Beautiful Disaster 01 (40 page)

“Well, I don’t want you to go to dinner with your ex-boyfriend tomorrow night. I guess we both have to do something unpleasant to save your good-for-nothing father.”

I had seen it before. Vegas changed people, creating monsters and broken men. It was easy to let the lights and stolen dreams seep into your blood. I had seen the energized, invincible look on Travis’ face many times growing up, and the only cure was a plane ride home.

I looked at my watch again.

“You have somewhere to be, Cookie?” Jesse asked, amused.

“Please stop calling me that, Jess. I
hate
it.”

“I hated it when you left, too. Didn’t stop you.”

“This is a tired, worn out conversation. Let’s just have dinner, okay?”

“Okay, let’s talk about your new man. What’s his name? Travis?” I nodded and he smiled. “What are you doing with that tattooed psychopath? He looks like a reject from the Manson Family.”

“Be nice, Jesse, or I’m walking out of here.”

“I can’t get over how different you look. I can’t get over that you’re sitting in front of me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Get over it.”

“There she is,” Jesse said. “The girl I remember.”

I looked down at my watch. “Travis’ fight is in twenty minutes. I better go.”

“We still have dessert coming.”

“I can’t, Jess. I don’t want him worrying if I’m going to show up. It’s important.”

His shoulders fell. “I know. I miss the days when I was important.”

I rested my hand on his. “We were just kids. That was a lifetime ago.”

“When did we grow up? You being here is a sign, Abby. I thought I’d never see you again and here you sit. Stay with me.”

I shook my head slowly, hesitant to hurt my oldest friend. “I love him, Jess.”

His disappointment shadowed the small grin on his face. “Then you better go.”

I kissed his cheek and fled the restaurant, catching a taxi.

“Where you headed?” The cab driver asked.

“Zero’s.”

The cabby turned to look at me, giving me a once over. “You sure?”

“I’m sure! Go!” I said, tossing cash over the seat.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

home

Travis finally broke through the crowd with Benny’s hand on his shoulder, whispering in his ear. Travis nodded and replied, and my blood ran cold seeing him so friendly with the man that had threatened us less than twenty-four hours before. Travis basked in the applause and congratulations of his triumph as the crowd roared. He walked taller, his smile was wider, and when he reached me, he planted a quick kiss on my mouth.

I could taste the salty sweat mixed with the coppery taste of blood on his lips. He had won the fight, but not without a few battle wounds of his own.

“What was that about?” I asked, watching Benny laugh with his cohorts.

“I’ll tell you later. We have a lot to talk about,” he said with a broad grin.

A man patted Travis on the back.

“Thanks,” Travis said, turning to him and shaking his outstretched hand.

“Looking forward to seeing another match of yours, Son,” the man said, handing him a bottle of beer. “That was incredible.”

“C’mon, Pidge.” He took a sip of his beer, swished it around in his mouth and then spit, the amber liquid on the ground tinged with blood. He weaved through the crowd, taking in a deep breath when we made it to the sidewalk outside. He kissed me once and then led me down The Strip, his steps quick and purposeful.

In the elevator of our hotel, he pushed me against the mirrored wall, grabbed my leg and pulled it up in a quick motion against his hip. His mouth crashed into mine, and I felt the hand under my knee slide up my thigh and pull up my skirt.

“Travis, there’s a camera in here,” I said against his lips.

“I don’t give a fuck,” he chuckled, “I’m celebrating.”

I pushed him away. “We can celebrate in the room,” I said, wiping my mouth and looking down at my hand, seeing streaks of crimson.

“What’s wrong with you, Pigeon? You won, I won, we paid off Mick’s debt and I just got the offer of a lifetime.”

The elevator opened and I stood in place as Travis stepped out into the hall. “What kind of offer?” I asked.

Travis reached out his hand, but I ignored it. My eyes narrowed, already knowing what he would say.

He sighed. “I told you, we’ll talk about it later.”

“Let’s talk about it now.”

He leaned in and pulled me by the wrist into the hallway, and then lifted me off the floor into his arms.

“I am going to make enough money to replace what Mick took from you, to pay for the rest of your tuition, pay off my bike,
and
buy you a new car,” he said, sliding the card key in and out of its slot. He pushed open the door and set me on my feet. “And that’s just the beginning!”

“And how exactly are you going to do that?” My chest tightened and my hands began to tremble.

He took my face in his hands, ecstatic. “Benny is going to let me fight here in Vegas. Six figures a fight, Pidge.
Six
figures a
fight
!”

I closed my eyes and shook my head, blocking out the excitement in his eyes. “What did you say to Benny?” Travis lifted my chin and I opened my eyes, afraid he had already signed a contract.

He chuckled. “I told him I’d think about it.”

I exhaled the breath I’d been holding. “Oh, thank God. Don’t scare me like that, Trav. I thought you were serious.”

Travis grimaced and steadied himself before he spoke. “I
am
serious, Pigeon. I told him I needed to talk to you, first, but I thought you’d be happy. He’s scheduling one fight a month. Do you have any idea how much money that is? Cash!”

“I can add, Travis. I can also keep my senses when I’m in Vegas, which you obviously can’t. I have to get you out of here before you do something stupid.” I walked over to the closet and ripped our clothes from the hangers, furiously stuffing them in our suitcases.

Travis gently grabbed my arms and spun me around. “I can do this. I can fight for Benny for a year and then we’ll be set for a long, long time.”

“What are you going to do? Drop out of school and move here?”

“Benny’s going to fly me out, work around my schedule.”

I laughed once, incredulous. “You can’t be that gullible, Travis. When you’re on Benny’s payroll, you aren’t just going to fight once a month for him. Did you forget about Dane? You’ll end up being one of his thugs!”

He shook his head. “We already discussed that, Pidge. He doesn’t want me to do anything but fight.”

“And you trust him? You know they call him Slick Benny around here!”

“I wanted to buy you a car, Pigeon. A nice one. Both of our tuitions will be paid in full.”

“Oh? The mob is handing out scholarships, now?”

Travis’ jaws clenched. He was irritated at having to convince me. “This is good for us. I can sock it away until it’s time for us to buy a house. I can’t make this kind of money anywhere else.”

“What about your Criminal Justice degree? You’re going to be seeing your old classmates quite a bit working for Benny, I promise you.”

“Baby, I understand your reservations, I do. But I’m being smart about this. I’ll do it for a year and then we’ll get out and do whatever the hell we want.”

“You don’t just quit Benny, Trav. He’s the only one that can tell you when you’re done. You have no idea what you’re dealing with! I can’t believe you’re even considering this! Working for a man that would have beat the hell out of the both of us last night if you hadn’t stopped him?”

“Exactly. I stopped him.”

“You stopped two of his light-weight goons, Travis. What are you going to do if there are a dozen of them? What are you going to do if they come after me during one of your fights?”

“It wouldn’t make sense for him to do that. I’ll be making him lots of money.”

“The moment you decide you’re not going to do that anymore, you’re expendable. That’s how these people work.”

Travis walked away from me and looked out the window, the blinking lights coloring his conflicted features. He had made his decision before he’d ever come to me about it.

“It’s going to be all right, Pigeon. I’ll make sure it is. And then we’ll be set.”

I shook my head and turned around, shoving our clothes into our suitcases. When we set down on the tarmac at home, he would be his old self again. Vegas did strange things to people, and I couldn’t reason with him while he was intoxicated with the flow of cash and whiskey.

I refused to discuss it further until we were on the plane, afraid Travis would let me leave without him. I buckled my seat belt and clenched my teeth, watching him stare longingly out the window as we climbed into the night sky. He was already missing the wickedness and limitless temptations Vegas had to offer.

“That’s a lot of money, Pidge.”

“No.”

His head jerked in my direction. “This is my decision. I don’t think you’re looking at the big picture.”

“I think you’ve lost your damn mind.”

“You’re not even going to consider it?”

“No, and neither are you. You’re not going to work for a murderous criminal in Las Vegas, Travis. It’s completely ridiculous for you to think I
could
consider it.”

Travis sighed and looked out the window. “My first fight is in three weeks.”

My mouth dropped open. “You already agreed to it?”

He winked. “Not yet.”

“But you’re going to?”

He smiled. “You’ll quit being mad when I buy you a Lexus.”

“I don’t want a Lexus,” I seethed.

“You can have anything you want, Baby. Imagine how it’s going to feel driving into any dealership you want, and all you have to do is pick your favorite color.”

“You’re not doing this for me. Stop pretending you are.”

He leaned over, kissing my hair. “No, I’m doing it for us. You just can’t see how great it’s going to be.”

A cold shiver radiated from my chest, traveling down my spine into my legs. He wouldn’t see reason until we were in the apartment, and I was terrified that Benny had made him an offer he couldn’t refuse. I shook off my fears; I had to believe Travis loved me enough to forget the dollar signs and false promises Benny had made.

“Pidge? Do you know how to cook a turkey?”

“A
Turkey
?” I said, taken off-guard by the sudden change of conversation.