Pinned Up (Pinned Up Trilogy) (22 page)

“Josh thought you could put the chain around your rear view mirror.” Mom says quietly.

“Tell him I love it and that I’ll accessorize Betty with his gift.” Is all I can say past the lump in my throat.

I lie to everyone and tell them I’m craving candy to go along with the movies we’ll be watching all day. They remind me it’s Christmas and most stores are closed. It doesn’t matter, I grab my jacket and head out in a t-shirt and pj bottoms. I’ve done one hell of a job containing the hurt I feel, but Josh’s gift was the last straw that might send me into crying hysterics. Rapidly, I fight back my waterworks. I refuse to shed a tear over him. Instead, I place the beaded chain with the dog tags around my rear view mirror, crank up the song, “Black Betty” by Ram Jam and put it on replay. I repudiate my weakness and go for a drive. As I’m behind the wheel, I wonder which direction I should head towards, the Golden Gate or the Bay Bridge. Hmm…

Chapter 9 (Nina)

Driving

Almost two hours later, I return home with a clear mind. I don’t want to be a girl who dwells in misery. I take pride in not throwing a pity party for myself. Instead, I was able to conjure up a perfect distraction. When I plop myself on the couch, everyone turns to stare at me.

“Where’s the candy?” Kade asks slyly.

“I had to go for a drive. I feel much better now that I came up with the best solution to uplift my melancholy state.” I admit.

“So, what did you come up with? Strippers always make me happy.” Kade states nonchalantly.

“Vegas for New Year’s Eve! Who’s down?” I ask even though I already know the answer.

“Hell yeah! Cheesecake, you know I’m game! Time to act a fool!” Kade is beyond enthusiastic, gets up, and starts to do a little dance for us.

“I’m down, Nina. I’ve never been there.” Emme confesses.

We all turn to look at Emme with bewildered expressions on our faces. “You’re a Vegas Virgin?” I ask completely shocked. “How is it that I didn’t know this? Oh my goodness, I’m such a shitty friend. If I had known, I would’ve taken you a long time ago! Honey, we’re gonna hit it up big!” I’m determined to make Emme’s first time in Sin City wickedly fabulous and full of corruption.

“Okay, kids. Behave yourselves, don’t go accepting drinks from strangers and be careful. Make sure you stay together. There are too many sickos out in the world. I can’t believe they have date rape drugs. Some people’s thoughts can be so sickening.” My mom interjects. We try to convince her to go with us, but she refuses. She’s a homebody and prefers it that way.

“We’re gonna pop Em’s cherry! Can’t wait!” Kade says with an evil grin.

The past few days had me looking forward to our mini vacation. It’s finally Saturday night and I’m packing for our road trip tomorrow that begins at dawn. Surprisingly, my phone has been going off all day with missed calls from Josh along with voicemails and text messages that I quickly delete. It’s been weeks since we last spoke. I miss him. I miss his lips and his touch, but I can’t allow myself to think of him. I’m not about to let Josh ruin my sinful getaway which is just what the doctor ordered.

Initially, we made plans to fly out Friday morning and sight see before the big New Year’s Eve celebration that takes up the whole Vegas strip. Since Emme had a family function today, we decided to take a road trip and sight see during the first days of the new year instead.

Kade is in the kitchen preparing veggie snacks for us to take on our trip. I decide to let him know about Josh. “Hey, you know what’s weird? Josh has been calling me all day. I haven’t spoken to him in a while. I think it’s weird that all of a sudden he’s been continuously thinking of me.” I say as I start munching on raw sugar snap peas. “We better take chips and cookies with us too. Vegetables and fruit aren’t going to cut it for me.”

Kade scowls at me. “You’ll be drinking the whole time you’re there. You can’t pig out AND consume alcohol too. I won’t let you. Seeing you eat healthy snacks reduces the guilt from knowing you’ll be intoxicating your body with liquor the next few days. I know it doesn’t make sense, so just humor me.” Kade pleads. “As for Josh, I kind of, sort of spoke with him this morning when I saw him at the gym. He seems heartbroken. He really wants to talk to you, but he’s been giving you space. He knows you hate him, but doesn’t blame you. He just wants to be heard.”

Just as I’m speaking to Kade, my phone rings and there’s a knock on the door. Kade lets Emme in and helps her with the luggage.

“What’s going on?” Emme asks. “Why the glum faces?”

“Josh has been calling Cheesecake all day, he just called a few seconds ago too. She refuses to speak with him and hear his version of the story.” Kade explains.

“Fuck him! Let him keep calling you, Nina. He wasn’t thinking of you when he was fucking that dirty waitress, so why should you waste your time and energy hearing him out? Let him suffer as a consequence. Do not answer his calls!” Emme is all about the girl power today.

“You’re right.” I’m determined to get Joshua Ryan out of my mind.

We finish packing and loading up Kade’s BMW X5. In the morning, we’ll simply get dressed and head out. It takes us almost ten hours to arrive to our destination due to several pit stops along the way. We arrive in Vegas early Sunday evening. Emme and I started drinking prior to our arrival, so by the time we reach our hotel room, we’re both pretty buzzed. I don’t pay attention to the hotel we’re staying in; I just know it’s modern, elegant, and expensive. Our room is actually a two bedroom tower suite with a full stocked bar. That’s all that matters at this point.

Both bedrooms have an astonishing view of Sin City. Kade gets a king size bed in his room while Emme and I have two full size beds in ours. Instantly, Kade begins to catch up on his drinking. During our trip, we made him be a gentleman by driving the last half of the trip. Emme and I used that time to our advantage and experimented with drinks. I get another text message from Josh. I feel too good to allow him to ruin my buzz. Delete.

Kade tells us he has a surprise, so Emme and I get ready in record time. I’m all about the pin-up look this evening with retro inspired makeup and a rockabilly hairstyle. My ruby lips match the bright red flower on my hair. The skin tight, turquoise wiggle dress appears to be painted on my silhouette while the twins make a bold appearance tonight. Kade is wearing khakis with a black button up shirt. He looks handsome and well groomed as always. We’re at the bar located in our suite when Emme steps out.

“Okay. I’m ready. Kade, can you make me a drink?” Emme asks.

Both Kade and I ignore her request. We’re too stunned to look away. Emme is wearing an extremely short black dress with five inch stiletto sandals. Her hair has subtle waves to it and is pulled to the side. She’s not wearing her glasses and has on red lipstick. She manages to pull the look off exquisitely. In the past, she has always toned down her look. Today, she finally came out of her shell and embraced her sexuality. She looks amazing.

I’m shamelessly gawking at her. “Oh, my…you look sexy as fuck. If I were bi, I’d so do you.” I can’t help but stare. She’s beautiful. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve always thought she was pretty, but right now she looks confident in her own skin. The assurance in herself compliments her beauty.

Kade clears his throat. “Yeah, you look pretty good, Em.” The look he gives Emme is completely predatory and lustful, naturally she gives it right back to him.

“Will you two please stop eye fucking each other? I’m trying to have a good time and not be a witness to your sexual shenanigans. Besides, I thought we were pressed for time and had to leave?” I ask getting back on track.

Kade hands Emme a drink, she pounds it and we head out. Kade surprises us by having a limo pick us up. Inside is a bottle of Armand de Brignac Champagne for us. We’re ready to live it up in Sin City. Our trio arrives at a gentlemen’s club, but we remain in the car until we’re done with our ridiculously, expensive champagne. Usually, we wouldn’t indulge in such luxury, but tonight we make an exception. We exit the limo and get hit by a cool breeze that instantly takes our buzz to a drunken state. That’s what happens when you mix your drinks with fresh air, regardless, we’re all feeling pretty damn good.

When we arrive at the entrance of the club, we’re told the male strippers are performing for the next hour and the women strip afterwards. It doesn’t make a difference to us and happily walk in. Kade pulls out a wad of bills and hands us money to use for our enjoyment. The male strippers are handsome and have incredible bodies, but they just don’t do it for me. I can’t help but think of Josh and his sinfully delicious cut up chest with his arms of steel.
Yum!

Oh, shit. I sense myself falling back into my dark hole and refuse to go there. I hand Kade my phone, afraid of drunk dialing Josh. I’ve remained strong and kept my distance for this long, I can’t quit now. Emme buys us all lap dances from the men. Instead of it being a sexual encounter, we mess around by dancing for them and each other.

The female strippers soon begin to put on a show. Again, we put on an act of our own. Most of the girls are cool and even show us some moves; some are catty, but we just ignore them. Unfortunately, in the dress I’m wearing there’s no way I can stretch in certain positions. The men and women are all over Kade. He loves the attention and humors them by slipping bills down their thongs.

Emme and I focus our attention on a group right next to us. Since we’re drunk, we don’t bother with discretion. One of the girls is with her boyfriend, they’re pretty loud so we’re able to hear them just fine. Apparently, the girlfriend bought her man a lap dance and now that the stripper has her bare chest all over the girl’s man, she’s getting herself riled up. We hear her ranting about how she’s a real woman and if that’s what her man likes than he can do whatever the fuck he wants. She emphasizes how she doesn’t need him and can handle things on her own. The girl throwing the tantrum is so cute, I smile at her. Clearly, she was trying to be a cool girlfriend, but jealousy mixed with alcohol are getting the best of her. It took courage for her to come out of her shell, bring her man to a strip club, and allow a strange woman to plant her fake boobs all over him. I don’t know if I could have done that with Josh. Any other man…Yes. But with Josh, I highly doubt it. The stripper finally backs away from the boyfriend, all I see is relief across his face. He didn’t seem to enjoy that as much as the girlfriend assumed. She finally relaxes once her friends have calmed her down.

Awww…they’re cute together. I hope they last. I miss Josh. Stop it, Nina!

Once we’ve had plenty of tits and ass action, we head over to a dance club. We party the night away with good music, plenty of drinks, and the best company, each other. I wake up in the morning still drunk. I look at the time and realize that it’s past noon. I wake up my roomies; we get ready and head down to the cabana for some food and relaxation. We’re still slightly drunk after we’ve had our light lunch, but we continue to drink mojitos.

“Damn, Kade. You sure had those strippers eating out of the palm of your hand last night.” I tease.

“They thought I had money. Yeah, I have some, but little do they know that you’re the millionaire among the group.” He laughs.

“What?” Emme appears perplexed.

Kade turns to me and gives me an apologetic look once he realizes he’s said too much.

“Yeah, I have money. I just don’t see it or use it, so it doesn’t count. Out of sight, out of mind.” I state nonchalantly.

“Money as in thousands or millions?” She asks, still confused.

“Millions.” I answer simply.

“You must be the most modest and humble millionaire I know. I had no clue.” Emme looks at me with wonder.

“I don’t like to talk about it. It’s nothing really. By the way, Kade, which one of my credit cards did you use to pay for our suite?” I casually change the subject.

“About that…I actually used my card, but remember how I accidentally told Josh that we were coming to Vegas? Well, he wanted to pay for our room. So, I canceled the room I had reserved. He arrived this morning, he’s actually staying in this hotel. I’ve been dying to tell you. Damn. I finally feel like I can exhale.” He admits.