Jordyn's Army, page 33
After sweating all our toxins out in the sauna, we all get massages, facials, our nails done and pretty much every other spa treatment imaginable. The spa was amazing, and I am pretty confident that when we all head up to our suites, that we all feel incredibly relaxed and ready for tonight. Which is great, because I have a lot more planned for this evening. It is about dinner time when we get to our suites and I have arranged for dinner to be set up and served in our room. It is buffet style because the next surprise is hair and make-up. Hannah and Mackenzie are up first, while Jill, Raeva, and Mikaela start to chow down. There is quite a selection of comfort food. Everything we need to lay a good foundation in our stomachs for all the alcohol we are going to be consuming tonight. Mac and cheese, sliders, French fries, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and of course a big selection of desserts including of course Mik’s favorite—Lava cake.
“I have a few more tricks up my sleeve,” I announce as I head to the closet where I have stowed some gift boxes.
I hand each of my girls their designated boxes. I watch them open them with great anticipation and a huge smile on my face.
“Oh my god! Cowboy boots!” Mikaela says excitedly.
“Love these!” Jill concurs.
The rest of the girls express their excitement as well, and I can’t deny I am a little relieved they love them.
“Well, you know what they say…When in Rome…” I shrug. “Or in our case Nashville,” I add as I join the others.
I take advantage of the delicious spread and pile my plate full of goodies. I am munching on a French fry when the next surprise is knocking on our door.
“Oh yay! Just on time!” I squeal as I jump up.
I head to the door to open it and let in the stylists with two racks of dresses. White wedding dresses to be exact.
“Tadaaa! Our costumes for tonight!” I tell the questioning faces excitedly! “We are going to paint the town white!” I say with a wink.
“Are these wedding dresses?” Hannah asks.
“Yup.”
“Oh, how fun!” Mackenzie says as she claps her hands together.
“I thought it would be fun to dress up in a wedding dress and match them with our new boots and just go around Broadway and see where the night takes us! What do you guys think?”
“I think,” Mikaela says as her fingers peruse the dresses on one of the racks. “That I, as the bride have first pick!”
3
River
I’ve been having a hard time focusing on any work today. Phoenix has only left earlier today, but knowing that she won’t be waking up next to me has me all out of sorts. And frankly, that annoys the crap out of me. I didn’t think I’d ever be like them. Like Mika, Drew, Ashton, Ben, and Eric. I have been making fun of them for years. Completely and utterly obsessed—there isn’t another word for it—with their respective women. That was definitely never going to be me. Yet here I am, completely at the mercy of Phoenix Kingsley. My PK, my goddess. She is simultaneously the most infuriating and most incredible human being I have ever encountered and I cannot think of anyone more perfect than her. There is a knock at my office door. I don’t even have to bother looking up to know who it is since the door swings open before I can even answer.
“They have only been gone six hours Mika. They have landed, they are fine,” I tell him in lieu of a greeting.
“They’ve been gone for seven hours and forty-three minutes. But who’s counting?”
I finally look up, unable to hide my amusement as I reply; “Yeah, clearly you’re not counting.”
“There is a psychopath on the loose, and they are nine-hundred miles away. I am going to worry.”
“I am keeping tabs on daddy dearest,” I assure him. “The second he makes a move; we will know it.”
“I know you are doing what you can, but that man is genius when it comes to shit like this.”
“And I am a genius about pretty much everything. Between our collective brain power and your resources, Mason Kingsley is no match for us. They’ll be fine, I am sure you sent a small army of bodyguards; besides the ones they know about.”
He shrugs, not even bothering to deny the fact that he has another team of security watching over the girls while they are in Nashville. I shake my head and chuckle. Mika raises a brow.
“Are you going to tell me that you have not checked their location status at least a couple times since they left?” He challenges.
I’ve checked it at least a dozen times, but fuck if I’m going to admit that shit to him.
“Not a single time.”
“See? This is why you’d never win at our poker games, you’re a terrible liar and your poker face is abysmal at best,” Eric, who’s just joined us in my office says.
I laugh, because well, that shit is funny, cause it’s true.
“Fine, I might have checked a couple of times,” I admit. “Is that all you wanted?”
“Actually, we were all talking…”
“Who’s we?” I interrupt.
“Drew, Ben, Ashton, Eric and myself,” Mika answers.
“Okay…”
“And we were thinking, why not take a little guy trip of our own? After all, it’s not like we have much else going on with all the women gone.”
“Why do I get the feeling that this trip is going to land us about roughly nine-hundred miles away from here?”
“Because, River Ray, you’re a goddamned genius,” Mika deadpans.
“I’m smart enough not to go and crash Mikaela’s bachelorette party. PK has put in hours and hours of meticulous planning. There is no way I am getting involved with this.”
“They won’t even know we are there. We can watch them from afar,” Mika points out.
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound creepy at all,” I tell him as I roll my eyes. “Listen, my sister has a bit of a temper, especially since you knocked her up. But compared to Phoenix, she’s a kitty cat. I am not going anywhere near Nashville.”
“Are you scared of my sister?” Mika teases.
“I know for a fact you’re scared of mine,” I shoot back.
He laughs. “It’s true, your sister can be terrifying when she wants to be.”
“No need to tell me, I grew up with her. And trust me when I say, she won’t be pleased if she thinks we don’t trust them to be on a girl’s trip.”
“I trust my wife implicitly. I don’t trust most other people. They’ll never even have to know that we’re there.”
“And maybe they’ll end up wishing we were there, and we can surprise them. They might appreciate the fact that we were thinking about them,” Eric interjects.
“Yeah…about that. I might have hacked the floral store’s records and found out what flowers you send most frequently.”
“Why the fuck would you do that?” Eric asks.
“Duh, brownie points,” I tell him. “Not just ours, Ben and Drew too.”
“I can’t even begin to express how incredibly invasive, not to mention, illegal that shit is,” Eric replies.
“And you call my intentions creepy?” Mika says.
“Hey, I wanted to send PK some flowers, and I didn’t want you guys to look bad,” I reply with a shrug.
“Okay, fine. Can we all just admit that we have blurred boundaries when it comes to our ladies?” Mika says.
“I want to point out that I have done nothing as creepy as either of you,” Eric interjects.
“Don’t go throwing stones my friend, you know what they say about glass houses,” Mika replies.
“Name a single thing,” Eric retorts.
“Coming from the man who deflowered his best friend’s little sister and lied about it for years.”
“Seriously? Deflowered? Coming from your mouth?” Eric scoffs.
“As amusing as this little conversation is,” I interject. “I would like to get back to work and get some things done,” I tell the two men.
I pretend to turn my attention to the screens in front of me.
“Well, Ben and Drew are meeting us at the airstrip. Wheels up in two hours if you wanna join.”
“Thanks,” I reply. “I think I’m good.”
Even I am not convinced as I utter the words. And I don’t think anyone is surprised when about ninety minutes later, I walk onto the jet with my duffle bag tossed over my shoulder.
“What? You think I am going to miss out on you guys getting ripped a new one?” I tell them as I strap myself in.
4
Phoenix
Kelly, the stylist I hired to bring us the bridal gowns, brought a good selection and each of us finds a dress we love. We all wear our new boots as well, and if I do say so myself, the result looks quite fabulous. It takes almost two hours to get us all ready and out the door to brave the crazy amount of traffic in downtown Nashville. I am sure we are quite a sight as we exit out of the white hummer limo onto a crowded Broadway. Six women wearing wedding gowns and full hair and makeup. Since the rest of us already are a few cocktails in and feeling pretty good right now, Raeva, who’s about seven months pregnant, is our designated “safe keeper” as we venture out into the great city of Nashville, Tennessee.
“What advice would you give a bride to be? What’s it like being married? Is it different?” Mikaela asks as she turns to all our married friends.
“Well,” Rae responds. “Marriage is a huge commitment and while it’s beautiful, it’s also hard. It can be messy and complicated and it ebbs and it flows. But that’s because marriage is alive and that’s what commitment is all about. You go through all the ups and all the downs and you still look at your spouse and continue to choose them, to be with them, share your life together, over and over again. Always. If you find someone you can share this commitment with, grab hold and don’t let go. Eric is this for you, I feel it in every fiber of my being.”
“You literally took the words right out of my mouth,” Jill agrees.
“Yes, damn Rae, talk about hitting the nail on the head,” Hannah adds.
Mikaela smiles big.
“I honestly look at all you guys and your relationships and I hope Eric and I can make it work like that. You all make it look so easy.”
Mackenzie starts to laugh first, and soon she is joined by all the other women as I curiously look on.
“Marriage, though amazing, isn’t always a walk in the park. It isn’t always rainbows and unicorns. Sometimes, you have to put in the extra effort that your spouse isn’t putting in and vice versa. But, if it is with the right person, even the crappy times are worth it.”
“Preach,” Jill adds.
“You guys are the best. And I adore you,” Mikaela says, a little misty-eyed.
It’s not by coincidence that the first place we venture into has karaoke going on tonight. I figured, how could we do a proper Nashville trip and not do karaoke? As I hoped, all the girls are excited, especially Raeva who squeals with delight.
“We’re going up together,” she announces.
She takes Mikaela by the hand and drags her to the DJ booth to get a songbook. I watch them disappear into the crowd with a smile. Jill Ushers us to a booth not too far from the stage and it isn’t long before Hannah shows up, followed by one of our security team who’s carrying a small tray with shots and a glass of cranberry juice for our pregnant gal. I glance over to my sister and sister-in-law and see Raeva slip the DJ a twenty-dollar bill. I suspect that they are paying to be moved up the list. I am proven right almost immediately when he announces their names the moment the song that’s playing ends. The intro to “Hell On Heels” by the Pistol Annies starts to play next, and Hannah, Jill, Mackenzie and myself start to loudly cheer them on. I’ve never heard Raeva sing before, and when she starts the first few notes, she absolutely blows me away. She has an amazing voice. It doesn’t take long for the rest of the crowd to notice as well, and once the two of them harmonize, the crowd erupts into loud cheers of encouragement. By the time they sing the last note, there are not a pair of hands in the place not clapping. As Mikaela and Raeva make their way back to the table, I notice that a few people try to approach them to compliment them, but our security isn’t letting anyone close enough for that.
“You guys were amazing!” I tell them as they reach the table.
Raeva beams. “That was so much fun!”
Raeva slides next to Jill and Mikaela slides next to me. Mackenzie hands Mik the shot she missed out on while they were choosing their song and Mikaela slams it back, no questions asked.
“That’s delicious. What is this?”
“No idea, the bartender recommended it,” Hannah replies with a chuckle.
“We should totally get another round,” Mikaela says.
“We should,” Mackenzie agrees.
“I think,” Raeva says. “That we need to see Phoenix on that stage and sing us a song before we do that. Besides, she is the one that dragged us here in the first place.”
That stirs a little panic in my core. Sure, I’ve sung in the shower, and sometimes when River plays the guitar, we mess around and sing some. But following the performance just given by my sisters…yeah that isn’t happening.
“Um, I think I am going to pass.”
Mikaela raises a brow.
“Isn’t this supposed to be my night?”
“Of course?” I reply.
“And isn’t it your job to make it perfect?” She purrs.
I burst out laughing. “Really? Throwing the guilt card?”
“Whatever it takes,” she says with a smug little smile.
“Go on!” Hannah says, encouraging me.
I roll my eyes. “Fine,” I concede.
I walk to the DJ booth and ask for the songbook. It only takes a few seconds for me to see one of the songs that I have been singing at home with River. I fill out the slip and hand it to the DJ. I turn to walk away, thinking that I’ll have a bit to prepare when Jill shows up behind me and hands the DJ a fifty-dollar bill and tells him to let me sing next. He smiles widely and doesn’t even let the current song finish playing. I scowl at her; I don’t even have thirty seconds to prepare before he announces my name. Butterflies arise from my toes all the way to my throat as I get thrust onto the stage by my treacherous friends. I swallow hard and step closer towards the mic. Thank God for the liquid courage flowing through my veins right now. I’ve sung this song countless times before with River, and I wish he was here right now. I close my eyes for a moment and inhale a deep breath. I exhale as I open them, stare straight into the crowd and start to sing the words usually sung by Bradley Cooper—the ones that River will usually sing. It isn’t until I start the part that Lady Gaga sings, that the crowd goes absolutely insane. Their energy fuels me and I start to sing in earnest. When I’ve sung the last note, the entire place is standing up and clapping loudly. A little embarrassed, but also a little proud, I make my way back to our booth.
“Holy shit, big sis. You’ve been holding out on us,” Mikaela beams.
“Yes girl, that was amazing,” Jillybean adds.
“Thanks, you guys.” I reply with reddened cheeks. Mackenzie shows up with another tray of shots, closely followed by Eddie, who’s carrying an armload of bottled water. I am actually grateful to see the water. Not just because I am parched, but I probably need to pace myself a bit if I want to keep going for a while. I thank Eddie as he hands me a bottle. He clears his throat.
“Mr. Ray asked me to tell you to check your phone.”
I raise a brow. “Did he now?” I reply feeling a little ornery.
Eddie simply nods and turns his heel. I laugh and lean into Raeva, who’s sitting next to me.
“I swear the man is a robot. Like a replicant from that movie. You know, that Harrison Ford movie. Um…what’s it called again? Oh! Yeah! Blade Runner,” I tell her as I burst out laughing. “Shit, your genius brother probably built Eddie in his lab,” I add conspiratorially.
Raeva shakes her head and chuckles.
“I would say that you clearly had enough to drink already, but honestly, I wouldn’t put it past him to build something to protect you. He’s crazy about you, P. I’ve never seen him like this. I’m so happy you guys found each other,” she tells me.
I’m not entirely sure if it’s the alcohol, the fact that I am already really missing River, the sweet words his sister just uttered to me, or the combination of all the above, but I can feel my eyes watering. And I can barely keep them at bay as I reply.
“I don’t think I have ever met a person like River. I’ve never felt anything for anyone like I feel for him. I never even considered thinking about things like ‘forever’ before him,” I gush.
There is a gleam in her eyes as they roam over me, assessing my features as she processes my confession.
“You love him,” she states simply.
“Love?” I almost scoff. “I love this dress. I love my job. I love a hot mocha extra whip. When it comes to River, I am besotted. Borderline obsessed.”
The amount of alcohol I’ve consumed is making me spill my guts in ways I would have never done before. And right now, I am too tipsy to care. Rae however, is very sober and seemingly loving my drunk confession.
“Are you missing him?” she asks.
“God, yes,” I reply, admittedly a little too loud.
“That’s good. Because him and the others just strolled in,” she says with a smirk.
5
River
When we walked into this place about ten minutes ago, Phoenix was on stage. Commanding it and everyone’s attention. Wearing a fucking wedding gown that hugs her body so tightly, it shows every curve of her gorgeous body. She stands there, looking stunning as fuck, singing like she’s a mother fucking nightingale. And every single person in this establishment is gawking at her in admiration. A strange mixture of delight and contempt boils deep inside my stomach. My eyes are glued to her as she stands there singing the song we sing together so often. For quite a while I just stand there and watch her. Even when she finishes the song and gracefully glides off the stage. She’s a sight to behold. And she’s mine. I shake my head, trying to shake off the feeling of possessiveness that seems to have taken a hold of me. I turn to see where the others have gone and notice they have made their way to the bar. I’m not sure what the plan is from here, so I follow suit, even though I’d rather make my way to the booth she just slid in. Mika hands me a shot glass when I reach the other men, and I take it, slamming it back without question.
