Bedded Bliss (Found in Oblivion Book 1) (5 page)

“I look that worried?”

“A little.”

She sighed. “I’m just not used to all this. Single mom.”

“Oh?” Suzanne’s face brightened as she opened a door at the end of the hallway. “I have a little boy. My husband is home with him right now. We work opposite shifts so he’s always got someone home with him.”

Chloe’s chest tightened. “That was the plan for me too.”

“Oh, believe me, I understand. My husband isn’t my baby’s father—well, not biologically. He totally is his dad though. Ty and Kevin are like two peas in a pod now. Sometimes I get a little jealous.”

She couldn’t imagine what that felt like. It had always been her and Axl. Even her dad, as wonderful as he’d been, seemed like he could melt away any day. Relying on herself was all she’d ever known.

She followed Suzanne across the threshold and hoped to hell her jaw wasn’t physically on the marble floor, because it felt like it had to be.

The room was ridiculous. Bamboo chests dominated one wall with towels stacked on them and muted candles flickered from tall glass columns. Light, tinkling music piped into the room—actually all around the room. As if the walls had their own speakers.

A huge pie-piece shaped chair sat in the corner, piled with pillows in soft sand and sea colors. She crossed to it before she even thought to ask permission. She smoothed her hand over the microfiber material with a sigh. Microfiber hadn’t been a material in her life in a very long time. It definitely didn’t hold up against baby drool, food, or any other manner of baby hazards.

No, she was all cotton and plastic these days.

“Wow.”

“Curl right in there.” Suzanne waved toward the chair.

“If I do, I’ll be unconscious.”

Suzanne laughed and pushed a beautiful robe into Chloe’s hands. “Get undressed and put this on then.”

“All the way undressed?”

Suzanne’s lips twitched. “Right down the skin. I’ve decided you need a massage and a facial to start, then once you’re all malleable, we’re going to sit you in one of our zero gravity chairs and let the nail techs de-mommy your hands and feet. Time to pamper yourself, Chloe.”

She didn’t know what a zero gravity chair was, but she was all for it. “Sounds awesome.”

Three hours later, she was sitting in an atrium with tropical plants overflowing from every corner. Huge rocks and a lovely stone bench were set up next to a water feature as large as her entire apartment.

The technicians had set up Chloe and her two girls in triangle formation. Each one of them were stretched out in the special chairs—which were awesome. Some girl by the name of Heather had beat the crap out of her with a massage, followed by a steam shower—which had been glorious. Then another girl attacked her face with a tweezer and pore reducer, ending with some soothing mask that made her feel tight and young for the first time in three years.

Well, tight that didn’t have anything to do with dry skin because she forgot to put moisturizer on.

She had wine-colored toenails and fingernails which made her feel a little vampy—in a good way. They’d touched up her red hair with strips of deep burgundy that made her feel like she was on trend for once. Some girl named Darla had even done her makeup.

Even better, it didn’t look like she’d been attacked by a cosmetology student.

Everything made her feel young and fabulous. Sometimes she forgot she was twenty-three, for goodness sake.

“I think we should go to Light tonight.” Jinx held her phone over her head as she tapped carefully over her screen so she didn’t smudge her purple chrome nails.

“Club?” Chloe asked.

“Yes. Wait until you see this place. It’s a huge pool and outdoor concert area by day and at night a deejay takes over. All of the screens and craziness. God, it looks so cool.”

“We’re from Los Angeles, it’s not like we don’t see cool clubs.” Ivy stretched her arms over head with a sigh. “We were just at one last weekend.”

“This is nothing like that hole.”

Ivy opened one eye. “You loved that hole last weekend.”

“Well, we are getting an upgrade.” Jinx dropped her phone into her robe pocket and draped her hands over the arms of her chair. “And we’re shopping to match.”

“Go to the eighteenth floor. Meri will take care of you at Luxe,” Suzanne said from the back of the room.

Chloe frowned. “That sounds expensive.”

“Room forty-one-oh-eight baby,” Jinx said with a singsong voice.

She clenched her fingers on the arms of her chair. God, she so didn’t want to take advantage. “We’ve been saying that number way too much today already.” Not to mention that she had to tip the hell out of all the people who had taken care of them.

She wanted to sink lower into her seat and she was already practically at an incline with the crazy zero gravity chair she was in. But she wasn’t going to ruin everyone’s fun.

If she told herself it would be okay enough, maybe it would be true. She just couldn’t look at the bottom of the receipt or she’d probably have a coronary.

“All right, ladies. It’s time to get you back into your street clothes.”

“Do we have to?” Ivy stretched her toes to the ceiling. “This robe is glorious.”

“You get to take it with you.”

“Oh, man. For real?” She popped up and her chair swung forward. “Whoa.”

“Careful there.” Ivy’s technician, Janet, stepped forward to help her out of her chair. “You guys were a lot of fun. Let’s not break anything before you go have some real fun for the evening.”

Ivy stood up. “Shopping then food? Or food then shopping?”

“I’m not eating. I want my belly completely flat for tonight.” Jinx laid her hand over her middle. “No food baby.”

“I recommend a little salad and cold-pressed watermelon water from the little eatery also on the eighteenth floor. Hydrates after all the things we’ve done today and helps to prepare you for whatever craziness you do tonight.” Suzanne winked.

“I like this girl.” Jinx grinned. “I like her a lot.”

“You girls are a trip.” Suzanne helped Chloe out of her chair.

The checkout process was terrifyingly simple. She just had to sign a little electronic clipboard. The number was slightly nauseating, but it was whipped out of her hand so fast that she didn’t have time to digest it.

Oh, she memorized it. Definitely knew that four-digit number like the last four of her social, but she was trying like hell to block it out.

They were shuffled off with huge shopping bags and a bunch of product as well as samples. Oh, and the robes. Couldn’t forget those bits of lusciousness.

She would guard hers with her life, and pray that she could keep peanut butter and jelly off of it for at least one full day. Maybe a week if she hid it in the back of her closet and only put it on after Axl was in bed for the night.

Maybe.

This time, the elevator was designed like a desert sunset. There were a mind-boggling number of elevators on every floor of the damn hotel. So many floors. It was like a maze. And the little room card was their golden ticket to everything.

Terrifyingly awesome.

The doors opened on eighteen. She thought she’d been prepared after the luxury of The Golden Dragon, but that one had nothing on the chrome, gold, and glass of the shops that seemed to go on forever.

They followed the signs to the eatery Suzanne mentioned. The watermelon drink was ridiculous, and the salad was just enough to kill the empty feeling living in her gut. Nerves didn’t allow her to eat too much, but she didn’t want to be looped after one drink, so food was a necessity.

“Are you done yet?” Ivy asked again.

“Dude, what’s the rush?” Chloe sat back on the dainty white wrought iron chair. They were eating next to a glass balcony that looked down over two more floors. There was a double escalator and a massive fountain below.

One of the casino entrances was flooded with people streaming from the slot machines to electronic card games. It wasn’t the main casino, but there seemed to be a dozen smaller game stations all over the hotel. In between were restaurants galore and a huge archway that teased the shark attraction in another building.

It was a feast for the senses.

And made her dizzy as hell, and not because of the height. She just couldn’t imagine this many people in one space. Hell, she lived in LA, but it didn’t feel like this. It was claustrophobic sometimes, but at least there was space and the ocean. There were little pockets where she could actually get away with Axl and sit on a patch of grass.

This was just ostentatious and overwhelming.

A world so outside of her own.

“Earth to Chloe.”

“Hmm?” She turned to Ivy. “Sorry. Just people watching.”

“Anyone hot?”

She laughed. “I hadn’t noticed.” How sad was it that she wasn’t even looking for men? The last man she’d been with was Snake. Her hormones had closed up shop sometime between her pregnancy and losing him to the accident.

They’d emerged a few times for brief moments of mayhem, but the trouble of having a man in her life outweighed the benefits of getting naked with one.

You can get in all sorts of trouble this weekend.

She pushed aside that little voice. It was pretty quiet most of the time. Actually, probably in a coma more often than not. Getting an average of four hours of sleep a night usually kept that voice dormant.

“Girl, that needs to change.” Jinx slapped the table. “You’re a screaming hot ginger. You need to own that.”

“Sounds like an adult beverage.”

“That’s awesome.” Ivy pulled out her phone. “I’m totally writing that down. We’ll find a bartender to create it.”

“God save me.”

Jinx stood up. “God has no place in Sin City, baby.”

Chloe looked up at her. “I don’t like that look in your eye.”

Jinx hauled her sister up. “The longer your butt sits in that chair, the shorter your skirt is on the dress I deem worthy for tonight’s festivities.”

Chloe got up. “All right, all right. No need to get so bossy.”

She let them drag her across the unbelievably sparkly marble and obsidian checkered floors to Luxe’s gilded doors. Chloe’s stomach dropped. Yeah, that wasn’t going to be a cheap place. No twenty dollar dresses on the clearance racks for this shop.

Jinx braceleted Chloe’s wrist as she began to back up. “Oh no, you don’t.”

“We can definitely find someplace cheaper.”

Ivy and Jinx hauled her through the doors. “We have permission remember, Pollyanna?” Jinx scanned the faces in the shop. “Who’s Meri?”

A woman with long, sun-kissed brown hair came forward. “I’m Meredith.”

“Suzanne sent us.”

Meri’s polite smile widened. “I just got the text. She said you girls were a lot of fun.”

“Especially since we have rockstar money to play with.”

“Oh, jeez. Jinx, say it a little louder.”

“We have rockstar money to play with.” Jinx’s voice lifted.

Chloe bowed her head.

Meri laughed. “I have a friend just like you,” she said to Jinx.

“Then you have taste. And you can find us hot clothes for Light tonight.”

“I think we can handle that.”

“Guys, can we talk about this?”

“No,” Jinx and Ivy said in unison.

Meri showed them to the back of the store. Four dressing rooms were set up in a large curve. A huge tufted circular bench sat in the center. She couldn’t stop herself from swiping her hand over the sumptuous fabric. Everything screamed money and luxury. Shopping at Target was splurging for her.

“You’re a four or six, right?”

Chloe blinked at Meri. “I honestly have no idea. I’m an eight in Target, a medium on the clearance rack at TJ Maxx.”

“Well, we’ll just figure it out.”

“I’m a four,” Jinx announced.

“In your dreams,” Ivy muttered. “You have too much hip for a four, you liar.”

Meri laughed. “All right, let’s take a walk around then. You can leave your bags here. They’ll be safe.”

A flurry of silk, satin, rayon, and even a random cotton was piled into Chloe’s arms as Meri and Jinx grabbed clothes for her. Just as many were draped over Ivy and Jinx’s arms—actually, a bit more. They were far more willing to strip the hangers than she was.

Ten minutes later, she had her serviceable black leggings around her ankles and the third dress on. None of them seemed to fit right. Too tight in the boob, too clingy in the ass, or if they did fit, the price tag gave her palpitations.

“I hate this.”

“Try this.” A soft gray and blue dress came over the top of the door. When she didn’t take it right away, Meri wiggled it. “Try it.”

“It’s way too short.”

“You have fabulous legs. Try it.”

Chloe sighed.

“And no bra.”

“Um, you do know that I had a kid, right?”

“No bra.”

Chloe held up the dress and gulped. The entire back was open, with a skinny chain attached at the shoulder. It was a scrap of nothing.

“Come on, hooker. We require adult beverages.”

She wiggled out of the pink monstrosity she was currently wearing, unstrapped her boobs, and put the new dress on. It floated around her like a dream. The waist was elastic of all things, but it bloused the dress just right, making her look young and fashionable.

She hadn’t been fashionable since she was sixteen-freaking-years-old.

“Get out here.”

“Where’s the price tag on this thing?”

“I took it off,” Meri said.

“I told her to,” Ivy said.

She opened the door. “You too?” Chloe’s breath caught. Ivy Johnson had certainly been transformed. “Wow.”

Ivy twirled. “I know, right?”

“Why does she get to wear pants?” Chloe tugged at the short length of her dress. It felt like her damn ass was on display.

Ivy fussed with her floral bustier, hoisting up her girls. “Because I have to deal with a strapless top.”

“I’m braless here.” Chloe crossed her arms over her chest.

Meri drew her out of the dressing room. “Nope. Come look in the full mirror.”

“Don’t you think the one in there was enough?”

Jinx whistled. “Where have you been hiding those legs?”

Chloe felt the heat flooding her face. She did a helluva lot of walking for work, not to mention hauling kegs around when she covered the bar. Oh, and a twenty-pound kid. Couldn’t forget that part.