Chapter Seventeen
Parker
I woke the next morning with a blasting headache. I kept my eyes closed, unsure how much worse it was going to get if I tried to open them. I groaned and reached out next to me. The other side of the bed was empty.
Good, I didn’t go home with some stripper. The rest of the night came back to me in bits and fragments, but it turned blank right around the time Sienna and I sat down at the booth. How the hell did I get home? I cracked open one eye and realized the room was still shrouded in darkness. I blinked a few times, even though each time I did, the movement radiated in my brain.
There was something on the side table. I scooted over and the sheets against my skin were like sandpaper. It was going to be one of those hangovers.
I grabbed the glass of water and chugged it. I opened the pill bottle and took two aspirin and swallowed them dry. The chalky taste mixed with the aftertaste of the alcohol was a disgusting combination. I really needed to brush my teeth.
It took me a while to get into a seated position. The right side of my body ached, and I promise myself I wouldn’t drink again for a while. I rested my head in my hands and tried to recall more of the night before. I worked my way through from start to finish. I remembered the strippers. Then I ate with Sienna and had a good conversation with her. Tony had his own lap dance and then was talking to the strippers across the dining room. Sienna had come to my side of the booth to sit with me and then…nothing.
I came up against a roadblock; no matter how I tried to get around it, my brain wasn’t allowing me to remember. It was incredibly frustrating.
I reached down to retrieve my pants. I pulled my phone from my pocket. I didn’t have any messages and my battery was almost dead. And I was surprised to see it was already four in the afternoon. Holy shit, I’d slept all day. I’d drank a lot more than I realized. Once the liquor had started flowing, I didn’t remember not having a glass in my hand. Why didn’t I drink any water? How did Sienna let me do that?
She did want me to have a good time. And by getting me drunk, there were sure to be moments she could make fun of me for. Hmm. I’d have to get her back for this once I was able to move without wanting to throw up.
I flipped through to find Sienna’s number so she could fill me in on the details.
Before I could press the call button, someone knocked on the front door. I smiled and placed the phone on the bed. Sienna was here. At least I could ask her face-to-face. And maybe she would have some coffee for me. Or possibly some greasy hangover food. No matter how bad I felt, I was always up for her food.
I stood up and the room tilted. Once I got my bearings, I pulled on a pair of sweatpants and headed out to answer the door. She banged on the door again, and it sounded like a hammer in my head.
“Coming,” I croaked then cleared my throat. I must have had more whiskey; it always made my voice hoarse.
I opened the door and was prepared for Sienna to bust my balls about something stupid I did last night, but instead, I was surprised to see Rachel standing there.
“Rachel?”
“Hey, babe,” she said and pushed through the door, lugging her bags. She rolled them to the middle of the room and stood them up. She turned and crossed her arms, looking me up and down.
I must have looked like a wreck. I raked my hands through my hair. “What-what are you doing here? I thought you were staying another couple of days.”
She looked like perfection, a deceiving quality. She walked over to me and rubbed her soft hands over my chest. “Can’t a girl come home and see her fiancé?”
I glanced outside the door before I kicked it closed behind me. “Sure, but I’m just surprised is all.”
She smiled. “I want to tell you about the whole thing!” She started unloading every single detail of the trip.
“Please don’t yell,” I said, rubbing my temples. “Sienna and Tony threw me a bachelor party last night.”
“I hope it wasn’t at her disgusting diner. You could probably get a disease from there.” She stuck out her tongue and made a gagging noise.
If anything, I would get a disease from the strippers. Sunny’s was the cleanest diner I’d ever visited. Besides, I wasn’t going to get into this with her now. I had no patience and no energy.
“Anyway,” she said. “On the plane ride there, we were sitting behind a child. In first class! I made them move the family across the plane by telling the flight attendant that I wanted a refund if I was going to have to listen to a screaming child after paying so much for the ticket, then…”
For the lack of us speaking while she was gone, she was certainly making up for it now. I fought hard to pay attention, but what I really wanted to do was call Sienna and figure out what the hell happened last night.
Rachel tagged along with me all around the house, even while I showered. She was never this attached before. I should have been grateful—I was marrying her, after all—but today was not the best day for her to be clingy. I just wanted to get in touch with Sienna and find out what I had missed out on.
The shower felt refreshing and offered me a chance to drown out Rachel for a few minutes. Her muffled words weren’t discernible in the stream of water cascading over my head, offering me a small moment of peace. Guilt pressed on my chest so I took a quick shower so Rachel wouldn’t have to repeat herself. It was one of her pet peeves, and I didn’t want her voice to get even more high-pitched than it already was. I wasn’t sure my throbbing head could take it.
When I got out of the shower, Rachel was standing there, holding my phone out.
“Did someone call?” I asked. Sienna wouldn’t be too happy if Rachel answered her phone call.
“No,” she said. “Are you expecting someone to call?”
“No,” I said and wiped my face with a towel.
She narrowed her eyes for a moment before thrusting the phone at me.
“I want you to make reservations for dinner tonight.”
I took the phone from her. “Where do you want to go?”
“You choose,” she said. “But make it a nice place.”
“Sure thing,” I said.
“We’ll talk more then. I want to freshen up, then we can leave.” She winked at me then turned on her heel and strode from the room. Her clacking heels echoed across the space until they were gone.
I sighed. She knew I could get a spot at any restaurant I wanted. Flashing my money was her favorite thing, and if the restaurant wasn’t full, she’d know I didn’t try hard to get into an exclusive place.
My phone was dangerously close to being dead. I had one phone call to make before I had to charge it.
Rachel would make my life hell if I didn’t schedule a reservation. And I wouldn’t have the privacy I needed to speak with Sienna about last night. I was sure if Rachel heard the conversation, she’d have a lot of questions. And I wasn’t prepared to talk to her about last night. At least not until I got all the information.
I sighed. Sienna would have to wait.
When we arrived at the restaurant, Rachel acted surprised that we’d gone to such a nice place. I was still recovering, so I didn’t have the energy to remind her that she was the one who wanted a fancy place. I ordered a bottle of wine for the table but I knew my glass would remain empty. I guzzled both mine and Rachel’s glasses of water before the waiter returned to take our order.
“So, as of right now, you have a venue, officiant, and what else?” Rachel said, flipping through her phone. She was half-paying attention like she always did, but for some reason, it annoyed me. It seemed like everything she did annoyed me today. It was unfair to her that I was hungover, so I tried to muster up the energy to talk to her even though I really didn’t want to get into this right now. I didn’t even want to leave the house, and now she wanted to talk about the wedding? Balls of stress built up in my shoulders.
“That’s it. I didn’t have time for anything else yet. The band I put a deposit on didn’t have availability for the new date. The caterer was checking her calendar and was supposed to get back to me.”
I’d left my phone at home to charge while we were at dinner. When Rachel went home for the night, I’d be able to call Sienna and get all the information I needed to ease my mind. Not knowing what happened last night created a sense of anxiety in me. I hoped I didn’t say or do something stupid. By the lack of Sienna’s phone calls, I had a really strong feeling that the part of the night I didn’t remember was very important.
“Parker, are you even listening to me?” Rachel said.
I didn’t realize I wasn’t paying attention to anything she’d said. My brain was still fuzzy and I must have zoned out.
“What did you say?”
Rachel sighed. “We still have so much to do. I think I’m going to have to hire someone to help me since you were obviously not the person for the job. I’ll need your checkbook so I can put down all the deposits. And I need to get my dress fitted…”
She continued on. I interjected an appropriate “sure” and “uh-huh” as needed, but I didn’t contribute more than that.
I could barely choke down my dinner since my stomach was still rolling from the night before. I had the waiter wrap up my meal and I got the check before he even offered dessert. I knew Rachel wouldn’t want any and I needed to get home and call Sienna. Or maybe she already called me and wondered why I hadn’t gotten back to her in almost an entire day.
Rachel seemed put off by us rushing out of there, but I ignored her.
After paying the check, I called for the valet. After he pulled the car up to the curb, I opened the door for Rachel. I tipped the valet and shuffled over to my side. I was almost home-free.
We had to go back and get Rachel’s things at my place. I wished I would have packed them in the car so I could take her home right away. But my brain wasn’t functioning well at all since I woke up hours ago.
When we got to my place, I left the car idling and got out. “I’ll be right back with your things.”
Rachel opened her door and stepped out. “We can do that tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” I didn’t like the sound of that. “You’re staying here tonight?”
“Is that a problem?”
Fuck….
“No, I just—” I had no excuse. She was my fiancée, and she had the right to stay over whenever she wanted. But why did she have to agree to stay over tonight, of all nights?
Rachel strode up the front walkway, leaving me to turn off my car and lock it. This was going to be a long night.