Trifecta Page 16

  Jason shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe we were looking for something."

  "Oh maybe we can help you find it." Red dress sat down in the stool next to him, and steel grey pulled a stool over and sat between them.

  Jason turned to Russell. He stared down in his drink, but lifted his head and changed his focus to the woman's chest. Maybe this is what brought them to Vegas. "Well, first it looks like the two of you are in need of refills."

  "Mojito," Red dress answered.

  "Raspberry martini." Steel grey downed the rest of her drink and held her glass out to Russell.

  Russell glanced at him before taking the glass.

  After all these years together he could read his best friend's mind. The girls ordered pussy drinks.

  "It's just a drink. I say we need another round all around." Jason finished his drink as well. Lauren would have ordered bourbon along with them. She spent a lot of the last eight years trying to be part of them. She would have ordered scotch and then asked Russell for the location of the nearest bathroom. Russell's bathroom radar would kick in and somehow he would point it out, even if he had never been to the bathroom there. When Lauren returned from doing whatever women did in the bathroom, which he was sure did not include actually going to the bathroom, she would have spent the next ten minutes picking through the nuts or pretzels the bartender set out.

  "So, what are the two of you here for? Are you with the doctor's convention?" Steel grey put her hand on Russell's knee.

  Red dress leaned over and placed her hand on Jason's shoulder. "Are you with the convention?"

  The stakes were claimed. The girls made their choice on who was with who, and Jason took his time to take in each one.

  They were both blonde, at least today. He was certain the hair was fake, along with their breasts. Also, he wondered if they were artists themselves, both of them painted their makeup on with pinpoint precision. Not that any of these things were a problem, it was just that Lauren wasn't all that. Of course, she would have ordered a scotch.

  The alcohol didn't help his anxiety, he swore it was actually amplifying it, and he pressed his hand to his pocket. He would have felt his phone vibrate. "We're not doctors." What was it with women and doctors?

  Both women sat back.

  Russell moved, causing the woman to take her hand off his leg, and he fought the need to pick this woman's hand off him. It wasn't the fact he knew they wanted doctors, once they heard he was an artist women usually melted. He simply didn't like the way this woman's hand felt on him. It was inorganic, didn't fit.

  "No, in fact we're looking for someone who is with the convention, that's why we're here." This was a terrible idea, he needed to get rid of them, and they both needed to scour the hotel looking for Laurie. Maybe she was hurt, or stuck under one of those trade show booths being crushed only inches away from her cell phone. Maybe that was why he had this sick stomach. They were connected.

  "Are you waiting for doctors?" Steel grey swung her leg.

  "No we're looking for the woman we're seeing." At last, Russell spoke.

  Finally, Russell owned it and Jason high-fived the air. Russell didn't skirt around the situation or sprinkle it with sugar, instead, he showed his hand.

  Steel grey turned the color of her dress, only a little less metallic.

  "You mean the woman you're seeing." Red smiled at him.

  Russell pushed his glasses up.

  Jason paused. The last woman he officially dated was in eighth grade. Eve something was her name. It lasted two weeks, and when it ended she slapped him across the face. He had been talking to another girl at lunch because he was angry with Eve. "The woman we are seeing." No way would he stifle Russell's epiphany.

  "You mean women?" Red tried to correct him.

  "No woman. One woman, two of us." He held up one finger, and then two fingers. With the words out, the rock in his stomach shrank to a bothersome pebble, but it was still there cutting his insides.

  Both women stood. "I think we're good on the drinks, maybe you should give them to your woman." Steel gray shook her head.

  "She's mad at us, well me, and she's here for the convention, but we can't find her." Russell ran his hand through his hair. "She's not returning our calls or texts, and I'm starting to get worried."

  "Well, if you’re here like this, it’s no wonder she's silent, but I'll give you one piece of advice. If she's staying here, all you have to do is go wait by the elevators. She'll have to show her room key before she goes up to her room, it's security." Red took her drink.

  "How do you know that?" Jason wondered why he didn't think of that.

  Red remained silent, and steel grey shrugged. "Maybe you should find your girlfriend. She must be something else."

  "Thank you." He gave steel her drink, she earned it.

  The women left.

  "The woman we are seeing?" He stood.

  Russell paid the tab. "It just came out."

  "And it couldn't have come out before we couldn't find her?" He had to get that one in. "I haven't seen anyone since…" He snapped his fingers trying to remember if her name was even Eve.

  "Eve Burnside." Russell walked toward the exit. "She was your last monogamous relationship."

  "Burnside." Jason rushed after him. "I'm not in a monogamous relationship, you're there." Is that why this worked? Why it was right? All he knew is he needed them both in order to create.

  "The elevators are over there." Russell pointed in the direction they needed to take.

  Jason glanced around, wondering why Russell had location radar, when the pebble in his stomach turned into an avalanche. Across the casino at the craps tables Lauren stood with another man's arm around her. A man they both knew all too well. "That's interesting because the woman we're seeing is over there."

  ***

  The cheers around the craps table vibrated Lauren's entire body, and she glanced down at her watch. The tier two designer watch that told the world she’d made it as successful sales rep. Once upon a time, she would have looked backwards up at Dr. Dalton, and told herself that someday he would be the one to give her the tier one watch.

  Now, she looked backwards up at him and didn't know what to think. She was stuck. Trapped in a bizarre movie where home seemed far away. Every step took her further away. All she wanted was normal. Funny, normal would the word she chose for her home life.

  He stood with his arms on either side of her, his back pressing up against her. "You're bringing me luck." He kissed her ear and tossed the dice down the table.

  Again the table went into an uproar and a huge stack of chips piled in front of them. He wrapped his arms around her. "Are you just about ready to call it a night?"

  Shopping, dinner, gambling. They experienced just about all of Las Vegas. She took her first full breath in hours. "Yes, I have to get up early." Maybe Jason was still up, Russell would answer even if he were sleeping. She should have taken her cell phone with her. Pressure filled her chest. What if they were up, not sleeping, what were they doing? Look at her here with the doctor. The need to run overtook her, and she grabbed the edge of the table. What they did wasn't her concern. Not if she was here like this.

  "I was thinking instead we could get a bottle of champagne sent up to my suite."

  Well, she supposed they didn't experience everything Vegas had to offer unless he wanted to see a show. They didn't call this sin city for nothing. At his words her stomach coiled. Think fast her mind screamed. This man was still her account.

  Wait! She spun toward him. "Dr. Dalton."

  He smiled and bent down. "When we're not in the office call me Greg."

  Before he kissed her, she put her hand up to his mouth. "You're my account, Dr. Dalton."

  He raised his eyebrows.

  She had to tiptoe around this. Many other things needed to happen before the sharing of champagne and hotel rooms, such as finding Jason and Russell. She ground her teeth together. Why did it have to matter? Russell didn't want her and
Jason was Jason.

  A part of her begged to take Dr. Dalton's offer. Tell him she changed her mind. Who cared if he was her account? It didn't matter before. "We haven't even gone out as anything other than an account and rep. Remember this night started out as a gift from my company. I have the expense report to prove it."

  "You are quite the challenge." He moved his hands down to her hips. "I'll tell you what, even with the little taste you gave me, I will be a perfect gentleman. When we get back home we will go out. My treat, no expense reports or write offs."

  She got a stay of execution. "That's better."

  "I know the owner of Stephan's, we'll get the chef's table, then maybe go to the theatre, and have that champagne." He reached over to grab his chips. "I'll walk you back to your room."

  Damn her. She looked up to the one of the huge, gaudy chandeliers wishing one would drop down on her head. Damn her for being offered champagne and wanting Russell's barbeque instead. Damn her for stepping into Jacques but wishing she was organizing Jason's paints. Before she could be with Greg, she had to deal with them. They would reassure her they had no future. Damn her for not moving out and choosing to live her dream. "You're on a winning streak, you stay here and I will see you at the show tomorrow."

  He paused, turned toward the table and back to her. "Get some sleep, we can't have you with puffy eyes. I'll rescue you for lunch after my first session."

  "Okay." At least she didn't lose all her chips. She had lunch tomorrow after she killed her dream.

  He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I have to stay in check, we're still on company time."

  "Goodnight." She sped out of the casino toward the hotel lobby. Her stilettos stung her feet, but once she was far enough away, she broke into the run she fought before.

  The people she passed turned to mere smudges of color flying by her, but at last she found herself at the elevators to the hotel rooms.

  "Room key, please." The security guard blocked her way.

  She slipped as she stopped herself, and opened her handbag. Nothing was easy.

  "Yes, room key please," a male voice said behind her.

  Her body seized, unable to move.

  "Unless you were going somewhere else," a second, deeper voice chimed in.

  "Oh my God." With her body shaking, she turned.

  Russell stood less than a foot away from her, one hand in his pocket, the other clenched. "If you weren't going back to your room let us know."

  She put her hand over her mouth to stop herself from speaking too soon, and looked at Jason leaning back on his heels, arms crossed.

  "I guess we'll leave Laurie with another choice."

  "I was just thinking about you." She winced at her trite words.

  "Was that when you didn't answer our calls? Or was that when you were out half the night?" Russell's nostrils flared.

  "I had an account meeting." She stepped toward them, either wanting to slap their faces or run into their arms.

  "Lauren." Jason shook his head. "We've been here five hours."

  She curled her lip over her teeth and bit down. They saw her, but they didn't understand. On automatic, she lunged toward them, toward safety, comfort and what she wanted.

  Jason jumped back.

  Russell caught her, but held her at arm’s length. "Tell us what you want to do."

  Her heart cried for what it wanted, beating fast enough and loud enough to overpower her mind, her questions. They came here for her. With her hand shaking she located her room key in her purse and held it out to them.

  Russell took the key, walked past her and flashed the key to the guard.

  "Jason."

  "Not now." He followed Russell.

  She went after them, glancing at the guard. He shook his head. Somehow she gambled and even with a sure thing, she lost.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Lauren's hotel suite was designed for sex and lovers. If Russell had played his cards right they would have been indulging in Lauren, rather than staring out at a window overlooking the Las Vegas strip.

  The lights put on their own show. Perfect entertainment to watch after one was spent and relaxed from multiple climaxes. From the thirtieth floor, the strip looked serene, even though utter chaos reigned down below.

  He turned and took in the rest of the suite. The oversized bed, the couch, multiple televisions.

  He never even found out if he held a winning hand. Instead, he folded.

  Except for Lauren's broken whisper telling them her room number, the three of them hadn't said a word. They entered the suite and she headed straight for the bathroom.

  Jason paced the perimeter of the sitting room. He picked up a knick-knack then put it down, and moved over to the desk and lifted the pen. "Stop looking at me." He uncapped the pen, holding the point up to his face.

  Russell chewed his lip and lost himself in a stare.

  "What?" Jason threw the pen down.

  "Don't you have a plan?" He grimaced as the words left his mouth.

  Jason opened the desk drawer and slammed it shut. "I'm not sure how mad I am, and I'm not sure who I'm mad at."

  "She was with another man." He pushed his glasses up and squeezed the bridge of his nose, wishing he could squeeze the image out of his mind. Over a dozen times now he watched, even helped, dare he say participated in Jason making love to Lauren, but the sight of that other man made him want to punch his hand through a wall, or preferably Dr. Dalton's plastic face.

  "I am trying not to break anything, can you not bring that up?" Jason pounded his fist into the desk.

  "What do you think is going on?" Never once through this whole thing did he imagine losing her and he kicked at the floor. The repercussions of every one of his abrupt actions throbbed through his head. One second he agreed to try this, the next he threw it out.

  "How can you ask that?" Jason hit the desk again. "She found someone to take her out!"

  "Maybe she doesn't think this could work." Russell shook his head. "Look how fast she ran to someone else."

  "Maybe that's what you think." Jason pointed at him.

  "Maybe you never care for the consequences of your actions." He shot back.

  "Maybe you need to apologize for being embarrassed of her and of me."

  "You want me to apologize for another man kissing her?" The time for apologies ended the second another man's lips touched her.

  Before Jason answered or they went through another round of accusations, the bathroom door clicked open and Lauren tiptoed out.

  The entire drive to Vegas all he thought about was how he would rush up to Lauren and grovel. When they caught her with Dr. Dalton, the man who appeared as if he could be a poster child good looking and stable, he wanted to walk away, tell Jason they were insane for ever trying this in the first place.

  She came forward, took them all in and lowered her gaze to the floor.

  After what took place there would be no groveling, and he waited, assessing her.

  At the beginning of this evening he knew she must have looked magnificent. Sophisticated black dress, her hair down long, high heels to make her legs appear long, even if she were short in stature. Only Lauren could pull off a business sexy look in her own way.

  Over the years she came into her own. Gone was the girl who would put on anything purple or anything in sequins, and in her place was a woman who made men fall to their knees.

  Who was he kidding? Purple, sequins, or purple sequins, he always wanted her.

  Now she appeared as if she were a melting statue of what walked out this evening for her account dinner. She still wore the dress, but the makeup had long been cried away leaving only red, swollen eyes. The heels were kicked away somewhere, and she pulled her hair back in defeat.

  God, she was gorgeous.

  "I need to say something." Her voice came out low and broken.

  "No!" Instinct took over and he ran to her. "I'm going to speak first."

  She looked up at him with wide, wet eyes
. "Russell."

  "Russell." Jason joined.

  He closed his eyes and held up his hand. "We are so sorry. We can't expect you to make love to us, and then hide what we are every time we step out the door. We can't blame you for wanting another man. We will figure this out. We are so sorry."

  She didn't speak. He opened his eyes to find her biting her lip with her nose crinkled in the way that told him she was going to burst into tears. It was the same expression as when a movie had one of those unexpected tragic endings and she wanted him to somehow fix the director's error.

  Still, she remained silent, and he tightened his jaw. What if she was turning the tables on them? Giving them an unexpected ending. Did she want that man?

  "Hold up." Jason put one hand on his shoulder and one on Lauren's. "We need to make a few things very clear here."

  Her focus darted between the two of them.

  "Lauren, you have to believe us." Russell licked his lips, at the moment his whole body seemed dry, hot, parched. "Please say something."

  “Before she says something, I must say something.” Jason went between them.

  “Why don’t we let her talk?” Russell managed to get the question out through clenched teeth.

  “Because, though the three of us may be together, I can speak for myself.”

  "Oh God." She finally let the tears go and lunged forward.

  "Whoa!" Jason caught her before she fell flat on her face.

  Russell pulled her in. She hid her face in his chest and said something, but between her crying and her voice being muffled by his shirt, he couldn't make it out. "What?"

  She shook her head.

  While he was usually the recipient of Lauren's tears, Jason was the ultimate interpreter of the indecipherable cry. "What?"

  Jason held up a finger and tapped her. “Hey, what’s with the water works?”

  She answered with a sniff.

  “Lauren.” Russell tried this time.

  She pulled back and faced Jason. “Did you mean what you said?”

  “Yes, we did.” Jason nodded.

  “Don’t speak for me.” Russell moved into her field of vision. “I’m the one who spoke.”