was
watching and judging my less-than-stellar moves.

I couldn’t see Wyatt, Emma, or any of my friends,
for that matter, which alleviated some of the pressure. Owen stepped closer to
me and nodded his head once, asking permission to touch me, and I responded
with a nod of my own. He placed his hands on my hips, helping me move to the
music more smoothly than I was on my own. I smiled up at him and allowed my
inhibitions to dissipate.

It surprised me how much I enjoyed it, considering
I didn’t have liquor to numb my senses. Owen and I were laughing and teasing
each other as we danced, helping me to almost forget about Wyatt and Emma.

But it all came flooding back the moment Owen
dipped his face to mine and kissed me. It was void of any feelings and it
didn’t send butterflies fluttering about in my stomach. It certainly didn’t make
me question if I was ready to move on.

I
was
ready, and that question had been answered long before… I’d just ignored it.

Owen wasn’t the one who made me feel something.

Wyatt was.

And I’d already let him go.

I woke up to the sound of Jolie calling my name.

“We need to get moving if we’re going to be to the
airport in time to get Dani.”

“I’m up,” I groaned, pulling my pillow over my
head to drown out the noise.

“What was that?” she asked when she walked into my
room and pulled the covers off my body.

“I said you’re a dick.” I tried to pull the
comforter up, but she had a tight grip. “That’s the last time I take care of
you. How are you even functioning today? You drank so much and I had
nothing…and
I’m
the one who feels
like shit.”

“Probably because you were making out with some
rando
last night.”

My eyes opened wide and I sat upright, staring at
her.

“How did you know about that?” I sputtered. “I
didn’t kiss him…he kissed me.”

“Does it even matter?” she laughed. “Get up and
pack. We gotta get going. I told Callie we were leaving in an hour.”

“What time is it?”

“Seven.”

“I hate you.”

“That’s fine. You can hate me while you sleep in
the car. But we have to get out of here.”

She left the room and I dragged myself out of bed
to start packing. I’d pulled out most of my clothes while I was getting dressed
the night before, so I just needed a bag. I didn’t know what the plan was, but
when the girls and I got together, I knew to expect the unexpected.

My luggage consisted of heels, sneakers, jeans,
club attire, makeup, and emergency cash hidden in the bottom pocket of the bag.
One never knew if or when they’d need money to bail someone out. Dani was
usually the straight one of the group, but Tabor had managed to get her to
loosen up. And Jolie was our wild child. I honestly had no idea what antics
Callie might bring to the occasion, so I erred on the side of caution.

Jolie offered to drive since I was tired from the
night before. Callie was crammed in the back seat, using our duffel bags to rest
on. She’d fallen asleep in the first hour, leaving Jolie and I talking about
Dallas and James.

“I figured Dallas would have jumped at the chance
to come with us,” Jolie said.

“He and James made plans for tonight.”

“Did you meet him?”

“No, I was a bit occupied.”

“Yeah…me, too.”

“Did you see Wyatt and Emma?” I asked.

“I thought he had something to do.”

“Yeah. I thought so too.”

“Did you talk to him?”

“I did. He and Emma walked over to our table. I
was talking to Owen when I saw them.”

“Owen…is this the mystery kisser?”

“He was just a nice guy who I happened to be
talking to when the happy couple joined us.”

“And the kiss?”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“Was he a good kisser?”

“Jeez, Jo! You’re ridiculous.”

“Answer the question.”

“I don’t know. It’s was weird.”

“Weird how? Like he has a forked tongue? Or
worse…he doesn’t know how to kiss?”

I laughed so hard at her question, and she smirked
as she kept her eyes on the road.

“Forked tongue? Really?”

“Think of the lizard dude. Have you seen that?”

“Yeah, that’s crazy.”

“Wait. You’re distracting me. How was it weird?”

I considered the question, because it was
something I’d tried to figure out when he kissed me. He was attractive and
incredibly sweet, but nothing clicked for me.

“If I had a brother, I imagine that’s what kissing
him would be like.”

“Ew,” she said as she shuddered. “So he was bad.”

“No, it wasn’t that,” I defended, feeling bad for Owen.
“There was just no spark there at all.”

“And when you kissed Wyatt?”

“Jo,” I said in warning. “We’re not doing this.”

“Wait, just answer me. I’m curious. Is it because
you aren’t ready or because this Owen guy didn’t rock your socks?”

“I’m pretty sure that I’m more ready than I
thought.”

“Well, between you filing for divorce and kissing
two different men, I’d say I believe you. So back to Wyatt…when you kissed him,
did you feel anything?”

I didn’t have to answer her; she could see from
the look of regret on my face that I did feel something.

“Oh honey, I’m sorry,” she said and patted my leg.

“Like you said, I did this to myself. I got what I
deserved.”

“You deserve good things, Vi. And it will happen
for you—no need to rush it, right? In the meantime, we are going out and
celebrating your freedom.”

A pang of guilt shot through me and I looked over
at my friend, who seemed oblivious to her comment. “Jo, that’s not something to
celebrate.”

“Vi, I love you, and I even love Will…beyond the
urges to hunt him down, string him up by the junk, and cover his piece with
honey so ants attack…I love him. But the two of you together, that’s over. And I
think you and I both know it’s for the best.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t get married with the intention
of divorcing. So let’s not say that again,” I said with a smirk.

“Okay. Fine. If we’re not celebrating the end of
your marriage, we can at least celebrate the beginning of your single life.”

I laughed softly. “Same thing…but I guess it has a
positive ring to it.”

“Exactly!”

***

“There she is,” I said, pointing to Dani who was
waiting on the sidewalk in front of the airport.

She spotted my car and began waving excitedly as
she jumped up and down.

Jolie pulled the car to a stop, and I jumped out
and ran to hug our friend.

“I love your hair,” Dani squealed as she touched
she short pieces tucked behind my ear. “I can’t believe you actually did it.”

“I needed a change,” I said and then looked her
over. “You look great, too! Being the girlfriend of a football star seems to agree
with you.”

“So does this,” she said, and held out her hand
and displayed a gorgeous diamond on her ring finger.

“You’re engaged?” Jolie asked before her jaw
dropped open. “And you didn’t tell us?”

“It happened last night!” she squealed excitedly.

My hands covered my mouth and my eyes watered. Dani
reached for my hand but I shook my head dismissively. “I’m so happy for you!
This is the best news.”

“Thanks,” she gushed before leaning toward me and
whispering with concern. “There’s a blond Jo Jr. behind you.”

I turned around to see Callie stepping out of the
back seat stretching and laughed. “Callie, come meet Dani.”

Callie walked over and greeted Dani in her usual
over-the-top manner. I could see that Dani liked her, and she was right when
she’d compared her to Jolie. The blond hair and facial features made them look
related. Little did she know they also shared a similar personality…though
she’d figure that out soon enough.

We put her suitcase in the car and the four of us
continued our drive to the hotel, where we were directed to the fifty-first
floor. From the surprised look on her face, Dani had no idea that Tabor had booked
us such an amazing room. The two-bedroom suite had a living room and a small
kitchen area. It was, by far, the nicest hotel I’d ever visited.

“Tabor has great taste,” Jolie said
appreciatively. “This place is amazing.”

“What’s the plan for tonight?” Callie asked. “And
where do I sleep?”

“We’ll take this room,” Jolie said to Callie,
grabbing her luggage and disappearing into the first room.

“I guess we’ll take this one,” Dani said and I
followed after her.

It was barely one in the afternoon and we had two
whole days to spend in Vegas. I was eager to get my drink on, so we decided to
change out of our comfy clothes from the four-hour drive and into something
cute…just in case we didn’t make it back to change for the evening.

We stepped onto the casino floor looking like a
sexy chick-version of
The Hangover,
and I almost wished we had some kick-ass music as we strutted—yes,
strutted—to the tables. Since Callie had never been to Vegas, we let her
pick the table and she opted for roulette. We tried to explain to her how to
place her chips, but she was determined to drop a hundred dollars on red.

There were some guys playing on the table as well,
and because of her decisiveness, they decided to play red as well. The dealer
took the little white ball in his hand and gave it a flick so it spun on the
wheel. Callie was bobbing up and down muttering, “C’mon, red.”

I watched until the ball started bouncing around,
but looked away before it stopped moving.

When there was no sound, I slowly turned my face
to see what number hit. Before I could figure it out, Callie and the rest of
the table started screaming and shouting.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, looking in
disbelief at the red number three.

“And now we walk,” Jolie said as Callie collected
her winnings.

“But I want to do it again,” she pouted.

“Trust me. You don’t,” Jolie said. “We have two
days. Don’t give it back to the casino on day one.”

Callie looked at Dani and me and we both nodded
our agreement, so she reluctantly walked away, luckily with more money.

We went from casino to casino, people-watching,
drinking, and gambling. We told Callie we were getting one drink in every
casino, though I knew we’d get more. It was our attempt at pacing ourselves so
we weren’t wasted before dark.

Dani wasn’t typically one to bet, but even she
played. She wasn’t a fan of the tables, but if she found a slot machine that
she thought was hot, she’d stop, put in a twenty, and spin the reels a few
times before walking away.

“You lose money so fast on those things,” I said.

“It’s Vegas, Vi. You lose money everywhere,” she
responded.

“True.”

I sat down at a machine next to her and put in my
own money so I could spin. A waitress walked up and brought drinks over while
we played. We’d lost Callie and Jolie at a table across the way and agreed we’d
meet them at five to see what we were up to next.

“How was the club last night?” Dani asked.

I pushed the button and watched the reels spin.
“It was fine. No big.”

“Not even that kiss?” she asked, still staring at
her machine.

“Jolie has such a big mouth,” I muttered.

“Callie,” she corrected.

“Callie?”

“Yeah. She told me about it while you and Jo were
in the bathroom before. And she said it wasn’t Wyatt.”

“No. But I did see him, too. And his girlfriend.”

“The one you set him up with?” she asked.

“The very same.”

“How was that?”

“Better than I expected,” I answered. “It sucked
seeing them together, but nothing I can do about it.”

“You mean, nothing you
will
do about it,” she said.

“I’m not a dick.”

“So deciding what you want and going for it makes
you a dick?”

“That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Tell me about the guy you kissed.”

“Kissed me,” I corrected. “The guy who kissed me.”

“Does it even matter? Did lips touch?”

“Yes.”

“Then you kissed some guy.”

“Owen. His name is Owen.”

“Was Owen a good kisser?”

“What’s with you and Jo and the kissing? The guy
just laid one on me. I wasn’t expecting it, but I also felt nothing.”

Her hand hovered over the spin button on her
machine and she turned to look at me. “Nothing?”

“Nothing.”

“How do you feel nothing?”

“I just met the guy. I don’t know anything about
him. And for whatever reason he decided to kiss me, and I might as well have
been kissing you.”

“Thanks,” she scoffed and then laughed. “Is this a
normal thing for you…to feel nothing?”

I remained quiet and continued pushing the spin
button. I was down to five dollars, and I should have stopped, but I liked the noises
that came from the machine and it was something to keep me busy.

“No. I felt something when I kissed Will. I mean,
he was my husband.”

“
Is
your
husband.”

“Not after he signs the divorce papers,” I said.

That was easier to say than I thought.

“You filed?” she asked as she turned her body
completely to face me. “When did this happen?”

“A while ago. I didn’t make a big deal about it
and didn’t tell anyone. I just told Jo last night.”