Page 9 of Hooking
A week of reliving every touch.
Every moan.
The orgasms.
Yeah, I was hooked on him. But reliving the next morning when we woke up in his hotel room, to himapologizing. Saying it was a mistake and could never happen again.
Friend zoned instantly.
I would rather be back at my wedding than reliving that repeatedly for an entire week in paradise.
“I don’t, but after seeing your little show back there, I want to,” he says, looking at me with determination written all over his face. “Plus, a little R&R to get my head right for the season doesn’t sound so bad. So, I’m in. Plus… it was your suggestion.”
My suggestion?
The night of my wedding in the bar. God, me and my big mouth. “Channing, you don’t have to,” I say, downing my drink and ordering another.
“I know I don’t have to,” he says, finishing his drink as the bartender places two fresh ones in front of us. “But I want to. So therefore, I am. When does our flight leave?”
He can’t be serious. I open and close my mouth a few times to tell him he’s completely out of his mind, but one look at him, and I know he’s completely sane. That like any other time in my life when I needed support, he would be there for me. And if that meant going on a week’s vacation to a tropical paradise, sharing a room with me… then so be it.
I push back from my barstool and toss a fifty onto the bar. “Tomorrow morning, 8:55. I’ll call the airline and have the name on the ticket changed. See you then.”
He nods in my direction before downing the rest of his drink. “See you then.”
We follow one another out of the bar before heading our separate ways. The entire way home, I internally freak out thinking how in the next fourteen hours, I’m going to be spending a week with the guy I’ve been crushing on since the day we met.
I just hope it’s not a mistake.
“You’re where?” Hayley says into the phone as I wait at the gate for Channing to arrive.
I’ve spent the whole night packing, wondering if I should pick up the phone and call off this entire trip. It feels like I’m about to make one big, colossal mistake. Not like I can make many more of those… I mean I almost married a guy who would continue to cheat on me regardless of marriage or not. Yet, I can’t help but have this gut feeling that this whole thing could blow up in my face.
“I’m at the airport. I’m taking the trip I had planned for Vince and me,” I say, hoping she just leaves it at that, but I should have known better.
“By yourself?”
Sure, I could lie, yet I know the moment Brooks got wind of Channing’s little vacay, I’d be busted. “No. I’m going with Halloway actually.”
“Cassidy.”
“Before you say anything, this is all purely platonic for me,” I say, hoping she can’t see through my bullshit.
“Cassidy,” she says, pausing for a moment. “Do you think this is a very good idea?”
She knows about Channing and me. In fact, she’s the only one I ever told the truth to about that night with Channing. She saw how it crushed me. So, I can’t blame her for being so cautious.
“It’s fine,” I say, just as the announcer states that our flight is now boarding. “Plus, he’s not even here yet, so I may be going on my own after all.”
“Cassidy… I really don’t think this is a good idea. Let me go with you,” Hayley protests as the announcer states that my group is now boarding.
“Gee. Do you hear that? My flight’s boarding. Gotta go… See ya in a week,” I say quickly before hanging up the phone.
Grabbing my carry on, I walk toward the attendant as she scans my boarding pass. Just as I’m getting ready to walk down the jetway, I stop, walking back to the attendant. “Excuse me, but can you tell me if a Channing Halloway has checked into the flight yet?”
She gives me an annoyed glance before typing away on the keyboard. “No. Sorry,” she says, before looking past me to the next person waiting to board.
Accepting defeat and the possibility that I’ll be spending the next week alone, I walk down the jetway and am shown to my seat in first class. Last night, when I called to change the name on Vince’s ticket, I decided to upgrade to first class. Figured if I’m going to wallow in self-pity, I should do it in more style and comfort.
