Chapter 3

Alexis

We unlocked our room and Jacqueline held the door open. My mouth literally dropped from the amazing view. We were high up in the tower and could see all the way down the Vegas strip, it was beautiful. The lights from the buildings weren’t on yet as the sun still had a few hours out, but I could imagine this view was going to get better and better as the evening went on.

“Now how can you be grumpy looking at a view like that?” Jacqueline said as we both stood gazing at our amazing view. “The problem with Vegas is that they have these amazing hotels, with beautiful views and spectacular pools, but all I ever want to do is party at the clubs.”

“I’d be fine sipping margaritas by the pool all weekend. Do you think anyone would miss us?” I laughed, knowing damn well we couldn’t avoid Pamela and her plans for the whole weekend.

“Maybe we should come back just the two of us for a relaxation weekend? I’m open to giving it a try. Or you could do something with your new show? A fun friend’s weekend and bring me along.”

“Sure. I’ll see if they have any plans for that.”

“We have thirty minutes to get ready and get downstairs,” Jacqueline said as she looked at our official schedule. “No way that’s happening.”

“Knowing Pam, she said to be down there at five so we would all actually be there by six.”

I grabbed my bag and wheeled it to the bed where I proceeded to unpack the large quantity of clothing I’d brought. I was a horrible traveler when it came to packing. It was too hard to decide what I wanted to wear ahead of time so I always ended up bringing way too many clothes.

“That blue dress,” Jacqueline said pointing to the vibrant blue Bodycon dress I had already thrown to the side.

“No, it’s way too short. My ass will be hanging out.”

“Drink this and put that damn thing on,” she commanded as she handed me a mixed drink concoction she had put together.

My lips puckered and my face twisted as I sipped on the ultra sour drink. It was delicious though and I finished it off in just a few sips. The blue dress wasn’t something I would wear out in Los Angeles. I’d bought it on sale at some random shop a year before and every time I put it on all I thought about was how short it was. So when it came time to wear the dress, I always chose not to and went with something more casual. But it was Las Vegas and I did want to let loose and party, so I slipped the dress on, reluctantly.

“I don’t know. I’m not going to be able to relax. I’ll be grabbing at the hem all night long.”

“Run over there,” Jacqueline ordered. “See how much it moves. I think that dress is so tight that it’s not going anywhere.”

I ran to the other side of the room and back again. Sure enough, the dress stayed where it was. There were only two inches or so from the bottom of my ass to the hem, but if it would stay there for the night, then I could manage it.

“One more drink for the road,” I laughed as I pulled the dress down a touch.

Jacqueline and I finished doing our hair and makeup. Then we both had another drink to relax before heading down to meet the girls. It was nearly six o’clock when we found everyone, but it didn’t look like they had been waiting for too long.

“We are going on a club tour tonight,” Pamela said. “Please stay together though. I don’t want to worry about where you are at and I don’t want anything bad happening to anyone.”

“Stay together?” I whispered to Jacqueline. “This is going to suck, isn’t it?”

“No, no, we are going to have a blast. Stop worrying.”

“Okay.”

I had a great buzz going on and I wasn’t nearly as worried about partying with Pam and the rest of the boring office gang as I had been before. Maybe we were going to have fun. I put on a smile and grabbed Jacqueline as we followed the girls out to the waiting limo.

This limousine was provided by the hotel and was stocked with alcohol for our night on the town. The driver was young and very handsome in his black suit. His long brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail and each of us gave him a huge smile as he held the door open and we climbed in.

“Well, he’s a nice surprise,” I giggled.

“He’s going to be our driver all night,” Pam added. “We are going to five different clubs tonight. Tomorrow we will go to a different set of clubs. Isn’t this going to be a blast?”

Ten clubs in two days didn’t sound fun at all. Two clubs in two days were about as much as I could handle. By the time you got into a club, found a table, ordered drinks, and danced a little, the night was usually over. I had absolutely no idea how Pam or her maid of honor, Margaret, thought they were going to make this happen. There was no use bursting their bubble though. I was relaxed and ready to go with the flow.

The driver turned on some loud music and we put the windows down while we went down the Vegas Strip. A few of the ladies were leaning out the windows and screaming, but Jacqueline, Rose and I were sitting back and chilling while we listened to the music.

“Where is the first stop?” I asked Rose.

“Chateau, it’s supposed to be pretty nice.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” I said and just a few minutes later we were pulling up to the first club.

Our handsome driver, Stanley, held the door open and even held his hand out for each of us to grab onto as we climbed out of the limo and steadied ourselves in our stiletto heels. There was a well-dressed hotel employee standing near the door to the hotel waiting for us.

“Ms. Schneider?” he asked Pamela.

“Yes.”

“We are ready for you,” the man said and motioned for us to follow him into the hotel.

The group of us followed him through the hotel and straight to the front of the fancy restaurant at the hotel. He brought us back to a big table in a private room and it was nice. The table fit all eight of us girls, the linen was top of the line and the silver was probably worth thousands of dollars. The chairs were huge and leather and before we had finished grabbing our seats there were four waiters bringing us water and taking drink orders.

“I thought we would enjoy a nice dinner before we head out on the town,” Margaret said. “Pam, I know you didn’t want me to spend a lot of money, but this place is the best in the city.”

I had to agree. I couldn’t imagine any other restaurant being fancier than this one. It didn’t seem like the sort of place where a bunch of drunk women would normally hang out, so it was good that we had come before too much drinking happened.

It was finally making more sense to me why we had to be ready so early. None of the clubs opened before nine o’clock. Two hours seemed a bit long for a dinner, but as the courses were brought out, it was clear that our dinner would take much longer than that.

We savored the delicious tastes as each course was brought out. There wasn’t a menu, instead, we had what Margaret had arranged ahead of time. There was a savory appetizer of beef and some sort of white sauce, then a salad, followed by a chicken dish, then a soup and finally a dessert. The waiters took their time between courses and the protein courses were served with a paired wine. By the time dinner was done I was stuffed and I also felt much closer to all the ladies and ready to have a great time with them at the clubs.

“Are you ladies ready to move over to your VIP table at Club Chateau?” the same sharply dressed man from earlier said as he waited in the doorway.

“Yeah, we are,” I stood up and quickly joined him.

“Let’s have some serious fun, ladies,” Pam announced in what seemed like her best version of a fun voice.

“Thanks for dinner, Margaret,” a few of the ladies aid.

“Yes, thank you. That was an amazing surprise,” I added. “And so delicious. I am going to be thinking about that meal all night.”

Our group followed the sharply dressed hotel man through the casino and to the club at the back of the second floor. We walked past the crowd and straight into the club where there was a huge VIP table waiting for us, fully stocked with alcohol and mixers. If this was what our night was going to be like, I was set to have a kick-ass time with Pam and her bachelorette party.

“Dang, this has to be a fortune,” I said to Jacqueline.

“I think Pam’s family paid for most of this. I’m ready to have a good time though. Are you?”

“Hell, yeah I am.”

The plan to go to several different clubs didn’t pan out. We were having such a great time at Chateau that we convinced Pam and Margaret we should just stay there for the night. It would probably save a ton of money and we were having a blast, so it wasn’t going to damper our evening one bit.

Our booth was in the middle of a long section of booths, but each of them was situated with a small wall to keep groups private. We had a perfect view of the dance floor but a red rope kept our section separate so others couldn’t come up there. Each of us had on a bright pink wristband that denoted our table in the VIP section and the bouncers checked for them religiously anytime we left and came back to our table.

“Let’s dance again,” I yelled to Jacqueline.

By this point, I was having a blast. Free drinks and a VIP table had a way of making any night more fun. Plus, the dinner with all the girls had helped us loosen up and get to know each other much better.

“Yes!” she replied.

“I’m coming too,” Rose said as we all finished off the drinks we had in our hands and made our way to the dance floor.

I was slightly behind the other two girls and hurried to catch up to them, but as I passed the velvet red ropes I ran smack dab into a tall solid hunk of a man. He was well over six feet tall with blonde hair and a simple blue t-shirt on. My eyes first looked at his hard, muscular chest before making their way up to his face.

“Hey, I know you,” I yelled as he smiled down at me.

“I know you too,” he replied.

“Your Missy’s brother. What’s your name?” I knew his name. Well in any other circumstance I knew his name. On this particular evening, I’d had a lot to drink so I wasn’t as quick with my memory as I should have been.

“Cody,” he said leaning in closer to my ear so I could hear him.

His breath hit my neck and sent a delicious shiver throughout my body. He gently touched my arm and then leaned back smiling at me while simultaneously looking like he wanted to kiss me. Cody’s eyes darted to the length of my dress and then all the way down to my shoes before he made his way back up to meet my gaze. The glistening of desire that flashed across his face was new for us. We hadn’t seen each other in months, not since Missy’s wedding. Even on that night, we hadn’t talked to each other much at all since he had a pretty brunette as his date. Before her wedding, I’d only seen Cody at our college graduation and he had a beautiful brunette on his arm that evening too.

“Yes, I knew that,” I laughed nervously. “Of course, I’m sorry. I’m drunk. I’m here with a bachelorette party,” I pointed to the VIP table I’d just come from.

“It does look like you are in the middle of having fun.”

“I am!” I yelled. “You should come dance with me.”

Cody looked at his two friends and gave them some sort of knowing look before grabbing my hand and pulling me out onto the dance floor. I’d never held Cody’s hand before. This realization hit me as he squeezed my hand tightly while keeping me next to him through the crowd. In fact, I couldn’t remember ever even being alone with him. Not that being in the middle of a club meant we were alone, but it was a much different vibe than having him visit Missy and me at our college graduation.

“You look all grown up,” he said when we finally found a spot on the dance floor. “I don’t remember you being such a knockout.”

“I was ugly before?” I teased him.

“No, I didn’t mean that,” he put his hands on my hips and pulled me closer to him while leaning down to my ear again. The only way to communicate in the club was to be close enough to someone’s ear that they could hear you, but it was also an extremely intimate way of talking to a man I’d never been so close to in my life. “I meant to say you are stunning.”

“Thank you,” I smiled. “You don’t look like as much of a douche bag as you used to.”

“I think you meant that as a compliment?”

“Sort of,” I couldn’t look at him as I teased him though. Simply looking at the way he was watching me was making me nervous.

Cody Gleason was a tall, blonde haired, blue eyed fantasy guy; nothing like the men I normally dated. My type of guy was more of the brown haired nerd who I could be in control around. I liked to go out with guys who thought I was out of their league. It made dating easier for me because I was always in control. Normally, if a guy like Cody asked me to dance I would have automatically assumed he was a player and said no.

But I knew Cody, or at least I knew him a little bit from over the years. What harm could come from a little dancing and flirting with my best friend’s brother?