Truth Untold (Eligible Bachelors #1)

Chapter Sixteen

The living room had been turned into a litter of bodies strewn over the couch set and the floor. Following the eventful afternoon of the previous day, a celebration had proceeded to make merry of the weight that had been lifted off of their shoulders. They'd had a late lunch and the drinking started promptly at 3:17 PM in the afternoon.

The ladies didn't drink as heavily with Lyn, Renee, Tomi, and Vanessa settling for glasses of wine. The men drank heavily, grabbing up anything with alcohol from beers to wine and champagne, to hard liquor. From time to time, they would take breaks to gather their bearings and pull themselves out of a drunken stupor, but soon enough, they were back at it.

By 8:00 PM the night before, Renee had confiscated all of her husband's drinks telling him he'd had enough alcohol for one day since she wasn't going to coddle and babysit him when he became irritable the next day because of a hangover. Since Sean was unable to drive in his half-inebriated state, they took one of the spare guest bedrooms at Alexander's mansion and retired for the night promptly by ten o'clock.

The younger men continue to drink, while the younger ladies had went off on their own in one room of the mansion and chatted idly about anything and everything. It was 1:23 AM the next morning when one of them – Scott – finally fell asleep, and seeing this, Vanessa confiscated all of their drinks and sent them off to bed.

But they were much too drained to make it that far and opted to temporarily convert the living room into a bed and rest.

Royce's long frame was sprawled over one couch. Alexander slept on another couch, while Scott slept in an upright position, his head lolled back against the loveseat. Carson was sprawled on the floor.

By 7:49 AM on a Sunday morning, the ladies were up and about. Sean was still recuperating from his hangover, and Renee was tending to him. In the kitchen, Vanessa stood with Lyn and Tomi. They spoke while the latter two whipped up a breakfast spread and as Vanessa blended up a fresh serving of her special recipe to cure all hangovers.

Once she was done, she retrieved eight glasses, filling up four with the hangover recipe, and another four with clean drinking water. She set it on the dining table, then returned to the kitchen and grabbed two clean frying pans.

"Where are you going?" Lyn asked. Vanessa smirked, gesturing for them to be quiet as she crept down to the living room, her footfalls light. As stealthy as a ninja, she crept into the living room with four unsuspecting, sleeping, and hungover souls, and once she was at the center of the room, she did a quick sweep to ensure they were still asleep.

And then she banged both frying pans together.

"Good morning, drunkards," she sang loudly, at the top of her voice. Carson came awake screaming, and Royce bolted upright trying to figure out where he was. Alexander groaned in distress, flopping to the floor, and covering his ears, while Scott dashed out of the living room, ducking for cover.

"Ness, you are evil," Scott wailed from the hallway, slipping to the floor, and flopping to his side in agony.

Royce was the next person to gather his bearings, suddenly remembering the afternoon and night before, and how he'd been too drunk to drive home. Royce groaned and flopped back onto the couch, scrubbing his face to try, and rid away the drunken haze of sleep.

"Van, you're so mean," he commented.

Vanessa cackled good-naturedly. She swept her gaze at the four men, three of whom ended up on the floor, and one remained on the couch. She was certain Alexander had fallen back asleep since he hadn't moved at all since rolling off the couch. She walked over and jerked him onto his back with her foot.