Page 86 of For Pleasure Or Worse

One word left my lips. “Run!”

chapter thirty-one

Mateo

She was really running.

All five of them in their hot pink skirts and thin heels, squealing with laughter and dodging people on the busy sidewalks through Vegas as if outrunning us was even an option. Had we not looked away for two minutes to watch Echo pull a slot handle on a Monte Carlo machine, they wouldn’t have even made it out of the bathroom. But this was fun now. I had a rush of adrenaline after seeing that shock in Natalia’s eyes and I had every intention to use it.

Their head start across the highway dwindled quickly. Our legs were just longer, steps brisker. Tally kept checking over her shoulder, maybe hoping she didn’t see me when she looked back, and the last thing I needed was for her to catch a crack in the sidewalk and go ass over tits. God I fucking loved her, but graceful and agile my fiancée was not. Wherever they were headed, we were headed, and for all we knew that could very well be a gay bar or a male strip club, or something equally impossible to talk ourselves out of. I hadn’t asked, but I was pretty sure there was a cap on how fartaking one for the teamwould go if it came down to it.

Plus, I wouldn’t put it past those women to set us up. They were educated, and diabolical, and a little bit drunk, which was a frightening combination.

Suddenly I was slowing my strides and rethinking the eagerness in which I was leading myself and four grown men into uncharted territory. Ahead of us the Strip was thick with restaurants and stores, neon spectacle signs extended from the buildings. I was anticipating their next move, but at the same time I couldn’t give a damn where we were headed as long as it was in line behindher. My brain had two tracks. One was always Natalia. The other one was often, also, Natalia. But the deeper, more regulated, day-to-day things played out there as well. She was like a film filter over everything.

Another two blocks on the right, a door swung open and a few people filed out with cigarettes hanging from their mouths as a cacophony of shrill singing and a Joan Jett instrumental thumped loudly through the brief opening. Before it shut again Tally squeezed herself through the door and disappeared with her pack of flamingos close behind.

A fucking karaoke bar. I swiped a hand down my face. “Who here can sing?”

None of my groomsmen volunteered but Pike threw an arm around my shoulder with a shit-eating grin on his face. “There’s really nothing you wouldn’t do for this girl.”

He was right about that. Despite the dread, there was no keeping us from stomping right into the dimly lit karaoke bar. It was long and thin, like it was built between two already standing buildings and the owners threw a roof over the alleyway and called it a day. At one end there was a stage and tall bar tables scattered in front of it. A projector was casting moving lyrics against the wall and the DJ stood behind his booth with a queue of eager amateur singers waiting to give a request.

Bella was in that line.

The other four had found a table nearby and were already pointing at items on the menu. My brother, Pike, and I made ourselves at home in the empty spaces beside the girls, wiggling in like unwanted pests. I set my elbows on the table and my arm pressed flush to Natalia’s, but she didn’t move away like I expected her to. Her posture straightened, her bicep went stiff, and then she relaxed, ignoring me and the small connection there altogether.

I wasn’t going to get my hopes up over an arm touch like I was in fucking middle school. But we were headed in the right direction. We’d gone from taking separate cars into the city to sharing a sticky bar table with minimal castrating side-eye. Progress.

“That whole sneaking away thing was very cute.” I plucked a menu out of Mia’s hand across from me and dodged her long fingers attempting to snatch it back. I’d spent thirty-five years without sisters, and now I had three of them, so I considered my instigating as making up for lost time.

“Try a low crawl in the future,” Frankie suggested, tugging Ophelia into his side and wrapping her in a playful headlock. Her brown hair fell in her face. “You have these massive heads. They’re impossible to miss.”

“You’re one to talk,” O shot back at him, giggling.

“Tallyis impossible to miss,” I said. That inside thought cartwheeled off my tongue before I could catch it. The table stilled, but Tal and I were the object of everyone's attention. Feeling bold, I grazed the side of her pinky finger with mine and tacked on, “Always has been.”

For a second I thought I had her. That she might give in and turn around and we could figure it out somewhere quieter and more private while the metronome of shitty off-key karaoke ticked in the background. But the moment was gone as quickly as it presented itself. Sam and Tyler were suddenly there,hollering at each other and backing us all away from the small table top to slosh down ten plastic cups of pale yellow beer they’d somehow managed to carry with only two sets of hands.

“I don’t understand what the big fucking secret is,” Echo pecked at his brother.

“It’s none of your business who I take on dates.” Wink shrugged. He reached over and plucked the menu out of my hand and studied it too closely to be reading anything at all.

“Sam has a girlfriend?” Tally wiggled her eyebrows.

“Sam doesn’t have a girlfriend,” Sam replied.

“Sam has a date to your wedding that he’s keeping under wraps like she’s a celebrity or something,” Echo snorted, then pointed a long finger at his brother with wide eyes. “Oh shit, have I fucked her before? Is that it? There’s no hard feelings here. Wouldn’t be the first time a girl got the Swan brother special.”

“Watch your mouth.” Wink’s head shook.

“Is that on there, somewhere?” Mia pointed at the wobbly laminated menu in Sam’s hand. “I didn’t see that one.”

“Shameless,” Angelo mumbled.

“I’m just saying, you’re bringing a new girl into a pretty chaotic situation. I hope she’s up to the task.” Echo put his palms out as if surrendering. “First date at a wedding that you’re in across the country with all of your best friends is pretty fucking bold.”

A comeback was at the tip of Sam’s tongue but he tapped it back down and put his beer to his lips.

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