Page 68 of Don't Call Me Sweetheart (Something Borrowed 1)

“Fuck off, I’m talking to Gregg.”

Marley grabbed Sonora by the arm and lifted her off the man’s lap. When he started to protest, she stared right at him, and snapped, “So help me, if you touch her again, I will bust your nut sack with my three-inch heels.”

Gregg threw his arms up and shifted away. Marley pulled Sonora along behind her.

“You big pussy, she isn’t even wearing heels!” Sonora hollered over her shoulder. She started fighting Marley at the bottom of the stairs. “Get off me, you aren’t my mother.”

Marley let her go and squared off with her. “No, and I shouldn’t have to be, but you were about one lap dance away from ending up on TMZ, and then there’s no way Brent would marry you. So, maybe instead of acting like an idiot, you might want to thank me for making sure you still have a fiancée in the morning.”

“God, you are such a buzz kill!” Sonora stomped out onto the dance floor to rub up on Emma and Caitlyn, and Marley climbed into their own VIP booth, where Kendall was sipping on a drink.

“Everything okay?” Kendall asked.

Marley flopped down with a groan. “Yeah, except your sister can’t hold her liquor.”

“Sorry you have to babysit all of us.”

“It’s my job. I just wish she didn’t make it so hard.”

“It’s not your job. Who designated you the sober sister?” Kendall leaned over and poured Marley a drink. “You deserve to drink and have fun too.”

Marley shook her head. “No I can’t. If I get drunk, who is going to make sure we all get back to the room safely?”

“They are adults. If they can’t take care of themselves, then they shouldn’t drink.”

Marley considered the shot, and sucked it back before she changed her mind.

One shot wouldn’t kill her.

* * * *

Marley blinked her eyes open against the blinding light in the room, groaning at the piercing throb in her head. Her stomach was twisting on top of itself, and the rancid taste of her mouth caused bile to rise up in the back of her throat.

“Oh, God.”

“Already there,” another voice mumbled.

Marley turned her head and found Kendall face down in the pillow next to her. Her blonde hair looked like a bird’s nest and she still appeared to be wearing her halter top from the night before.

Marley came up on her elbows, and glanced around. “What the hell happened?”

“We’re idiots who can’t hold our liquor?” Kendall offered.

Marley started to laugh, then moaned in pain. “Don’t make me laugh, dude.”

“Sorry.”

She got up and swung her legs over the bed. When she stood up to go to the bathroom, her head spun like a tilt-a-whirl and she barely managed to stumble to the toilet before she was dry heaving.

I am never drinking again.

After she finished her business, she came out to grab her toiletry stuff and something was off. It wasn’t just that the suite was quiet. It was that it was too quiet.

“Where is everyone?” Marley asked.

“Probably still asleep.”

Except Caitlyn was supposed to be sleeping in the other bed in their room, and it was empty. Marley walked out into the open area, but there was no Fiona or Emma on the pull out. She knocked on Sonora’s door and when she didn’t answer, she opened it up.