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Chapter Nine

Austen

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Cam says as he runs his hands over his face.

“I thought you’d be excited. You said you always wanted to go to Vegas,” I say.

He reaches for his coffee, his jaw tense.

“Yeah, with you, maybe . Not you and the whole fucking football team.”

Okay, that hurts. It’s not my fault my fiancée picked seven of her closest friends to be in the wedding. If it were up to me, we’d have a smaller, more intimate wedding rather than the fifty-thousand-dollar extravaganza my parents and future in-laws have been planning since the moment we told them the news.

But everyone knows weddings aren’t about the groom in any capacity. It’s the bride’s day and no one else's.

I get the bachelor party. Savannah, her girls, and our parents get everything else.

“Come on, Cam, it’ll be fun. I promise…”

Cameron shakes his head, twisting his lips, and I can see the conflict in his eyes.

I know what the real problem is—why he doesn’t want to come.

“I’ve got it all covered; you won’t have to worry about a thing. Just show up and be there, and have fucking fun.” I reach across the wall, the space between us, leaning forward to do my best puppy dog eye impression, but it backfires.

He turns to flash me an angry glare, raising an eyebrow.

“Oh, is that all you think it takes, Austen? You know I’m not like those guys. You can’t buy my company.”

My eyebrows furrow. “I’m not trying to. I just—”

I’ve told him damn near a hundred times, I don’t care about the money. I never have and never will.

I’ve spent countless vacations in St. Maartens and Hawaii, Italy, you name it.

But I’ve never had as much fun anywhere, as I’ve had just being here. Home.

With Cam.

My parents would never dream of letting him come with us, but that didn’t stop me from asking year after year.

And honestly, I’d thought at least being in college together, maybe we’d get to take some kind of trip together. But then plans changed, Savannah and I got engaged, and the wedding planning started, and then…

“I can’t spend my bachelor party weekend without my best man.” Cam sighs. “Do it for me, come on. One last hurrah before I become old and lame.”

That at least pulls a smile out of him as he shakes his head.

“You already are old and lame,” he laments, and I grin. I scoot closer to him, grasping his shoulder and I squeeze tightly.

“So that’s a yes?” I ask hopefully.

Cam appraises me with his steely gray eyes. “I’ll think about it.”

Well, that’s not a no entirely…

But I can’t help but press. “What is there to think about? It’s you, me, Sin City…” I draw my hand across the air, as if I’m painting a picture. Cam’s shoulders tense.

“What could go wrong?”

He leans into my space, letting out a sigh. “Oh, I don’t know, one of your mouth-breather buddies is sure to fuck something up. Guaranteed. Or your idiot brother.”

I can’t argue with him about Alex being an idiot. Even though this whole thing was his idea. “You don’t even have to see them,” I tell him, even though I know it’s a downright lie.

But I can’t help it, I’m desperate.

I don’t want to go on this trip without him.

It’s not like I haven’t known about it for nearly a month, but I didn’t want to tell Cam too soon and risk him making up some excuse. Because when it comes to going out with my teammates, there’s always an excuse.

But I meant what I said.

I won’t pretend I know what the future holds for us, because I don’t. I hope that whatever happens, Cam remains close, but I also know that he’s extremely talented. No doubt with his artistic skills, he’ll land a great job once he graduates, and if that job happens to be elsewhere, well…

We haven’t talked about his plans after graduation, because the wedding’s been stressful enough, but I’m not dumb enough to think my best friend won’t seek out all the world has to offer him.

Not to mention, once this wedding happens, once I graduate… I won’t have time to travel and Eat Pray Love or whatever it is that people do when they travel across the country.

Because once Savannah and I tie the knot, the next chapter begins.

The script’s pretty self-explanatory, and I know Savannah is probably going to want to jump on starting a family like most women do.

This trip, whether it’s one I want or not, is what I need.

I need to just… fuck shit up with my best friend and make really great memories with my friends before I blink, and it’s my damn high school reunion.

But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want to spoil my best friend at least a little bit, too.

I like to give, especially to the people I love. And yeah, okay, it probably sounds super mushy and dumb, but I love Cam.

He’s like the peanut butter to my damn jelly. I can’t imagine anyone else standing there beside me at this wedding.

He’s always been stubborn when it comes to letting me do shit for him. Even if it’s just something as small as buying him dinner or gifting him a flatscreen for Christmas.

He made me take that gift back, of course. Insisted he didn’t need it.

He doesn’t get it. I’d give him the damn moon if he wanted it. Even if he didn’t ask for it. Because he deserves it.

He deserves good things, even if he doesn’t believe it.

Shit, Savannah doesn’t even blink when I show up to dinner with a brand new Kate Spade for her.

In fact, she said it wasn’t what she wanted, but she relented and took it, anyway. I haven’t seen her use it once, though.

Why can’t Cam be like that? Why can’t he just take what I want to give him and complain like a normal person?

You know why, my conscience says. I do, but I don’t like to think about it.

So I don’t.

“How you going to avoid ten Hulk-sized football players who are louder than an army of barking dogs?”

It’s my turn to laugh. “Get them drunk and stick a stripper in front of them and they’ll never know we’re gone,” I tease him.

I watch his expression soften. “You’d blow off your wedding party to hang out with me? During your party?”

I shrug. “It’s my party. I’ll escape if I want to.”

Cam’s gaze softens.

“And hypothetically, if we were to…” His voice shifts, like something is stuck in his throat. “If we escaped the Bragadocious Brigade, what would we do?”

I grin. “Go see the dancing fountains and get some gelato.”

Cam grins. “You hate gelato.”

I can’t argue with him, but it doesn’t matter. I’d happily stomach egg-ified ice cream for him if he is willing to get on a plane for me.

Because that’s what we do, Cam and I.

We balance each other.

“Who knows? Maybe you’ll have your Cinderella Story moment and find your prince charming. Isn’t that what happens in all the movies?”

“Yeah, during winter in New York. Not fall in Vegas. Vegas is where dudes get drunk and find random babies. Or where people get too drunk to remember who they married. Please don’t let me do that.”

He shivers and I can’t help but laugh.

His gaze shifts, and gone is the wistful look of entertainment. Instead, in its place, is that expression he always wears. The one that’s hard to read.

“How long?” he asks.

“The weekend. Leave Friday, come back Monday morning.”

“That's in three days, Austen,” he says, his eyebrows shooting up.

“Yeah…” I run a hand through my hair nervously. “So I kind of need an answer now, so we can make sure we have a proper head count. For the clubs. So Mack says.”

He lets out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. I watch as he sucks down the remainder of his coffee.

“Unbelievable,” he says in annoyance. “You expect me to just drop, I don’t know, everything and jump on a plane with you to get fucked up all weekend at strip clubs in Vegas? Strip clubs with naked women that have nothing I want to see.”

I nod, feeling strangely offended.

“Yes. I do!” I say, crossing my arms. “That’s what best friends do! They show up and say ‘hey, let’s hang out and live a little’.” I can hear the venom in my voice.

Cam groans as his phone chimes, pulling his attention.

“Shit, I have to go or I’m going to be late for—”

His voice trails off and he shakes his head. “Never mind, I just have to go.”

“Okay,” I say, feeling strangely on the spot. “I need to know your answer by tomorrow at the latest. I mean, I kind of already bought your ticket, so…”

Cam lets out a frustrated groan as he stomps off, heading for the art studio.

“I’ll text you later!” I yell so loud a few passerby’s turn in my direction.

Cam only flips me off, his back to me as he heads for class.