Chapter 6 Junie’s POV

Seventeen missed calls and twenty-five text messages. I didn’t waste any more time before I decided to check the details of all the calls and who the text messages were coming from.

I had some from my mother and some from Cassie. Then I saw a text message from Cassie saying. Where are you? I hope you’re not dead after you followed that man.

I didn’t think I would be staying this long, so I typed out a reply. I almost pressed the button, but I quickly deleted it.

I know my mother will be worried and some other members of the family who know I wasn’t even around. But there was nothing to be scared of because I didn’t want to die.

I was still alive. 

Then, in between the names, I saw another name that caught my attention and that was Declan's name. Why was he calling me?

I almost wanted to call him back, but I quickly dropped the phone on the desk just beside the bed. I took a deep breath and sat on the edge of the bed. I was still looking at his name from that distance on my phone screen then I quickly picked it up, my fingers hovering around the screen. 

It was like I had touched something hot and it was burning me. Probably not after I had someone touch me so softly the previous night. That was something Declan never appreciated.

He wanted to explore and he decided to go for my cousin instead. He has to pay for the decision he made except maybe he realizes his mistake.

Just as I was about to drop the phone again, the sharp sound of the ringtone caught my attention and I immediately picked it up when I noticed it was my friend, Cassie. 

Finally, she is calling again. I murmured under my breath. 

Before I could even open my mouth to speak, I heard her voice in the background and it was almost like she was speaking to someone probably complaining. 

I am going to call the police if she doesn’t pick this up. 

“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I said, my voice still scratchy from sleep and other activities I absolutely was not going to mention. “I just… I had a long night.”

“Long night doing what? You went to a club and fell off the face of the earth!”

Now she was behaving as if I were the only one who was guilty of all of this. She literally pushed me to accept the man the previous night even when I didn’t even want to look at his face. 

She made me notice that there was somebody there, and that was it. That was how she told me to enjoy the night with someone who would make me forget about everything.

“It’s just a one-time thing and you shouldn’t stay there for too long. You shouldn’t even allow him to see your face properly.” She yelled through the phone.

“He is gone already. There is no need to panic.” I quickly replied to her, and that was when she decided to keep her voice down. “Are you missing me already?” 

I was just trying to tease her again, but when I did not hear the voice that came along with it, I quickly ended the call. 

She wasn’t talking to me either, but she was yelling at somebody, probably somebody who was supposed to attend to her in her hotel. 

But that’s if she decided to go home all by herself because after I left with the stranger, I didn’t see her again. She just sent a text message to me that she will be fine.

I quickly dropped the phone back on my desk and decided to put on my clothes and that was how I left without even wasting a second. 

Cassie had already sent me an address of how to locate my way back because I wasn’t really familiar with Vegas.

Getting back to my hotel room meant doing the walk of shame in last night’s dress.

But there was something I got there to meet and I didn’t even expect it to be like that. I was serious and angry at the same time.

I just couldn’t see myself walking around with the same dress I had all through the night. The same dress that made me feel dirty. I wanted to change it but then, my luggage was sent to another hotel. 

The desk clerk informed me with an apologetic smile that it was waiting at the Luxor, which might as well have been in a different state.

So there I was, strutting through the lobby at nine in the morning in a skin-tight black dress and heels that made my feet scream, while families in matching t-shirts stared and a bachelorette party cheered as I passed.

I wanted to die.

I just made a decision one day and it was like I had made the most stupid decision of my life. But when I carefully thought about it, everything was perfect last night, and why this morning has to be different. 

Why did this happen to me? I tried not to think about it because I decided to come here and I didn’t even want to regret it.

Maybe I was overthinking a lot of things.

Then I thought about the letter again, the letter that the stranger's heart left on the hotel notepad. 

“No regrets…”

I took a deep breath and wanted to relax but I also wanted coffee more. 

Let’s go then…

The café was crowded with the breakfast rush of business people tapping on laptops, tourists studying maps, and dealers coming off the night shift. I joined the line, keeping my eyes down, praying I wouldn’t see anyone I knew.

“Junie?”

Oh, God. Oh no.

I turned slowly. The stranger stood three feet away, looking unfairly put-together in dark slacks and a crisp white shirt, no tie. His hair was still slightly damp, like he’d also just showered.

He looked surprised. Good surprise or bad surprise, I couldn’t tell.

I didn’t know why I was happy, but I just wasn’t myself at that moment, and seeing him again meant that he might have probably come into my life to stay again. 

I tried to wave at him, but he didn’t respond to me and that was shocking and at the same time devastating. Why is he pretending?

I quickly moved out of my line and walked towards him, but then when I got there, I froze. Almost wanting to curse myself.

What was I thinking? How did I get to this point?

“What do you want?” The man and his partner quickly turned towards me and at that moment I became lost in thought.