6.

 

“Please, let that all have been some kind of weird and terrible dream…” she whispered to herself as she started to wake.

She was in a delightfully darkened room, and she was warm and toasty, lying comfortably on a plush mattress. She rolled onto her side and buried her face into the pillows and pulled the blankets up around her neck and kept herself cocooned and safe.

Her head still felt as if it could explode, but she could tell that she had sobered up and it was now just purely a hangover that was kicking in.

She blinked her bleary eyes open and saw the hotel room stretch out in front of her and she let out a sigh of relief.

She was safe, and she was on her own, tucked up in bed.

Had it been a dream? Or had she really married someone she barely even knew?

She rubbed her temples and reached out toward the nightstand where she picked up a cold glass of water and took some long, drawn out sips. It felt amazing trickling down inside of her, and it was only a matter of seconds before she had finished it all and was lying back down and trying to get her head straight.

She had drunk way too much and whereas she hadn’t been able to remember anything when she had woken up on the floor of the bar earlier, now fragments were starting to weave their way back to her.

She remembered kissing Evan.

He had pulled her right up close to him as they had chatted at the bar and she had felt his hot breath on her neck. He had whispered in her ear and told her how gorgeous he thought she was. How he had been waiting for a girl like her to stroll into town his whole life, and now that she had… he was never going to let her go.

She’d lapped it all up and flirted back with him. She had been daring herself to go further and loving the attention that he was giving her. He was so attractive, and so different to anyone she had met before, it was addictive having him looking at her the way he had been. It was as if she was some kind of majestic artwork that was on display for a limited time. His eyes and the way they trailed over her spoke volumes.

He had been hungry for her, and she had been hungry for him.

He had wrapped his big, man hands up in her hair and pulled her face toward his. And when he had kissed her and parted her lips with his tongue, it had made her entire body quiver.

The sensation of having his beard brush up against her soft and supple skin was still there, and she reached up and stroked the sides of her chin and her cheeks.

He had really made her night. She had had so much fun.

But why the hell had they taken it so far?

She put her head in her hands and groaned.

“Maybe Jack was just playing with us…” she said to herself as she tried to force back the broken memories from the night before.

The more she thought about it, the more she could remember the bar being closed up and the lights being dimmed. The big group of sports loving mountain men had joined them at the bar, and she had the distinct memory of them all doing round after round of shooters.

She had to try and stop herself from gagging.

The thought of drinking now was enough to push her over the edge.

She groaned.

She remembered the girls who were waitresses, and how they had come over and joined them too, and within no time there were several drinking games going on around her, as she slipped in and out of kissing Evan and sipping drinks. He’d kept his arms locked around her waist and he had breathed her in. She’d felt tiny next to him and she had loved being there in his arms. It had made her feel safe and protected, and it had turned her on all at once.

She couldn’t remember how the hell they had got on the topic of marriage, and she had no clue how they had ended up standing on a makeshift alter at the back of the bar, with Jack marrying them in front of a room full of drunken idiots… but she knew it had happened.

She just knew.

Deep down inside her gut, she could feel the seriousness of it all.

It hadn’t been a joke.

Jack had married them in a drunken moment and now she and Evan were going to have to try and sort all of this out.

She lay back into the comfort of the bed and pulled the covers up over her head. She couldn’t believe she had been so foolish, and it was enough to make her enforce a pact with herself that she wouldn’t drink ever again.

“This is a classic case of your behavior, though, Monica,” she whispered to herself as she closed her eyes. “Acting before you’ve thought. Doing things before you’ve considered the consequences… and just generally flying by the seat of your pants.”

She laughed and shook her head.

“You’re an idiot,” she said.

On the nightstand, her cellphone suddenly burst to life and she winced as she reached out and looked at the home screen. It was flashing up saying it was the bar that she had worked in back home, and she rolled her eyes and wanted to scream.

At a moment like this, this was the last thing she needed.

She debated on whether she should answer it, but then she decided it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to hear a familiar voice, especially when she had gotten herself into such a mess.

“Hello?” she said quietly as she answered the call.

“Monica,” Reggie’s dulled tone came from the other end of the line.

She closed her eyes and tried not to grimace. Once again, she hadn’t thought this through. Answering a call to Reggie wasn’t exactly going to fill her with a sense of relief that she was speaking with someone from home. If anything, it was only going to stress her out even more.

“Hi, Reggie,” she said. “How are things?”

“Oh, you know,” he breathed. “The bar is busy, and life is good… but it would be a whole lot sweeter if my number one girl was back in town to help me out!” He was half joking and half being serious, she could tell.

She bit her bottom lip and sank back down into the blankets.

She didn’t want to leave Reggie in the lurch, but she had tried to explain to him what she needed to do with her life. She had to try and make a go of her dreams, and it seemed to be that it was only him who wanted to hold her back.

“I tried to explain, Reggie,” she said softly. “I’ve left the bar for good. I need to get out in the world and do my own thing.”

He went silent for a moment, and then he breathed loudly and clicked his teeth.

“I know you think you need to do this,” he began. “But sometimes in life it truly is best to just stay in your comfort zone. You’ve been part of this bar for years, and it feels so strange without you.”

“I’m sure there are plenty of other girls in town who would jump at the chance to work with you, Reggie!” she laughed. “Have you even put an advert out yet?”

He stayed silent and that told her all she needed to know. She rolled her eyes and had to bite her tongue before she went on to say something she knew she would regret.

“I’m not going to hire anyone else, Monica,” he said sternly. “I want you back here.”

“And I’ve told you, I’m not coming.” She was beginning to lose her temper. He was trying to back her into a corner and trying to get her to bend to his every will… Well, she wasn’t going to let him.

“Monica, you and me, we have something special,” he said suddenly, and it almost floored her.

She had always sensed that Reggie had a soft spot for her, but in no way did she believe that he thought it was something solid and true. She tried not to cringe as she slapped her forehead and held her tongue again.

“Is this about another guy?” he asked her.

Monica wanted to laugh. If only he knew what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into in the past twenty-four hours. He was sure to leave her the hell alone if he did.

A little lightbulb started to spark deep inside her brain.

Maybe she could finally get Reggie off her case now that she had found herself in this bizarre situation with Evan…

“Well, does it?” Reggie asked her again. “I mean, I thought I’d made it pretty clear how I felt about you. I always wanted us to go somewhere and thought we could have been great together. Do you really want to throw all of these years away?”

Monica felt her skin crawl.

“Reggie, I have never given you that impression,” she said calmly. “We worked together. You were my boss… I never acted as if I had any kind of crush on you, did I? I mean, be honest…”

She was really hoping that he wasn’t about to say yes, but she knew she had always been genuine and acted with class.

“I like you, Monica,” he said. “I like you a lot and I just always thought we would end up together.”

She felt her skin crawl again. She had never had feelings for Reggie like that… Not one bit.

“Why can’t we just give it a go, one date?” he asked hopefully.

She bit her lip and wondered if she was about to make a huge mistake. But she couldn’t see any other way out at this particular moment in time.

“It is about a guy,” she said suddenly. “I’ve left town and I’ve come to start my new writing career and be with someone who means a lot to me…”

Even as she was saying it, she couldn’t believe the words were actually coming out of her mouth.

“Are you seeing someone?” Reggie asked her, almost in disbelief.

“Well, yes, you could say that…” she half-laughed.

“Who is he?” Reggie’s voice had changed, and he no longer sounded as soft and agreeable.

“Listen, Reggie, me and you were never together… But I have met someone, and we are close. We’re engaged.”

She tried that on for size just to see how it sounded. She felt weird saying it, but not as weird as she was sure she would feel if she was instead saying she was already married. She heard his breath catch in his throat.

“You’re what?” he asked… and she could tell there was malice in his words.

Monica had never dated Reggie, she had never flirted with him, and she had only ever been friendly and done her job. He had always acted like he had a power over her and she had just let him because he was her boss. But now that she no longer worked for him, there was no way she was going to keep letting him assert his authority… because he didn’t have any over her anymore.

He was just an equal to her in every way, and if she didn’t want to speak to him or entertain him, then she sure as hell wouldn’t.

“Reggie,” she said calmly. “This is weird. I mean, I’ve never given you the impression that I thought we could be more than friends. We worked together, and it was great and I’m so grateful for all the opportunities you gave to me…” She had to roll her eyes at her own words. The only opportunity Reggie had given her was slightly higher than minimum wage and one weekend night off a month.

“You’re going to regret this, Monica,” he said meanly. It was as if he were gritting his teeth down the phone and spitting venom.

“I’m sure I won’t,” she said, finally snapping.

“Oh, you will,” Reggie said with malice. “You’re going to regret ever crossing me.”

The line went dead, and for the first time since she had left town, Monica felt genuinely unnerved. She looked down at the cellphone, quite unable to believe what had just happened. How did he even have the balls to speak to her that way, and try and manipulate her?

Reggie had always scared her a little, and now he seemed to believe he had a reason to have a vendetta against her.

She threw her cellphone down onto the floor and covered her head with the covers.

“What a messed up day,” she whispered to herself.

It truly had been, but she knew it could only get even more messy from there. She was sure things on Grey Mountain were only going to get more crazy as they went along.