Page 2 of Had To Be You

“Oh, there are phases all right! Your night is about to get a whole lot hotter!” I smirk and give her arm a squeeze. She finishes applying the pale pink gloss and then turns to me with a murderous stare.

“Ells, I will stab you with the heel of my stiletto if it’s what I’m thinking it is.”

“You know you don’t really mean that.” I take her hand in mine and lead her out of the washroom. “Come on. You are going to love it.”

* * *

Olivia is seated in the center of Contact Club’s private VIP room with the same murderous look in her eyes. The lethal gaze is directed squarely at me.

The rest of us girls are seated around her, taking in the dream of a guy who just walked into the room and introduced himself as Jay. He has thick brown hair and a chiseled jaw and is wearing a dark gray suit that is stretched across his muscular body. Kate appears to be drooling and our friend Amber looks like she is about to whip off her clothes and mount him.

“You must be the bride-to-be. Hello, Olivia.” He slowly moves closer to her, flashing a sexy smile. “Are you ready to have a good time?”

Olivia swallows hard, but before she has a chance to say anything, the music starts, and Jay straddles her legs. Good move on Jay’s part, getting the show on the road before she has time to bolt. Leaning in closer, he whispers something in her ear and Olivia instantly turns a bright shade of red. He takes his time removing his jacket then unbuttons his dress shirt, one button at a time. He drops the fabric to the floor and that’s all it takes for the girls and I to get out of our seats and get this striptease going.

Dollar bills begin to fly through the air as Jay swings his hips from right to left, never taking his gaze from Olivia’s brown eyes.

He slowly steps back and starts to unzip his pants. The temperature in the room spikes to a bazillion degrees and we all lose our ever-loving minds. He shakes his toned, hard ass in a pair of black briefs as he slides his pants down his muscular legs. Oh, fuck yes!

I shove a handful of dollar bills down the back of his underwear, silently wishing I was the one sitting in that chair. Olivia is one lucky girl. I seriously know how to throw a party.

Jay turns to face us and pushes his ass into Olivia’s lap. He smirks at us ladies, who would all give our kidneys to be in Olivia’s seat right now, and that earns him a chorus of hollers and whoops. While the rest of us lose it, Olivia covers her eyes with her palms and squeals. It’s safe to say that she would rather have a bath with a toaster right now than have Jay grinding his body on her. She is going to kill me for this. Lord help me.

Jay continues to work his magic for another thirty minutes, grinding and dancing and putting on a show. When he’s done we snap a group photo with him - some sort of weird souvenir - and are then escorted back to our table by a hostess. There’s a round of drinks waiting for us that I cannot take credit for ordering. Contact Club is clearly doing everything they can to make sure the future Mrs. Bennett is having a good time. The Bennetts are very well-known in Reed Point, a family of self-made billionaires who run the east coast’s most successful boutique hotel chain. They attend countless charity functions and donate thousands of dollars each year to organizations that actually make the world a better place rather than elite causes that favor the rich. They are practically Reed Point royalty.

“Olivia, I’m proud of you. I bet Magic Mike had zero clue you were dying the entire time,” I say, trying to gauge her response to the performance. It doesn’t take a mind reader to know it’s probably not going to be favorable.

“Save it, Ells.” She shoots me another death glare. “He knew damn well I was praying for an earthquake so we would all have to evacuate the building. I think setting myself on fire would have been more enjoyable.”

“Okay, you’re right.” I throw my hands in the air, admitting defeat. “It was pretty painful to watch.”

Olivia’s nose scrunches up and she playfully swats at my arm. “It was painful to have to sit through.”

“Well, sorry, not sorry, Liv. I hardly think it was torture to have a hot-as-fuck guy show you a little attention. Did you not see what I was seeing? Did you not see his eight-pack?”

“Oh, I saw what you were seeing. I unfortunately felt what you were seeing. And now I need a shower.” She shifts in her seat and looks me straight in the eye. “You know, I know someone with an eight-pack who I could re-introduce to you. If you weren’t so damn stubborn, you would give him a chance.” Olivia raises her brow and takes a long sip of her drink. She can be sneaky when she wants to be.

“I know who you are referring to and I already tried that. But apparently I’m forgettable,” I snap back. “He’s too serious for me anyways, he works too much.”

Olivia is referring to Liam Bennett, Parker’s older brother. I drunkenly made out with him in a washroom at a party a few months back. I know, cringey. We saw one another at a few Bennett events after that, but he’s kept his distance. His face was buried in his phone most of the time, he barely even glanced up to even look at me. I got the message, loud and clear.

“You didn’t try anything. You two haven’t even been on a real date.”

“That’s because we wouldn’t be able to stop arguing long enough to actually go on said date. We would probably kill each other and then you would be spending the next twenty-five Christmases visiting me in a women’s correctional facility.”

“You don’t know him at all, Ells. Not like I do. Yes, Liam works a lot. Okay, more than a lot. But he’s sweet and funny and charming and any woman would be really lucky to be with him. Once you get to know him, you’ll see that I’m right. He was into you at my beach house party and I know you were feeling him. It’s a mistake to not at least give it a shot and see where things could go.”

“I’m not convinced, and anyways, are we really talking about this at your bachelorette party, Liv? Convo over. Come on, lets dance. This is your final wild night of freedom and we are not wasting another second of it talking about this.”

To stop the conversation from going any further, I grab Olivia by the hand and yank her from the booth. I drag her to the dance floor and spin her around, both of us laughing in each other’s arms. I have my best friend back in Reed Point for the next few weeks and life is good.

Without Liam Bennett.

Chapter Two

Liam

My morning is shot. It’s barely 9 a.m. and I’m already in a mood. I missed my usual 6 a.m. workout and the quiet morning in my office I was banking on has been disrupted by my brother Parker. I chug back the rest of the green smoothie that I drink every single morning and try to telepathically will Parker out of my office.

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