"It's not funny, James. I've ruined everything. The vitamin supplement people are not going to want him anymore, not that Fenton would ever sign with me." I let my finger turn purple before untwisting the key chain and returning it to the rack.
"Oh, now there is where you are wrong," my boss said.
"Great, everything is backwards," I said. "You're supposed to tell me there is no way I caused Fenton to lose the fight, and of course, I've lost the account and can just come home. I think I hate Vegas, or maybe it hates me."
"Sweet cheeks, you're the one that's going to have to figure out if you distracted Fenton from the fight. And, who knows, maybe you did and that means good things for you and your bad boy," James said. "All I know is that a comeback campaign is even better than a seamless rise to the top. You are still on the account and can make a killing if you sign him now and then help him win the title fight."
"Sign him and help him win the title fight? Sure, yeah, that totally sounds like something I can handle, considering how well I've done here so far," I said.
"You're going to do it, I know you are," my boss said. "Oh, and Kya?"
"What?"
"Always bet on black." James hung up.
I bought the Vegas keychain, considering that I had bent it out of shape, and wished the purchase had taken a whole lot longer. The only thing for me to do was find Fenton and face him right away. I cringed at the thought, but finally left the gift shop and fought my way upstream against the crowd. Access to Fenton's floor was restricted, but one security guard was letting up gaggles of short-skirted women.
"You too, honey?" the guard asked me. "Now, I know why he took that hit. I'd let Peretti bash my head in, too, if I knew it'd get me all this sexy sympathy."
He let me in the elevator where the women were all adding a layer of lipstick, adjusting their cleavage, or fluffing up their hair in the mirrored walls. I glanced at myself briefly and wondered if he would see the guilt on me right away. It felt like a weight on my shoulders, but I straightened them and strutted my way into his suite with the rest of the women.
Club music vibrated the walls of Fenton's penthouse suite and the crowd was thick inside. Most of the women made a beeline for the dance floor, where every stick of furniture had been removed from the sunken living room. I turned and went straight for the bar and a straight shot of bourbon.
How exactly was I going to say sorry for getting him knocked out? I stopped cold and ordered a double. Even worse, what if I apologized and it turned out he had not even seen me? Either way, I was sure to make an ass out of myself. I had no idea how to turn that into a comeback campaign pitch.
"Well, hello, pretty lady," a voice said.
I turned around and sipped my bourbon to hide a grimace. "Hello, Mr. Casey."
"Please, call me Kev. I plan on calling you Kya, at least, until we come up with a more intimate nickname," he said.
"I'm afraid I'm not here for intimacy, I'm here on business," I said.
"Could have fooled me. I saw you in the crowd tonight. Pretty sure our boy did, too," Kev said.
"That's impossible, there were hundreds of people there," I said.
Kev slipped an arm around my shoulders. "Don't feel bad, Kya. I mean, you are a delicious distraction, but our boy's been off his game since before you got to Vegas."
"Maybe Fenton doesn't like it here, either." I slipped out from under Kev's arm.
"What's not to like? You just need to come out with me. I can show you the real fun of Vegas," he said.
I dodged
Kev's other arm as it snaked around my waist. I was about to dive onto the dance floor to escape him when I spotted the strange man from the MGM gym.
"Do you know that man?" I asked Kev as he reeled me back in.
"Now that you mention it, I have seen him talking with Fenton lately. Wonder if he knows what's bothering our boy," Kev said.
"I did hear him delivering some kind of news Fenton did not really want to hear the other day," I said.
We started across the party together and though I despised working with Kev Casey, I hoped the plain looking man might be to blame for upsetting Fenton instead of me.
"How did we lose him? He was right here," Kev said. He was so annoyed he unhooked his hand from my waist and turned all around. The man with the average build and medium brown hair had disappeared. "That was weird, right?"
"Yes," I agreed.