Page 10 of Double or Nothing

“I know. Which is why Liz’s mom is going to send us updates all night. If your mom so much as sneezes, we’ll know about it,” I assure her.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Her arms wrap around me in a hug. When we reach Mac’s truck, she wraps her arms around my neck. There is a sexy grin on her face as she whispers, “Where are we going?”

Liz’s voice is loud as it escapes the back window of the truck. “Vegas, baby.”

Mac pops his head outside the passenger window, a big goofy grin on his face. “Let’s go before we miss all the fun.”

“What fun?” Kat’s smiling more than I’ve seen her smile in a long time. That alone makes every dime, every sacrifice it took to make this happen worth it.

“Get your sexy ass in the truck and find out,” I tell her as I swat her backside.

Chapter 7

Kat

I don’t know how he managed to pull this off, but I am so glad that he did. This was just what I needed. Unwilling to admit it to anyone, even him, the pressure and weight of my situation has been wearing on me. Just because I didn’t admit it, doesn’t mean that he didn’t see it.

My eyes are glued to him as he sits next to me, chatting with Mac. He amazes me in every way. If only he could see that.

“Earth to Kat,” Liz says.

I manage to tear my eyes away from Sutton to look in her direction. “What?”

“You look happy,” Liz says.

“I am happy,” I reply. How could I not be when I have the world’s sweetest guy right next to me, and two of the best friends a girl could ask for.

We just finished dinner and are getting ready for the next part of our adventure. My arm loops through hers as the boys settle the tab. I tell myself not to worry about where it was he got the money from, but I can’t help feeling guilty. Rather than saving his money to get a real demo put together, he’s doing this. For me.

As happy as I am, I see the pride and joy in his face, too. Sutton loves me. He wants to do this for me. Who am I to begrudge him for that?

“By the way, thank you for this,” I tell her.

“All Sutton,” Liz says, giving credit where it’s is due. While I am sure he did most of it, I also know that he enlisted her help. Including asking her to have her mother stay with mine. Not that it would have taken much convincing. The two of them are thick as thieves, just like me and Liz. “He really is something else.”

Don’t I know it. Sweet, sexy, musically gifted. Never will I need a reminder of how lucky I am. I just hope that when he hits it big, because I know he will, that I don’t lose him. That he isn’t whisked away into the limelight and blinded by the millions of gorgeous women that will be falling at his feet.

“Yes, he is,” I agree.

We leave the restaurant and continue down the Strip. We peek our heads into the various hotels, but make sure to never step onto the casino floor. Where looking at Sutton, you would swear that he is a bad boy, he’s actually anything but. He keeps himself on the straight and narrow – now. It wasn’t always that way.

When we first met, Sutton was most definitely the epitome of the bad boy from a terrible homelife. He smoked, drank, acted out, and did stupid stunts. He was fun and wild and the complete opposite of me. And while that’s what attracted me to him, it was the boy beneath all of that that I fell in love with. The boy with a kind heart, a sad soul, and a jealous streak a mile long. He’s strong and protective – loyal to a fault. He’s everything I ever dreamed of.

“And what about you?” I ask giving her a nudge.

“Me?”

“Have you not seen how Mac has been looking at you all night? He is seriously into you,” I tell her. “And he is so hot.”

“I’m going to tell Sutton you said that,” she replies. Her words nothing more than a threat to get me to quit pushing her on the Mac subject.

“Oh, come on Liz, he’s a great guy.”

“I’m sure he is. But, unlike you, I do not want to start my happily ever after at eighteen. I…” She releases me and stretches both of her arms to the sky. “I want to be free.”

Liz grew up with the typical suburban family life. Her mom and dad were high school sweethearts. They live in a nice house, lead a typical “vanilla” lifestyle as Liz puts it. And Liz? Well, she wants something completely different. Something more. And to get there, she thinks, for some reason, she has to do it on her own, because a man will only bog her down.

“You are free, you idiot.” I lean into her, my arm wrapping around her shoulders. “And spending time with Mac isn’t going to change that.”

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