Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
It took almost two weeks and some careful maneuvering to convince June to celebrate her birthday this year.
It started with a quiet mention to Sutton when she was at Daytrip, timed to when June was working on her mural. I told her I wanted to celebrate June’s birthday, to take her somewhere and do something fun, but when I mentioned it, she shot it down.
I don’t want to make a fuss over it, Graham. It’s just a birthday, she told me.
But I’m pretty sure I was put on this earth to make a fuss over June Taylor.
Next, Sutton conspired with Claire and Lainey, who informed me the perfect way to celebrate would be to go to Atlantic City, something June has always wanted to do, and, despite living barely an hour from the casinos, has never been.
According to Lainey, my lady luck spent all of high school talking about going on her twenty-first birthday, but that year, her grandparents were sick, and she didn’t find the time.
Each year, she’s made her own excuses, but according to Claire, it’s always mostly boiled down to the fact that June doesn’t want to inconvenience anyone.
I personally love when June inconveniences me, though, and I would be fine with inconveniencing the entire world to make her happy.
While she shot the idea down the moment Claire brought it up, we had planned for that.
A week later, I offered her a challenge at the Seabreeze’s trivia night a week later: if the boys win, June agrees we all go to Atlantic City and celebrate her birthday.
She was in instantly, but didn’t realize everyone was in on it.
She got the hint right around when Sutton answered that hermit crabs are from Canada, giving me a burning glare across the bar.
When the girls inevitably lost, Claire cheered, We’re going to AC, baby!
which definitely was the last straw. June stomped over to me then, Decker muttering an oooh, you’re in trouble as she stood before me with her hands on her hips.
“You planned that, didn’t you?” she asked, but thankfully, there was a smile in her eyes. I returned it.
“Maybe.”
“And you got them in on it, too?”
“I want an excuse to go to Atlantic City, so I was always going to be in,” Lainey said with a shrug. June glared at her.
“Can’t go back on a deal, lady luck,” I reminded her, pulling her in close.
“My god, you all suck,” she said, pouting, but after a moment, she sighed. “Fine.”
Which is how we find ourselves walking into a casino in Atlantic City, June, trying to hide her excitement as she looks around in awe.
The smell of smoke is heavy in the air, cheering and bells ringing as I hold her hand in mine, her duffle bag balanced on my suitcase in the other, and guide her toward the front desk.
June insisted on sitting beside me while I booked the hotel, knowing if she didn’t, I would probably splurge on something June told me was absolutely unnecessary.
I smile to myself as we check in, remembering the last time we went to a hotel together.
That one ended well enough.
“Okay, and I have you…oh, look at that,” the receptionist says, giving June a wide grin. My nerves tick up, wondering how she’s going to receive this. “You’ve been upgraded.”
“Upgraded?” June asks, looking around. “Why?”
“It says here that you were randomly selected. There was an opening, and we put you in one of the high roller rooms. You also will have full access to the hotel buffet.”
“Oh, I think you have it wrong,” she says, and the woman shakes her head, turning the screen toward June. “Graham Hawthorne and June Taylor, correct? This is you?” June inspects it carefully, then a slow smile spreads across her lips. In plain text, it says "Selected for Upgrade."
“No way. Really?”
The receptionist smiles and nods. “Really. Looks like your luck is starting a bit early.”
“It looks like it,” she says, happily, then turns to me, that light dimming. “This wasn’t you, was it?”
I shake my head. “All you, lady luck.”
She smiles the way she always does when I call her that, and my gut churns at the lie.
I told myself I would stop making things work in her favor, but I’m a selfish man. I will never be over the way she lights up when something lucky happens to her, and I desperately want to see it as often as possible. The look of her beaming grin makes whatever small bit of guilt melt away.
There isn’t much I wouldn’t do to get that smile on her face.
She spent the summer trying to make me smile, but she doesn’t realize I’ve been doing the same.
We check in, quickly breaking into the bed in the huge suite before June disappears from our room to get ready with the girls.
I offered to have them use our room, but June told me that while she loves her friends, she didn’t want our room to become the default getting-ready zone, and that if they did, we’d get interrupted “while you’re balls deep because Claire needs her curling iron.
” A little over an hour later, the buzz of the automated lock fills the space.
I’m wearing an outfit June picked out, a pair of dress pants and a button-down shirt, this one in the lightest blue that she said she hoped wouldn’t send me into anaphylactic shock from the color.
It turns out, while it’s completely passed my notice, since I just wear and buy the easiest clothes for work, June noticed I only wear white and black, and is determined to add more color into my life.
As if that’s not what she’s been doing since the first day she stumbled into it.
“Graham?” Heels click on the marble entryway. “My god, this place is so huge,” she grumbles under her breath, and I let out a laugh.
“In here,” I call from the living area, closing my laptop and moving toward where her voice is coming from. I stop when she comes into sight.
“Jesus,” I breathe, taking her in—the electric blue dress hugging her curves, high silver heels on her feet. Her dark hair is down and straightened down her back, her makeup bold and sexy, a nervous smile on her red-painted lips.
“Is it too much?” she says, a bit of nerves in her voice. “I told Claire it was too much, but she insisted. The dress is her gift to me.”
I remind myself to send a huge thank you to Claire for this.
“No, no. It’s perfect.” I take her hand, letting her spin beneath my arm and watch in fascination as the shiny material glimmers in the low light, showing off all of her delectable curves. “Fuck, June.”
I fight every urge to strip it off her, throw her on the giant bed, and fuck her senseless. Who needs to gamble when I have my own lady luck in my bed?
I check my watch, trying to gauge how much time until we have to be downstairs for our dinner reservation with the crew.
Not nearly enough, so instead, I lead her out for our night of fun.
After dinner, we stand together outside.
The entire crew is here: Claire, Miles, and Sutton, Decker, Lainey, and Grant, all managing to get the time needed off.
June is completely ecstatic to have all of her people with her, celebrating, having a good time without the pressure of work hanging over them.
“What’s next?” I ask, pulling her into my side. She wobbles, either from the two drinks she had or the high heels, but I hold her steady.
“Let’s gamble!” Claire yells, putting her arm into the air and cheering. “Test our luck!”
“I don’t know,” Lainey says, looking a bit nervously toward the tables. “I don’t even know how any of these games work. It sounds like a lot of counting and math, which is my nightmare.”
“We’ll hang out on the slots like little old ladies,” Claire says with a grin, hip-checking Lainey, who smiles.
“Slots are a money suck,” Grant says. Lainey glares at him, irritated, seemingly her normal response to him.
“Not if you have luck on your side,” June says, hooking her arms through her friends and moving toward the casino.
That’s when, for the first time, it hits me that maybe taking June to a casino wasn’t my best plan, especially when I’ve spent the last few months making her think her lucky stars just always happen to be aligned.
The slot machines last a total of thirty minutes, Claire losing five dollars, and June making a hundred before they decide to try their hand at something new. They end up at the craps table, a game that none of them know and need Deck to explain before get going.
And going.
And going.
Somehow, June starts winning and winning, a small crowd gathering around her until she’s turned a hundred dollars into a thousand.
“Maybe we should go to the club,” Sutton says nervously, looking at June, who is nearly jumping with excitement.
“A thousand!” she yells, throwing her hands into the air. “Bet it all!”
“Hell yeah!” Claire yells, cheering her on, the biggest instigator of them all.
“Uh, June—” Grant starts with the same hesitation brewing my chest.
“I can’t lose. I’m lucky! Everything works out for me!”
Guilt swirls in my chest, knowing the truth of her lucky streak has a lot more to do with my incessant need to make her happy than her inherent luck. I didn’t think it would be a problem, but a birthday gambling trip might just be the stupidest idea I’ve ever had.
“Yeah, but—” I start.
“Let her live!” Claire yells, cutting me off as June slides all her chips in before grabbing the dice, shaking them, and throwing. Panic moves through me as the small dice moves along the felt. It’s not a panic of her losing money, because I would happily replace every penny.
I just don’t want her to be disappointed.
Unfortunately, I can manipulate a lot in her favor, but there are two things I can’t touch: the New Jersey lottery and her career.
One, because it’s illegal, and I can’t take care of her from prison.
Two, because her career is all hers, and I never want her to think it’s anything but.
I hold my breath as I watch the dice fall, and then stop, a three and a four.