Alpha Billionaire Series

ALICIA

Two months later...

Isat at the end of the bridal party table watching people dance. My coordinating groomsman was off picking up on someone else. Not that I expected him to dance with me. We were miserable having been paired for the ceremony and all of the rehearsals. It sucked that I would forever be in pictures next to him. I knew the feeling was mutual. He made sure to let me know just how disgusted he was at being partnered with me.

He wasn't as good-looking as he thought he was. And he was a complete douche. No, I wasn't the thinnest of the bride's maids, but he didn’t have to be so whiney about it. We were partners for the purpose of the wedding only. It wasn't some kind of date set up, but that's how he was acting. Not that I wanted him to try to hit on me.

Afew of the other bride's maids and groomsmen were treating the wedding like some kind of an extended date. Cassidy hadn't been trying to set anyone up when the pairings were made. It was practically random and done mostly by how important anyone was to her. I knew I was the last bride's maid up the aisle because Cassidy thought that round and curvy me would make her look better.

Poor Dylan had been shuffled off to being my partner because he was the tallest of Cassidy's husband's friends, and the mej had been arranged in height from shortest to tallest.

I wasn't interested in Dylan, or any of the groom's men. I ran my hand over the front of my dress. It fit just fine. No one woul have been any the wiser that of all of Cassidy's brides maids, I was the one standing up there during her ceremony being pregnant. Why the hell would I want to hook up with some a*s like Dylan when I had js baby growing inside of me?

Emily pulled over a chair and heavily sat. She was out of breath.

“Where have you been?” I asked. I couldn't remember seeing her out on the dance floor.Owned by NôvelDrama.Org.

“I was doing body shots off one of the caterers.’

“You were doing what? No, I heard you. I don't need details.” I held up my hands and waved away her explanation before she could give it to me.

“Don’t say anything to Dylan."

“Why would I say anything to him?" My jaw dropped as realization dawned on me. “You want to get with him. Why?"

“He's hot.”

Ishook my head. Dylan was hot adjacent. He had all the parts of a hot guy, but the way they had been put together on him, just did not work. His eyes were too close together, and his nose was too thin. If Emily wanted him, she could have him. But looks aren't everything, or were they? No, there had to be a level of charm, and Dylan was deficient in charm.

Emily rested her head on my shoulder and sighed. Of all of Cassidy's friends, Emily was the only one who had made any attempt to be friendly with me at first. And now, I counted her as a friend. Something I honestly hadn't expected when I had been forced into the bridal party with a crowbar from my grandmother.

I was there as a family obligation.

Emily had been the only one to text me in the morning after I had gone off with CJ.

That morning she had texted me, “You didn't get murdered, did you?"

“No, but I'm dead.”

“Resurrect your b**t and get back to the hotel before eleven. Cassidy canceled breakfast again."

I hadn't been surprised; she had been drinking pretty hard at the bar. So, her having a hell of a hangover again was expecte I had the Uber driver stop at McDonald's so I could get breakfast on my way back to my hotel from the one I had spent the night in with CJ. I ordered enough to bribe Emily.

Not that I needed to. No one else had even noticed that I hadn't gone back to the hotel with everyone. The addition of Katie's bridal party, also staying at the same hotel, had turned our little group into a crowd of too many drunk women.

We had bonded, and now we watched Cassidy dance with her new husband. If they weren't in bridal clothes, the big weddin dress, and a tux, they looked like any couple on a nightclub dance floor. A little drunk, and totally into each other. They didn look like they were in love. There was no staring deeply into each other's eyes. It was just a party with expensive clothes. “Do you think they'll make it?” Emily eventually asked.

Iwas glad I wasn't the only one thinking that way. “They are going to give a good run, but honestly no I don't. Please don’t tell anyone I said that.”

She sat up. “Oh, I won't. I mean, I wouldn't have asked if I thought otherwise. I'm not particularly close to Cassidy. It was a bi of a surprise to be asked.”

I chuckled. “same. My grandmother made her include me."

“That makes sense.”

“Look, I know you are hot for Dylan, but he's a real asshole”

“I'm sure he is. I don't want to date him. I wanted to get laid, and the caterer had to get back to his girlfriend. That pisses me off. Look if you have someone already, stop playing around. You can't put Vegas rules into every situation.”

“Vegas rules?”

“What happens in Vegas—" she started.

“Stays in Vegas," we finished together.

“He said it didn't count since we're at a wedding, and weddings always make people horny. That's when I walked away. Dylar is very much single. I checked.”

“It counts,” I said. “It counts if you remember it, it counts even if you don't. And he was wilfully leading you on. I'm sorry." “Do you think Cassidy remembers?”

Ilooked at Emily for a long moment. I had to catch up to where she was. I thought we had been talking about the caterer cheating on his girlfriend. “She wasn't doing body shots too, was she?”

“No, silly. I meant Nashville. She was very adamant about Vegas rules while we were there.”

“I don't even think she remembers the hangovers. How can anyone ever forget getting as sick as she did?”

“Hey,” Emily complained. “I think we all got pretty drunk that weekend. Except for you."

“I don't like hangovers, so I don't get drunk. It doesn't feel good. I don't like doing that to myself,’ I admitted. It meant that I had to take full responsibility for the mistakes I made.

“S0, you remember Nashville?”

“Don’t you?"

She leaned in close and bumped shoulders. “I remember someone not coming back to the hotel”

I looked down and probably blushed. Nashville was going to be with me for the rest of my life. “I remember that too. Actual ¥'m never going to forget” I placed my hand on my belly.

Emily looked at me. Her jaw dropped open like a goldfish. “Shut up! You are not!”

“sh, don't tell anyone. Cassidy will claim this is her child and make me name it after her. She'll tell people I'm pregnant all because of her

Emily leaned in close. “Are you serious? So, one night stand and bam, pregnant?”

Ibit my lip and nodded. “I knew he was going to be memorable. I just didn't realize how much?”

“At least someone got to use those cheap condoms she gave us. Go you."

“You can say cheap again. They did a crappy job."

“Have you told him?"

Ishook my head. “It wasn't like that. I didn't get his phone number or anything. We were there to feel good” I couldn't tell her that I might have fallen a little bit in love with the gorgeous man who had done this to me. After all, emotions weren't supposed to be involved. AllI knew about him was his name was CJ, and I didn’t think anyone would ever be able to make me feel as good as he had. Not that I was looking for a new lover, but I knew that when I was ready, I would be comparing m next lover to him. There was no way they would be able to live up to the memory of touch he left burned on my skin.

I wasn't going to tell him because I couldn't. It was okay, though. Mom had raised me on her own, I was going to do the same “Good thing no one else got laid that weekend.’

I gave Emily a side-eyed glare.

“You know what I mean. I think you're the only one who got a p***s that weekend."

We both looked up at Cassidy. She had not gotten a p***s that weekend, but she had ended up in Katie's bed. They even canceled a day of events to stay in bed together. It was a complete scandal as far as Katie's bride's maids had been concerned.

Those of us in Cassidy's entourage shrugged it off as yet another one of her over-dramatic attempts at drawing attention to herself. We ended up going to the mall for the rest of the day. I don't know what Katie's friends did. I know more than one of them was crying over it.

Cassidy hadn't cared about hurting Katie's feelings or ruining her future. And she sure as hell hadn't bothered letting it impact her wedding today. I was fairly certain that Cassidy's groom had also been indiscriminate during his bachelor party. No, I didn't think Cassidy's marriage would last. She was too selfish. She would have other affairs and never take into consideration the consequences.