Or better yet, he’d call Nick. If he got to Nick before Lila filled him in, he’d hand over the number without realizing anything was up.
His thumb slipped over the icons and he opened the photos app. Why, he didn’t know. He had no reason to look at pictures. But something made him bring it up, and there she was, like a glimmer of light in the center of the murky darkness his life had become overnight.
She was smiling up at the camera, her hair glinting red in the darkened atmosphere of the club. There was no missing the blurriness of her expression. She was well and truly toasted, but cripes, the way she’d been looking at him. So seductively, so openly. As if every part of her was on display for him.
Only him.
He remembered that look. Seeing it on his screen brought so much of the night screaming back, just not the parts he needed most to remember.
Like saying “I do”.
He needed to take a shower and get dressed for the flight back. And he needed a plan for winning back his wife, even if he didn’t have the slightest clue what he was going to do with her.
Chapter 14
Chloe scrolled back and forth between her singular texts from Ivy and Jinx.
Seriously?
Both of them.
JJ: So, I got kidnapped. In the best way ever. I’ll fill you in next week. For now—adventure awaits, bitches!
Both of them.
Was there something in the water in Vegas? It was the marriage capital of the damn world, but honestly, this was a little ridiculous. And neither of them would reply, that’s what killed her the most. In fact, the messages she sent didn’t even seem like they were delivered.
Had they turned off their phones?
Should she be worried?
Had some insane stranger made them type that?
Could she be any more dramatic? Jinx pulled this kind of stunt all the time. How many times had she up and disappeared during a vacation with the three of them? She could actually count three of them off the top of her head right now.
Ivy however—that didn’t make a bit of sense.
She was the stable sister. Always had two jobs, and could be called on any time day or night for help. She was actually a little worried about Ivy’s message. If she didn’t hear from them again today, she’d…
What?
Police report?
Oh, I got this random text from my two best friends that they…hooked up in Vegas?
She’d be laughed out of the station. Then shown the door and asked what she had to drink. And at this particular juncture she couldn’t even rely on her own judgment. So, she was sitting on the plane and praying that no one would notice her.
And she was doing a damn good job of it thank you very much. She was tucked into the last row of seats. The shades were down since everyone seemed to have had a little too much fun in Vegas on this trip.
She’d been one of the first people on the plane. She’d met the stewardess on the tarmac for God’s sake. Anxious much?
Deacon and Harper came down the aisle laughing. He scooped his wife up and sat down with her tangled around him in the seat a few rows ahead of her. They were enjoying a rare baby-free weekend. The few times she’d seen them at the family parties they’d been preoccupied with kid stuff and cooking—mostly since Harper was everyone’s favorite chef.
And honestly, she’d thought the couple had landed in that comfortable portion of married life. Chloe couldn’t remember a time that Harper and Deacon had been all over each other. The rest of the Oblivion people seemed to be much more of a handsy bunch.
Nick and Lila especially.
Chloe scrunched down in her seat and averted her eyes. Any second there was going to be some skin action.
A flash of her astride Michael intruded and she slammed her eyes shut. When the hell had that happened? She pressed her lips together and willed another memory to come forward.
No.
No, dammit.
It faded away into the darkness of the plane. Had it been in a dark corner? It didn’t feel like a hotel room. Too crowded?
“Didn’t you get enough of the Manster at the hotel, Harp?” Nick’s voice boomed through the plane.
Chloe’s eyes snapped open and the memory disintegrated like so much smoke.
Harper kept on kissing her husband and raised her hand in a special one fingered salute.
“Move along, Nicholas.” Lila pushed him further down the aisle. “I need to get some