Page 14 of I Am Lioness

“Woah!” She chuckled, stopping me with her hands at my shoulders.

“Oh, God, I’m sorry.” I adjusted my bag onto my shoulder. “I didn’t see you there.”

She waved me off, shaking her head. “No biggie. Where areyouoff to in such a hurry though?”

“Nowhere important. Just heading back to the hotel.”

One dark eyebrow quirked. “So early?”

Nodding, I fidgeted with my bag again. “I’m starving and I’m tired as hell. Looking forward to a long, hot shower and a movie in bed.”

“Sounds boring.” Reyna joked.

I shrugged. “Coach worked my ass off this week. Boring is exactly what I need.”

“You do realize you’re in Vegas, right?” She asked with an amused smirk on her lips.

“Yeah, and?”

“Vegas is the exact opposite of boring! You know, I’m heading out to Foxtail tonight with some friends. You should come!”

She was just so sweet, I almost felt bad declining her invitation, but an outing with Reyna and her friends was not how I'd envisioned—or wanted—to spend my evening.

“Thanks for the invite, Reyna. I'm gonna pass though. My bed is calling me and I guarantee I won't even make it through half of the movie, much less a night out on the town.”

Jason chose that moment to saunter around the corner, a look of sheer confusion flashing across his face when he noticed me standing in the middle of the hallway chatting with Reyna. Again. Closing in the distance, his eyes flickered between us before he lifted my bag over my head and hefted it over his shoulder.

Reyna acknowledged him with a small smile and promptly returned her attention to me. “You should really come. It'll be fun.”

“You’ll have more fun without me, I swear. I really am beat.”

“You can sleep when you're dead, girl”—she laughed—“C’mon, live a little!”

I dragged my gaze to Jason for some assistance but he shrugged and held his hands up. “Don't look at me. She askedyouto go.”

“Yeah, what he said.” Reyna agreed, jutting out her bottom lip and clasping her hands together. “Pleaseeee?”

As I stared into her hopeful brown eyes, my resolve slipped away, uncharacteristically so. I couldn’t find it in me to decline her a second time, especially when she seemed genuinely interested in me tagging along. After all, she had a point. Wewerein Vegas.

“Fine.” I conceded. “What time were you all planning on meeting up? I'm staying at the SLS, so Foxtail is just an elevator ride away for me.”

Reyna clapped excitedly as a wide smile spread across her face. “So are we! Just meet us by the elevators at 10.”

After exchanging numbers and going our separate ways, I noticed Jason was oddly quiet. I chose not to comment though. My guess was the impromptu plans for the evening had something to do with it. He opened the back door of the SUV idling on the curb .

“So you're really going out with them?” His tone was a cross between baffled and incredulous.

I slid into the plush black leather seat and pulled on my seatbelt. “I said I would, didn't I?”

He climbed in beside me, dropping my bag between us, and shut the door a tad harder than necessary. “Yes, but, I don't know”—he shrugged—“once again it is oddly out of character for you.”

“You heard her. We’re in Vegas. I might as well take advantage, right?”

“I guess…”

“You guess? Weren't you the one begging me to walk down the strip with you and Manny just last night?”

“That's different,” he muttered.

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