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Chapter Two

Denise had rented out a huge clubhouse for the night of the party. I had all the girls in the SUV, including Rochelle who was blindfolded. She was grinning ear to ear. Something told me this wasn’t the first time she had been blindfolded.

I pulled up in front of the large white building. Leighanne and Kristin helped Rochelle out of the car; the other girls followed suit. After everyone was unloaded, I parked and followed them into the building.

Red and black decorations were everywhere. A well endowed inflatable blow up man was sitting in a chair wearing a mass of mardi gras beads around his neck and other parts. A champagne fountain and rows and rows of various alcoholic beverages lined one table while a completely drool-worthy food buffet stretched along the other wall.

I just prayed it didn’t have chocolate covered bananas.

Denise placed a ‘Bachelorette’ tiara with attached condom veil on Rochelle and topped it off with a ‘Naughty Bride-to-Be’ sash. Then she undid the blindfold.

Rochelle clapped her hands. “Let’s get this party started!”

Things started out fairly normal. After liquor started over-flowing the cups, Denise pulled out a microphone. I sat next to Leighanne; even though I was the designated driver, I had a feeling that she had put little to no alcohol in her cup as well. For that I was kind of glad; I’d have a partner in crime in case we had to carry some of the girls to the van by the end of the evening. I watched Leigh toss back a shot of Tequila like nobody’s business. Howie had taught her well.

“I thought we’d start off with a little Bachelorette karaoke,” Denise explained. She held out the microphone to Rochelle.

“I’m going to need a few more of these first,” she quipped, holding up her cup.

“Trust me, this is just killing time until we’re all blasted,” Denise said. “The fun starts a little later.” She shook the microphone in Rochelle’s direction.

Cup in hand, Rochelle made her way up. She tapped through a selection of songs and settled on ‘Milkshake.’ She had come ready to party; her micro-skirt (I couldn’t even call it a mini) and her black halter top showed more skin than they actually covered. She turned around and gave an ass shake that probably would have made Beyonce jealous.

After a loud round of applause she headed over to refill her drink; Leigh followed, eyeing another shot of Tequila.

“Who’s next?” Denise said.

Leighanne smiled. “Wanna go?”

I laughed. “Sure.”

After pulling Kristin and Leigh (drink in hand) up with us, we chose a rousing rendition of ‘Lady Marmalade.’

“I’ll be X-tina,” Leighanne said.

“I’ll be Pink,” I said. Pink was my hero.

“Lil Kim,” Kristin said.

Leigh squinted at the screen. I stifled a laugh. “Whoever’s left!” she finally said, throwing her hands (and part of her drink) into the air.

It was absolutely horrible, ear-splitting, but 100% fun. Leighanne and I were back to back, half laughing through the words. At one point Leigh translated her entire verse to Spanish. By the end of the song we were a pile of giggles.

Leighanne and I sat back down while Kristin and Leigh went to refill their drinks. Denise stepped up and handed each of us a list. Each one had the word DARE written across it.

“Even though we’re not bar hopping, we’ve come to the right place. There’s a huge golf and poker tournament going on in the convention center next door. We’re going to head over there and whoever can complete the most dares wins,” Denise explained. She handed each of us a disposable camera.

“Just in case you can’t bring the actual thing back, get some proof,” she added.

Leighanne and I looked down at the list; Rochelle was already running across to the convention center.

DARE LIST
1. Get 50 phone numbers
2. Kiss a bald man's head
3. Get a guy to give you a condom
4. Find a virgin
5. Get a guy to show you his stomach
6. Get a guy to write his favorite sexual position on your lower back
7. Get a guy to order you a 'sexy drink' (one with a dirty name)
8. Get a guy to moon the bachelorette party
9. Get a piggy back ride
10. Find a man with the groom’s name and kiss him on the cheek
11. Get a guy to leave a voicemail for the groom telling him how lucky he is

I looked over at Leighanne; she looked over at me. We grinned.

“So I think asking a guy for a condom is going to go over really well for me,” I said, placing my hands on my stomach. We laughed.

“Way too late for that one,” she teased. We headed outside, taking our time as we walked towards the convention center.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” Leighanne said. “How did the divorce finalization go?”

Now, I think I forgot to mention that when I fell in love with Nick, I was sort of married at the time. Of course, the marriage wasn’t a happy one; my ex-husband, Hunter, had made my life a living hell. Even though I did cheat on him, he had beaten me to the punch. He had been sleeping with my now ex-best friend Jess for over a year and had gotten her pregnant. In fact, when I saw her in the courtroom, she looked about ready to pop.

“As well as could be expected,” I said. “Nick came with me and Hunter shot daggers at us the whole time. Of course, the very next week there was that article in Star magazine.”

Leighanne wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, I saw that.”

Hunter had run to Star with the story that Nick Carter, the ‘horn’ dog, got pleasure from stealing ladies away from their husbands, knocking the girl up, beating up said husband, and then dropping the girl and moving on to the next. It was an absolutely ridiculous fluff piece (aside from the beating up part); even so Nick and I made the cover in one of the small squares in the lower right hand side. I was upset at first; Nick just grinned and declared we needed to frame it on the wall.

“If this is the worst he can do to us now, I could care less,” Nick had reassured me. “He’s in the past; we’re the future.”

“Nick took it in stride,” I said out loud for Leighanne’s sake. “He’s just glad that we’re down here and all that is way up there in Wisconsin.”

Leighanne nodded. “How are things with your mom?”

I sighed. “She’s still upset, but we talk every day. I’m hoping that when she comes down for Thanksgiving that I’ll finally convince her to move down here. The economy is tanking fast everywhere, but it’s the pits up there right now.”

In my “before” life, I had been a librarian at the Wakamata Public Library in Wakamata, Wisconsin. The reason I was able to go on the Boys’ summer tour was because the library had let me go because of budget cuts and I was desperately unemployed. Then while on the road, the library called and wanted me back to work the month of July. I had agreed, but told them that I wanted back full-time in September. They had agreed. They had lied.

But, in the end it had worked out. By the end of September, I was completely moved in to Nick’s house with my two dogs, Atari and Bitsy, and all of my clothes which even at that point didn’t fit me. If it wasn’t for the fact that we had only seen one baby and heard one heartbeat, I would swear I was having octuplets.

By the time I got out of my reverie, Leighanne and I were at the entrance to the convention center. We headed in, both of us I daresay, not to play the game, but rather to see how far the other girls had gotten.

Leigh had only gotten as far as the bar. As worried as I was about Rochelle, it seemed like by the end of the night we’d be carrying her out to the car instead. Rochelle and her best friend Wendy were over by some young golfers who were showing them the finer aspects of their, er, stroke.

“Out of my way!”

Leighanne and I jumped aside; Kristin seemed to be on a mission. We watched as she walked up to a bald guy and smiled charmingly. After a few moments he shrugged and laughed. I saw him lean down; Kristin kissed his head while Denise snapped a picture.

“Want to go watch the poker tournament?” Leighanne asked, nodding towards a room bustling with people. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Rochelle jump on the back of an old guy; she swung a golf club over her head.

“Absolutely,” I said. Something told me that even though the poker room looked busy, it might be less chaotic.

We wove through the bodies of spectators as we made our way from table to table. Tensions ran high in the room; chips seemed to change hands at a rapid pace. I stopped to watch an ‘all in’ moment with two players that had amazing poker faces. The crowd erupted in cheers as what appeared to be the rookie got the better of a pro.

“If you were mine I’d ride you all night long,” a voice growled in my ear. I felt a hand grab my ass. I turned around angrily.

My eyes widened in surprise. It was Nick.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. I looked around for Leighanne; I had lost her.

“Well, since it’s not wise to bar hop with two recovering alcoholics, we decided to give AJ a buy-in for the tournament instead,” Nick said with a grin. He plucked the DARE list from my hand.

“What do we have here?”

I blushed. “Gimme that. It’s for the bachelorette party.”

He turned his back to me, keeping the paper out of my reach. As he read down the list, he snickered.

“How many have you completed?”

I laughed. “Not a one. Leighanne and I are hiding in the poker room.”

Nick turned back around. “Aw, c’mon, where’s your sense of adventure?”

I raised an eyebrow. “You want a guy to write on my lower back?”

We headed to a corner that was less crowded. “If that guy’s me I have absolutely no problem.”

“What?”

Nick tapped the list. “It doesn’t say who you have to talk to in order to complete these things,” he smiled.

“You are such a cheater,” I said. I looked at him. Something seemed different…I squinted.

“Nick?”

He was still looking at the list. “Yeah?”

“Why are you covered in glitter?”

He actually blushed. “Oh, that, yeah, er…well before we came here we kind of had our own DARE list.”

“Oh?”

“One of the dares was to get a lap dance.”

The thought of a skinny, big breasted woman gyrating all over Nick’s lap turned my stomach. He seemed to read my thoughts because he shook his head, looking a little embarrassed.

“He gave quite a dance,” Nick said.

I stifled an incredulous snort. “He?”

Nick smiled sheepishly. “Did I forget to mention that the lap dance had to be with a transvestite? His name was Sparkles.”

I stared at him like he was insane.

“Hey, none of the others would do it! I was the only one to complete the whole DARE list.” He puffed out his chest. “I’m very comfortable with my masculinity.”

I scraped a piece of glitter off his cheek. I looked at it a moment before I burst out laughing.

“What have I gotten myself into?” I teased. He smiled and leaned down for a kiss. I pulled back, still smiling.

“Uh-uh. You’re going to need a de-Sparkling shower before you kiss me.”

Nick smiled. “Okay, agreed. But let’s work on getting you the win for your list.”

I shook my head. “No,” I looked around. I saw Leigh stagger into the room with what looked like a condom stuck to her forehead. Geesh.

“Nick, I hate to be a party pooper, but it’s probably not a good idea for AJ and Rochelle to bump into each other. She’s on her way to getting completely bombed. Leigh and Kristin aren’t far behind.”

Nick glanced back at the list. I could almost see him debating about how he’d feel if I was drunk and trying to get fifty guys numbers or piggy back rides. By the look on his face, I doubt that he liked the idea.

“Okay, well as soon as AJ loses all his chips, which will probably be soon, we’ll duck out the back exit.”

I nodded. “And I’m going to try to round up the girls and get them back to the clubhouse. They’ll be safe there…I hope.”

Nick squeezed my hand. “See you later tonight?”

I smiled. “Absolutely.”

As I walked away I called over my shoulder. “Don’t forget the shower!”

Nick gave me an affectionate salute. My heart leapt.

Unfortunately, the warm fuzzy feeling didn’t last long. In fact, less than ten minutes later all hell broke loose.