Chapter 1
Sam
I told Erin I’d be around for two hours, so she better make them count. Otherwise, she could celebrate the rest of her bachelorette party with her snotty friends. I flew into Las Vegas by myself, the airport spitting me out with two bags and only a vague idea of how to get to my hotel.
It didn’t take long to find a shuttle to the Strip. I hauled my luggage up the two steps into the bus and started rolling it toward an open seat near the back. Despite the late hour, there were only a few open seats, so I sat down next to possibly the sexiest man I’d ever seen in my life. His dark hair was nearly buzzed and I could see his muscles straining against the plain white tee he wore. Military man, maybe? It was hard to tell.
He looked up as I sat, his brown eyes meeting mine for a brief moment before they flickered back down to his phone screen. We didn’t say a word to each other, but I caught him looking at me almost as many times as I looked at him.
The ride to the Strip was super short. I mentally said goodbye to my attractive seat neighbor and lugged my bags out onto the street, pointing my feet toward Caesar’s Palace. The brightly-lit fountains guided me in and, after a bit of wandering, I found the check in desk.
“Sam Formaster, part of the Formaster bridal party.” I set my ID on the counter before the attendant could even open her mouth. She nodded and typed away on her computer for a moment.
“Ah, yes, here you are. It seems the rest of your party is already here. Just initial here and sign at the bottom while I get your keys ready.” She smiled and handed me a sheet of paper, which I didn’t bother reading. Typical hotel paperwork, don’t smoke in the non-smoking room, blah blah blah. I signed it and pushed it back across the counter, accepted my keys, and began trekking through the casino toward the rooms.
I didn’t even make it to my door before I heard Jessica’s obnoxious laughter. The usual bitter taste filled my mouth. She was the reason I had no desire to be at this stupid bachelorette party. I loved my twin sister Erin, but she chose my boyfriend-stealing, narcissistic ex-bestie over me when everything came to a head.
Screw them both and their happiness.
The whole party was standing in the hallway outside our block of rooms when I came around the corner. Everyone was gussied up in their slutty little dresses and tiaras, and I suspected they’d been pre-gaming with a bottle of something strong.
Erin giggled and hurried to my side. “Sammy! We were starting to wonder if your plane went down somewhere!” She wrapped her arms around me. I pasted a smile on my face and hugged her back.
“Nope, just a delay at JFK. Surprise, surprise. I’m just going to drop off my luggage and get changed.” I pulled back, momentarily allowing myself to be genuinely happy to see my sister. With me living in New York and her living in California, we didn’t exactly see each other every day.
But the moment was ended by Jessica’s whiny voice. “We’ll just meet you downstairs. It’s not fair to make us wait to get started just because you couldn’t pick a flight that would get you here on time.” She flipped her crispy blonde hair and clacked her acrylic nails together like crab pincers. I hardly recognized her anymore. “Right, Erin?”
Erin glanced between the two of us, but I already knew her choice. “I…guess so. Yeah. Why don’t you take your time getting changed, Sammy, and we’ll see you at the restaurant? That way you don’t feel like you have to hurry.”
“Yeah. Sure.” I shot her a fake smile and waved my keycard at the door. It blocked the raucous laughter of the retreating party as it slammed behind me, leaving me seething in luxury. I flung the bags next to the bed and collapsed onto the foot.
Of course I couldn’t even enjoy thirty seconds of seeing my sister for the first time in over a year! There were reasons I begged Erin not to invite Jessica, yet she seemed convinced the pair of us would make up at some point. But as long as she stayed married to my Jake and kept up with this Kardashian persona, Jessica was dead to me.
I tried to shake myself out of this terrible mood and into the little red dress I brought for the party. I only succeeded in one of the two. After some matching lipstick and stilettos, I felt presentable enough to head downstairs.
It had taken me five minutes to get ready. Five minutes, Jessica. Bitch.
The group was still standing (loudly) in front of Nobu when I arrived. The host seemed frustrated based on the look on his face, and Erin was sobbing. I walked up to the mess and inserted myself in the middle of it. “What’s the problem?”
“He can’t find our reservation!” Erin managed, through hiccups and sobs.
I sighed and snatched the phone out of her hand. It took me, the sober one, thirty seconds to find the confirmation email. “You put it under Lyonel’s name, you idiot.” I flashed the screen at the host, who smiled gratefully at me.
Moments later, we were seated at the table with menus and a round of apologies from the staff. I waved them off and parked myself on my sister’s right. “Look at me,” I ordered, and wiped the smeared mascara from her face. “Pretty sure you’re not supposed to ruin your makeup this early in the night.”
Erin sniffled, but smiled at me. “Yeah, probably not. It’s a good thing you’re here.” The others nodded, except for Jessica. Surprise, surprise. I pretended she didn’t exist, throwing myself into ordering way too much Japanese food. If Lyonel was going to be paying, I might as well treat myself.
My brother-in-law-to-be was loaded. ‘Silicon Valley tech mogul’ loaded. When I refused to attend the party, he’d offered to cover my expenses to get my sister to stop crying. And who was I to turn down a free vacation?
Things were actually going fairly well when the food arrived. Jessica had moved on to asking Chelsea about her summer vacation plans, and the other three were chattering about the Thunder Down Under show they were attending after dinner. That left Erin free to talk to me. “So do you have your maid of honor dress picked out, Sammy? If not, I saw one the other day that would look gorgeous on you.”
“Not yet. I figured I’d wait until the wedding was closer, but I guess I need to get a move on. Somehow it snuck up on me. It’s hard to believe you’re getting married in just two weeks!” I drained my glass of sake and flagged down the waiter for another one. “I guess if you want to try the dress on and see if it’d look good on me, I can send you money for it.”
She nodded and stuffed a piece of salmon nigiri in her mouth. A happy little moan accompanied her chewing. “Yeah, I can do that. There are benefits to being identical twins.” She winked and stole a bite of katsudon from my plate.
And I let her. What else was new? We’d always shared everything. Food, friends, parties…we even met our boyfriends on the same day. When we were kids we’d talked about having a double wedding, getting pregnant at the same time, and raising our kids next door to each other.
So much for that. She was engaged to that same boyfriend, and I was very, very single.
Rather than allow myself to feel any of those emotions, I drowned them in sake and Sapporo. By the time Jessica turned her attention back on me, I was three steps past drunk. She pointed whatever fruity nonsense drink she was guzzling at me and sneered. “So, Sam, do you think you’ll ever get married? Or are you an ‘always the bridesmaid and never the bride’ type deal?”
“Just because I didn’t end up with a man who would sleep with his girlfriend’s best friend doesn’t mean I’ll never get married.” I angrily stuffed a piece of Las Vegas roll in my mouth to keep from saying something I’d regret. At least I was sober enough for that.
Jessica just tsked and spilled her drink as she shook it at me. “Are you saying that you’re too good for Jake? Because let me tell you, girl, he’s only gotten better in bed since we got married. I bet you haven’t even gotten laid since you moved to New York two years ago.”
“That’s none of your business,” I hissed, managing to keep my hands to myself. I mean, she was right, but she didn’t have to know that. Pointedly, I looked away from her and back at my plate. It was swimming in front of me, but that didn’t stop me from eating three more pieces of sushi and drinking two more alcoholic drinks. I don’t even know what I was drinking at that point.
Eventually we couldn’t eat or drink another bite. We boxed up our leftovers and staggered out of the restaurant, Erin and I clinging to each other to keep from falling over. Somehow we all made it upstairs to our rooms without faceplanting or vomiting in the elevator, so that was a win.
I put my takeout on the dresser and fell over backwards onto the bed, closing my eyes as the world spun around me. I definitely drank too much. But maybe that would work in my favor? Maybe I was drunk enough to flirt with someone and not feel like I’d been punched in the stomach. Until then, my intention was to sit in the bar downstairs and just enjoy the rest of my evening alone.
At least it was. I had only barely sat up when someone started pounding on my door. I moaned and schlepped across the room, my eyes already rolling. On the other side was Erin with a big grin and a stack of cash. “You’re coming to the show with us, right? Let’s get moving! We’re never going to reach the Excalibur in time if we don’t get moving.”
“Absolutely not. I agreed to dinner and that’s it. You can enjoy the rest of the night without me.” I went to close the door in her face, but I was stopped by Jessica’s obnoxious laughter.
“I told you she wouldn’t go, Erin. She’s turned into a prude on top of being involuntarily celibate. Besides, it would just bring down the mood having to see her mopey face the whole time.” She smirked at me, again clacking those fake claws of hers.
That was the final straw. I pushed past Erin and made a bee-line for Jessica, my fist cocked and my gait unstable. “Say that to my fist, you man-stealing bitch! You two deserve each other. You’re both slimy, backstabbing worms!”
Before I could swing, Emma and Darlene grabbed my arms and pulled me back. “Don’t cause a scene, Sam. It’s not worth it, and you’ll get us kicked out!” Emma dug her nails into my arm and the small amount of pain was enough to snap me out of my rage.
“Just leave, all of you! Have fun staring at men who have zero interest in you, and leave me alone.” Despite trying to keep them behind a dam of anger, tears were starting to well up in my eyes. I went back into my room, grabbed my clutch and room key, and stormed past all of them to the elevator. None of them made a move to follow me, not even my sister. Typical.
My whole body was trembling as I rode the elevator down to the casino floor. Whether it was fury or tears, I had no idea. Either way I could barely see well enough to locate the bar and an open seat.
I dropped into it miserably and within moments, a staff member was at my side. “Oh dear, you look like you’ve been having quite the night, love. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Something sugary and low alcohol, please. I don’t need to give myself alcohol poisoning tonight, as tempting as that is.” The staff member nodded and disappeared behind the counter, leaving me to wallow in my sorrow.
