Chapter 50
I’d had a knot in my stomach most of the day, knowing I was going to see Wes that night.
That knot twisted tighter as I watched him get pulled away by Loralei. I thought seeing them together would have gotten slightly easier after three months, but I was wrong.
I didn’t watch them much longer before Lucas stepped in front of me. “Thanks for giving Callie such an amazing last few days,” he said with a grin before pulling me into a hug.
“It wasn’t all me.” I smiled as we drew back.
“And here, this is for you.” I handed him a long gift bag I was holding, and his brows furrowed as he dipped his hand inside and pulled out a unique-looking bottle.
“It’s some kind of whiskey made right here in Monte Carlo.
I got it at some hole-in-the-wall shop downtown.
Full transparency…the place looked a little shady, and whatever is in that bottle smells potent as fuck, so drink it with caution. ”
Lucas let out a rumbled laugh. “You didn’t need to get me some shady, potentially lethal whiskey, but I appreciate it.”
I smirked. “We could always give it to someone else to try first.”
Lucas snorted and hugged me again. “Thank you.”
After ordering some drinks, Grace, Callie, and Haley dragged me down the stairs from our VIP section and onto the dance floor of the club. After forty-five minutes, we were all starting to sweat and ready for another drink.
“I need some fresh air!” I shouted over the music to the other three. “I’ll meet you back upstairs?” The girls nodded, and we split off.
I weaved my way through the crowd and stepped outside, letting the cool night breeze wash over my clammy skin as I leaned against the concrete wall of the building.
The night hadn’t been going too terribly. I managed to avoid Wes and Loralei, at least together. Wes didn’t move from the VIP section, and if Loralei wasn’t there with him, she was on the dance floor or at the bar.
I couldn’t help but notice the difference in Loralei that particular night, though.
She’d complained the first three nights of our trip about the bars or clubs being too noisy and crowded, but tonight, the loud music and crowd didn’t seem to bother her at all.
I assumed it was because Wes was there, which made that knot in my stomach twist a little more.
“Well, well. My night just got so much better. Alone at last.”
It was quiet, but I heard the now-familiar, unmistakable voice of Loralei. And when I registered her words, my heart sank. There was only one person she’d be talking like that with.
Knowing who that person was, why I felt the need to look was beyond me, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. I was too nosy for my own damn good sometimes. I moved toward the direction I’d heard her voice and inconspicuously peered around the corner into a small alleyway.
What I saw was not at all what I was expecting.
There was Loralei…with Chad.
“I tell you my schedule cleared up, and you just happen to tag along on this trip at the last minute, huh?” Chad quipped as he backed her up against the wall.
Loralei smirked. “I still wanted to see you. So, when you told me you were going, I reinstated my invitation.”
The next moment, their lips and hands were on each other.
I stepped back, my wide eyes darting around as I tried to wrap my head around catching Wes’s girlfriend sucking face with and being felt up by his good friend.
What the actual fuck?
A noise startled me, and I turned, rushing back inside so I didn’t get caught. Instead of going to the private section where the others were, I found an open booth in a dark corner. I needed a moment alone, still trying to process what I’d seen…and what to do.
Do I tell him? Yes. No. I don’t know.
In retrospect, this was everything I wanted before. It was the perfect form of sabotage, and not even at my hand. But it was different. This could actually hurt Wes, and real hurt was never part of it.
I didn’t want to hurt him.
But what kind of person would I be to not tell him? He deserved to know. He’d want to know…right?
I spent the next hour agonizing over what to do, barely paying attention to what everyone else was saying or doing as I worked through my inner conflict.
We didn’t leave too much later, exiting the club and starting our trek back down the winding pathway that led directly to the hotel.
I glanced up at the others. Lucas and Callie were hand-in-hand at the front.
Grace and Haley were behind them, flushed and giggling as they walked.
Blake, Gabe, and Wes were trailing behind them.
I looked over my shoulder, not seeing anyone else.
There was no Loralei.
There was no Chad.
I wasn’t left wondering where they were for long, though.
“Where’s Lora?” Gabe asked.
“She had a headache, so she went back to the hotel about a half hour ago,” Wes answered. “I asked if she wanted me to go with her, but Chad was leaving too, so he said he would walk her back. She said that would be fine, and she told me to stay.”
I scoffed, shaking my head. No one else thought anything of it, not even Wes. It was quite literally happening right under his nose, and he didn’t even see it.
As we walked, I kept seeing Wes look over his shoulder at me now and then, his eyes studying me with each glance. I knew I’d been acting off after what I’d seen, and now I wondered if I was enough to be noticed by him.
When we finally made it back to the hotel, everyone continued chatting as they walked inside, but I lingered behind. I slowed my steps near the fountain in front of the building, lowering myself onto the edge.
I let out a breath as I stared down at the water. I didn’t know what to do.
“Are you alright?”
My head snapped up to see Wes standing in front of me. “Uh, yeah, I’m—I’m fine,” I answered. “Why?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. You just seem like something is on your mind.”
I stared at him, contemplating for a moment. “No,” I lied.
“Alright.” He nodded, eyeing me skeptically for another heartbeat. “Well…goodnight, I guess.”
I held his gaze until he turned, and with each step he took away from me, my heart thumped harder as my mind waged that internal battle. “Wes, wait!” I called out as I shot up from the fountain. He turned back to look at me, and I hesitated for a moment. “I—I need to tell you something…”
I couldn’t not tell him.
He walked back toward me, dipping his hands into his pockets. “What is it?”
I closed my eyes for a moment. “At the club, when I stepped outside to get some air…” I looked at him again. “I—I saw…” I trailed off, finding this truth much harder to say out loud than I thought it would be.
His brow dipped in concern. “Saw what?”
“I-I saw…” I sighed. “I saw Loralei…kissing Chad. And it was…pretty hot and heavy.”
I stared up at him, and his expression remained inscrutable for a long moment before he barked out a laugh. “Chainz? Really?” He scrubbed a hand down his face with a wry chuckle before wagging his finger at me. “That—you almost had me.”
My brows knit in confusion. “Why are you laughing? And what the hell do you mean I almost had you?”
Wes shook his head. “I’m laughing because you said you wouldn’t do this anymore.”
“Do what?”
“The whole sabotage thing!” he chided. “We called a truce, remember?”
I scoffed in disbelief. “That is not what’s happening here,” I countered. “I’m not telling you this in an attempt to sabotage. I’m telling you because it’s the truth. And based on what I heard them say, this wasn’t the first time something happened between them.”
“Morgan…” He trailed off, shaking his head.
My brows rose in surprise. He didn’t believe me. He really thought I was just trying to mess with him.
“After hearing this…do you really think it’s a coincidence that they happened to leave at the same time tonight?” A derisive laugh escaped me. “And if I really wanted to sabotage your relationship even after we called a truce, why would I have spent the last three months avoiding you?”
He furrowed his brow. “So you have been avoiding me.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. And when I didn’t respond, he let out an annoyed breath. “Why?”
“Why do you think I stopped coming around, Wes?”
I watched him blink in surprise as he took in my words, which came out before I could think better of it. But I wondered if he truly grasped what they meant…what I was confessing without actually saying the words out loud.
But he didn’t respond. He said nothing. Not about what I told him I saw, and not about what I just said.
I shook my head at his silence. “You know what? Forget it. I told you what I saw. I did my part. Believe me or don’t, I don’t care.”
With that, I brushed by him and left him standing there as I disappeared into the hotel.