Free Lover's Roulette by E. L. Todd

around Scarlet.
    Janice looked at me. “So you’re saying we should wear sweatpants and shirts with stains all over them, clothes that make us look like men, put our hair in a messy bun, and not wear a drop of makeup? That will get you to leave us alone?”
    “That would be perfect,” I said. “Thank you.”
    “Why don’t you do that, baby?” Ryan asked.
    Scarlet looked at Janice. “I’m going to call off the wedding.”
    “And I’m going to dump your brother.”
    Cortland looked at Monnique. “You’re so gorgeous, babe.”
    “Too late. We’re done,” she said.
    I grabbed Scarlet’s face and kissed her, parting her lips with my tongue. She was resistant at first, but then she gave in like she always did. “I love you.”
    She growled. “You can’t use that excuse again for like a year.”
    I smiled. “Okay.”
    “I mean it.”
    I grabbed another drink from the table and gave it to her to distract her. “Bottoms up, baby.”
    “You’re trying to get me drunk?”
    “I have a feeling that’s the only way I’m going to get any tonight.”
    “You’re right.” She down the whole glass then returned it to the table. “But I’m gonna need a lot more of those.”
    “You got it.”

7
     
    Scarlet
    I’m not sure what happened. There was booze—lots of booze. I remember talking to Mike, thinking he was Sean. Janice danced on the table, and Monnique and I hit the dance floor again. We left and went to another bar—I think.
    When we came back to the hotel room, Sean and I didn’t have sex. I vaguely remember him carrying me to the bed and undressing me. I was blabbering about something and he seemed to humor me. I fell asleep as soon as I hit the pillow, but my head was throbbing the whole time. It hurt so much that I woke up.
    When I glanced at the clock, it was three in the morning. I felt like I just fell asleep. Perhaps I did. I was just wearing my bra and underwear. Sean was fast asleep, his hand around my waist. I pulled away and got up. There were some pain pills in my suitcase so I grabbed them and downed them with water.
    I was still drunk, but not nearly as much as before. I felt like crying and I wasn’t sure why. I wasn’t a mean drunk, a fun drunk, or a tired drunk. I was an emotional drunk. My darkest fears always came to the surface and knocked me over. My mouth kept running and I was unable to stop it.
    I sat at the edge of the bed and wrapped my arms around my waist, trying to remember what happened tonight. Nothing came to mind. This was my bachelorette party but I couldn’t even remember most of it. When I started thinking about the wedding, my heart started to palpitate. What if she did come? What if she found out about everything? What if Sean left me because of my past? His parents would never approve of my more than humble beginnings. I put on Sean’s boxers and t-shirt then grabbed my computer before I walked outside. I leaned against the wall next to the door and opened my computer.
    I was never good at expressing my emotions verbally . Instead, I wrote them down in the form of a story. When I was really over something, I deleted the file and moved on. There were countless files in this folder. Instead of deleting them, they kept piling up. Other than my novels for my editing company, this took up the most space on my computer. I started to type and thought about nothing else.
    There was no one in the hallway. The elevator light would bleep as it moved up and down the floors but the doors never opened. I never felt more alone in my life. I was in a building full of thousands of people but I felt like I was standing in the middle of the desert, my computer as my cactus. How much did I have to drink? I’m glad Sean wouldn’t see me like this.
    The door opened and Sean practically stumbled out. “Scarlet?”
    “What?”
    He breathed a sigh of relief then ran his fingers through his hair. “What the fuck are you doing?”
    “What does it look like?” I snapped.
    He