“Enough.” I smirk. “And it was worth every penny.”
“I’m not even going to ask what held you up this time.” Julian grins. “ And just so you know, those cards were from the last game. Which decided the overall winner.”
“Of course they are.” I sigh and look around, pretending to be disappointed, when I’m secretly thrilled I have a legitimate excuse to leave so I can focus on the Lily situation. “So, who won, then?”
“That would be me.” Andrew grins, motioning to his huge stack of chips. “Sorry, but when you’re gone for nearly two hours, it’s an automatic forfeit.”
“Damn,” I mutter.
I stretch out and stifle a yawn, then get ready to make my escape.
“You’re bailing on us, aren’t you?” Julian frowns. “We’re just getting started. You’re so fucking weak.”
“The game’s over,” I protest, standing up.
“Poker might be,” he agrees, his eyes gleaming. “But the real games haven’t even started.”
“You realize I’m here, in the room, don’t you?” Alberto calls out.
“Of course, I mean games for Andrew,” Julian replies quickly, throwing his arm around his friend.
“As much as I’d love to hang around and watch you make a fool of yourself, I need to get some sleep. Some of us have to work, you know. God knows what Alberto will have planned for me for tomorrow,” I add in a low murmur.
“I heard that, Frederick,” Alberto calls out.
“You were supposed to.” I wink at Alberto on my way to the door. “Night all.”
I step into the elevator. The moment the doors close, the only thing on my mind is Lily. If she’s planning on interrupting the wedding, then I need to get her out of here and fast.
The question is, how the hell am I going to find her?Chapter ThreeKatie“So,” Darcy rubs her hands together and smiles at me. “What’s the plan?”
“Plan for …?” I prompt.
“Tonight.” She waves her hands around. “Or did you not notice we’re in Vegas?”
“Room service and movies?” I grin, stirring her up.
“You want to laze around the hotel?” She scowls at me. “Wait, of course you do. Just so you know, I really want to bitch slap you right now.”
“But it’s such a nice hotel. It’s a shame to waste it,” I tease.
She glares at me. “I don’t care if it’s the fucking Bachelor mansion and Chris Harrison is about to walk through that door and hand me a rose—” She pauses. “Okay, so that might be the exception to the rule, but even so, we can’t stay in. It’s just not right.” She shakes her head so hard her black hair flies around her.
“I’m pretty sure it’s the bachelor himself who hands out the roses,” I bait her.
“And you’d only know that because your idea of a good time is a Netflix binge.” She shakes her head, muttering to herself, while I choke back laughter.
“You okay, Darc?” I ask her. “You seem a little worked up.”
She glowers at me. “Why did you even come at all? You should’ve just stayed home and spent yet another weekend scraping blood off the floor of some sleazy motel,” she grumbles.
“You make it sound so dodgy.” I giggle. “I’m here for Lily, not to fuel your addiction to partying and gambling.”
“And sex.” She grins. “Don’t forget the sex.”“And for the record?” I frown at her. “I love my job.”
I’m in the final year of a degree in forensics, something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid. My job as an emergency response cleaner is perfect, because there’s no better way to learn about blood spatter and analyzing a crime scene than to be put into the middle of one. There’re no words to describe walking into a crime scene, other than to say it’s the best feeling in the world—in a really non-creepy way.
“Hey, I’m all for bodies and gore, but without sex and alcohol, what’s the point?” She smirks at my expression.
I groan and pull myself off the bed, getting to my feet. I already know I’m going to lose this battle, so I might as well start getting ready.
“We’re going out,” Darcy says firmly. “You do want to help Lily forget about Julian, don’t you?”
“You mean you’re actually going to invite her?” I tease. She pokes her tongue out at me. “And like you care whether she forgets him or not.”
She makes a face. “Okay, fine, I don’t. But I do care about you, and you need this as much as she does.”
“Fine.” I groan when she throws her arms around me, nearly cutting off my circulation. “I’ll go out with you. But I’m not drinking.”
She fist pumps the air and starts dancing, waving her hand at me until I join in.
“Fucking awesome. Okay. It’ll take me about an hour to get ready …”
I shake my head. An hour? It will take me five minutes. I walk over to the window, only half listening to her as she runs through her intensive beauty routine.