Chapter 5
I opened the door and let Birdie exit first. She headed straight to the kitchen and started whispering with Sam while I grabbed my wallet and phone from the bedroom and trailed the group to the elevator.
Trying to fit seven people inside was a fun game of Tetris.
I ended up in the left corner with Birdie’s ass tucked into my crotch, still semi-hard from our closet make-out.
She smelled of lavender and vanilla—refreshing and warm all at the same time.
It took everything in me not to get fully hard.
Her scent lingered in my nose all the way to the club until all I could smell was the fog machine and smoke that seeped out of the loud, modern building.
Vince talked to a formidable man standing just to the side of the door.
He waved over Oliver’s security team, and they went ahead inside of us.
A few minutes passed before a petite woman dressed in all black arrived to lead us up a small flight of stairs to a sectioned-off VIP area.
The VIP area was in the corner of the posh club, opposite the DJ booth. It held two L-shaped black leather couches with a glass coffee table between them. On the table was a metal bucket full of ice-cold beers next to an array of hard liquor and glassware.
I took a seat in the corner of a couch so I could have a clear view of the club, the coolness of the leather seeping through my shirt.
I liked to sit in the corner so I could have a full view of the room and assess the crowd.
The place was packed, and the dance floor was full.
Even though we had security with us at all times, I still hated being in crowded places like this, especially with Oliver.
“Should we take some shots?” Tej asked.
Chauncey grabbed a bottle of tequila from the table and popped the top off. Everyone grabbed a shot glass, letting Chauncey pour. After the glasses were full to the brim, we raised them together.
The guys all looked to Oliver, our resident toast maker.
“I’ll keep this one clean for the ladies.” He winked at the girls. “To those who wish us well, and the rest can go to hell!”
We all downed the silky liquor, and I settled back into my corner.
Ginuwine’s “Pony” started playing, the bass bumping throughout the building. Sam let out a squeal.
“Let’s go dance!” she yelled at Vince as she grabbed his arm and pulled him to a small sliver of the dance floor.
Birdie and Oliver sat across from me on the other couch and Tej sat next to me, eyeing a shirtless bartender across the room.
“Go talk to him,” I encouraged, nudging Tej with my elbow.
“What? He’s working.”
“So? You could still get his number and invite him back to the hotel.”
Tej mulled it over for a bit and then stood, fixed his shirt, and strolled across the room to the bar, striking up a conversation with the bartender.
Oliver and Birdie’s conversation grabbed my attention from watching Tej trying to score.
“So, if someone posts a picture of you sitting next to me, will your fiancée freak out? I don’t want to cause any trouble.
” Birdie laughed, mostly to herself. “I think I’d be super jealous if the future king was hanging out with some random girls while away from home.
” She took a drink of the beer she had just opened.
“I bet being a prince, girls throw themselves at you all the time hoping to score with the future king.”
“No, that sounds more like my brother,” Oliver laughed.
“Oh, you have a brother?” she said with her head cocked to the side like she was trying to remember something. “He must be younger?”
“No, he’s four years older. He was supposed to take the crown, but he abdicated a few months ago.”
“Wow! Why did he give it up?” She started to bring her beer to her full lips but stopped midway. “Oh God, I’m so sorry. You don’t have to answer that; it’s none of my business. I apologize.”
Oliver chuckled. “No, it’s fine. Honestly, you could pull up any European gossip magazine and find Xavier’s face plastered all over the pages.
” He looked annoyed, rather than mad or embarrassed.
I knew he was still processing his feelings about Xavier and his abdication.
Oliver sighed. “We have a rule that you must be engaged to marry before your coronation. Xavier refused. He doesn’t want to marry.
Even at thirty-four, he would rather continue partying and”—he smiled wryly—“hooking up than put down roots.”
“Oh, wow,” Birdie said, her beer drifting back down to her lap.
“Anyway, it was get married and give up his ‘friends with benefits’ lifestyle or abdicate. He chose the latter. So here I am, a few months away from my own coronation.”
“And what about your fiancée, what does she think of all of this?”
“Well…I don’t have a fiancée just yet.”
Birdie’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, I must be confused. I thought you said this was a bachelor party? Does that mean something different in Wexstone?”
Oliver looked over at me with a sly smile. “No. My friends and I are here to celebrate before the contest begins.” He looked down at the ice in his glass.
Birdie looked between Oliver and me. “Contest?”
“It’s all so ridiculous,” Oliver sighed.
“Well, you’ve sparked my interest, Prince Oliver. What contest?”
“You see, I was thrown into all of this so fast. I was casually dating a woman I had grown up with but broke it off about a month before Xavier decided to abdicate. And now…”
Vince walked back to us, grabbed a bottle of water, and downed half of it in one go.
I saw something fly through the air and land in Oliver’s lap.
Oliver reached down and brought up a long-stemmed rose.
I looked around to see where Vince had even gotten it, then spotted a woman in the center of the dance floor with two huge bouquets, throwing them at people and screaming, “Fuck all men, and especially fuck men who try to make up with you by sending flowers from his wife’s floral shop! Fuck you, Jeremy!”
“What’s going on?” Birdie asked, taking the rose as Oliver handed it to her and watching with trepidation as Vince walked away, Sam grinning mischievously behind him.
“Well, you know that TV show The Bachelor?”
“I’m an American millennial, of course I know about The Bachelor,” she replied, the suspicion in her voice growing by the moment.
“It’s a little bit like that. Several noble families are each sponsoring a woman. I date them through a series of events over the course of a couple of months and…pick the one whom I think would be the best fit for my country and myself.”
“Wow. I uh…I’m actually speechless.”
Honestly, I didn’t blame her; the contest was one of the most bizarre ideas I had ever heard when the guys had brought it up.
I had watched more seasons of The Bachelor than I was ready to admit, and it seemed to work out every once in a while, but in this setting?
It seemed just shy of an arranged marriage.
I still wasn’t sure how Oliver could get to know someone while courting multiple women at the same time.
“I can see the wheels turning in your head,” Oliver said over the loud club music.
“I can tell you it’s probably not as bad as you’re thinking.
My intention isn’t to lead anyone on, I do not condone drama, and I’m not in it to make out with a bunch of beautiful women.
This was never how I imagined finding my wife, but the law is the law and if this is what I have to do to find a partner to help run my country, then it’s what I’ll do. ”
I looked over at him. There was a resignation, almost sadness, backed by determination in his eyes.
I admired his dedication to his country.
He took his future role as king seriously and he would be a great ruler.
I kept my mouth shut, not wanting my own opinions on this to tarnish the night.
After all, Oliver was a grown man and could make his own decisions, and I would always support him in any way possible.
“Bee!” Sam yelled as she walked up the few steps it took to get from the dance floor to our small corner of the club. “Come dance with me!”
Birdie took another drink of her beer and linked hands with Sam, following her to the dark dance floor.
Birdie’s white dress glowed under the blacklights of the club.
Her heels made her calves look toned and delicious as she moved in time to the music.
The girls danced on each other like they had been doing this for ages.
Birdie had her back to Sam; she rolled her body and then dipped down and twisted her way back up.
She turned around to face Sam as they danced in tandem.
The girls didn’t notice the two guys talking right behind them.
But I did. I kept my eyes on them as they made their way closer and then split up and took positions behind Birdie and Sam.
The girls tried to move to the side and dance by themselves but every move they made, the two dipshits followed.
They couldn’t seem to take the hint that the girls didn’t want to dance with them.
The short weaselly looking man behind Birdie moved to grab her ass, and she turned around just in time for him to fumble her breast. Her eyes flared and her shoulders tightened just before she wound back and punched him square in the nose.
Good girl, I thought as I jumped up to get over there but was cut off by Oliver.
I put my hand across his chest and pushed my way in front of him, not wanting him to get in the middle of this.
He didn’t need a headline about punching out some asshat Americans in a club.
The two of us charged onto the packed dance floor and I pushed my way in between Birdie and the guy with the now-bloody nose.
I loomed over the man, who was several inches shorter than me. “You need to keep your fucking hands to yourself,” I growled.
“Who do you think you are?” the guy spat out, words slurring together.