Chapter 1 #2
I sighed, the exhaustion suddenly hitting me hard.
“I really need to get some rest, Marcus,” I said, cutting into his excited description of something involving bungee jumping that I definitely planned on missing later this week.
“I appreciate the thought of… whatever it is you have planned for me, but I’m honestly too tired for anything other than crawling into bed tonight. ”
“That works,” Marcus said as the music behind him suddenly swelled in volume.
He must have reentered whatever club he was kicking off his bachelor party with.
“But while you’re there? Just remember, rest is totally overrated.
For once in your life, just let yourself have a little fun, Damien.
After all, I spent good money on your ‘party favor’—”
I rolled my eyes again, since the “good money” he’d spent was all thanks to me and the investments I’d forced him to make once he’d come into the trust fund our grandfather had left him.
He had plenty, and I’d given strict instructions to the financial planner to offset his impulsiveness and make sure he always would.
“—and I picked it out special, just for you. So come on, big brother. Let loose for once and just enjoy it, you know?”
No, I didn’t know. Neither letting loose nor enjoying guilt-free pleasures were in my nature, and since I was pretty sure I heard Marcus snicker again—although it was hard to tell for sure over the club music—I wasn’t convinced that whatever this party favor of his involved should be guilt free.
I sighed again, rubbing the back of my neck. “How about a raincheck?” I asked, hoping that would buy me a reprieve at least. I shrugged off my suit jacket and removed my tie, hanging both over the back of a chair. “I really just need to unwind tonight, Marcus.”
He laughed. “That’s the whole point, big brother. You do need to unwind. Live a little. Indulge yourself. Let yourself finally get a taste of what you really want for once.”
I frowned. What I really wanted? Why did he think he knew what that was, when I didn’t? “I don’t think—” I started.
“You won’t even have to leave your room,” he said quickly, cutting me off. “I promise. And just remember, we’re in Vegas, so it’s legal here.”
Well, that wasn’t concerning at all.
“Marcus...” I said, stalking over to the welcome basket with a distinct feeling of foreboding.
“I can’t hear you,” he sing-songed, lying like a rug again as I started picking through the basket.
Standard luxury food items, top-shelf alcohol, a few useless trinkets and gift items…
no illicit drugs, at least. It looked like something a hotel concierge would have put together, not something that would make my baby brother sound like the cat who’d just swallowed the canary.
In other words, there was no way this was the “party favor” he was acting so gleeful about.
That was still looming.
I left the basket, turning to survey the suite again. There was nothing else in it other than the standard furnishings, as far as I could see.
“Okay, what did you do?” I growled, snatching my phone up and taking it off speaker to make sure Marcus didn’t miss a word. “What exactly is this ‘party favor’ I’m supposed to get, and—” I clenched my jaw, then forced it to relax, “—exactly how much is it going to disrupt my night?”
Hell. This was Vegas, a.k.a. Sin City, so the answer to that could easily be “a lot”... which was confirmed when Marcus answered with what I’d swear in court, even without being able to see him, was a shit-eating grin on his face.
“You mean h—the party favor isn’t waiting in your room yet? I’ll definitely have to file a complaint about timely delivery with the, uh, service.”
Right on cue, a quiet knock sounded at the door.
“Sounds like it just arrived,” I told him, pinching the bridge of my nose hard enough to make my eyes water. “Please plan on me killing you tomorrow.”
“I think you mean thanking me,” Marcus said with another snicker. “And you’re welcome, big brother.”
He sounded so damn happy with himself that I couldn’t help my lips quirking up with amusement as he quickly ended the call.
Marcus may have been a grown-ass adult now, but he was still and always would be the epitome of an annoying little brother…
and also the closest thing I had to a best friend.
I couldn’t stay mad at him even if I tried, and we both knew it.
Then I frowned. I hadn’t been lying about being exhausted, though, so I figured I was still justified in holding onto a little bit of irritation, at least until after I’d dealt with whatever it was he’d arranged to have delivered to my room.
A second, even more tentative-sounding knock came, and I shook my head, indulging in one more eye roll as I fished out my wallet.
The least I could do was to tip well when I refused delivery of whatever crazy thing my brother had mistakenly decided I needed in my life, because the one thing I knew for sure was that no matter how good Marcus’s intentions were, this time, they were definitely misplaced.
I didn’t want anything, I certainly didn’t need anything, and—after that incredibly unreassuring “don’t worry, it’s legal here in Vegas” comment of his—I wasn’t interested in having anything to do with this “party favor” of his.
Not tonight, and not ever.
No matter what it turned out to be.