Page 75 of Dirty Puck

“Not even. I wishIdidn’t know what it was like, so I wouldn’t wish it on anyone else.”

“Well, you’re embarking on a quasi-girls’ tripwhere you still get to bump uglies with your man, so I’m officially decreeing that you must put all thoughts of tools out of your head for the duration of your time away.”

Hear, hear!“Done,” I replied, and I meant it.

We gossiped about celebrities and talked game stats and laughed the whole way. We were a bunch of women on a luxury jet. The flight attendants doted on us. For lunch they brought me and Jaycee Wagyu beef burgers served with thick-cut fries fried in wagyu beef fat. Bad for the arteries? Probably. Delicious? Definitely. There were a few options available, but I was in the mood for a big, juicy burger. That hit all the spots.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by a chauffeur, who led us to a shiny, black limousine bus. The thing was huge and had an open bar and snacks set up, with room enough to stand. I had no idea limousine buses existed until this moment, and now I got to ride in one.

When the bus finally rolled to a stop at our destination, the chauffeur opened the door for us, and I just about keeled over from the shock. Throwing a hand to my mouth, I squealed a jumbled, “ohmygod” before realizing how noob I must’ve sounded and got a grip on myself.

The Bellagio. We were staying at the mother of all Vegas hotels. The quintessential fountains behind us, and the classic architecture welcoming us to the front.

“Turn your phone on,” Jaycee reminded me. I pulled it from my bag to switch off airplane mode. And as soon as I did, I noticed an app that I hadn’t seen before. Reece must’ve downloaded it last night after I’d gone to sleep. I’d given him my passcode. It had made sense when he explained it. Something about emergencies. Stranger things had happened in the world. He’d given me his passcode for the same reason. Neither of us had anything to hide, or so I thought. Now I knew why he needed it. To surprise me. “Open the app,” she directed.

I opened the app, and Reece had shared a digital key with me. We didn’t even have to check in. It’d all been done for us.

Now I didn’t want to be one of those first-time tourists gawking at everything I passed, but here we were. One of us had never been on a vacation, and that one of us was me. Seasoned travelers would just have to deal.

“We’re all on the same floor, but given Baker booked you two last minute, let me see your room number,” Jaycee said. I showed her my phone. Reece and I were located a few floors up from the rest of the group. We took the elevator up. I kept going when the rest of the women stepped off onto their floor.

The door clicked when I scanned the digital key, opening to a mini suite. I had no words for the sophistication that waited just inside. If this room had a name, it’d be called ‘modern luxury’ without hesitation. A soft, easy color palette and high-end furniture. No one could call me a connoisseur of the finer parts of life, but even my untrained eyes figured this out pretty quickly.

Two beige leather armchairs rested on either side of a round two-person, glass-topped, dark-wood-stained table over by the first bank of floor-to-ceiling windows, and a soft-blue, crushed velvet sofa—or it looked like crushed velvet from here—sat opposite the chairs. A large flatscreen rounded out the space.

Our suite came with a separate bedroom. A dresser and large closet space, but the king bed stole the show. Reece and his kings. I shook my head, but then I ran, leaping onto the bed, landing on my back. I bounced, squealing like a pig in my excitement. How would I ever go back to real life after this trip? How would I go back to real life after Reece? That thought reeled in my excitement. I couldn’t allow myself to think those kinds of thoughts because I knew the deal and I’d agreed to it.

My phone rang. Jaycee. “Meet us downstairs. We’re heading for dinner and then for shopping!” she yelled the last part into the line. I’d never been much of a shopping-for-fun kind of girl. My mom and I never had a lot and I’d really only bought things for Benny or Claudia after moving to Charleston. Even so, Iwason vacation. Maybe I’d let myself splurge on something small. A trinket to remember this trip by. Dinner, I could get behind. My stomach grumbled, reminding me that we hadn’t eaten since lunch.

Before leaving, I checked myself in the mirror to make sure I looked presentable enough. Unless the other women had changed without telling me, I thought I’d still fit in. Pretty cute, even. Makeup done. Eyebrows on point. Navy, A-line skirt hitting right at mid-thigh, navy tank top, and a cream, one-shouldered crop blouse that matched my cream-and-gold thong sandals.

Purse and phone in hand, I left the room, heading for the lobby.

Given none of us were dressed for a night out on the town, the women voted for one of the off-site buffets. The décor reminded me of like a palace in France with all the open, bright spaces, thanks to the chandeliers and wall sconces. It looked as if every major cuisine in the worldfound itself represented inside these walls. It also came with a pretty hefty price tag. Although it physically hurt me to pay a hundred and fifty bucks for a meal just for myself, I refused to be the party-pooper of the group, whining about how I couldn’t afford it. I’d figure something out.

But here was where Reece surprised me again. When I opened my purse to pull out my credit card, I found one of those prepaid cards with a note taped to it in Reece’s handwriting. It said:Have fun.

That man. He just kept upping his game, and he absolutely didn’t have to. It wasn’t like he had to worry about losing me. Our verbal contract made sure of that. So with nothing for it, I paid for my meal ahead of time, per the hostess’s direction, then followed the rest of the women to our tables.

I sat across from Jaycee and Lexi—who joked about their husbands being top scorers—both already flagging down the waiter for their wine.

For the first time in my life, I tried king crab legs. And abalone. And giant sea scallops. But the lobster tail was life-changing.

“Grant’s the center,” I stupidly reminded Jaycee.

They both chuckled at me in that ‘she’s so sweet’ kind of way.

“Someone needs to pay attention. We weren’t talking aboutonthe ice.”

Right.“Then I’d be careful. You play stupid games, you win baby showers.”

“She had to go there,” Jaycee said playfully to Lexi.

“I don’t have that problem,” Lexi countered. “After I had Nicky, Tony took one for the team. Team Jones, that is.” Nicky was her and her husband’s son. They also had Marissa, their daughter, who was three years older than their son, Jones had told me one time in the locker room.

“What about you?” Lexi asked, causing me to choke on my bite of food.

Me?“What about me?” I asked. I wasn’t stupid. They both knew I wasn’t stupid, but that topic wasnotmy reality.

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