In Drunken Matrimony ✔️

Prologue

Oʟɪᴠᴇʀ

It feels good to be back – Las Vegas, Sin City. Where the saying 'what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' is unequivocally false, because when you get married here, you're legally married everywhere. They didn't put that in the travel brochure.

Still, despite the rather taxing annulment that was rendered twice as difficult thanks to the communication barrier, Anfisa and I parted as friends, able to laugh the entire ordeal off as a long winded, stress inducing joke, with vivid memories of wild sex to retain forever.

"Ah, I fold like a deckchair." Zach huffs, tossing aside the hand of cards face up, displaying them for the bust that they are. Felix mutters agreement, laying his against the green of the table and their eyes lift to me.

In all honestly, their hands – which are morbid disappointments – are still better than mine, but I've been known to play the best bluff. That's why I grin sweetly, pushing two stacks of chips to the centre of the table. "Money won is twice as sweet as money earned. Two hundred in." They drop like flies, the others, and I win back my money, plus that of the entrance fee. It's a feeling to gloat, more so when a pretty girl sits herself beside you with a congratulations to hand.

"Risky move," she points out, nodding in gesture to the cards I throw back. I shrug, allowing my eyes to drag shamelessly over her figure – tall and slender, wrapped in a tight scarlet dress that hangs from thin straps I think are called spaghetti. Her blonde hair is curled to her waist, makeup painted immaculately, and for a moment, with a nag of familiarity that comes from swallowing her appearance, I find myself cynical.

"Are you an escort?" She barks a laugh, even snorting most ungracefully, holding a hand up with her palm out, as if to stop me. "What? Sue me for asking, but escorts always move to the pretty rich boys."

She lifts a brow, her lip pursed to disguise the smirk. "You won two fifty, and two hundred of it was already yours."

I mull over her statement, grinning as I begin filling my satchel with the chips. "Touché."

She watches me, the blue of her eyes twinkling with amusement. "You have a handbag." She points out.

I flick a chip on the end of my thumb, catching it swiftly after it has spiralled a few times in the air. "A handbag filled with money I'll use to buy you drinks, if you're up for company." She nods, running the manicured nails around the shell of her ear in what seems like a nervous action, neatening the lay of her blonde hair that fell loose as a result of her earlier bout of hysteria.

She extends a hand to shake, and I, like the suave Casanova I am, take it graciously, lifting it to my lips where I press a kiss as she introduces herself. She blushes a colour similar to that of her attire. "I'm Hallie."

"Oli, although you can just call me the best sex of your life." Her jaw unhinges at my unabashed arrogance, but she still manages a breathy laugh when I wink, flashing her a boyish grin. Turning to my friends who have watched this unravel, I flash them the very same wide eyes that show themselves when the slot machines pay out the jackpot. "Don't wait up lads. I'll see you tomorrow."

And I do see them tomorrow – Felix, Zach and Monty watching me with painful grimaces as I slowly wake in the bathtub, huffing as to expel the confetti that has found home in my nose. With a groan, I lift my hand to massage the throbbing of my head, deterred when I notice the scrawl of ink across my palm, hardly intelligible due to the sweat that bleeds within each find crease. Hallie, and a number.

Hallie. Why does that name sound so familiar?

My eyes stay narrowed to the name as I try to decipher the familiarity of it, but as I move slowly, I notice a subtle glint come from the base of my ring finger.

Subtle, because it is not refraction of light from silver, but from a Haribo ring that sits there as a painful resemblance of my betrothed lifestyle.

"I did it again, didn't I?"

———

I couldn't help myself!
Hello again Oli, I've missed you boo.

I can't wait for this one, like I'm honestly just laughing at the thought of what's to come. Chalk and cheese comes to mind.

I really hope you guys are as excited as me & please, vote and comment because I love to know what you guys have to say💕