More Layers: Book Two Layers Series (3 page)

Jaxson puts his hand on my shoulder.

I flinch from his unexpected touch.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to...”

“It’s okay...it’s just...”

He sighs. “You don’t need to explain—I get it.”

He does? “How did you know I was staying at the Four Seasons?”

“I overheard Jules telling Nick.”

“Of course you did.” Jules! You and your big, fat mouth.

“Can we talk?”

“Jaxson, I...”

“Please. Just for a few minutes.”

I step back. Having him so close makes me feel...unhinged.

“Jaxson, this isn’t a good time. I’m meeting everyone at the Venetian. Aren’t you supposed to be golfing with Nick and Henry?”

“Nice to know you’re so interested in my whereabouts.”

Bastard. “I’m not, I just didn’t want to...”

“Run into me?”

“Something like that.”

“Sorry to inconvenience you.”

What’s with the fucking attitude? “You’re not inconveniencing me.”

“Maybe not, but I’m making you uncomfortable.”

You have no idea. I look at my watch. “Jaxson...not a good time.”

He gives me “The Brow.”

Lee smirks. The boys give him “The Brow” all the time.

“Alexia, we need to talk.” He gives me his pleading puppy-dog-eye look—the same one his sons give me and I fall for it every damn time.

“Okay, I agree we do but...”

My iPhone rings out “She’s a super freak. Super freak.”

I take it out of my bag. “Jules,” I tell him.

He laughs.

My heart skips. Dear God, how I’ve missed that laugh.

“Sorry. Can you give me a sec?”

He nods.

“Jules,” I answer.

“Where the fuck are you?”

“Well, hello to you, too.”

“Sorry.”

“I’m on my way. We’re just now leaving the hotel.”

“You’re still at the Four Season?”

“Yes. We got...hung up.”

She sighs. “I need a drink. Why don’t Marco and I meet you and Lee at the pool?”

“Fine, see you in a few.” I disconnect and drop my phone back into my bag.

“I only need a few minutes,” he says.

I bite my lip, while trying to figure out how I want to play this. If this is going to happen, it’s going to be on my terms, and my turf.

“Okay, I agree that we need to talk. Our best friends are getting married, and I’ll be living in New York, and our paths are bound to cross, and...”

I look at my watch because I can’t look into his eyes. I just can’t. “Can we meet here, later this afternoon, around four?”

Jaxson takes a step closer and Lee latches onto his elbow.

“Fuck man. I’m not going to hurt her.”

I nod for Lee to let go. I know he won’t hurt me, physically, anyway.

He nods toward Lee. “Is it possible, for us to meet without Mr. Universe?”

“Yes. We can meet without Lee. I’ll have him meet you in the lobby at four.”

“I’ll see you at four. You better not ditch me, Lex.”

“I won’t ditch you, I’ll be here at four.” Dear Lord, how I want to ditch him and his attitude.

He nods at Lee, turns and walks away.

Lee and I watch his fine ass as he makes his way through the Four Season’s lobby.

Lee snickers. “So, that was Jaxson Ryan.”

I elbow his rock hard abs and wished I hadn’t. Ouch! “Smart ass.”

* * *

“What does he want to talk to you about?” Jules asks me as we position our loungers by the pool.

“I’m guessing he wants to talk about you and Nick, and or, maybe the fact that I’m moving back to New York. He seemed upset...mad. If anyone should be mad, it should be me. Maybe he’s mad because I hired a lot of former Ryan employees. But you’d think he would be happy about that.”

“He’s an arrogant asshole,” Lee comments as he pulls his lounger next to mine. “I wouldn’t worry about why he’s upset.”

“I agree,” Jules says, “Jaxson Ryan is an arrogant asswad, and I wouldn’t waste my time trying to figure him out.”

“I’ll add lying, cheating bastard to that list.”

“A lying, cheating bastard that’s still in love with you,” Marco adds as he pulls up his lounger.

“Yeah, right. All men who love me get me pregnant, fuck their ex-wives, and then forget I even existed. It’s that extra ‘something’ that I have. It drives men so wild they can’t wait to sink their dicks into someone else.”

“Self-deprecating sarcasm doesn’t look good on you, my dear.”

“Marco, you wound me. You don’t like the way I look,” I faux pout.

“I think everything you wear looks good on you,” Lee says.

“Like you would know. You are the only gaywad that I know, who doesn’t have any fashion sense,” Jules adds.

“Being a little stereotypical, aren’t we, Jules?”

“No. You truly are the only gaywad that I know, with zero fashion sense.”

“You two do realize that Marco and I weren’t referring to clothing.”

“Of course we do,” Jules answers.

“What’s with you? You’ve been gay bashing all week,” Marco adds.

“I’m sorry. It’s just...this is my last day of freedom, and I’m hanging with a bunch of gaywads and Mother Teresa.”

“Mother Teresa? Really? That’s low, even for you, girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry. I keep hearing the words ‘till death do you part’ in my head and it’s freaking the freak out of me.”

“Are you forgetting the man whom you will be saying, ‘till death do you part’ to? You’re lucky to have a man like Nick, Jules. I’ve never had any man love me like that.”

Marco clears his throat.

I take off my cover-up, pull my long hair into a tighter knot and sit down on my lounger. I put my hand on Marco’s arm. “I know you want the fairytale ending for Jaxson and me, but it’s not going to happen.”

“I just think there is something that we’re missing. A man that looks the way he did, and probably still does, at you, just doesn’t stop loving. He might be with Mia, but he sure as hell doesn’t love her.”

“Okay, enough about my nonexistent love life, and fucking Jaxson Ryan. This weekend is about our girl Jules, and her man Nick.”

Lee pulls off his tee and sits his muscled ass down on the other side of me. “I almost lost it when Jaxson gave you ‘The Brow.’ He looks so much like JB and Chase, it’s unreal.”

“Lex cried for a week after JB gave her ‘The Brow’
the
first time, because it reminded her of Jaxson,” Marco adds.

“Yeah, that was a major post-partum week.”

“Wasn’t that the same week you gave up on the breast feeding?”

“Yes, Jules, it was. It was the lowest moment of my early motherhood. And you’re not fooling me; I know where you’re going with this—let’s not.”

She ignores me. “I agreed to help you out, sister. It could have worked.”

I give her “that look” behind my sunglasses. “I guess, we’ll just never know, sister.”

“Never know what?” Lee asks.

Jules sits forwards on her lounger. “I read somewhere that if you have someone like your husband or boyfriend, suck on your tits, it can re-stimulate milk glands. I offered to suck on her tits because she had no husband or boyfriend. No non-gaywad ones anyway. But the bitch turned me down.”

Lane and my sister Samantha walk up and join us.

“I heard suck, tits, and re-stimulate,” Lane says. “What did I miss?”

Sam gifts him with a playful slug in the arm.

“Ouch! That hurt.” He teases.

“Yeah, right,” she says as she scoots me over and sits on my lounger.

Lane pulls up a chair. “No, seriously, what did I miss?”

“Nothing,” I say.

He frowns. “Man, I always miss out on all the fun.”

Sam slugs him again. “Are you saying that I’m not any fun?”

He laughs then kisses her on the cheek. “Woman, I’d never say that about you.”

“You’d better not.”

“Why aren’t you two suited up?” I ask them.

“We’re going to a spy convention,” Sam says and then rolls her eyes.

“Spy convention?”

“That’s not what it’s really called. It’s a security and surveillance...something, something.”

“Sounds like fun,” I say and laugh at my sister.

“Yeah, right. I have Lee here to thank for this one.” She points a finger into Lee’s huge, hot, hairless chest.

“Hey, I just told Lane that he ‘might’
want to check it out for me. It’s not like I ordered him to go.”

“Yeah, right,” she says, “Lane is so pumped about being a part of your ‘security team,’ he’d kiss your ass if you asked him to.”

Lee chuckles. “That does sound hot, and I’m sure it would feel even hotter to have Lane’s lush lips pressed into my ass. But it’s against company policy to have employees kiss my ass. Literally and figuratively.”

“Well, thank fuck for company policy. Because there is no fucking way I’d put my lush lips anywhere near your ass.”

“I would never say never, Dimple Boy,” Jules purrs. “That is one fine ass.”

Lee blushes.

Lane shakes his head.

“Could we stop talking about kissing ass and sucking on tits?” I ask.

Jules laughs. “Oh, poor thing, is it making you horny?”

“Damn, sister, you really need to get some,” Sam adds.

“Tell me about it.” I frown-pout—frout.

“Lucky for you we’re in Sin City. Even ‘you’ could get some here.”

“Thanks, Sam. You really know how to make your big sister feel good,” I quip.

She giggles. “Well, just saying.”

Marco and Jules start to laugh, and it soon turns into the snorting-wheezing, pee-your-pants kind of laughter.

“What’s so funny?” Lane asks.

Jules points to me between snorts.

“All right you two, it was so ‘not’ funny.”

“Tell us,” Sam pleads.

Marco finally composes himself. “Au contraire, my dear friend. I beg to differ.”

“If you continue on with this telling, I’ll give you something to beg about.”

He grins. “Oh yeah, and what, pray tell, would that be?”

“I have no idea. But I’ll come up with something.”

Jules hiccup-snorts. “With your luck, girlfriend, you’ll be the one begging and praying.”

She and Marco crack up again.

“Tell us,” Lee says.

“I don’t think so,” I warn them.

Marco wipes happy tears from his eyes. “Where should I begin this sordid tale?”

“You shouldn’t.”

“Oh yes I should, my dear.” He clears his throat. “A few years back the three of us were hanging out at Polo after closing, getting smashed.”

“Well, that’s no news flash,” Sam comments.

“That’s true,” he says. “Anyway, we’re pretty wasted and trying to decide where to take our little party next. We couldn’t decide, then Jules had a V8 moment. ‘Let’s fly to Vegas.’ Long story short, we do.”

“Okay, I don’t think you need to continue.”

“Oh, but I do.” He laughs. “Another long story short. We get here, check into the Mandarin, and then go clubbing. Our last club was called the Shark, or Fish Tank, or something like that. We could never remember the name.”

“We went to so many, they started to blend into one,” Jules adds.

Marco continues. “As you can imagine, we’re pretty wasted at this point. Our dearest Alexia was slurring-word drunk. And as you all know this is a rare event for our girl. Being our last club for the night/morning we decide to find ourselves a hook-up for the night/morning. Jules chooses her guy right away, and soon so do I. Our dear girl, however, finds herself surrounded by drooling admirers, and can’t decide.”

“They were not drooling, and I wasn’t surrounded.”

“Oh, yes they were, and yes you were,” Jules adds.

I frown.

“Stop interrupting,” Sam says.

Marco clears his throat. “Lex, was too inebriated to narrow down her choice to one. So she decides that she is going to partake in her first ever
threesome.”

“No way,” Sam says.

Lane laughs.

“Yes, way.” Marco laughs. “After Lex painstakingly narrowed her admirers down to a lucky two—by means of flipping a coin. We, by some miracle, make it back to the Mandarin. She takes these two hot guys to her room and proceeds to pass out before they get their party on.”

He starts to laugh again so hard that Jules takes over the story.

“Some unknown time later she wakes and finds herself in her room. After a moment of thanks to the saint whom protects stupid inebriated souls, she realizes that she is on the floor. After a few minutes of contemplation, she manages a vertical state and makes it to the bedroom. As she enters she observes her two hot guys partaking in a threesome with some other unknown chick.”

They all laugh. And I admit, that I find it hard not to smile because it really is funny now that it’s been a few years.

“Oh my hell,” Sam says. “What did you do?”

“I just stood there and watched for a minute. I was in shock and curious, I guess. They were so wasted and high and...occupied they didn’t even notice they had an audience. After a minute or five of voyeurism, I gathered up my things and left the room. Then I went down to the front desk; checked out of that room, and checked into another.

They continue to laugh.

“Did they ask you why you were getting another room?” Lee asks.

“It’s Vegas honey, they don’t ask,” Jules answers.

Sam laughs. “Well, I stand corrected, sister. You can’t even get ‘some’ in Vegas.”

“Ha, ha, you’re so funny.”

“I think you should give it another go. You know what they say—’third’ guy’s the charm,” Marco quips.

They all crack up again.

“Why are you picking on me? Aren’t we supposed to be harassing the bride-to-be?”

“But it’s more fun to pick on you,” Jules says.

Lane looks at his watch. “Well, I hate to say it, but we should go.”

Sam groans.

“If you really don’t want to go, Lane, you don’t have to,” Lee says.

“No man, I really want to go. Sam’s the one that’s not into it. I told her that she can stay here and sun sit.”

“And I told you that I miss your fine ass. I never get to see you anymore. With all the flight exams, flight hours, and all the other security crap that you’ve been doing—you never have time for me.”

“It’s something I’ve always dreamt of doing. And thanks to Lex, I’m doing it.”

“And I’ve always wanted a helicopter,” I add.

Sam squeezes Lane’s hand. “I’m sorry. I want you to follow your dreams.”