Chapter 21: Chapter 21

"Can you tell me where Din Cooper is?" Jessie locked her focus on the in-charge receptionist. The receptionist was perplexed by her query. "Din Cooper," Jessie said again. "Last night, he booked into this hotel. I need to track him down. Has he left?" Jessie questioned.

Taylor drew Jessie's attention. She turned to her and whispered, "Calm down, Jess." She inquired, "What is going on?"

Instead of speaking, Jessie handed Taylor the wedding photograph.

Taylor took it in her hands and looked at it, puzzled. She shifted her attention back to Jessie. "Can you tell me what this is?" Taylor enquired.

"Taylor, it's a wedding picture."

"What?"

"Exactly? Din Cooper appears to be playing with me." Jessie had tears in her eyes, but she blinked them away.

"What do you mean?" Taylor enquired. Her eyes returned to the photograph.

"I believe there was a wedding last night. Din and I had a wedding, I believe. A ring on my finger and a message glued to the window awaited me when I awoke. I awoke in the room he had taken over, not mine. What exactly happened?"

"Calm down, Jess," Taylor said again.

"How could I de-stress?" She cried out and turned to look around. "How could I de-stress?" She inquired once more, but this time in a more subdued tone. "It doesn't appear to have been photo-shopped."

"How did you figure that out? Because you noticed a note and a ring on your finger? That is just meaningless. You were both inebriated." Then, Taylor made a sneering remark. "How could you have a wedding if you both have no idea what's going on?"

"Take a look at this." Taylor was shown the mark on Jessie's finger. "This morning I got hurt, and guess what hurt me?"

"What?" Taylor inquired. Curious.

"It was the same flower that was on my head in that photo. Taylor, it disturbed me." Jessie started looking around. "Have you seen Will?" She asked. "Will he be able to tell us where Din is?"

Taylor swallowed her saliva and cleared her throat.

"What? You have no idea?" Jessie was the one who asked. "You were both together last night. At the very least, you should know his phone number." Her gaze was fixed on her friend. Jessie reached out to Taylor's robe and took a wet ivory-colored rubber that was clasped to it and slowly removed it. It had become indistinguishable from her robe. It would have gone unnoticed. "This appears to be a condom." "It's an old one." She held it up for her friend to see.

Taylor quickly gathered it and stuffed it into the robe's pocket.

"Oh God, you slept with him." Jessie was irritated, and she threw her hand into the air.

"No, no, no," Taylor shook her head in denial.

"The condom is soaked. Your boss wasn't here last night, Taylor. If my memory serves me correctly, you were with Will. You were both talking and drinking."

"It's not what you're thinking about," Taylor said.

"Then explain yourself, Taylor!" Jessie lifted and then lowered her voice. She muttered, "How could you do that? How did you manage to sleep with everyone? Couldn't you just close your vaginal entrance for a change? How could you not have respect for yourself? We don't know anything about him because he was that man's friend. That man married me last night, and now he is gone." Jessie said. "Taylor!" she called. "I'm disappointed in you." Jessie shook her head as she said goodbye to her friend and returned to her room.

Taylor stood there watching Jessie walk away. Jessie's words echoed in her head. It was a painful experience for her. How could she have slept with a complete stranger she only knew by name?

She closed her eyes for a few seconds and went back to her room. She slid open the door cautiously, revealing Jessie was seated on the bed.

Taylor stepped gently inside the room and over to her friend. She sat next to Jessie and was silent for a few moments before Jessie broke it. "It's your body, and you have complete control over it." Jessie's tone had softened. Her gaze was fixed on the ring Marco had presented to her. She eventually decided to sell it.

Taylor responded, "He's gone. Will stated that he was returning to Los Angeles and that he had work to accomplish. We didn't discuss Din at all, but I'm sure he took him with him."

Jessie let out a sigh.

As Taylor stated, "It's a good thing." Jessie gave her a confused look. As she grabbed her friend's hand in hers, Taylor nodded. 'It's for the best that he departs. That indicates you're no longer enslaved. Perhaps you and Din had a phoney marriage because you were both drunk. I don't think he'd go looking for you because of that."

"You think?" Jessie was the one who asked.

Taylor smiled and nodded. "I know." She stepped up and said, "Now, let's get ready and go home."

***

"That's something we'll talk about later." Din extended his hand to Will, expecting him to hand over the keys to his automobile.

Will grinned and returned the key to Din. "I'm curious as to what transpired last night between you and Jessie." He made fun of Din.

Din shrugged and walked over to the driver's door. "I have a lot of work to do. We will not tell anyone about what happened last night, especially Beth. Are we on the same page?"

"All right, friend. Have a wonderful day ahead of you." Will grinned as Din drove away.

Din recalled what had happened between him and Jessie the night before. She'd passed out while he was trying to make out with her. He was also relieved that he hadn't had any sexual relations with her.

He grinned as he obtained a piece of paper from the drawer. He flipped the paper open. Jessie had agreed to the marriage after they had both attended a wedding down the street. They'd both gone for a walk outside the club. Even though Jessie was a little tipsy, she'd insisted on attending the celebration after hearing noises coming from that direction.

She wouldn't stop making a fuss, and he had no choice but to take her in. Jessie dashed over to the bride and posed for pictures with her. She'd snatched the bride's flowers and used them to adorn her hair, as well as forcing Din to place the ring on her finger. He saw that as an opportunity to marry her because his grandfather had requested it. Din had acquired himself a wife to delight his grandfather, and only God knew where Jessie obtained the plastic ring from.

He slid the paper into his pocket. Khalid had supplied him with Jessie's home address earlier that morning, and he'd planned to send her the paper with confirmation of their marriage, and she should also be prepared to live with him.

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