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Chapter Twenty
Once we arrived back at the hotel, the couples went up to their rooms, but Will, Catherine, and I decided to have another few drinks in the lobby bar. Regrettably, I was finding the whiskey now in my belly was doing the opposite of quelling my unease. It was feeding the fire. It also didn’t help that my eyes were glued to the hotel entrance, hoping to spot Colby come in any minute.
I could’ve sent him a text message, but as luck would have it, my phone had gone dead. Besides, I wasn’t certain I wanted to know if Colby and Mark were at Lucky Ladies tonight. Throwing in the towel after the two drinks and an hour of waiting pathetically for him to return, I went up to my room. I was furious. Partially with myself, but mostly with him.
Sliding my key in the door, I had already started to remove my shoe and was muttering a string of curses when his voice scared the shit out of me.
“Hey, where have you been? You didn’t answer my texts.”
My head whipped toward the bed to see him lying there in the same clothes as earlier tonight, sipping on a drink.
Frustration bubbled over, and before I could contain it, I slipped out of my shoe and chucked it at him.
“Ow! What the hell was that for?”
It bounced off his chest, and before he could recover, I unfastened the other one, ready to fling it, too.
He jumped up with both hands high in surrender. “Wait. What’s going on?”
“I—You—Fuck—” This was a first. I was actually livid enough I was unable to form complete sentences.
Not recognizing the depth of my anger, he smirked. “Although your caveman approach may need work, I’m definitely a fan of those three words together.”
It was official. Colby Singer was a dead man, but before I could contemplate the method in which he’d meet his fate, he was on me, taking the shoe out of my hand.
I don’t know who was surprised more when I pushed him off.
“Kenz, you don’t really think I did anything wrong tonight when I stayed out with Mark, do you?”
The hurt in his eyes calmed me some. “No, I don’t. Otherwise, the murderous thoughts in my head would get real in a hurry.”
He took his chances and stepped closer, despite my warning glare. “Why are you so angry, then?”
“I’m pissed because you had everyone thinking you and Mark left for the strip club to find the two women from earlier to get laid.”
Confusion was written across his face. “It’s not like I told them that’s what I was doing, but I’m not surprised they assumed so. It’s what everyone expects of me here in Vegas. It would’ve caused more notice if I’d returned with all of you tonight.”
“Wrong fucking answer. I mean, God forbid you tell them to go to hell and do what you want without having to make excuses as to why.”
Temper flickered in his expression. “That coming from you is a little hypocritical, don’t you think?”
Whoosh. That was the realization that he’d made a fair point. It took a moment before I could speak again. “Fine.”
He raked a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. So, if you don’t believe I did anything, what’s wrong?”
“How do you think you’ll successfully talk to my brother about us on the heels of having everyone think you and Mark are getting laid tonight or, worse, that you may be taking on both women yourself because my brother believes you do that routinely?”
His face was completely stunned. Once he snapped out of it a few seconds later, he put his hands on my shoulders and met my eyes dead on. “You have to believe me when I say it didn’t occur to me how it would affect things when it comes to telling him about us later. Mark and I stayed at the bar, had a beer, and then came back here via the side entrance in case any of you were hanging out in the lobby bar. And I wasn’t going to chance sneaking into your room, but you weren’t answering your texts, so I needed to make sure we were okay.”
“I was in the lobby bar waiting for you to walk in and my phone died, that’s why I didn’t get your texts. So you didn’t go to the strip club?”
He shook his head. “No, we didn’t. Truth be told, Mark was relieved I only wanted to sit and have a beer instead of dragging him there. He’s just not wired that way even if our brothers may want me to get him out there.”
“Why was Simone there at the club tonight?”
“I don’t have a clue. The girls from Lucky Ladies go there sometimes to drum up business for the night and maybe found out through friends about the Singer reservation. But I never would’ve invited her. Please tell me you believe that.”
Intending to assure him I did, I rested my hands on his chest. “Although watching her with you earlier didn’t feel good and having you not come back with the rest of us wasn’t great, neither were enough to send me over the edge of reason and pelt you with my shoe. I trust you, Colby, but hearing our brothers with their assumptions about you earlier made me realize you’re not doing us any favors by perpetuating their stereotype of you. Then I started wondering if you ever plan to tell them.”
