2. Jack
Our second day in Vegas began much like the first, with a boozy lunch at the bar and a reckless spending spree at the casino.
But it was always going to get chaotic when, at the eleventh hour, you agree to spend a week in Vegas with three friends who have just struck it rich.
The question is how chaotic?
My friends are brothers, Harvey, Hunter, and Hudson, and they have just had massive windfall.
Their fortunes have escalated overnight, and now they’re celebrating while the news and they are still unknown.
Although, so far, their only sins are getting a little too drunk and obnoxious for the afternoon casino crowd, but I have a feeling today is going to be different.
“We need drinks,” Hunter moans.
I ignore him.
Hunter, Hudson, and Harvey are the Gold brothers. They act as though they are all as precious as the color of their surname, but now they are much richer.
They founded a capital venture company with their grandfather’s inheritance, which they received when Harvey, the eldest, reached twenty-five.
Since then, the brothers have made enough money to start their own bank.
As I slide my stack of chips through my fingers, I’m captivated by the rhythmic clicking sound they create.
Harvey not so, he slams his hand on mine. “Stop fucking doing that. You’re making me nervous.”
“It’s blackjack, not poker.”
“I need a drink,” Hunter repeats.
Another!
“I need to eat before we drink again,” Hudson groans, but he still drinks from yet another glass of bourbon.
“Definitely, but let’s get one more drink,” Hunter slurs.
I groan, and although we shouldn’t be going to the bar because Hunter is already on his fourth scotch, I’m glad for the rest away from the tables.
I grab my chips and push them into my shirt pocket.
The proximity of the casino and hotel bar makes it effortless to walk between the two. Allowing the spenders to conveniently indulge in both activities. And if they get you spending your money at the tables, the drinks flow freely. Because they know the patrons have no problem with spending their money when they’re drinking.
I wait for the brothers to sit before I order our drinks, ensuring mine is non-alcoholic.
“You’re a fucking lightweight,” Harvey yells, despite being the drunkest of the four of us.
Before he got onto the scotch, I’m sure he started at the top of the cocktail menu and worked his way down, which surprises me because I never took him as a cocktail drinker.
And he wonders why he’s lost a fortune at the tables yesterday.
“Yeah, food, then drink, then we’ll come back to the casino,” Harvey says. “I need to win some money.”
I shake my head as I kick up one corner of my mouth.
“Margaritas!” an excited voice yells.
The girl running to the bar diverts my attention from the grumbling of my friends. She’s wearing a denim skirt, a pink tee-shirt and a pair of flip-flops.
Another three girls come strolling in, looking considerably less excited.
Two blondes. One honey blonde with white jeans and matching tee-shirt and a pair of boots which look out of place for Vegas. After all, it’s nearly one hundred degrees outside.
The other, a paler blonde, is wearing a pair of jeans and a white shirt and sandals.
The last girl has auburn colored hair. She’s dressed in a pair of ankle-length fitted black pants and a short-sleeved lacy black top, her long hair tied up in a high ponytail.
She turns and smiles at her friends.
“Jack, are you listening?”
“Yeah,” I groan.
I wasn’t. I was too busy wondering why my heart thumped erratically.
“Don’t do it,” Harvey yells and I turn to look.
A couple is leaving the bar to get married on the strip. She”s wearing a short white dress, him a white shirt and cream pants.
I mean, seriously?
Vegas?
If you were in love, would you get married in Vegas?
I suppose I’m cynical. At thirty-four years old, I’ve never had the will or the reason to get wed. But then I’ve never been in love either.
I’ve liked a few girls, but I’m not the type of guy who buys into marriage and shit. I should, it could change my life. But hell, I still can’t do it.
“We should go to a strip club later,” Hunter says.
I groan.
This is only day two of my friends’ so-called ‘success party.’ They’ve secured the biggest contract of their lives. It changes everything for them, from being multimillionaires to business billionaires. Individually, the brothers are worth half a billion each.
“Jeez, you’re boring. This is supposed to be a celebration,” he continues.
Unfortunately, for these celebrations, they want to include the less savory of Vegas.
Casinos I can deal with, strippers and shitty nightclubs aren’t my scene. I’m more the relaxed type of guy rather than wanting to hang out with crazy drunk people, and the reason that I’m still sober.
Perhaps tonight, I’ll feign illness the moment they want to leave for the debauchery.
Though, I wouldn’t mind peeling her clothes off. The quieter one of the four women I saw walk in. The one I’m sure looked my way.
As I gaze at her face, my eyebrows lift, and a small smirk forms at the corner of my lips.
“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas,” Harvey whispers in my ear, obviously noticing me ogling the woman.
That’s when I realize I have another five days of putting up with the Gold brothers and their roguery.
I take a sip of my drink and ignore him.
“Missing New York already,” Harvey slurs, slapping an arm around my shoulder as I glance her way again. “There’s nothing in New York for you. Have a little fun... loosen up, Jack.”
He’s right. There’s nothing in New York but my job, an apartment overlooking the park, and... yeah, that’s about it. But it’s all I want, and all I’ve ever needed.
It dawns on me that I am fixated on her, but it appears she might be returning my intense gaze.
Then she looks away.