Chapter 19
Las Vegas
Raven
The flight from Nashville to Vegas is a direct flight, and it gives me time to study. At this moment, I’m ecstatic that Southwest started providing Wi-Fi service. Now I won’t have to go straight to work at the hotel. I already set aside half a day tomorrow for emails and last minute details because this project is due on Tuesday.
Declan and I didn’t see each other very much this week with our schedules. He played at The Steamroom Tuesday and Wednesday to make up for being gone this weekend. When he climbed into bed each night, I had been asleep for hours. I left early in the morning each day trying to get all my major work out of the way, so I only had to concentrate on this one project in Vegas. I made a list of things I wanted to do while here and Declan promised after we got Sayge’s schedule we would sightsee.
Mike, Jay, Kelly and Knight’s Dream are already in Vegas. We have tickets for both nights, and I think we have backstage passes for tomorrow night since that is when Knight’s Dream is performing. I’m secretly hoping that when Justin Timberlake is scheduled to perform too.
Declan, Cooper, Nate, and Blake are drinking beer while I finish my work and talking about their week. I’m barely paying attention until Declan mentions something about a modeling agency.
“What are you talking about?” I interrupt their conversation.
“Mike wants to shoot a video for “Surviving” and wants it ready for the album release in December. He’s meeting with a modeling agency next week to give them an idea of what he thinks we want for the female interest.” Declan answers.
“What exactly does that mean? Will y’all be involved?”
“Yeah to an extent. I’ll have to film a fair amount with her, but I’m completely unsure of the creative process at this point.”
“Dec, what about at the end of the song when you reconcile? That’s pretty deep.”
“I’m not sure yet. But I know what I won’t do, and Mike knows where I stand. I’ll sing to her, I’ll pretend to hold her, but that’s it. No intimate contact.”
The flight attendant comes on and announces our descent into Vegas, so our conversation ends. I make a note to talk to Mike about this.
Vegas is exactly as I expected. The lights, the hotels, the people everywhere. As it turns out, we ended up with rooms and not suites. Blake is going to room with Jay, so Nate and Cooper can have their own room. Kelly made a comment to Declan about me sharing a room with her if he wanted to stay with Blake, but he shut her down. This girl’s an idiot, does she not see the ring on my finger?
The guys talk me into hitting the casino after dinner. We’re all around a blackjack table when Kelly and Mike find us. I’m not playing so I’m off to the side and watch Kelly sidle up to Declan. He’s polite but pays all his attention to the dealer. So far he and Nate are up about eight hundred dollars. I get bored and tell them all I'm going to the slot machines. Declan tries to come with me, but I insist he stays where he is.
As soon as I sit down and start to play I sense someone behind me. I turn to see Ryan smiling down at me.
“Ryan!” I leap into his arms and hug him tightly.
“Hey, girl. We heard you all were down here and wanted to come party. The other guys are around here somewhere.”
I congratulate him on all their success since summer, and we talk more about their upcoming tour. I’m telling him about Paris when the rest of his band finds us. After hugs all around, I see Declan barreling through the crowd. When he gets closer, he relaxes but comes straight to me before acknowledging the other band.
We go to a hotel bar to talk about tomorrow and discuss the plan. Once we are seated, and everyone has a drink, Mike explains how he wants Ryan to introduce Sayge. Kelly gives specifics and tells everyone how she and Jay met with the sound and lighting reps.
After an hour, I tell everyone goodnight and get up to leave. Declan tries to come with me, but Kelly claims she needs a few more minutes to go over tomorrow night. He gives her a dirty look, but I agree to stay and he pulls me down to his lap. She looks at us disgusted.
We finally finish and go to our room. Funny enough, she is across the hall. The other guys stayed downstairs, but she claims she is tired so comes up with us on the elevator.
Once we are in our room, I set up the desk with my schoolwork for tomorrow morning, while Declan showers.
When we’re finally ready for bed, Declan pulls me flush against him and is unusually quiet.
“Sweetheart, you okay?’
“Yeah, just thinking about tomorrow night.”
“You nervous?”
“Not sure, I mean this could mean a whole new road we travel down. You’ve heard the stories tonight about Ryan’s group and the shit they’ve been through. I guess what I’m nervous about is the reception Sayge will get being an unknown group to this festival. No matter what, I’m proud of all we’ve done, but tomorrow is a really big deal.”
“Baby, I’ll be there the whole time. Don’t get anxious now.”