<b>Chapter </b><b>198 </b>
-CELINE’S POV-
65%
The bass thrummed through my body like a second heartbeat, drowning out the echo of Hunter’s <i>voice </i>that kept trying to surface in my mind.
“Mia ckwood. She’s exactly the kind of woman I was raised to be with.”
I spun away from my current dance partner–a tourist from Ohio who smelled like expensive cologne and desperation…and immediately found another.
A businessman in his forties with kind eyes and gentle hands who whisperedpliments about my dress, my smile, myugh.
I giggled at whatever he said, the sound bright and hollow even to my own ears.
The silver sequins on my dress caught the strobing lights, making me feel like a disco ball–all surface shine, reflecting everyone else’s energy back at them while staying empty inside.
“You’re absolutely stunning,” the businessman murmured in my ear as we swayed to the pounding beat. “Your boyfriend is the
luckiest man alive.”
My smile cracked slightly. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”
It wasn’t technically a lie. After tonight, I wasn’t sure what Hunter and I were anymore.
From the corner of my eye, I caught ke watching me from our VIP section, her face tight with concern. Caroline stood beside her, still wearing her bachelorette party sash, looking torn between celebration and intervention.
I turned back to my dance partner, pressing closer, letting his hands settle on my waist.
He wasn’t Hunter….he didn’t make my pulse race or my knees weak….but he looked at me like I was precious. Like I wanted.
Like I belonged exactly where I was.
“Beautiful, connected, from the right family. Noplications, no baggage, no questions about whether she belongs in my world.”
The memory hit like a p, and I’stumbled slightly. The businessman steadied me with gentle concern.
“Too much champagne?” he asked with a knowing smile.
“Something like that.” I forced brightness back into my voice. “Dance with me?”
We moved deeper into the crowd, where the music was louder and the lights more chaotic. Where I could lose myself in the press of bodies and the pulse of sound until I couldn’t think about anything except staying upright.
Another song, another partner.
This one was younger, closer to my age, with sun–bleached hair and the easy confidence of someone who’d never been told he didn’t belong anywhere.
“You’re like a me,” he told me, his Australian ent making everything sound like poetry. “Impossible to look away from.”
Iughed…reallyughed this time….and let him spin me around until the room tilted sideways.
<b>09:18 </b>Wed<i>, </i>3 <b>Sept </b>
That’s when ke appeared, cutting through the dancers with the stubbornness of a woman on a mission.
“Celine!” She had to shout to be heard over the music. “Take a break! You need water!”
“I’m fine!” I called back, still moving to the beat. “I’m perfect! I’m having the time of my life!”
But ke was already grabbing my arm, her grip gentle but insistent. “Come on. The girls are worried.”
“The girls can worry about themselves!” The words came out quicker than I nned, and I saw ke flinch slightly.
But she didn’t let go. Instead, she leaned closer, her voice dropping to something only I could hear. “Honey, you’re dancing like you’re running from something. And you can’t outrun heartbreak on a dance floor.”
The fight went out of me all at once. I let her lead me back to our VIP section, my legs suddenly unsteady beneath me.
Caroline was waiting with a bottle of water and eyes full of sympathy that made my throat close up. She still wore her bachelorette sash, but the excitement had dulled to worry.
“Here.” She pressed the cool bottle into my hands. “Drink.”
I sank into the plush booth, suddenly aware of how my feet ached in my heels, how my cheeks burned from forced smiles, how empty I felt despite all the attention.
Myra leaned forward from across the table, her face carefully uninterested. “Is it okay for you to be dancing like that in your… condition?”
I arched an eyebrow, taking a long sip of water. “My condition?”
“You know.” She gestured vaguely. “After everything that happened tonight. The stress, the emotions. Maybe you should take it
easy.”
“I’m perfectly fine.” I set the bottle down with more force than necessary. “Everyone needs to loosen up. This is supposed to be a celebration, right?”
I turned to Caroline, injecting false brightness into my voice. “Come dance with me! It’s your bachelorette party! You should be the one out there having fun!”
Caroline’s smile was sad. “I’m not really feeling it right now.”
“Because of me?” The question slipped out before I could stop it. “Because I’m ruining your night?”
“What do you think?” Mia’s <i>voice </i>cut through the conversation like a de.
I’d almost forgotten she was there, sitting in the corner of our booth like a beautiful spider waiting for flies. Her ck dress made her nearly invisible in the club’s dim lighting, but her smile was sharp enough to cut ss.
“You’re acting like this is your moment,” she continued, her tone deceptively light. “Give a girl a taste of attention and she thinks she can outshine everyone else.”
The silence that followed was deafening, even over the club’s pounding music. Caroline’s face went white, then red with fury.
“Shut up, Mia.” Caroline’s voice was deadly quiet. “Just shut up for once and stop trying to start a fight.”
“Caroline, it’s okay,” I started, but she was already leaning forward, her hands clenched into fists.
09:18 Wed, 3 Sept OD
,
“No, it’s not okay! She’s been doing this all night, acting like she’s different, like she’s better than everyone else when she’s nothing but a snake!”
Mia gasped, pressing a hand to her chest in mock surprise. “Caroline! I didn’t expect that kind ofnguage from you.”
She turned to me, her eyes glittering with malice. “Are you happy now, Celine? You got exactly what you wanted–everyone fighting over your little drama.”
I felt something cold settle in my stomach, but before I could respond, Mia was already standing, smoothing her dress with tasteful
uracy.
“I think I need some air,” she said with false sweetness. “This mood is getting a bit… toxic for my
She swept away from our table, disappearing into the crowd with the ssiness of a predator who’d already gotten what she came
for.
The remaining silence was heavy with tension and unspoken words. ke looked like she wanted to throw something.
Caroline was still trembling with anger.
Myra and the other girls studied their drinks like they contained the secrets of the universe.
Finally, Caroline grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the center of the table, her movements quick and decisive.
“Okay,” she announced loudly. “New n. Anyone who wants to sit here and sulk can join Mia wherever she slithers off to. Anyone who wants to join me on the dance floor and get properly wasted, let’s go.”
She paused, her eyes finding mine. “Except you, Celine. Sorry, but you can’t drink.”
The reminder hit like ice water. My hand moved unconsciously to my stomach, to my new world I was still processing, theplication that made everything even moreplicated.
“Right,” I whispered. “Of course.”
One by one, the others stood and headed for the dance floor, leaving me alone in the booth with my water and my thoughts.
I pulled out my phone, my fingers trembling slightly as I scrolled through my messages. Nothing from Hunter. Not an apology, not an exnation, not even an acknowledgment that he’d destroyed something beautiful tonight.
The screen blurred as tears I’d been holding back finally spilled over. I wiped them away angrily, refusing to break down in the middle of a crowded club.
Around me, Vegas pulsed with life and possibility. Peopleughed and danced and fell in love and made mistakes they’dugh
about tomorrow<i>. </i>
The city promised that anything could happen, that reinvention was always possible, that sometimes the best stories started with the worst nights.
But all I felt was alone.
I was about to put my phone away when a shadow fell across the table. I looked up, expecting to see ke returning with more
concerned advice.
Instead, I found Hunter.
09:18 Wed, 3 Sept
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+13
He looked terrible–his hair disheveled, his jacket draped on his back, his eyes red–rimmed and hopeless. But he was there, in the middle of a crowded club, looking at me like I was the only person in the world.
“Celine.” His voice was rough, barely audible over the music.
I stared at him, my heart hammering against my ribs. “What are you doing here?”
“What I should have done hours ago.” He extended his hand, palm up, like an offering. “Come with me?”
“I don’t think……”
“Please.” The word came out broken, desperate. “Let me try to fix this. Let me show you what I should have said tonight.”
I looked at his outstretched hand, then back at his face. The face I’d fallen in love with, the eyes that usually saw right through me, the mouth that had just hours ago spoken words that shattered my world.
But beneath the hurt and anger and disappointment, there was something else. Hope, maybe. Or just the stubborn refusal to let the best thing in my life slip away without a fight.
Slowly, I reached out and took his hand.
He pulled me to my feet and led me away from the VIP section, away from the curious stares and whispered conversations, away from everything except the possibility of us.
“Where are we going?” I asked as we pushed through the crowd toward the exit.
Hunter’s grip on my hand tightened, like he was afraid I might disappear. <fnb19a> N?w ?ovel chapt?rs are published on Find?Novel</fnb19a>
“Everywhere,” he said simply. “I’m going <i>to </i>show you Vegas the way it should be seen. The way you should be treated. The way I should have been treating you all along.”
As we stepped out into the neon–bright night, I felt something shift inside me. Not forgiveness–that would take time. But possibility. The chance that maybe, just maybe, this story wasn’t over yet.
Maybe it was just beginning.
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