“And…action.”
“For luck,” I said, lifting the dice in my hand to Blair’s lips.
She rolled her eyes at me but leaned in, her breasts pushing up against my chest. But instead of blowing on them, she kissed my hand.”
“The moment you need luck, it disappears. So I’ll just bet on you,” she replied.
“Only with you is that a safe bet.” I never looked away from her and threw the dice down the table without bothering to watch.
“Twelve craps twelve come away triple!” the stickman exclaimed, the group around us shouting out in amazement at the pair of double sixes.
“What did I say?” Blair grinned as the stickman pushed the chips to us.
But before I could get a word in, the staff nearest the doors screamed, “RUN!”
But it was too late. I felt it, like a sonic wave of fire. The explosion threw me off my feet and backward.
My chest burned.
Blood—mine? I wasn’t sure—was on my face, mixed in with the ash.
I tried to stand, but my body screamed in agony.
Each time I tried to open my eyes, the world spun, and all I could see were blurs of red, orange, and black.
My eardrums were ringing—no, scratching—in my ears, and in between the pain was screaming ... screaming from all over.
“Help!”
“Someone please!”
“My leg!”
“Help!”
“AHH!!!”
“Oh God! Oh God!”
Rolling onto my side, I once again tried to open my eyes, again rubbing my ears. As I did, my body ground onto broke glass, tiles, and casino chips. When I finally could see, it felt as if I were staring into hell. The bodies of the guests were piled on each other in a bloody, ash-covered mess. The fire spread over the top of them, over everything in sight. As I pushed myself off the ground, my heart stopped when I realized no one was beside me.
“BLAIR!” I screamed, ignoring the pain and rising to my feet to look around the rubble. “BLAIR!”
My screams blended with the screams of everyone else. Everything was spinning. Wiping my nose with my hand, I noticed the blood.
“BLAIR!” I called again, turning to search through the rubble. Then I spotted a black heel—Blair’s heel.
My hands shook as I reached for it.
“This can’t be real. This can’t be real,” I whispered.
“Blair?” I started to clear the parts of the broken table with a bare hand, quickly. Throwing rubble to the left and the right of me, I crawled on my hands and knees as I searched, hoped, and prayed.
There was large gash across her head, blood coating the side of her face.
“Blair, can you hear me?” I checked for a pulse. It was faint, but it felt like it was slowing down. Taking off my jacket and using it as a towel, I held it to her head. “Blair, can you hear me? I need you to open your eyes, okay? Baby, open your eyes for me, okay? You’re fine. I’m here. You’re fine.”
I coughed as my lungs filled with ash and glanced around for anyone, anything that could help.