Chapter 30
chapter thirty
Natalia
Mateo could charm the pants off a department store mannequin, but for all intents and purposes, today I was a Victorian era lady-in-waiting. He would have to get through layers of me. Corset, chemise, bodice, those really long fucking underwear made of wool that were virtually impenetrable.
We left the pool party, mid-afternoon siphoning into a cooler early evening, and our party of five dipped into a dazzling casino with the boys hot on our heels. I didn’t mind that they were keeping us in sight; it was easier to manage the scavenger items, and it upped the pressure to perform. The Swan boys had proven they were willing to do just about anything to win.
“Let’s play to our strengths,” Phee suggested. “Gambling tables, men, drunk men, money, pretty girls in dresses—” she rambled off. “One of you Russos is our only chance at checking dice blowing off the list.”
There was no shortage of card games on the vast carpeted floor. The stench of cigarettes and citrus was overwhelming as little billows of smoke lifted out of ashtrays beside the sedentary customers at the poker tables. The last I’d seen Mateo, he had disappeared between a row of slot machines the size of SUVs with his brother and the time was as good as any to try to get ahead.
Camilla straightened her pink dress at the seam and tightened the halter, lifting her boobs just so. I was so used to seeing her in more conservative, pediatric unit hospital garb, it was almost alien watching her let her too stiff slicked-back ponytail down for the night. Having fun was something I didn’t know she was even capable of. For my entire life she was all business. The perfectionist eldest daughter. A lot of the time it felt like the world wasn’t serious enough for her, but she might not have had the chance to experience it any other way.
“Dad taught me how to play craps when I was a kid,” Cami said. A game was ongoing nearby. A small crowd had gathered to watch a pair of dice being tossed into a deep-set green felt table.
“Did he really?” I asked.
“I think it was his very misguided way of finding a common interest with me. Or one of those rare times he actually had to parent and didn’t know what to do without a nanny or Mom around.”
Bella laughed sardonically. “Sounds about right. Gambling 101 with John Russo. I’m convinced Mia and I were only born to entertain you like a pair of Baby Alive dolls.”
“And Natalia was their last attempt at a boy,” Mia added.
“Explains the resentment,” I mumbled. “At least you got a cool party trick out of the deal, Cami.”
She jokingly bowed to us. “I’ll go do my civic slutty scavenger hunt duty. Looks like this guy could use some luck anyway.”
“We’ll be here cheering you on,” Phee spurred her. “I believe in you!”
Camilla walked purposefully over to the game table, lingering on the outskirts with one of her French-tipped fingernails to her lips as though she was in deep, thoughtful contemplation. The man waiting drearily for his next turn couldn’t keep his eyes off her. Sneaky, diabolical, doe-eyed Camilla. The easiest way to hook a man was by making him think he could teach you something.
Sure enough, the idealistic betting man in his oversized suit jacket and salt-and-pepper hair crooked a finger at Camilla and called her over to his side. She started asking questions, pointing at the lines and the curves on the table, basically shimmying herself right into the man’s side pocket, and excitement surged in unfamiliar ways inside my chest. Yes, because I realized she was a shoe-in for the ticket item, but also because I might have had something in common with my older sister. She turned on the charming confidence in ways I recognized in myself, like I did on camera. It was all for show. A hidden talent, a secret superpower.
On his next toss, Camilla shuffled to the edge of the board, gesturing at the two red dice in the man’s hands. She leaned in, breezing her luck and charm all over them and my mouth parted in a cheek-splitting grin.
Hook, line, and sinker.
“Did you get that on camera?” I tapped on Ophelia’s shoulder. She was holding her phone horizontally, zoomed in and recording the entire thing, then zipped it away into the group chat before the roll had even settled on the table. Cami and the mystery gambler exchanged a very awkward double high-five as it was clear he expected more, and Mia took it upon herself to step in and save our oldest sister from her suitor.
Camilla ambled back to the group and without even thinking about it, I threw my arms around her neck for a hug. I couldn’t see Camilla’s face, but judging by Bella’s pinched eyebrows and clamped teeth, she was just as confused and uncomfortable as we were.
We did not hug.
Unofficially. Our family was not doting, or tender. It was just how we were raised. Thinking about it, I hadn’t seen anyone in my family show affection in a physical way. It was like getting my fingers caught on a piece of tape and flicking my wrist until it flung off.
Shockingly, Cami slowly but surely returned the embrace, tightening her forearms at the center of my back.
“I got that on camera, too,” Phee announced just as the flash shuttered. Cami and I parted, brushing each other off like a film of dust. “Oh my god, girls, is it hug time?” Ophelia pressed forward with open arms and my sisters curled in on themselves. “I knew I could successfully orchestrate team bonding.”
“You are exactly like that little Troll doll,” Mia said. “The pink one that sings and makes scrapbooks and drives everyone crazy.”
“Poppy,” Ophelia said proudly. “My students love that movie, so even if you mean it differently I’m taking it as a glowing compliment.”
“As you should,” I assured her. “Any type of acknowledgment from Mia is a compliment, because she will simply pretend you don’t exist if she doesn’t like you.”
A deep laugh rumbled behind me. It was familiar and conceited and could only belong to Tyler Swan, who had snuck up on us holding a soft pretzel. The remaining men were close behind. I ripped off a sliver of the salty bread and shoved it in my mouth.
“So she likes us,” Tyler repeated. Mia huffed and tried to take a piece of the pretzel but Tyler pulled it close to his chest. “This cost fifteen dollars, and legend says if I don’t eat it I’ll turn into a big green monster in purple shorts.”
“Took a snack break?” I asked. Mateo’s eyes were on me, and my throat dried. Don’t look at him, Tally. He’s trying to intimidate you. Be stronger than that.
I looked at him.
Unsurprisingly, his hazel eyes were as handsome and soft as ever, and my stomach fluttered in betrayal.
“We figured we would let you girls catch up,” Frankie said. “Make this at least a little bit interesting.”
“Not so cocky, Maverick.” Ophelia threw a warning at her boyfriend. Frankie’s eyes narrowed toward her, but he held his tongue.
“Well, there’s no more pools to jump into, unfortunately for you one-trick ponies,” Bella quipped. “Was it worth the day-long swamp ass?” She gestured to Sam’s shorts.
“You think I didn’t ditch the wet briefs?” Sam said. “Anyway, people piss in their chairs so they don’t lose their turn at the slot machines here. I’m the least of their worries.”
Angelo’s nose scrunched. “Is that what I smell?”
“That smell is fear.” Tyler sniffed in our direction, and I pushed him away by his big barrel chest. “These girls reek.”
Ophelia nudged me with her phone, showing an address for a karaoke bar only a few blocks away. My eyes flared, but I quickly schooled my expression and cleared my throat, giving her a subtle nod of approval. The cocky groomsmen entourage was like sharks in the water; we couldn’t let them follow us.
“I have to use the restroom,” I said.
I tugged on Phee’s hand. The longer we stood there the harder it would be to outrun them, and the one leg up we had was that sneaky women’s telepathy keeping us all on the same page. We started walking. Naturally, my sisters caught on and followed.
Mateo’s head tilted, zeroing in on me, and I avoided him in the most obviously up-to-something way. He could always tell when I was lying; it was a real pain in the ass when it came to any kind of surprise for him. I could feel the heat of his pressing attention trying to pin me across the casino floor.
We pressed forward to the first public bathroom in sight, leaving the men precariously aloof. In a perfect world they’d get bored and wander off, or leave to try and figure out another way around the scavenger hunt, but in reality we had about four minutes to get our shit together and find a way to the karaoke bar without sounding the alarms.
“What’s really going on?” Bella turned against the marble vanity and plucked a round mint from a bowl.
Women filed around us out of the bathroom stalls, checking their makeup in large round mirrors, shoes pattering on the tiled floors. The sound of the hand dryer was loud to hide our voices beneath thundering gusts that seemingly never stopped.
“We need to get to this karaoke bar.” My sisters leaned in as Ophelia showed them the map on her phone. “It's four blocks away, but the guys are watching our every move. I don’t know if we should just make a run for it or call a car and try to disappear into traffic and hope they don’t catch on.”
“The second we leave this place they’re going to know something’s up,” Mia said. “Half of the fun for them is chasing us down. It's like a whole different kind of hunt.”
“Four blocks are nothing. We’d spend more time in an Uber trying to get there than it would take to walk,” Camilla reasoned. “I say we just go.”
She was probably right, and I was probably overthinking it. But this had become so much more than a game of bragging rights. “What if they’re right outside?”
“Then we run,” Bella said.
Ophelia fixed the creasing sparkly eyeshadow on my lid with the pad of her pinky finger as if she was donning war paint. “While we’re here though, does anyone actually have to pee?”
“No, Mom,” Mia said mockingly. Rather than annoyed, though, it was charmed, appreciative. My two deeply separate lives crashing together in a gooey, warm way. Like melting s’mores. Maybe it was just the drinks, the circumstance, or my own wishful thinking, but I had stars in my eyes hoping there was a future of harmonious friendship between my best friend and my sisters, and whatever this was, it was a start.
“We’re going to beeline straight out of this bathroom to the far doors at the front of the casino, then hang a left,” Ophelia instructed. “Don’t hit pause. Don’t get distracted. Stay together.”
I shouldered the heavy black bathroom door open and led the group, keeping my head down. One foot in front of the other, my eyes remained on the patterned carpet until we were halfway there and onto sparkly tile. I felt my sisters at my back, Ophelia to my right with her arm linked through mine. We all had the same idea, shrinking into ourselves, as if the parade of hot pink and sparkles wasn’t a full giveaway. I chanced a look up at the revolving glass doors as we inched closer and the pink skies outside looked like a fresh, well-earned freedom. In four strides we were there, in another few we were galloping through the vacuum of partitions, and when my short boots finally hit that pavement outside I let go of a breath that had been holed up in my chest for what felt like an hour.
Night was creeping up on Vegas quickly. All the lights were that much brighter, the streets busier. There was a pulse picking up in the city and my own heart was an echo of it. Adrenaline skipped through me in anticipation for the shoe to drop, for the plan to be wasted, but when we all finally stopped to look around, the coast was clear. There was an audible sigh of relief.
“Holy fuck, why am I so nervous?” I laughed. “We did it.”
“Keep going.” Phee ushered me forward. My sisters kept up the pace until we got to the edge of the block and pounded the button on a long, busy crosswalk. Once we made it to the other side, finding us would be like finding a needle in a haystack.
The streetlight changed from green to yellow, and I was rocking on the balls of my feet as it hit red and the cars rolled into complete stops. The crosswalk signal gave us the go-ahead, and I don’t know why—maybe that invisible string tugging me in his direction—but I turned back to the casino just as Mateo burst through the doors and outside.
He saw me, and a muscle in his jaw ticked. And then a wide, bright smile split his face.
One word left my lips. “Run!”