“And I’m Peyton,” the blonde followed.
“Well, ladies, what will it be?” Colton filled his shaker with ice, ready to make a cocktail.
“We’ll have what she’s having!” they said in unison.
Andi and Peyton looked at each other and laughed as they pulled up a seat to join me. I didn’t know anything about these girls, other than their names, and that they looked like they were probably models for a living. But when they took a seat right next to me, they had no idea how desperate I was for a positive distraction.
I was freshly twenty-one years old and living in a new state where I knew absolutely no one—except for my shitty ex-boyfriend and a few co-workers. If I was going to make it in this city, I was going to need a couple of good friends to make life worth living here.
“Drink up!” Colton placed matching espresso martinis on top of the bar with black cocktail napkins underneath.
Andi and Peyton picked up their drinks, turned toward me as if it had always been the three of us, and gestured their glassestoward mine for the first cheers of what I hoped would be many more to come.
As I peeked over the rim of my glass and watched these two strangers sip their drinks, I had a light bulb moment. They were cool. Kind. Fun. The type of women I’d always dreamed of being friends with but struggled to connect with.
In order to put my past behind me, I needed to build a new future. Call me crazy, but there was something about Andi and Peyton that made mewantto put myself out there.
When I looked down at my drink, it was nearly empty, something Colton was privy to.
“Can I convince you to have another?” He toyed with the corners of his mustache, grinning at me as if he already knew what my answer was going to be.
“No convincing needed.”
“Looks like we are getting drunk tonight!” Andi singsonged.
“Are we?” The words slipped from my mouth, and I bit the inside of my cheek in hopes that my question didn’t come off rude. I was genuinely shocked that I’d somehow been roped into their night out. We were strangers, yet I felt more included than I had in a long time.
“Hell yeah, we are!” Peyton joined in.
“Avery is new here. Give her the lay of the land or whatever.” Colton served up my second drink before sauntering off to help his other bar guests.
“Welcome to Sin City!” Andi raised her glass, offering yet another cheers.
Joining our espresso martinis, I smiled at her comment, because it was truly the first time I had feltwelcomed.
“So, how long have you been here? What do you do? Give us all the details!” Andi rested her chin in her palm, giving me her full attention.
“Jeez. Slow your roll, babe. You’re going to scare her away.” Peyton flicked the back of Andi’s head and all I could do was chuckle.
“No worries. I’m an open book.” Except I really wasn’t. I never had been. But what did I have to lose? I didn’t have a damn thing here for me.
I tipped back my drink, swallowing half of it all at once before clearing my throat.
“I’d love to say I came here because I’m newly twenty-one and couldn’t wait to gamble and drink, but that would be a lie.” Shaking off the nerves, I bit down on my lip and flipped my hair over my shoulder. “The truth is, I moved here with my boyfriend—now ex—a few months ago. We had this whole new life planned. We both got jobs, me as a pool girl, him—well, that doesn’t really matter—and just when life was getting cozy, I walked in on him having an orgy.” The alcohol must have started to hit me because I couldn’t stop the words from slipping out one by one.
I tipped back the remainder of my drink.
“Oh, and that’s not even the worst part. He’s blackmailing me, and now I need to pick up a second job and make a shit ton of money. The kind of money you can’t make as a cocktail waitress by a pool.”
Normally, I would assume this would be the part where the two sets of eyes staring back at me would scream,‘this girl is crazy,’instead, they were laced with concern.
“Who the fuck is this loser?” Peyton scoffed.
“Honestly, sounds like you dodged one hell of a bullet. Granted, the breakup sounds messy as hell, but this could map out to be a real blessing in disguise.” Andi sipped her drink and glanced over at Peyton. They looked like they were doing some sort of witchcraft and reading each other’s minds.
“I think we can help.” Peyton’s lips curved into a sweet smile.
“How would you be able to help? Do you know a hit man or something?” My eyebrows dipped in curiosity.
