Chapter 3
THIS HAPPENS
“You were robbed?” Rowan asked him an hour later. He could almost picture the disbelief he’d heard in his brother’s voice.
Nelson had gotten back to his hotel, opened the door and his place looked as if a bomb had exploded and thrown his possessions everywhere.
His laptop was still in his bag, so that was something. Not that anyone could access information on it. That was locked up tight, and could be traced.
But his room was trashed, clothes all over the place, his old Baume & Mercier watch gone. As much as it pissed him off to lose the four-thousand-dollar watch, he was happy the new one he’d gotten a few weeks ago at twice the cost was still on his wrist.
“Yeah. That’s not the worst of it,” he said, sitting down.
He knew enough not to touch anything, but every part of his body was twitching in disbelief, anger, and a touch of sickness.
Or maybe sickness was the worst part and he was lying to himself.
His next call would be to Braylon. But he needed his closest brother first. “I woke up married.”
Rowan's roar of laughter on the other end didn’t help. “Stop. Don’t be a dick.”
“I’m serious, Rowan. Something happened last night. I think I might have been drugged. I have no memory at all. I had two freaking Scotches. That doesn’t explain any of this or how I’m feeling right now.”
“Fuck,” Rowan said. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I think so.”
“Only you. Always you. This wouldn’t happen to anyone else in the family.”
He didn’t need the reminder that he was the one always doing stupid shit that had lasting consequences. Rowan wanted a laugh and could be good for a dare.
Nelson, he just did things without thought and someone else normally had to clean it up.
He was sick of having to rely on other people and thought he had his act together the past few years.
He tried to grow up more. Mature.
Be responsible and prove he had what it took to work his way up with his brother West.
Then this happens.
“Seems like shit follows me everywhere.”
The last time he was in Vegas, years ago, it was with Rowan. They got a little rowdy, broke a few things in the room, but not like what the place looked like now.
Braylon had to smooth it all over then too.
Something about this place he shouldn’t return to.
“No. Not follows you. You bring it on yourself half the time, but being drugged isn’t cool. Or good. Have you talked to anyone else? Could it be this woman you’re married to?”
“I don’t think so. She’s just as shocked as me and has a memory of most of the night. At least in the chapel before we got married, nothing after we got back to her room. That’s where I woke up. Considering I was robbed at the hotel, it was probably a good thing I wasn’t here and unconscious.”
“Which might have been the plan.”
“I’m thinking that,” he said. “Which eliminates Kenzie. I was with her. Why would I be if she wanted to rob me? Not only that, her hotel is a dump. She gave me some snide look when she found out where I was staying.”
“Which means nothing,” Rowan said.
“I know.” He ran his hand through his hair. “I’ve got to call the hotel manager and report this, then everything else that happened. Not to mention the dreaded call to you know who.”
“West or Mom?” Rowan asked. “I’m not sure which one will be worse.”
“Neither am I. But if I was drugged, then it’s not my fault, right?”
“No. Let me get a flight there. You shouldn’t be alone.”
“Not yet,” he said. “I’ve got Kenzie right now. We need to get this sorted. She’s talking to her friends and then getting a taxi here.”
“So she’s not alone?” Rowan asked. “Are you sure she has nothing to do with this?”
“My gut says no.”
Shit, she looked as if she was barely holding things together herself. That couldn’t be faked.
“What do you know about her?”
“She’s twenty-four, graduating from law school in a month. Looks like she’s busting her ass to do it on her own. Said she works part time on top of it. She came here with her best friend who was supposed to elope.”
“Supposed to?”
“Guess it didn’t happen. I’m sketchy on details and they don’t seem that important right now.”
Rowan laughed again. “Another attorney, huh?” As if they didn’t get enough of having one in the family with Braylon.
“Don’t remind me. Though you wouldn’t know looking at her. She’s from Utah. That’s where she’s going to college. Anyway, let me call Braylon first so he can get to work on this. The next call is West. I’ll text you if I need you here.”
“I’ll be on the next flight, you know it. Just say the word if you need my backup. You know they are going to show up. Most likely both of them.”
“Thanks. I need to face this alone but appreciate the support as always.”
He took a deep breath, then hit the button for Braylon. Since he rarely called anyone, he knew his brother would pick up.
“What’s wrong, Nelson?” Braylon asked.
Not surprising that was how the phone would be answered.
As much as he wanted to get pissy and push back that he was sick of them assuming the worst all the time, he kind of couldn’t. Not this time.
“More like what is right?”
It wasn’t the first time Braylon had to get him out of a jam.
Here he’d spent the past few years trying to prove that he’d grown up and had his shit together.
Braylon let out a breath. “Tell me.”
“Not sure what to start with or where. First, I have no memory of last night. I think I was drugged.”
“Shit. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. My memory is fuzzy and I’m trying to piece things together. I woke up next to a woman. She doesn’t have much memory of things.” He paused, gathered his courage and blurted out. “We’re married.” The silence wasn’t helping much. “Braylon?”
“I’m processing. What could be worse than that?”
That was Braylon. Always gathering all the facts before he made his next statement.
“I get back to my hotel and it’s trashed. I was robbed.”
“Damn it,” Braylon said. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to talk to West. We’ll get the jet ready and get there as fast as we can.”
“You don’t need to do that.” But he knew he was only wasting his breath.
“Yes, we do. Talk to the manager now. I’m going to make a few calls and see if we can get you looked over and blood drawn discreetly to verify if you were drugged.”
“Thanks,” he said. Things he hadn’t thought to do himself. He might have if he didn’t have such a raging headache and his gut wasn’t killing him.
He was fighting through the sickness and trying to make sense of the past twenty-four hours.
“I’ll text you when we’re on the way.”
“I’m not sure I want Kenzie to know who I am.”
“Not sure you can hide it now,” Braylon said.
“She has my name, she doesn’t need to see West. Can you just pass that on? I don’t know if we had sex or not. We don’t remember.” He explained the condom.
“So divorce over annulment. That’s going to take time. Even in Vegas, we are talking court hearings, if it’s contested or not.”
“That’s right. If she finds out who I am, she might want to hang on for a buyout. I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know her.”
“Give me what you can on her and we’ll look into it.”
“McKenzie Raye. She’s twenty-four and graduating from law school in a month.”
Braylon laughed. “That’s funny.”
“Nothing about this is funny, but I get it. I really don’t think she has anything to do with this. She’s upset, regrets coming here, and needs to leave tomorrow for class. She can’t miss a test.”
“Doesn’t sound like someone who is holding out for something bigger,” Braylon said.
“That’s my thought, but I’m not thinking that clearly either.”
“Talk to the manager and I’ll text you when we’re on the way.”
“Thanks.”
He hung up and looked at his watch. It was nine now. His brothers wouldn’t be here for close to six hours, even if they could take off in the next twenty minutes and that wasn’t likely. But they’d still get here faster on West’s private jet.
There was a knock at his door, so he got up to look through the peephole and saw Kenzie standing there.
He opened it and let her in.
“This place is a mess. Do you live like this?”
His siblings would say he did, but she didn’t need to know that.
“I was robbed,” he said. “Which leads me to believe I might have been drugged for it to happen.”
“Oh my God. Have you called the police?” She rushed in and put her hands on his arms as if to steady him and look him over.
Her concern told him everything he needed to know. If she had any part in this, that would be the last reaction she’d have. Especially calling the police.
“No,” he said. “I’m calling the manager now, then I need someone to draw some blood to see if I was drugged.”
“You’re going to the hospital for it?”
He had to be careful what he said.
Could she search him online and find out who he was? Yeah, she’d find it soon enough. But if she hadn’t yet, he’d rather wait.
“No. I just got off the phone with my brother. He’s an attorney.” No reason to lie about that. Kenzie would meet Braylon soon enough.
“Oh, that’s good. I’m glad. I was trying to figure out what to do, but on my end, I just know this will be a time thing to get it taken care of.”
“Yeah. I’ve got other things to worry about.”
“Do you want me to leave?”
“No,” he said. “You can stay. Maybe I need the support.” If not a witness to everything that was happening. He didn’t need his siblings to think he was making this up to cover for a rowdy party.
Not that he thought they’d think that, but he had done stupid shit like covering parties that got out of hand years ago.
“I can do that. Call the manager. I won’t touch anything. Then I’ll let you know I talked to Bethany and what she remembered.”
He nodded his head, called the front desk and asked for the manager. Once he gave his last name, they put him right through. He didn’t carry the weight like his brother, but they also knew who his brother was and that West had businesses in the area.
“He’ll be right up. What happened with your friend? Bethany, right?”
“Yeah. She found Joshua and they were in his room talking last night. She said that she didn’t remember you coming into the chapel. We had three shots right before she was supposed to get married. She’s not the strongest of drinkers so I’m thinking that played a part in their fight.”
He didn’t care about those details. “So I came in after?”
“She said the chapel had cameras in it. I hadn’t realized that, but we can go back there and see if they show anything.”
Which was the next thing he was going to do once he got his blood drawn.
“I appreciate your willingness to come here and look into this with me.”
“I want to know what happened as much as you,” she said.
“Now even more so. I don’t like knowing that someone might have drugged you.
As much as I don’t like that we’re married and how it happened, the idea that you could have come back here and been passed out while someone robbed you isn’t a great thought. ”
“No,” he said.
“Did they get anything?”
“A watch,” he said. “My laptop is still here. I had some more cash that is gone, some clothing. About six thousand worth of stuff.”
“Oh my God,” she said. “You had six thousand dollars lying around here?”
“No. My watch was four, about five hundred in cash, the rest is some clothing.”
Her horrified face said more than words could. “You have a watch that costs four thousand dollars? My car didn’t even cost that much.”
He laughed and looked at the one on his wrist. “Guess I won’t tell you what this one cost. Good thing I had it on last night.”
“Or not if people know how much it’s worth. You’re crazy walking around with that much on you.”
She had no clue.
But she might be right. He tended to flaunt things as second nature and shouldn’t have.
“This is nothing,” he said. “Trust me.”
“Aren’t you kind of young to have things worth that much? Or are you one of those trust fund babies? Is that really a thing?”
Nelson laughed. “It’s a thing and I’m not. Believe me.”
He was saved from trying to figure out the next words to say by the knocking on his door.
He let the manager in, explained what he remembered and asked for camera footage of his time in the casino.
“We’re sorry this happened,” the manager said. “I’m Rob. I should have led with that. Not that we want this to happen to anyone, but all things considered…”
He looked at Kenzie and knew what Rob was saying. “I get it. I think I was drugged.” His phone went off and he glanced at it quickly. “I’ve got an appointment in thirty minutes to get blood drawn. I’d like to pass you off to my attorney if I can. He’ll review the tapes also.”
“Anything you need,” Rob said, then pulled him to the side. “We’ll comp you for all the damages and what was lost. Just give us a list.”
“I’ll do that,” he said. “Are you calling the police?”
“We’d like to not involve them if we can. We’ve got excellent hotel security that is going to go through everything first, if you’re agreeable to that.”
“My attorney will let you know. I need to run out, but I’ll be back.”
“Yes, yes.” Rob handed him a card. “My personal number. Please reach me here.”
“Thanks.”
“Why does it feel like they are giving you some kind of royal treatment?” she asked. “Is there something more I should know?”
“I’d think they’d do this for anyone who is going through what I did. Are you going with me or back to your hotel?”
“With you,” she said. “Then maybe we can stop at the chapel if you’re feeling okay. I haven’t asked. I don’t know you well enough to know if you’re sick or not.”
“I’m fine,” he lied. Because he needed answers.
Besides, the headache he had now wasn’t anything compared to what it’d be when his brothers arrived.