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ROBERT FOUND HIMSELF wrapping up his last email of the day before straightening up his office for the weekend. He hated coming back on a Monday to an unorganized desk. It was Friday in early September, and Cam had reached out saying he had time to meet. Robert was looking forward to seeing his newly married friend in person. True they’d caught up briefly by phone when Cam had gotten back last week from his honeymoon, but it would be good to connect for real.
He made it to their meeting spot before Cam which wasn’t unusual. Ordering a couple of beers for them, as he thought about how his friendship was about to change. He knew for a certainty that it would. Marriage changed a man. Made his main purpose in life to keep his home in order, and his wife happy and protected. It had been that way since the dawn of time. He was happy for Cam. The brother had always held the example of his parents’ marriage as his own blueprint. And now he’d found his life partner in Andrea.
Robert’s father on the other hand, had been a no good bum. A man who had left his own wife when his little boy was five, and his baby girl had barely been born. After that, Robert had only seen the man a handful of times throughout his life. When he died Robert was fifteen, and neither he nor his sister had blinked at the news. Their mother had felt it though. Robert had woken up in the middle of the night after the funeral to hear her crying her eyes out. That’s what love did to you. Made you shed tears for a man that only gave you grief, heartache, and two kids to care for alone.
Which is why he wasn’t sure he would ever join the “married club”. Investing in someone that deeply, he wasn’t sure the return was worth it. Look at all the emotional stress Cam had gone through before he and his bride got down the aisle. Thinking about it actually made Robert shift with discomfort. He hoped someone would shoot him if he got that miserable over a woman. Just then he saw Cam walk through the door. Looking at the huge grin and spring in his friend’s step, it was hard to reconcile him with the same lovesick fool he’d been just two weeks ago before the wedding.
Robert returned his smile and they met in a hard hug. “You looking good my man! Sit down, I got you a drink already.”
Cam sat, still grinning his mega-millions winner smile, “Thanks. I’m feeling good.”
When the waitress came they both placed their order quickly, including a couple of shots, which came almost immediately. The two friends raised them up as Robert gave a toast.
“To the newly married Cam!” They both downed the liquor. “So tell me, how's married life?”
“So far so good! You’d be hard pressed to find an unhappy guy after his honeymoon. I think we got that part of marriage figured out at least.”
Robert listened as Cam gave him the cliff notes of his trip, glad that everything had worked out for his friend in the end. “That’s cool. I think your wedding will go down as one for the books. I had no clue I was coming to Vegas for that.”
“Yeah, it was dope. We had a good time partying afterwards too.”
“I’m surprised you remember, we were all tossing drinks back like water,” Robert reminded him.
“True. I think the adrenaline of the whole thing kept my mind pretty sharp. Plus we left early to uh...work off some of the alcohol.”
“Yeah I know.” And just like that Robert’s mind was brought back to him using sex to clear his alcohol muddled brain as well. By the time he and Mika had gone a couple of vigorous, sweaty rounds before passing out on the twisted sheets, he had probably been sober. The two had stayed another hour in the club after Cam left. Downing a few more shots while dancing with each other and strangers. Robert had only suggested they call it a night due to a guy getting extremely handsy with Mika, both on and off the dance floor.
Cam interrupted his thoughts by saying, “We’re both glad you and Mika were able to be there. Honestly, it meant a lot to us.”
“Anytime my brother, you know I got your back.”
“I’m assuming you had no problems checking out, or with your flight home?” Cam asked.
“None at all.” If he didn’t count waking up naked with an angry woman ordering him from the room. Especially when just hours before she’d been using that mouth to give him different orders, which he’d been happy to comply with. “We both got on the plane. That Mika is a trip though.”
“Yeah she is, but you got to admit she’s fun as hell. Andrea was excited to get back and talk to her. I had to take Andrea’s phone while we were gone, so she wouldn’t be tempted to reply to some of the crazy texts Mika sent.”
Cam left out that once he’d taken the phone and told Mika to stop texting, he’d actually initiated some of the sex-capades she’d been sending. He really needed to make good on his promise to buy her a really nice gift.
Robert let an ironic smile slip on his face before he thought better of it. He was not surprised she’d had the audacity to bother a couple who were honeymooning. He also figured the two women had probably talked in the last week. He waited to see if Cam would mention him and Mika sleeping together. He figured his friend wouldn’t miss a chance to call him on it. That’s if she’d told Andrea. When Cam just continued to eat, he threw out a line.
“Mika didn’t mention anything to Andrea about Vegas?”
Cam looked up from his steak confused. “Not really. She told Andrea she had a great time with the celebration and all. You know the usual. Why? Was there something else?”
“Naw, guess not. She was cozying up with someone at the club after you guys left. I just wondered if she’d taken her celebration any further...” He let his question trail off, keeping his voice faintly bored.
Cam chuckled. “Well that doesn’t surprise me. She’s a natural flirt. Wouldn’t shock me either if she took some lucky bastard back to her room.”
“Lucky?”
“Yeah. What man wouldn’t be lucky to have a hot, willing woman pick him up while in Vegas? Come on man! I know she rubs you the wrong way but even you can’t deny she’s a sexy woman. A little wild around the edges and likely the same in bed.”
Cam’s assumption would be right. “I suppose she’s hot...just not really my type.”
Cam narrowed his eyes at his longtime friend. “So you’ve said before.”
Robert didn’t like the introspective way Cam was looking at him, so he deflected. “What would your wife say if she heard you describing her best friend like this?”
Cam laughed outright, shaking his head. “That I have a damn good memory, as those were the words she used to describe her once. Andrea and Mika are like sisters, scratch that they are sisters. Which means she’s my sister now. That’s how I think of her. The mischievous, trouble making little sister I never had.”
Robert let the subject drop and turned the conversation towards other things. One of his skills was redirecting and shaping the narrative with people. It was a needed skill in his line of business. He let Cam ramble on about the many changes that needed to take place for him and Andrea to combine their households. Not needing to do much to uphold his end of the conversation, he let his mind wonder.
Was it slight annoyance he felt at Mika not mentioning their tryst to her best friend? Was he being ridiculous? They were adults, so he really didn’t expect her to go around sharing all her sexual exploits. Then again, if what Cam said was accurate, they were closer than friends. Would someone texting a person on their honeymoon, hesitate to mention hooking up with a guy at the wedding celebration? Probably not, if she thought it was important. The fact that she hadn’t thought it worth mentioning grated on his nerves for some reason.
All this made him scrap his original plan to ask Cam for her number. That he’d even thought about reaching out had truly surprised him. He honestly didn’t like the woman. She was highly self-assured, pushy and opinionated in the extreme. To say she was a natural flirt was an understatement. She was a woman well aware of her looks and body, and what both did to the opposite sex. He’d watched her use those charms shamelessly throughout the night as they’d hit up three different clubs. Even getting a taxi driver to wave his fare. True, it had been a short ride as the guys hailed the car only to spare the ladies another walk. Still who ever heard of a cabbie turning down money? And in Vegas no less!
Mika was trouble just waiting to happen. He definitely didn’t need a headache like that, not even to keep his sheets warm for a month or two. And that’s all it would be. A short interlude, until they both tired of the other. Plus Cam had just reiterated how important this woman was to his wife and thus him. Getting between her thick thighs again wasn’t worth potentially causing a rift between Andrea and by default Cam.
Cam would and should put his wife first in all things. That change in their relationship was a reality now. Which meant he was playing with fire in more ways than one. It was a good bet it wouldn’t end well if he and Mika got together, their personalities being what they were. And no matter what most women said, they wanted a long-term relationship, or at least more than the occasional hook-up. He was not the long-term type. If his status ever changed he couldn’t see it being with Mika Harrison. So that settled it. He’d follow the golden rule of “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
