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Chapter Three

After Nick and I separated, I quickly began the mission of finding the girls and getting them back to the clubhouse. The first person I spotted was Denise, who was letting a guy write on her lower back. I walked up to her, all the while looking from side to side for any of the other girls.

“What’s up?” Denise asked. She turned around and thanked the guy. He grinned.

“We have a little issue,” I said. I quickly filled her in; her eyes widened.

“Of all the places to go they’re here?”

I nodded. “We’ve got to get the other girls before AJ sees his wife-to-be drunk and letting all these Tiger Woods wanna-be’s giving her piggy back rides.”

Denise nodded. “Let’s split up and meet by the door in five minutes. If we’re still missing anyone, we’ll at least send the ones we find back.”

“Agreed,” I said. I went left; Denise went right.

Luckily, the first person I met was Leighanne. She looked relieved to see me.

“Oh thank god, someone else that’s sober.”

I laughed. “I need your help. We need to get everyone back over to the clubhouse.”

“Why?”

“That’s a longer story than I have time to tell. Do you know where any of the other girls are?”

Leighanne waded through the crowd; I followed. She stopped and pointed. Rochelle and Wendy were currently taking a picture of a guy’s very big, very white ass. Leighanne and I simultaneously made a face. After the guy yanked his pants back up and headed off, we walked over.

“Hey guys, we’re going to head back to the clubhouse,” I said. Rochelle pouted; she swayed slightly.

“But I have two more things to finish on the list,” she said. Wendy fell against her, feebly holding up the paper.

“It’s okay, we’re stopping and whoever has the most will still win,” I cajoled. Leighanne took Rochelle’s arm; I took Wendy’s. I looked at my watch; my five minutes was up.

The four of us made our way to the front door. Denise was standing at the door alone.

“You didn’t find Leigh or Kristin?” I asked. She glanced at the other girls.

“Hey Leighanne, can you take Wendy and Rochelle back to the clubhouse?” Denise asked. Leighanne looked between Denise and me. She looked confused, but she nodded. Leighanne, Rochelle, and Wendy headed back over the grassy lawn. Once they were gone, Denise looked at me.

“I found Leigh,” she said. “Well, at least I think I have.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

Denise smiled. “I was walking by the coat closet and I heard a girl moaning ‘Aye papi’ over and over again. Whoever she’s with in there is talking dirty to her in Spanish. Well, they’re probably doing more than talking.”

“So shall we conclude that she met up with Howie?” I asked.

Denise nodded. “I ran into Brian. They lost Howie about a half hour ago.”

I laughed. “Okay. We’ll leave them to their tequila-induced romp. What about Kristin?”

Denise shrugged. “I don’t know. I couldn’t find her.”

At that moment a myriad of loud voices spilled out from the poker room. Two security guards ran by us. Denise and I looked at each other. Somehow I think we had found Kristin.

Like everyone else, we raced towards the commotion. Denise was able to push through the crowd, but I was more cautious. I was in the midst of squeezing between two large gentlemen when a familiar hand grabbed my arm pulling me backwards. I knew who it was instantly.

“Nick? What’s going on?”

He pinched the bridge of his nose with the fingers on his free hand.

“How in the hell did we all end up at the same place?”

“We’ve asked ourselves the same question. Luckily, Rochelle’s back at the clubhouse and completely oblivious. What’s going on?" I asked again.

“Kristin’s drunk as a skunk. Brian and I were trying to get all the guys out of here when Kevin spotted Kristin lying on the bar getting drinks sucked off her stomach like a college co-ed. Kevin turned into the incredible hulk; he threw the guy towards the poker room and they started fist fighting. I think security is calming things down right now, but we’ll probably be asked to leave. And, to make things worse, we still haven’t found Howie.”

“I can help you with that one. Howie and Leigh are in the coat closet.”

Nick grinned. “Lucky bastard. I’d kill to be in a coat closet with you right now instead of dragging guys out of a building. Things seem so different when you’re sober and responsible.” He looked horrified by the realization that he was turning into a responsible adult.
Even though he was still covered in glitter, I kissed him softly.

“I love the responsible Nick,” I said. He smiled and touched my face softly. Before he could kiss me again, we heard the level of commotion rise once more.

We turned in unison to see the security guards escorting Kevin and Kristin outside. AJ and Brian were right on their heels; AJ’s two other close friends had stayed out of the situation and were hanging out by the now empty bar. Even so, when they saw the group heading outside, they downed their drinks and followed.

Nick and I shared a look.

“I think we need to get Leigh and Howie out of the coat room and then go outside and see if we can salvage this night,” I suggested. Nick nodded.

We headed to the coat room. Nick tried the handle; it was locked. He knocked, leaning close to the door.

“Howie?”

It took several minutes and another couple knocks, but finally the door swung open. A blurry eyed Howie peered out. His shirt was still half unbuttoned and his tie hung loosely around his neck. He smiled when he saw Nick.

“Nick!”

I heard Leigh burst into giggles. Howie ducked back in and whispered something in Spanish.

Nick bit his lip; I could tell he was amused. To tell you the truth, so was I. Howie was the most straight-laced guy I had ever met; I kinda liked drunk Howie. Nick knocked on the door again and cleared his throat. Howie’s face reappeared.

“Howie, we need to go,” Nick explained. He looked confused.

“Where?”

“There’s been a little problem and I’m taking you guys to our next stop.”

“I think we’re going to stay here,” Howie said. Nick shook his head.

“You’ll see Leigh later tonight. C’mon man.”

Howie closed the door again; Nick looked at me slightly exasperated. I smiled.

“If I was in there with you I will honestly say that I wouldn’t let you out of the coatroom,” I admitted.

Nick’s eyes darkened slightly. “Maybe there’s room for two more.”

I shook my head. “Don’t even go there.”

After another minute, Howie and Leigh emerged. Both were extremely wobbly on their feet. Howie slung an arm around Nick’s shoulders.

“Alright, bud, let’s go,” Howie said. He grinned over at me. “I’ve known him since he was this high.” His hand reached to his waist; I daresay he was a little off on his height judgment. Even so I smiled.

“I know Howie. Have a good night; I’ll bring Leigh back to you a little later.”

“See you later mamacitas,” Howie said as Nick began to walk him towards the door. Leigh blew him a kiss, then staggered into me. I grabbed her waist to keep her from falling.

Leigh and I followed Howie and Nick outside. I figured we could just grab Kristin and head back to the clubhouse.
No such luck.

Kevin and Kristin were having a screaming match outside. Brian and AJ were holding Kevin’s arms. AJ’s other two friends (I really needed to learn their names) held Kristin by the waist. Her legs kicked out in the air.

“What the fuck is going on here?” Nick said loudly.

Kevin’s face was beat red; I had never seen him angry. At that moment I had an idea of how he must have looked when he had almost beat AJ’s hotel room door down before AJ went to rehab. It was a scary sight.

Of course Kristin wasn’t much better. Her blonde hair had come undone from her up-do; her eyes were completely red-rimmed. I had never seen two married people look at each other with so much anger.

Nick stepped between the two and held out his hands. He pointed at Brian and AJ.

“Get him back to the van. Then come back and get Howie.” Then he pointed at the guys holding Kristin back.

“Follow Livvy and Leigh back to their clubhouse and make sure Kristin gets in there safely. Then come and get in the van.”

Everyone dispersed. I helped Leigh walk unsteadily across the lawn back to the clubhouse; the guys followed. They struggled to keep Kristin calm. She gave new meaning to the word wildcat. I could understand Kevin being upset about the bar incident, but I couldn’t help but wonder if there was some underlying issue that had caused the blow up to become even worse.

I ushered Leigh inside the building. Music was blaring from the main room. The guys walked behind me with Kristin. When they saw what was going on, they groaned.

A male stripper was in the midst of his performance.

“Can you take her from here?” one of the guys said.

“You don’t want to stay?” I asked sweetly.

They both gave me a look. I laughed. “Yes, I’ll take it from here. Thank you.”

Leigh’s eyes lit up when she saw the stripper. Even though I could only assume she had just received something much better than a striptease; she stumbled into a seat next to Wendy. Kristin took longer to coax into a seat. She sat down, arms crossed. Leighanne looked at her worriedly, then headed over to me.

“What’s wrong?”

I sighed, but in the end I explained what had happened. Her eyes widened. She looked at Kristin again.

“She’s a mean drunk,” Leighanne said. “But, I’ve never seen those two fight before.”

“Well, let’s hope that we can get through the rest of the night without ruining Rochelle’s time,” I said. “With a little luck, this will all blow over by tomorrow.”

Leighanne sat back down; I took the last remaining seat. The stripper gave Rochelle a lap dance, then began to mingle with the other girls. His body was pretty impressive; but Nick Carter he was not. The girls, especially Rochelle, were quickly running out of places to put dollar bills. Luckily, the idea of shaking it for a pregnant lady must not have been up his alley; he pretty much avoided me. In all truthfulness, he seemed to have eyes for Leighanne, who pretended to be involved with something on her cell phone every time he came near.

After the stripper had done his thing and Denise had taken care of an extra tip, she turned back to us.

“I think maybe we should dig into the buffet.”

I had thought that we would have been able to dig into the buffet a couple hours ago. I had gone beyond starving. The food was mostly chilled sandwiches and chips, but sometime between the time we went to the convention center and returned to the clubhouse, someone had turned on a chocolate fountain. Pretzels, marshmallows, strawberries, and bananas were placed around the fountain to be covered in chocolate-y goodness. I moaned in pleasure. Leighanne was right behind me; she laughed.

“You’re eyeing the fountain aren’t you?”

I smiled. “Guilty.”

“Well, I’m going to have to work an extra hour on the treadmill, but I’m skipping the sandwiches. That chocolate smells amazing,” Leighanne admitted.

Both of us opted to pile our plates with the worst junk food on the buffet. The idea to break for food was a good one; by the time the food mixed with the alcohol in the girl’s stomachs, a little sanity seemed to come back.

We ended the night a couple hours later after a few more games and gifts. I had gotten Rochelle a pair of pink cheetah print furry handcuffs. Lingerie, condoms, body oils, and edible underwear rounded out her selections. She held up the underwear and the handcuffs, her eyes sparkling.

“I have plans for these.”

I had no doubt that she did.

After one last trip to the chocolate fountain, I piled the girls in the van and dropped everyone off at their respective hotels. It was with a great sigh of relief that I valet parked and headed back to my room.

Nick was already there. He was lounging on the bed, freshly showered. He looked absolutely exhausted. Without a word, I slid into bed beside him. He rolled over on his side, his eyes locking on mine.

“I don’t even want a bachelor party,” he said. I smiled.

“Oh c’mon,” I said. “It was AJ’s bachelor party. Did you expect any less?”

He cracked a smile. “No. Actually, I know it could have gone much worse. AJ didn’t have a lick of alcohol. What I wasn’t prepared for was Mt. St. Kevin erupting. The rest of the night sucked after that.”

I ran my hands through his wet hair. The smell of Old Spice deodorant and a heady shower gel heightened my senses.

“Well, let’s just chalk it up to an experience,” I said softly. He pulled me closer, his hand started on my knee, then slid under my dress to rest on my hip.

“I know of a good way to put it behind me,” Nick said. His fingers slipped under my panties. I sucked in a breath.

“Aren’t you tired?” I said. He grinned, tugging me on top of him.

“Nope, I think I just got a little burst of energy.”

A little burst was a huge understatement. As I curled up in his arms an hour later, I saw the first rays of morning light playing a game of hide-and-seek with the blinds. I groaned, burying my face in his damp chest. He kissed the top of my head.

“Time for bed babe,” he whispered. “We’ve got to be vampires again tonight for the rehearsal dinner.”

Nick’s hands splayed across my belly. Sleeping was easier said than done; baby Carter was waking up with happy little kicks just as I was trying to fall asleep.

It was going to be another long day.