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It might not be a traditional bachelor party, but I don’t need the strippers and a big event. Ben threw me the Big D Bash, and that was a good enough blowout for me.

Tonight is about celebrating with our families, and tomorrow will be more of that as we join them together as one. Travis came out to dinner with us, too, and my mom gave him a bag of puppy chow that she brought all the way from Iowa.

And with family in mind, I rented a private room in a restaurant in our hotel. It’s tucked away and has a door so we can celebrate and talk and enjoy our time without anybody questioning why we’re here or coming up to Travis and me for autographs.

It’s a perfect night filled with laughter and love, and my future wife positively glows beside me. She’s worn out after the excitement of the day, and she’s ready to head up. She’s staying in our suite tonight, while I got a different room. Tomorrow she’ll be pampered all day in our suite with our moms and her maid of honor before I meet her in the chapel to marry her.

I hold her in my arms outside the elevator before she heads up to bed, and I press a soft kiss to her lips. “I’ll see you at the wedding,” I say softly.

The smile that lights up her face reminds me why we’re doing this.

“I’ll be the one in the white dress,” she teases.

“I’ll be the one waiting anxiously to marry you.” I kiss her again, and then the elevator doors open. “Goodnight.”

“Night,” she says, and she stands on the elevator alone. Our eyes are connected, and she lifts a hand to wave before the doors slide closed.

I blow out a breath. In less than twenty-four hours, and she’ll be my wife, and just like that, all the pain and mistakes of the past will wash away as we embark on our new life together.

If only it were that simple.

If only things ever went to plan.

“Coax?” a voice behind me suggests, and I chuckle as I turn around to face Travis.

“Not tonight, my friend.” I shake my head.

“Yeah, I figured as much. You keeping your membership?” he asks.

I shrug. “I told Tessa about it. I was sort of forced into it when I ran into Brandi walking down the Strip.”

He huffs out a chuckle. “Small goddamn world, isn’t it?”

“We saw Victor, too. Apparently he tops the list of celebrities my bride wants to fuck.” My tone is dry as the conversation comes back to me.

Travis wrinkles his nose. “I would’ve thought it would be you.”

“I don’t think I count, but Olson made the list.”

He laughs and slaps me on the back. “Honeys, then?”

I shake my head.

“It’s the night before your wedding. It’s bad luck not to see titties bouncing all over the place the night before your wedding.” He goes for a convincing tone.

“I’ve never heard that particular superstition,” I admit. “I wouldn’t say no to some whiskey and blackjack, though.”

“Deal,” he says, and he tosses out a hand for me to shake.

I spot my parents and Tessa’s mom as they walk toward the casino floor, and they see me at the same time. My dad decides to join Travis and me, and my mom and Tessa’s mom hang out by the slots.

We head toward the high limit lounge in this place, and we sit at a table.

We order some whiskey, we spend a shitload of money, and we get fucked up as we laugh, play cards, and drink and drink and drink.

My dad can’t keep up with the two of us—neither in the amount of money we’re playing nor the amount of whiskey we’re consuming—and he heads over to meet my mom after a while. Presumably they head up to bed shortly after that.

Travis and I focus on cards and whiskey, and I find the more I drink, the more money I toss onto the table. I win some, I lose some, but the whiskey is a constant.

Some woman approaches Travis after we’ve been playing-slash-drinking for a couple hours, and he seems to know her. She watches us play a while, and I see her hand slide under the table. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out where their night is headed.

He asks me if it’s okay for him to take off with her. I’m not one to cock-block, so I decide to call it a night.

All in all, it was exactly what I wanted out of a “bachelor party.” If I had my choice, I’d have Jaxon, Cory, Austin, Patrick, and Deon here, too, and maybe the rest of the wide receivers, but it’s short notice and it’s supposed to be a secret.

They can be there when we celebrate in a year from now after the season’s over, after she’s had the baby, after we’re more settled in and she falls in love with Vegas the same way I have.

I’m about to head up to my room and call it a night when a voice stops me in my tracks. “Tristan, wait.”

I shouldn’t wait. I shouldn’t listen to what she has to say. I should get on the elevator and go up to my room and pretend I never heard her.

But I’m just drunk enough that I stop. I turn around.

I face her. “What are you doing here?”

“Are you here to get married?” Brandi asks me.

“Yes, I am. Why do you ask?” If I was completely sober, I might’ve been smart enough to either lie or play off her question with a non-answer, but that’s not where I find myself.

“Where’s the bride to be?” she asks, ignoring my question.

“Sleeping.”

“Want to go somewhere and have some fun while you’re still single?” she practically purrs in my ear.

I shake my head.

“Are you one of those guys who doesn’t care if you’re single or married? You’ll take it any way you can get it?” she asks.

I laugh. “No. That doesn’t sound anything like me at all, to be honest.”

“But weren’t you married when you joined Coax?” she asks.

“I was, and you might’ve noticed I never had sex in the club,” I point out.

“I think the other things you did there would offend some women.” She shrugs. “Your girl seems…vanilla. Is that what you want?” The way she says that word, vanilla , makes it sound like a terrible thing.

“What she is or isn’t is none of your business,” I hiss.

She taps her chin. “Oh, that’s so funny you say that, because it sort of actually is my business.”

My brows dip. “How?”

She lifts a shoulder, and then she blows me a kiss and winks as she starts to walk away. “You’ll find out soon.”

Her parting words just aren’t good enough.

I walk after her and grab her shoulder, spinning her around to face me. “What do you have planned, Brandi?” My tone comes out a little more desperate than I mean for it to.

She doesn’t answer.

“Why are you doing this?” I whisper.

“Why does anybody do anything?” She pulls her arm out of my grasp and stalks away from me, leaving me to ponder that question.

As I step onto the elevator, her words play on repeat in my mind.

Why does anybody do anything?

Love, money, and fear.

Those are the three biggest motivators in the world.

I scratch out love immediately.

Is somebody paying her to do whatever it is she’s doing?

She tends to run with an elite group that could afford to. Maybe that’s what she’s after.

Fear? Is somebody threatening her? I have no way of knowing.

My brain returns to love.

Is she in love with me? That’s a ridiculous notion. Maybe somebody she loves is trying to get to me for some reason. Or maybe…

Maybe it’s not as ridiculous as I first thought.

After all, she came onto me the first time we met. I tried to politely decline, but she did things I asked her to do. Does she have feelings for me? Does she think whatever it is she’s planning will make me run from Tessa to her?

I sigh.

Thank God we’re doing this tomorrow. I’m so damn tired of people working so hard against us. It won’t stop when we’re married, and I’m smart enough to know that.

A piece of paper is a piece of paper, and it doesn’t change much…except it does, and having been married once already, I have firsthand experience at exactly how much it does change. Savannah made sure I’d know, and it took me two years to ignite that piece of paper into flames.

Once we’ve made that lifelong vow—because with Tessa, it will be lifelong—then we have the insurance of commitment. We both have that reason to hang on even when someone else tries to do their worst to us. We’ll have that vow we made pulling us back toward each other instead of taking the easy way out.

Even though I know I’m going to a different room than the penthouse I stayed in with her last night, for just a split second after I slide the keycard in and open the door to an empty room, a bolt of fear lances through me.

It’s empty because she’s in a different room. My brain knows that, but I still feel that same anxiety I did the day she left me.

Is this a mistake? Are we rushing into things? Do we need more time to plan, to dream, to have everything exactly the way we want it? For her to have the baby so we can adjust to our new life? For her to be with me through an entire season to see if it’s even the life she really wants? What if love isn’t enough?

I wish I hadn’t had so much whiskey.

These thoughts and fears that plague me…they wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t had so much to drink or if I’d have gone up to my room a few minutes earlier or even if I would’ve just stayed down there playing a little longer after Travis left. Or maybe Brandi was waiting around all night for me to get on that elevator so she could put doubts and fears into my mind.

And if fear is a motivator…well, maybe it’s a good thing I drank as much as I did.

Because if I wasn’t about to pass out, I’m not quite sure what my fears might motivate me to do.