Page 53 of L.O.V.E

Alcohol was to blame. Not the dress. Not her laugh or her smile.

We finished our meal. We joined Victoria and her girls at the club. I drank. I watched Victoria dance, joining her twice. I only accidentally, from the corner of my eye, caught a drunk asshole grinding against Natalie. I might have smiled when she pushed him away.

Victoria was surrounded by her friends, and she was happy. She laughed more than I’d seen her laugh in months.

Martin finally showed. He joined the girls on the dance floor. He danced too close to Natalie.

She allowed him to touch her for one song, then joined Ellis, Lacey, and me at the table, sweaty, breathless, and…playing with her breast? She dug around behind the fabric covering her left boob, then pulled out her cell and read the screen.

Her smile faded. “Seriously?” she mumbled, searching the room, eyes wide, panicked.

Before considering ramifications, I snatched the cell from her hand and read the screen.

I see you

Slut

Uglywhore

U should b working the streets, not the clubs

I should kill u now, save the planet

Turning my back to Ellis and his bride, shielding Natalie, I asked, “Who sent this?”

“I don’t know.” She gnawed her lip. “Don’t say anything to Lacey, please? It’ll ruin her night.” She reclaimed her phone. Tucked it back into the hidden compartment in her dress. “I haven’t gotten one of these since I ended things with Martin.”

“You think Holden followed you to Vegas?”

She looked over my shoulder, then made a quick assessment of our surroundings and said, “I need to go.”

“Jeremy will drive you,” I ordered, leaving no room for argument.

She replied, “Thank you. I appreciate the offer.”

Natalie made an excuse to her best friend and said her goodbyes. I walked her to the car and waited while Jeremy merged into traffic and disappeared. Then, I dialed a longtime acquaintance who happened to head a personal security crew in town and made sure someone had an eye on Natalie for the rest of her time in Vegas.

Then, I called my buddy back home, Detective Waters.

When I returned to my friends, Martin came my way with a wicked grin on his face and lipstick smeared on his chin.

“Can’t keep it in your pants for a minute, can you?”

“Not surrounded by all this eager beauty.” He clapped my shoulder. “Where’s Nats?”

“Called it a night.”

His grin faltered but only for a blink. I let the details rest. He’d been stupid enough to let Natalie slip through his fingers. Her concerns were none of his business.

My only concern should have been my bride-to-be. “Anyone seen Victoria?”

Ellis pointed toward the back. “She headed for the restroom. Said she needed a touch-up.”

I ordered another drink. Victoria came back, fresh as a fucking daisy, tits on display, silver shiny dress covering only the required parts, legs begging to be parted in a pair of silver, glittery, fuck-me heels.

Her lips met mine, her breath a hefty dose of minty menthol. Her tits pressed against my chest.

“You having fun?” I growled in her ear, dragging my fingers up the length of her bare thigh.

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