Chapter 167
“A wedding chapel?” Rachel repeated, faking a gasp. Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
“Yes,” Natalie said, smiling like a cat. She so clearly pleased to have the full attention of my friends that she placed her phone down. “After the proposal, Chance and I returned to the hotel room and had our fun. We were there for… hours, just the two of us.”
My stomach twisted uncomfortably from our hiding spot. I was well over my feelings for Chance, but thinking about him and my sister together sexually made me want to vomit.
“Anyway,” Natalie blessedly continued, “After a while, I went searching for Hazel. She never came back to “the room, you see. Since this was toward the end of our trip, I had already made a few friends at some
bars and other places… They’re the ones who told me they spotted my sister.”
“Where?” Megan asked.
“I heard she was getting utterly shitfaced in a hotel bar. How embarrassing, right?” Natalie said with a sharp smirk. “Her poor little heart was so broken that she couldn’t even go to a real place. I also heard she made an ass out of herself there, being loud and excitable. What a disgrace.”
Natalie didn’t seem all that upset about my apparent humiliation. In fact, she seemed to lavish in trashing my good name. Unfortunately, I didn’t exactly have all my memories in order to be able to dispute her claims.
“Supposedly some idiot in the bar did take a liking to her. The next thing I heard, she was getting married. Natalie started to giggle. It took several attempts for her to get the next part out, “Can you imagine? Who on earth would want to marry my sister! They would have had to be so drunk. If they were even reall”
“You don’t know who it was?” Megan asked.
“An imaginary friend, most likely,” Natalie laughed. “Anything goes in Vegas. I’m just surprised they didn’t haul her off to some psychiatric hospital afterwards. Lord knows she needed it!”
Rachel was having trouble schooling her face through this conversation, but at this, her façade finally broke for real. “Natalie, you are a real bitch and I
Maria and I looked at each other and then rushed into the room before any more words could be spoken. “We’re back!” Maria announced.
Natalie looked away from Rachel, who bit her tongue now, and to us instead.
“Well?” Natalie asked.
“Well?” I repeated, not understanding.
“What did you get?” Natalie said. She held her hand out, motioning toward me. “You aren’t holding anything.”
Oh, shit. We should have made a b–line for my room to take something, anything, and not look so suspicious.
Maria glanced at me, panic in her eyes. I thought quickly.
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“It wasn’t there,” I said. “I must have lost it.”
Natalie laughed once, in mockery. “That’s like you, Hazel. You can never hold onto anything – especially
your men.”
I hated the truth behind those words, although to be fair, most of the time, I only lost those men because Natalie stole them.
I wasn’t about to tell her about my kissing Logan. She’d already failed in trying to snag him, but that wouldn’t stop her from trying again if she knew I liked him. Anything to keep me from being happy.
The doorbell rang, and Natalie abruptly stood. She didn’t say goodbye or excuse me or anything else as *she made her way to the front door.
A hopeful–looking man stood on the other side of it, holding a bouquet of flowers.
“You’re late,” Natalie snapped. She snatched the flowers from him and then tossed them over her shoulder, onto the floor. Still she stepped outside and closed the door behind her.
“I’m so sorry,” her date was saying, again and again, audible even through the closed door.