Chapter 2
“Lacey, answer the phone
or call me back now.” Holly sighed into the phone. “I’m on the
strip, and I have no idea where you guys are staying.” Holly hung
up after leaving her 5
th
voicemail, and she knew she had to make a
decision. Her stomach was growling, and she was so famished that
she was considering pulling into a McDonalds drive thru. “I did not
come to Vegas to have a Big Mac and fries.” She shook her head and
continued driving as slowly as possible. She was starting to get
really irritated, and after about ten more minutes of waiting, she
decided to just go get herself a hotel room.
“Where should I stay?” She
mumbled out loud as she stared at all the hotels and casinos. “MGM,
Bellagio, The Venetian?” She spoke aloud and then slammed her hand
down on the wheel. “Hmm, I guess I could make this a real vacation
and go to Venice.” She spoke to herself again and calculated it in
her mind. She was close to broke and really couldn’t afford it, but
she did have a new job, and hopefully if she got fired, she’d at
least get one month’s paycheck. Before she knew what she was doing,
she found herself driving up to the valet outside the Venetian, and
she grabbed her bag and hopped out of her car as soon as one of the
nimble young men came up to her and grabbed her keys. He gave her a
slip, and she smiled at him before heading into the luxurious
hotel.
“Buon Giorno.” She smiled
at the doorman and sailed into the hotel as if she were used to
staying in such places every time she traveled. This wasn’t the
Holiday Inn - that was for damn sure.
“Sorry, what, ma’am?” The
doorman looked at her oddly, rolling his eyes as he took in her
Jansport backpack and Levi jeans.
“Don’t worry about it.” She
yelled back, rolling her eyes. She wasn’t going to let anything get
her down now that she was here in Vegas. “Hi, I’d like to get a
room please.” She smiled at the front desk clerk. “I don’t have a
reservation.”
“Let me see what we have
available, ma’am.” The young girl behind the desk smiled at her.
Holly smiled gratefully and looked around the lobby. It was huge
and majestic, and she was slightly worried that the room was going
to make her broke, broker than broke if she was honest with
herself. But that’s what credit cards are for, to be spent on last
minute vacations and booze, she thought to herself and laughed.
Thanks, American Express.
“Have you stayed with us
before, ma’am?”
“No, and you can call me
Holly.” She turned back to the lady. “But I’ve always wanted to go
on a gondola ride. And I figured this was cheaper than going to
Italy. Not that I can afford to go to Italy. And even if I could,
I’m sure my new boss wouldn’t approve. He’s an ass, you see. A real
ass.”
The poor girl behind the
desk just smiled and nodded at Holly, but Holly could see the
concern and worry in her eyes. She knew that the front desk clerk
was worried that she was a mental patient or escaped prisoner. What
sane person mumbled about inconsequential information like that to
someone they had never met before?
“We have a suite available,
ma’am, if you and your husband would like to…”
“I don’t have a husband.”
Holly started laughing hysterically. “That’s kinda why I’m here. My
fiancé, well, boyfriend, who I thought was going to become my
fiancé, dumped me. He dumped me. Can you believe that? And he
called me boring. I’m not boring. I’m the life of the party. The
life of the party, I tell you. Watch this.” The front desk clerk
watched in alarm as Holly started twirling around and making
beatbox noises. “Hey yo, hey yo, guess who’s here. It’s me, yo,
it’s me. Holly the bee.” The front desk clerk cleared her throat,
and Holly looked up at her, her face red. “Sorry about that. Look,
here’s my American Express. Please give me the cheapest room you
have available.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“You can call me Hol…”
Holly cut herself off. There was no way this lady wanted to have
any sort of familiarity with her. She sighed and waited on the lady
quietly when she felt like someone was staring at her. She peeked
around and saw a tall man standing about 10 feet away from her,
looking at her in disdain. He was really handsome, and he looked
pretty rich from the look of his suit and shows. His dark brown
hair was perfectly coiffed, and his green eyes were spewing his
contempt for her. He was brazen as well. He didn’t even avert his
gaze as she locked eyes with him. He looked her up and down and
sneered at her. She flipped her long brown hair over her shoulders
and turned back to the front desk clerk with her face
burning.
“The room is going to be
$300 a night. Is that okay?”
“$300?” Holly’s voice rose.
“A night?”
“Yes ma’am.”
“I guess it will have to be
okay.” She sighed, and she thought she heard someone laughing
behind her. She peeked to the side and saw that the man was staring
at her again. This time he raised an eyebrow at her and a sardonic
smile crossed his face. She frowned at him and waited for the lady
to run her card. She prayed to God that she had enough money left
on the card for the charge to go through. She didn’t need another
embarrassing mishap and have that horrible man really start
laughing at her. She just wanted to hurry to her room, relax in the
tub, and order some room service. She hoped Lacey and Lewis would
contact her soon because right about now all she wanted to do was
watch some TV.
“Can I run the card
ma’am?”
“Yes.” Holly’s voice was
small and tight. She didn’t want to give the handsome devil behind
her any more reason to look down at her.
Please don’t get declined; please don’t get
declined
, she thought.
“Okay ma’am. Here are your
room keys.”
“Thanks.” Holly tried not
to make a comment about being given multiple keys. She wasn’t going
to allow the front desk clerk to have one up on her. “Enjoy the
rest of your day. It must suck to have to work on a Friday night.”
Take that, bitch, she smiled to herself.
“Actually I was off ten
minutes ago.” The girl stared straight into her eyes.
“Oh.” Holly grabbed her
keys and walked away swiftly. She was trying so hard to avoid
looking at the handsome man that she didn’t watch where she was
going and bumped into a trashcan. She banged her knee, dropped her
backpack, and fell on the ground. “Ow,” she cried out.
“Need a hand?” A silky warm
voice spoke as a very masculine hand reached down to her. She
didn’t have to look up to know who had come to her aid.
“No.” She growled and tried
to jump up. She lost her balance halfway up and fell down again,
hitting her ass hard. “Ow.” She cried out again
involuntarily.
“Let me help you up.” The
voice smirked, and this time his hand wasn’t taking no for an
answer. He grasped her clammy hand firmly and pulled her up as if
she were as light as a feather and not the 150lbs that she actually
weighed.
“Thanks.” She mumbled, and
she stared at him from under her lashes as she regained her
balance. “I don’t know what happened.”
“You weren’t looking where
you were going.” He replied snarkily. “You can usually avoid
bumping into objects and falling if you keep your eyes ahead of
you.”
“Why I didn’t know that.”
She huffed out and grabbed her bag. Her arms were shaking, and she
took a deep breath.
“Let me help you to your
room.” His voice was soft as he touched her shoulder, and she
looked into his vivid forest green eyes in surprise. He was a lot
more handsome close up than she had realized earlier, and her
breath caught as she studied his face. Now this was the sort of guy
she went for. He had dark brown hair that almost looked black, and
he was the epitome of tall, dark, and handsome. He even smelled
good. Too good. She knew that she had to get away from this man
quickly, or she was liable to say something she would
regret.
“I’m okay.” She pulled away
from him quickly and almost ran to the elevator. She looked down at
her keys to see her room number as she waited for the elevator, and
she hoped that her cheeks weren’t burning as red as she thought
they were.
“And we meet again.” The
man was next to her again, and as she looked up, she held in a
groan.
“Yeah, it’s a huge
surprise.” She rolled her eyes. “Imagine us meeting at the elevator
like this.”
“Wow, clumsy and irritable.
Aren’t you just a bright star?” He replied sarcastically. “I can
see why you’re here alone.”
“Who says I’m here alone?”
She muttered, disgruntled at his rude but accurate comments. Did
she look like some sort of loser?
“I heard you saying you
were alone.” He looked at her with a smirk.
“You sure see and hear a
lot. Are you with the CIA or something?” She continued with her
sarcastic rant. “I’m glad to hear my tax dollars are paying for
your worthwhile services, Mr. President. Mr. President, all is
clear with the single women in Las Vegas. You can go to sleep
now.”
“I’m sure if I was with the
CIA, I’d have you locked up by now. Did you escape recently or
something?”
“I’ve never been to
jail.”
“I meant from the mental
institution.”
“You what?” Holly screeched
and looked up trying to hide a smile. She had to admit that she was
acting like a crazy woman. “Funny.” She laughed and shook her head.
“But not funny enough for me to pay to see your show
tonight.”
“My show?” It was his turn
to look confused.
“Aren’t you the
entertainment at the comedy club tonight?” She peered at him
curiously. “I thought you looked familiar. Your name is Bozo, isn’t
it?”
The man burst out laughing
and ran his hand through his gloriously soft and silky looking
hair. “Well, I have to admit that was a good one.”
“Well, see ya.” Holly
breathed a sigh of relief as the elevator finally arrived. The man
was starting to grow on her, and the last thing she needed was a
small-time crush on some guy she would never see again. She was
already wondering what he looked like under his expensive Armani
suit. She was pretty confident that his body was just as good as
she expected it to be, and she didn’t need visions of him haunting
her in bed every night.
“It’s not a goodbye just
yet.” He walked into the elevator with her, and she groaned at her
idiocy. No wonder he thought she was slow. “What floor?”
“The
10
th
,
please.” She smiled and looked down at her bag.
Please do not say anything else to me
, she thought to herself, but she was slightly disappointed
when her wish came true. The bell dinged as they arrived at her
floor, and as she walked out of the elevator he called out to
her.
“Stay safe.” His voice
seemed to be laughing at her, and she didn’t bother turning around
to thank him.
“Pompous ass.” She muttered
to herself as she opened the door. She walked into the room and
grinned to herself. The room was large and luxurious. There was a
king-sized bed in the middle of the room, facing a gigantic flat
screen TV. She dropped her bag and jumped up onto the bed. She
snuggled into the pillow and sighed with happiness. Before she knew
it, she had fallen into a deep sleep and was only awakened when her
stomach started to growl.
She rolled over and grabbed
the booklets on the nightstand and checked the menus out to see
what she wanted to eat. She was debating between a filet mignon and
lasagna when her phone rang.
She groaned and rolled
over. “Hello?”
“Holly, where are you?”
Lacey giggled.
“I’m in my hotel
room.”
“How did you get a key?”
Lacey hiccupped. “Lewis, stop it. I’m on the phone.”
“I gave the front desk
clerk my credit card.” Holly was annoyed.
“Oh. Why didn’t you just
come and join us?”
“I don’t know where you
guys are.”
“I sent you a text. Oh,
wait, I think I meant to send you a text, but we went to a bar and
started playing pool. And guess what, Holly? I beat
Lewis!”
“Yay for you.” Holly
sounded anything but happy for her friend.
“I’m sorry, Hollllly. Let
me and Lewis come and pick you up, and we can go for
dinner.”
“You guys can’t
drive!”
“Lewis will get a limo! We
owe you, and we can go party on the strip.”
“I don’t know.”
“Please. It’ll be
fun.”
“I don’t know. I’m not in
the mood.”
“Holllly, we have to have
fun this weekend. We’ll go dancing.”
“Fine. How long will you
be?”
“About an hour.”
“An hour? Lacey, I’m
starving.” Holly sighed.
“Have a shower, get sexy,
and dinner will be on us.”
“You better be taking me
somewhere fancy.”
“Will McDonalds do?” Lacey
laughed, and Holly giggled.
“Lacey, I better be as
drunk as you are in two hours, or I am going to go off on
someone.”