Chapter 2 #2
Ellie spun in a circle and mused, “They’re both cursed now.” She fluffed the train so it fell in a perfect little curve at her feet.
“They can’t be cursed because you didn’t get married in them.
” When would that driver get here? I checked my phone to discover the little icon of the car was still idling two blocks away.
Were we supposed to go there? No, the hotel was very clear that ride shares could not pick people up on the Strip.
That made logistical sense, so I didn’t question it.
“I’m going back to change.”
“No!” I grabbed her arm and begged her to stay still. “We’re just going to go to the chapel, get the deposit back, and pick up our things, then we can change, or whatever you want, but please don’t leave me here alone.” And please don’t make me hunt you down again.
“Oh Allie, you gotta lighten up. The world is an okay place. Live a little for a change. I swear you believe everyone is out to murder you.”
Tell that to the homeless guy sleeping on the bench across the street.
Wait, if he was sleeping, that meant he was safe, so…
was Ellie technically right? I pondered that for a half-second.
“I know you think it’s safe, it’s just that I want to stick together, okay?
” So you don’t do something stupid like spend your entire trust fund on a spare-no-expense wedding excursion with nothing to show for it.
I gritted out a smile that I hoped was kind.
“Your face is going to stick that way.” She tossed her perfectly styled hair back. “We could take the monorail. That sounds like fun.”
“It stops running at midnight, and only goes halfway there.” I’d checked the schedule and route five times.
Ellie, being enamored with all things cursed, chose midnight of February 13 to get married.
Although technically I guess the “I-do’s” would be on Valentine’s Day, right?
Another thing I put off pondering until I shut down this shit show carnival ride.
There would be no Valentine’s Day or Valentine’s Day-eve wedding.
“Oh. No monorail. Okay. I’m going back to the hotel. Allie, do you worst with the deposit. Whatever you keep is yours. Here’s the plane tickets, the license, everything. I don’t care anymore.” She handed off my carefully compiled binder.
“Ellie, no. We’re going to Italy tomorrow…
together, remember?” I’d talked her into it after she announced the wedding was off.
I needed the license and the chapel information but shoved the plane tickets back in her hand so she’d have something tangible to remind her not to go on another bender. “Hang onto these for me.”
My drunk sister stared at the night sky. “Fuck. The very last thing I want to do is fly right now.”
The flight was hours from now. But I couldn’t tell her that.
“Ellie, please? Just stay with me. It won’t take long, I promise.
” As soon as she offered the ticket change, I jumped.
I needed something to get my mind off my unemployment situation.
And Italy? That was a fantastical dream of mine.
It was maybe even a guilty little secret ambition I’d harbored ever since one of the FBI neighbors let slip that my jaja was in the mob.
I just knew once I landed in Italy, I’d be revered as the mafia princess I was born to be. I had such an imagination at six.
I should have known Pulaski was not an Italian surname.
Ellie squared up in front of me. “Big sis, I love you, but here’s the deal, I’m drunk and starting to get sober.
Your idea of something not taking long and mine are two completely different things.
If we have any chance at all of pulling off this fake honeymoon excursion together, I need sleep.
And I’ll even sweeten the deal. I’ll go back to the hotel to pack the rest of our stuff and sleep this off.
Someone has to, otherwise we'll be up all night. So, let me do that. Then we’ll ride to the airport in the morning as early as you want. ”
I hesitated.
“I know you think I can’t pack.”
She couldn’t. At least not effectively. Ellie had a tendency to pack by clothing type. Which meant she could have one whole bag only filled with swimsuits. What if the other bags got lost?
She rushed on, oblivious to my thoughts. “And I know you had to chase me down this afternoon, but I vow, I won’t do anything stupid now. Trust me.”
“You’ll pack everything?”
She stared at me with that look on her face I’d grown to dread. Like I’d kicked her puppy.
“Allie, I can do this. I just have to get back to the hotel, pack all the shit in the room, zonk out until you get back, then you’ll take over, and we’re golden.”
Well, that was a solid enough start. When did she become the planner?
“Sounds good,” I quickly said before she could change her mind.
As she stumbled away, I heard her say, “Cursed. This dress is cursed. Such a shame. I look hot in it.”
“It’s not cursed!”
She was already moving up the escalator, but flipped me the bird as she rose upward like some demonic angel on a mission. “For the record, I was a beautiful bride!” she shouted to the sky.
And the car was moving, finally. Maybe Ellie’s dress was cursed, and I’d just been freed from its sphere of influence? Ponder later, act now. I searched the street for the color and model listed in the app. When it came into sight, I started waving my arms like a madwoman.
The driver of the black car spotted me and pulled into the curved circle where I waited. I had just opened the door and greeted him when out of nowhere a man in a suit stumbled into me and rolled into the back seat where I should be. I’d barely pushed him away in time to avoid getting plowed over.
“Hey!”
He stared at me with wide eyes.
Pretty, brown eyes, with thick lashes and… damn it.
“This is my car,” I said, lamely.
Instead of doing the right thing and getting out or apologizing, he pulled the door shut then leaned forward and somehow convinced the driver to take off without me.
“Jerk!” I screamed into the night air.
“Where’d he go?”
The man asking was a little rough and breathless.
His black shirt was torn, and there was a scuffed point on one knee that ruined the lines of his expensive slacks.
With his five o’clock shadow and the wild mess of his surfer-highlighted brownish-red hair, he was everything Ellie would drool over.
Rich clothes, wild appearance, and an attitude.
Me? I was unaffected to say the least. “The fucking wedding chapel, I hope. Serves him right taking my car.” I tapped away on the app to report the issue and hired a new ride.
“Which wedding chapel?”
I glared at an interruption made flesh. He was being nosy, and kind of rude. I wasn’t in a charitable mood. “What are you going to do, hunt him down and kill him for me?”
A slow grin spread across his face. “For you? Absolutely. And, I’d do it for free.” His eyes dipped southward.
Next, he’d start drooling. Ugh.
I quickly covered the sheer places of my corset where the strapless bra barely hid my nipples between the slats of ribboned boning. “Eyes up. That’s a lame pick up line.”
The grin hadn’t faded. “Apologies, I see a beautiful woman and sometimes I can’t help it.”
“Try.”
That made his smirk fall. “Is your twin as evil as you are?”
How did he know I had a twin?
He took a step back with both hands up, as if to give me space, or avoid getting hit. “Wow. That question on your face is deadly. And you don’t have to ask me how I know. I saw you two at the casino.” He pointed across the street. “You’re both very pretty. That’s all. And her being a bride, just…”
…attracted attention, I got it. “Well, she’s not going to be a bride today. Cold feet.” That was a nice way to phrase it. Better than dismembered corpses and various murder plots.
Whoever he was, he had the decency to straighten the hopeful quirk of his mouth. “I’m… sorry?”
Why did that sound like a question?
I pointed in the direction my ride share had disappeared with his quarry safely ensconced in the back seat.
“Listen, I was going to straighten out the no-show at the chapel, retrieve our things, and hopefully get a refund. If the car drops him off there, you can kill him for me.” I rattled off the name and address of the wedding chapel.
“Thank you.”
Instead of sticking around, he dodged back into the parking garage.
“Weirdo.”
My ride share arrived. This time I got in before anyone could snag it. So much for safety first.
As I settled back and plotted my next moves, I rubbed at something sticky on my fingers. It had smeared onto my phone as well.
Bits of brown dust flaked off where the substance had dried. I powered up my phone screen and almost screamed, but managed to keep my terror quiet.
The driver was oblivious to my predicament.
There was blood on my hands and my dress.