Chapter 26
Mari
Unfortunately, I’m not drunk. I did one shot, chickened out from doing multiple, and then nursed half a glass of rum and Coke for the rest of the night. It’s only two a.m. and I’m ready to call it a day after Kas’s confrontation.
Devon looks like he’s about to doze off where he stands and so does Violet. They lean against each other mumbling hushed “I love yous.” They are ridiculously cute.
“Devon’s favorite animal is a mountain goat. He’s probably the only person in the world whose favorite animal is a mountain goat,” Violet says as we meander down the Strip.
Devon scoffs. “Listen, Kas’s favorite animal is a tufted puffin. Bet you’ve never even heard of that.”
“A what?” Violet asks.
“A puffin is a bird, right?” I chip in.
“Yeah, but this one can swim,” Devon mumbles.
Violet slaps his chest. “You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“He’s not. They can dive to two hundred feet,” Kas says monotonously.
“I thought penguins were the only birds that can swim,” I say.
It’s the first thing I’ve said to him directly since our little chat at the bar. He squints his eyes at me as if he can’t believe I’m initiating conversation.
“My mom drove us to the zoo one summer, can’t remember which one, but Kas didn’t move away from the enclosure for like an hour.”
Kas shrugs at Devon’s explanation. “They’re cool.”
Paired with our earlier conversation, my mortification wanes slightly by his nerdy disposition. We share a brief look, and I’m reluctant to break our gaze. I only look away when my phone vibrates.
I retrieve it, see Isaac’s name on the screen, and shove it back into my purse. I don’t attempt to accept the call despite its loud rattling against a metal lip balm tin. Isaac’s last message to me was a short video clip of some podcast dude preaching about “high-value women” and mentioning something about distance making the heart grow fonder.
So damn lame.
“Are you gonna pick up?” Kas asks.
Now Devon and Violet are watching us.
“No, it’s Isaac. I’ll wait until he leaves a voicemail so I can message back and pretend we are amicable until I return home and move out.”
I don’t bother mentioning that the thought of my stuff being in a landfill has me up in a cold sweat most nights because he’s still refusing to admit that it was a joke.
Kas’s eyes blaze with anger, an obvious and restless fury at the reminder of a living situation he’s offered a solution to.
“Hey, if he calls you so much, what if you answer him and see if it placates him? We’re all here to cuss him out if he tries anything,” Violet says.
Kas’s nose flares.
I shake my head. “No, I’ll just answer privately.”
I yank the phone out of my purse and press it close to my ear so I can hear Isaac over the Vegas crowds. Violet and Devon lean closer to me and Kas angles his body to hear what Isaac has to say. I step away from them and walk a little farther ahead, tucking myself between a bachelorette party and some men in business suits.
“Hi?” I ask, turning slightly to see Kas, Devon, and Violet watching me.
“I miss you so fucking bad, Mari.” I cringe slightly and there’s a rustle on his side of the line. “It feels so good to hear your voice. So fucking good, baby. I can’t until we’re both home, together.”
He moans and I press my lips together.
“Sounds good,” I grit out, startling when Isaac scoffs loudly on the other end of the line.
“Sounds good? Is that all you have to say to me? I’m getting really fucking sick of how dismissive you are of me.”
There it is. That anger I once tolerated is now reaching a whole other level.
I tighten my grip around the phone and remain quiet.
“I’ve put a roof over your head and this is what I fucking get? You’d be begging for me back if it wasn’t for that motherfucker, Kacper. He’s changed you, you fucking gullible cunt.”
Isaac hangs up before I can muster up an answer.
My shoulders are incapable of relaxing even though the call is over. I rest my palms against my cheeks and exhale a weak sob. The burning in my eyes encourages a blurriness in my vision, and I shift my hands so that the tips of my fingers press into them.
“I don’t want to go home to that,” I whisper to myself. “I can’t go home to that.”
Is keeping my stuff even worth it at this point?
“You good?” Kas asks.
I shriek when he places a large hand on my shoulder. I instinctively move my hand to it, savoring the comforting heat for a moment before pushing him away. He fists the hand I touched and places it into the front pocket of his jeans.
“Yeah, Isaac was being weird. No biggie.” My voice wobbles toward the end of my sentence and Kas looks suspicious of me.
“Everything okay?” Violet asks when she approaches us with Devon.
Kas glares at my purse.
“Yeah, everything is fine.”
I don’t want to expand on this, even if Violet is silently pleading at me with her eyes and Kas looks seconds from ripping my purse in half to retrieve the phone and call Isaac himself.
Devon shares a look with Kas. I wonder if they discussed Violet’s idea about moving me in with them. The Isaac part of my life is embarrassing as much as it is depressing, and things are getting progressively worse.
I shake my arms out and carry on walking back to the hotel. The pathway is littered with people who have drank too much and those who need to rest their feet. After several minutes, we spot a small crowd up ahead. It catches all of our attention because of the shouting.
“I’ve done fuck all!”
A man is being ushered out of a casino and he’s attempting to fight the bouncers. He hurls punches that fail to connect and stumbles with each wayward swing. The closer we get, the quicker we recognize him: white goatee, erratic cursing, Mancunian accent.
“Bill?” I ask.
“Jesus,” Kas mutters.
Devon and Kas step forward to get involved.
“You’re permanently barred, sir,” one of the bouncers says sternly, easily avoiding Bill’s wrath.
“It’s been thirty fucking years!” Bill yells.
“Coach!” Kas shouts. “Let’s go.”
Bill doesn’t stop his tangent, and Kas trying to get him to leave only encourages it.
“Worst casino I’ve ever fucking been to,” Bill slurs.
Bill’s fighting experience in his younger years seems to have awakened in him; the only thing slowing him down is his age and intoxication.
“It’s not worth it,” Kas says, restraining him along with Devon.
Bill is no match against them and yields as he’s ushered farther away from the casino. He tries to turn and punch the bouncers, eventually settling with throwing both middle fingers up at them.
“Pull yourself together, Bill,” I urge.
“Hello, Sunshine,” Bill says, mellowing for a total of three seconds before spouting more threats to the bouncers.
We drag him away until he’s safely removed from all members of the public and in the confines of the hotel elevator.The trip up to our rooms is going way too slow and the classical music way too quiet. Bill’s casino evacuation, Kas and I’s club interaction, the phone call from Isaac. Everything has me itching to run into my room and scream into my pillow until I pass out from exhaustion.
I refuse to look at anything but the polished gold handrail. Any slight movement of my eyes in the mirror above it might result in meeting Kas’s furious gaze.
Violet discreetly taps the top of my hand, and I raise my eyes to meet hers. Her roughly clipped-up hair comes slightly loose when she jerks her head toward Kas and widens her eyes enough to convey an unspoken message. I think she wants to know if something happened, or if the book has been addressed. I tap her phone sitting tightly in her fist. I’ll message her about it later.
“So, how’d you get barred?” Devon whispers to Bill.
“Disorderly conduct in ’86.” Bill is unable to control his volume, and Violet stands to attention at his booming voice.
“Damn, you were that memorable?” Devon asks.
“Must’ve been.” More silence. “Bellends.”
“Did you guys know that the carpets in casinos are ugly so you focus on the game tables?” I ask, trying to break the silence.
“I actually didn’t know that,” Violet says, smothering a laugh at my attempt to continue the conversation.
“Works on me,” Bill says before pulling out his trusty vape and effectively hotboxing us in the elevator with watermelon-infused smoke.
I hate drunk Bill.
“Jesus Christ, Bill,” Devon splutters.
Kas snatches the vape while me, Devon, and Violet try to fan the smoke away.
The elevator comes to a stop at floor ten and we all exhale when the doors open. Two giggling women enter with none other than Dash in tow. He doesn’t see us and one of the women whispers something to him about the elevator smelling nice.
When he glances away from the girls, his eyes grow wide as his gaze lands on each of us. “Hey, fuckers!”
His dirty blond hair is tousled and his shirt is unbuttoned.
We all mumble staggered greetings.
Red splotches adorn Dash’s torso, from his neck to his lower stomach. He’s been completely ravished by the gorgeous women under each of his arms.
It reminds me of when Violet visited me at work; I thought she was having an allergic reaction because of the amount of hickeys her skin bore after hanging out with Devon.
“Where the hell have you been?” Bill barks.
After dinner, Dash and Bill went to the casino together. I’m assuming Dash left Bill to his own devices.
“I needed better company,” Dash replies, smiling down at his companions.
They laugh as if he’s the funniest man alive, and I find myself humored by their interactions. It feels kind of weird to see Dash like this: flustered, drunk, and probably high based on his very obvious Molly jaw.
The second the elevator stops at our floor, Kas motions for me to leave first. I’m acutely aware of his hand hovering over my lower back as we leave Violet, Devon, Dash, and his dates to continue upward to their much fancier suites.
“Davina Greenwood!” Bill hisses as soon as we step into the hall.
His gaze is as sharp as a whip because I almost missed Davina trying to slip into her room. She freezes with half of her body out of the door in a poor attempt at being inconspicuous.
We’ve bumped into every single person on the journey back to the hotel and at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if Quinn and the rest of my family ambled down the hotel corridor.
Bill checks his fancy watch. “Why are you up?”
She turns and presses a French-tipped nail against her lips.
“The kid was kicking all night, so I went downstairs for a bit. Can’t a woman gamble in peace, Bill?”
“Probably not after the shitshow I’ve just been through.”
Davina looks toward Kas and me in confusion. I shrug, too tired to explain as she slips into her room.
“You’ll be okay?” Kas asks Bill.
“Not my first rodeo, princess.”
Bill disappears into his room, the slamming door reinforcing how silent it is in the hallway. I stare at the gaudy carpet as I stalk to my room, listening closely to Kas’s heavy footsteps behind me.
“Mari, look at me.”