Divided

Copyright © 2013 by Livia Jamerlan

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
 

Dedication

To my husband Tim.

Always and Forever.

⌘

To my niece Ketany.

You’re the best little sister I could have ever asked for.

Chapter 1
With a Kiss Goodnight

A
s we walked out of the airport and into the hot Las Vegas sun I pulled my sunglasses out of my purse, putting them on to block the sun’s powerful rays. Katie, Caitlyn, Melanie and I, began making our way out of McCarran International Airport, towards our stretch limo with Manny our driver, pushing the cart holding our luggage behind us. The Las Vegas weather in April was a far cry from the weather we had in New York City. Vegas was hot
all
the time, but luckily there wasn’t any humidity. I could only imagine what that would do to my hair and shuddered at the thought.

Manny opened the limo door for us and we all climbed in. As he closed the door, Melanie pulled out the bottle of
Veuve Clicquot. 
The orange label bringing a smile to my face as I though of the bubbles tickling my parched throat.

I looked out to the Vegas skyline and then back at my three best friends, each different in their own way. We had been friends for years and each one of them held a special place in my heart. Katie was practically my twin. We shared the same dark hair and dark eyes though I was a touch shorter, standing tall at almost five foot three. Katie had me beat only by an inch or two.  Melanie on the other hand was about my height though her blonde hair and hazel catlike eyes made her stand out in a crowd. And then there was Caitlyn, her hispanic background coupled with her curvy body made her every mans fantasy. Her almost black hair was wound with tight spiral curls and a small part of me envied her gorgeous locks, what girl wouldn’t?

I looked at each one of them, we were all so different but still so much alike and I couldn’t imagine my life without them.  

        “Here is to Alani’s last hurrah!” Katie said as she raised her champagne flute. She handed me mine and I raised it with hers. “Sexy men, high heels, skin tight dresses, and no blowjobs… Deal? What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. To Alani.”

“To Alani” They all said in unison.

I took of sip of my champagne, my cheeks flushing at Katie’s toast. Katie was my maid of honor and if the toast at the wedding was anything like this one, I might need to preview her speech the night before. Katie and I had been friends since we were in diapers and had been roommates up until a few years ago when Marco, my fiancé, and I moved into a condo of our own in Brooklyn.

       “So we have three nights here, which one of us is taking tonight?” Caitlyn asked.

Caitlyn had to make sure that everyone was accounted for, always. She was the person to trust with all of your important documents when you traveled. She also had every possible cell phone charger with her at all times so you never had to worry about a dead battery. As the mother hen of the group, this was her way of enforcing the ‘watch out for Alani’ rule. “I’ll take tonight.” She offered. “I know that you both,” she said, pointing to Katie and Melanie, “will be too excited to slow down the drinking.”

Caitlyn was my person. The one that I could call no matter what time of day it was and she would drop what she was doing and come help me.      

“Fine, I’ll take tomorrow night.” Melanie added.

“And, I’ll take the last night.” Katie joined in as she raised her champagne glass again. “Let’s get fucked up.”

       “Let’s!” I added. I was getting married in two weeks, but this weekend I was only concentrating on spending time with my best friends.

⌘

 “Shots! Shot! Shots! Shots!” Was all Katie yelled as I swallowed my third shot of
Patrón
. I leaned over the bar and grabbed the lime from Caitlyn’s chest. She had ‘porn star boobs’ as I called them and only in Las Vegas would grabbing a lime wedge from one of my best friends chests be okay. There was no way I would be caught doing this at home. Leaning in, I bit down on the lime and enjoyed the temporary relief from the burning taste of the Tequila.

       “Show them how it’s done Alani!” Melanie yelled as I took the lime out off my mouth and placed it inside of the shot glass. 

We were on our third night, out exploring the Las Vegas scene, and I was loving every minute of it. Any pre-wedding jitters I had before were now the furthest thing from my mind.

I was getting ready to let the girls know that I wanted to dance when I heard a shy but deep voice from behind my seat. “May I buy you ladies a round?”

I looked up and was met with an attractively tall, athletically thin man. He looked to be a little over six feet in height and I could see how nervous he was approaching us; it was written all over his face, I couldn’t help but smile. 

I’d had one too many shots of tequila so I tried my hardest not to slur my words as I looked up at him. “You sure can. But I’ll have a bottle of water, I don’t want to be to hung-over tomorrow.” 

“Well if you’re thinking about how you’ll feel tomorrow, then clearly you’re not drunk enough.”

“Clearly,” Katie interjected. She was on a mission to make me completely blackout and not remember the night. I looked at all four faces waiting for me to respond. Katie, Melanie, Caitlyn and the handsome newcomer.

Shrugging my shoulders I conceded. “Oh, what the hell!”

At this point I had completely lost count of how much I had to drink. It was our last night in Vegas and we were at 
Pure Night 
at Caesars Hotel and Casino.  The bartender came back around and we placed our drink orders. As we waited for our drinks this weird sensation came over me.  I felt like I was being watched. It was a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach, and the prickly sensation crawled over my skin, as I felt eyes burning into me. The hair on my neck rose and I looked around the bar to see if I recognized anyone but no luck.

“Are you ok?” Melanie asked, placing her hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I smiled at her before turning towards the bar. “So strange man buying me a drink, where are you from and what are you doing in Vegas?”

“Well strange girl asking so many questions, I’m here with my pals for one of my buddy’s bachelor party.”

“I’m here for my bachelorette party!” I replied a little more excited than I’d intended.

“Really?” He questioned sarcastically. “I had no idea.” He said, gesturing toward me with his hands.

I liked Mr. Stranger already. He had the perfect amount of snarky to be fun without being rude. Of course he knew it was my bachelorette party. I was wearing a crown, and a big sash that said ‘bride to be’. The whole place knew. This was the reason we were in Las Vegas and everyone was offering to pay for everything.

We had arrived here on Thursday from New York and had checked in to the Cosmopolitan Hotel.  The reservations were all made under Melanie’s name so she took the lead on everything since no man could resist her. When we checked in, the extremely nice clerk at the front desk gave us an upgrade just because Melanie sweet-talked him.

We went from two standard rooms to a west end penthouse suite. David, the front desk clerk also provided us dinner for two nights and VIP cards to all of the Las Vegas hotspots.  I always laughed because it’s not like Melanie provided them with anything in return, she’s just so breathtaking and well spoken that you unknowingly give her anything and everything just to get an additional five minutes of her time.

“Cheers.” Katie said as we all raised our glasses once again.  

As I swallowed back the tequila that was now starting to taste like water, I felt eyes on me again and this time it felt like a fist was squeezing my heart.  Like that feeling you get right before you surprise someone with a gift, it’s excitement and fear all mixed together.

“I’m Mike by the way.” Mr. Stranger said to me, breaking my train of thought.

“Well it’s about time you introduced yourself.” I said to him. “I’m Alani this is Melanie, Caitlyn and Katie.” As Mike reached out his hand to introduce himself to the rest of our party a man walked by and joined us.

“What kind of name is Alani?”

I turned abruptly spilling a bit of the tequila left in my shot glass as my eyes landed on the hottest guy at
Pure
. He took my breath away, I mean, my fiancé Marco was attractive, but this guy was perfection. There was no other way to describe it. He was just shy of six feet tall with a killer smile. Tall, dark, and handsome he had chocolate brown eyes and matching dark brown hair that was just long enough to wrap your fingers in. God and his lips! Full and perfect for a wet kiss. I blushed with where my thoughts were leading me.

My heart raced in my chest as I thought of what to say to him. My palms began to sweat as my lips began to form the words. “My mother thought it would be unique to join both her and my father’s name when they picked out baby names. What is it to you?”

He didn’t respond. He stood directly in front of me with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes met mine before they began to lower as he took a moment to look me up and down. In that moment the music stopped. My heart stopped. I felt every part of my body come alive. When his eyes returned to mine, a smug smile appeared on his face.

Was he laughing at me? 
 I thought as my mind began to function again.  Honestly though, I didn’t care. The way he had me captivated by his eyes and his body, even under his white button down you could tell he was in shape. Lean and muscular with broad athletic shoulders, perfect to wrap my legs around.

 “Are you laughing at me?” I asked more out of curiosity than concern.

“Are you answering my question with a question?” He lifted his eyebrow daring me to continue.

“Are you?” I gave it right back to him; he chuckled and stared at me. My body temperature began rising with each second that passed. I held my ground though and stared back.  In my head I was slowly undressing him. 
Really? Calm down Alani. You’re getting married in less than two weeks.

 
I had been with Marco for five years now and there wasn’t a doubt in my mind that I loved everything about him. He was absolutely perfect and I had never wanted to be with another man, sexually or emotionally, until now.
No! Not even now!
I mentally chided myself. But God did I want him.

“Ryan, knock it off, I think you’ve met your match.” Mike said.

“Ryan, is it?” I asked, liking the way his named rolled off my tongue effortlessly. 

“Are we still on that question?” He asked. I hated that he was so quick with his responses.

Unable to come up with a quick reply, I just stared at him. My skin felt like it was vibrating as his eyes looked over me. He was standing just close enough that I could smell his cologne,
Burberry Touch.
That only enticed my hunger for him more.

“She is as stubborn as they come and won’t stop until she wins, so for Pete's sakes give up already.” Katie yelled over Mike's shoulder.

      I had no idea she was still there with me. I had seen Caitlyn and Melanie talk to the two guys who walked over with Ryan and had assumed that she had drifted off as well.  I guess Mike had caught her attention. Or maybe she was keeping an eye on me. Was it that obvious that I was interested in Ryan?

“Hi, I’m Ryan Kraft.” He said, a boyish smile appearing on his face as he reached out his hand.

Finding it funny that he gave me his full name I laughed and grabbed his hand. A quick shock ran through my body when our skin came in to contact. “Hi Ryan. My name is Alani LaBelle.” I said, realizing that the need to be closer to him had to be an effect that the alcohol was having on me.  

“Ok.” He replied, leaning back on the wall.

That was it? That was all I got from him.
Ok.
Was I the only one that felt this energy? A current that was consuming the next breath out of my lungs and all he had to say was
Ok.
Even though we were standing in a crowded nightclub, I felt the world stop on its axis when his hand touched mine. I needed to get away from him before this ruined our night
and
my buzz. 

Ryan stood still his eyes still burning into me as I looked at Katie and Mike. “It was nice meeting you Mike. Thank you very much for the drink. Ryan, take care. Katie you ready? I want to dance!!”