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Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Landon

Listen to Lil Boo Thang

by Paul Russell

“ I t’s my birthday, bitches!”

We stepped into the Borgata hotel and I linked my arms with Elle and Daisy while they cracked up. Max grinned and Coop rolled his eyes, well trained in my antics around my birthday. I’d always had an intimate relationship with the day I was born. I’d learned early that no one would celebrate me unless I did it myself. My father never reached out and my mom always called drunk, ready to regale me with the story of my birth when she thought Dad had been the perfect husband. It ended up in a crying jag and me feeling guilty.

Yay, me.

Instead of getting depressed and eating a tub of ice cream alone, I trained myself young to go out and own my greatness. It was a funny thing how the universe opened up once you demanded it. Now, everyone around automatically throws me a party or joins me on wild weekends in my honor. Max learned early that my birthday was not a day to fuck around. The first year we were together, he thought some flowers and an average dinner out was enough.

I told him it was the bare minimum effort in a relationship. Not getting sex for a week along with the ice queen treatment drove my point home. Now, he made a game out of it to try to level up each year and I rewarded him for the effort.

A weekend in Atlantic City was perfect. We’d beach in the afternoon, gamble, then party at the club. Adam and Gabriella were meeting us in a few hours, and I’d invited a few others from Red to join us tonight. I was determined to party hard and have the best time. Max and I had been getting closer and he seemed to be taking our moving in seriously. He’d turned down a few invites to go party with his friends and chose to be with me instead. I appreciated the effort. We were building trust and I was letting myself open up. I couldn’t hold some phantom video over his head and realized maybe I’d been using that excuse to keep my distance. With a wall up, Max couldn’t really hurt me. If I wanted more from him, I needed to be willing to give.

“Wait till you see the suite I got us, baby,” Max said, squeezing my hand. “It’s got a hot tub.”

Daisy laughed. “It won’t be romantic when we all pile in with you,” she teased. “But I think even the basic rooms are amazing here. I can’t wait to change and hit the sand.”

“I don’t mind a naked hot tub party,” I said. “What do you think, Elle?”

“Bring it,” she said breezily, but I caught the flush in her cheeks. I couldn’t help teasing her. She’d gotten drunk and confessed she had some fantasy about having sex in public, which wasn’t my thing but definitely could be hot. I’m sure Coop would be in to it, but when I told her to talk to him, she started yelling at me and refused. I hadn’t pushed. After what happened with Adam, and all my dark desires around rough, controlling sex, I wasn’t the one to be a mentor on getting healthy with your fantasies.

This would be the first time I saw Adam in a while. He’d hooked up with Unison and began practicing daily. I was glad we had the break. Now that Max and I were stronger, I was positive I wouldn’t have the same weakness toward Adam.

We went to our rooms and checked out the giant suite with incredible views and the hot tub surrounded by gorgeous marble. The beds were generous kings with crisp white sheets that I couldn’t wait to lay on. Like Daisy said, even the standard rooms were beautiful. Max emptied the cooler filled with champagne, vodka, and sodas, and after I changed into my red bikini, everyone came over to have a kick-off drink.

I admired Daisy’s polka dot bikini and Noah slung an arm around her tiny waist. “I bet you could make great money modeling,” I said. “You have the perfect figure. Ever think of trying it?”

Daisy shook her head. “Nope, I’m too shy, and too short. Plus, I hate being in front of a camera.”

Coop came over. “She does. Every time I try to take her picture, she makes a face and ruins the shot.”

“You would have freaked at the Red photo shoot then,” Elle said. “They really pushed the sex factor. Coop did an amazing job.”

“Oh, my God, it was intense,” I cut in. “They gave the guys red shirts unbuttoned to the waist and tight black pants.”

“What did the girls wear?” Daisy asked.

“Not much,” Coop said with an appreciative gleam in his eye. “Tiny little shirts that tied under the boobs in different shades of red and pink. Short skirts. Let me tell you—they looked hot.”

Elle rolled her eyes. “I can’t say it was sexist because they treated all the staff the same. And Coop’s right. It was a super spicy shoot. Landon lay on the bar with Max standing over her with a cocktail, ready to do a body shot. I thought the camera would melt.”

I grinned and shared a look with Max. It had been sexy. We had chemistry on camera, and I was hoping they’d use the pics in some big media outlets to give me exposure. I’d auditioned for another reality show where I’d be stranded in some upstate farm with other people and put through torturous manual labor. It was stupid but I had a shot. Everything else but reality shows had shut down from the strike though, so there was a ton of people auditioning.

Noah pulled Daisy in for a hug. “Maybe there will be a sexy nurse shoot at the hospital, Dais. Those scrubs are kryptonite to a guy.”

She hit him and we all laughed. I noticed the flash of tenderness in Noah’s gaze as he looked at her, and I felt like squealing with happiness. I don’t know why I was rooting so hard for Noah and Daisy to get serious, but they just fit together. Daisy had told us she loved him but still hadn’t said it, so Elle and I were coaching her to take the leap. Hopefully, Noah felt the same. They’d passed the six-month mark where everything began to get more serious. And this was the longest I’d seen Noah with a girl.

Max grabbed me and spun me around. “Let’s hit the beach now that we got a good buzz.”

I laughed and we gathered up our items, stuffing them into beach bags. We reached the lobby when I realized I’d forgotten my sunglasses. I told Max I’d go grab them and meet everyone outside.

I found them on the table and quickly raced back out of my room, head bent as I fumbled in my purse to make sure I had my sunblock.

And rammed right into Adam.

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