The UN Series Complete Box Set (102 page)

“Bust,” the dealer calls out as he lays a seven down. What the fuck? I’m not doing well at all.

After we had finished up shopping we all decided to do some gambling before getting ready to go out tonight. Too bad I’m losing my ass.

Angel, on the other hand, is kicking ass. Missy is still trying to understand how to play the game. Tate finally threw his cards down in frustration and gave up trying to explain to her how to play; now he’s just helping her out. I’m pretty sure he felt sorry for her, losing every single hand. And Parker is doing about as well as I am.

But the losing part is not what has my anger rising—it’s the older man who is sitting to the left of Angel. I keep catching him staring at her. Well, more like staring at her breasts. Every time I catch him he just gives me a smile showing me his nasty-ass rotten teeth.

The guy is really starting to piss me off. Every time she wins a hand he says something to her. Keeps asking her questions like where she learned to play and shit. She keeps her answers short and sweet.

If he says one more thing I’m going to punch him in the face. I reach down and finish off my rum and Coke. I look over at Parker, and his eyes move back and forth from me and the fucker who keeps eyeing Angel. He knows shit is about to go down. I don’t even think Tate realizes what’s going on. He’s too busy arguing with Missy about the ace of spades.

The dealer deals another hand, and this time I wave him off when I see I’m sitting at twelve. My luck, I will get the one and only card that will take me over twenty-one.

Angel smiles over at me as if she’s proud I decided to stay. She then taps the felt for another card and sure enough gets the queen of hearts.

Shit!
Thank God I didn’t hit again.

This girl can play blackjack, I’ll give her that. Parker opens his mouth and shuts it a few times as if he wants to comment on her good luck, but decides against it. It’s obviously not beginner’s luck, considering we have been sitting here for over three hours now, and she’s up by thousands of dollars.

My back stiffens as the nasty toothy guy leans over on his elbows to speak to Angel. “Damn girl, you’re good.”

She places her hand on my knee and gives it a little pat, silently telling me to not say a fucking word. “Thank you,” she replies sweetly.

“Is that how you paid for those big tits?” His eyes drop to her chest as he wiggles his eyebrows, making her gasp. “Or do you get them for her?” His eyes meet mine, and I don’t even think about what I do next. It just happens.

I am out of my chair and punching the fuck out of him before he even sees it coming.

CHAPTER NINE

SAMANTHA

Slade throws the guy up against the table, knocking chips everywhere as cards go flying. The dealer tosses his hands up into the air and starts yelling for security as a man behind him gets on his phone. The drink gets knocked out of my hand and spills all over my chest and down onto my lap as Slade wrestles with the older guy.

Before I can even get out of my chair I’m shoved out of it and land flat on the floor. Parker jumps up and helps me stand as Tate leaps from his chair as well. Parker tries to pull my shirt down that has been pushed up from my fall. If it were other circumstances, I would be batting his hand away, but I’m too busy watching my fiancé punch what looks to be a homeless man in the face.

Some random idiot from the table next to us jumps on Parker’s back, shoving us both forward when they run into me. Parker takes the guy down to the ground as I watch Slade throw another punch. I throw my hands up in the air.

What the fuck is he doing?

I look over his shoulder behind him and see a slew of men dressed in dark uniforms running toward us to break it up. Tate grabs a hold of the guy who is on Parker’s back to pull him off.

I stand back not wanting to get trampled. These guys look like they are on a mission as they come racing toward us. They look like rent-a-cops to me, but I don’t wanna push my luck.

Two of them grab Slade by the shoulders and pull him off as he yells at the homeless guy who is smiling through the blood covering his face. I just shake my head.
What an idiot.
All of them.

“Are you okay?” Missy asks wide eyed.

“Yes.” I cross my hands over my wet chest as they place Slade in handcuffs. Thank God he’s not trying to fight them, it would just make it worse for him.

“Angel,” he calls. I walk over to him with my eyes narrowed. “Grab my wallet out of my pocket.” He takes in a deep breath. “If there’s not enough cash in there you know my pin number for the ATM.”

I nod as I reach into his back pocket and pull it out without speaking to him. I feel the need to punch him as well. We are supposed to be having fun on our bachelor/bachelorette party weekend and instead he’s getting arrested. In Vegas, of all places.

Just fucking great.

They jerk him by his arms and start to walk off with him. I look at Parker who has been pushed face down onto the blackjack table by two other guys. He, on the other hand, is not going quietly.

“You can’t arrest us. Do you know who I am?” He continues to go on and on about himself.

I release a sigh. I knew he wasn’t smart.

I go to follow Slade but another man comes to stand in front of me and speaks.

“You can’t come miss.”

“I’m his fiancée,” I say irritated. “I need to bail him out.”

He shakes his head. Before I can get more pissed, the other two pull Parker up to stand, with his hands now cuffed behind his back. “I will take care of it,” he assures me with confidence.

I roll my eyes. “What are you going to do?” I ask arching an eyebrow.
Tell them more about yourself?

“I’m a cop, sweetheart.” He smiles as I think my jaw hits the floor. “You and Missy go up to your room and just wait. Like I said, I’ll take care of it,” he repeats as they start to pull him off after Slade.

You can hear him rambling off his name and his father’s name as they drag him away. I look up to see people staring at me with wide eyes, and I lower my head in embarrassment.

I turn around and see Micah approaching with Josh. Courtney and Holly are running in front of them.

“Are you girls okay?” Courtney asks, looking me up and down before turning her head to Missy.

“Yes.” I bend over picking up my purse. “They wouldn’t let me follow to bail him out. Parker said he would take care of it.”

“How’s he going to do that?” Courtney asks

“Parker is a cop,” Josh answers.

“With him being a cop and Slade being an attorney, they will be out within an hour,” Micah assures me.

I nod as I open my purse and pull out my phone. “Shit,” I cuss as the alcoholic drink runs off of it onto the floor.

“Come on,” Micah says to all of us. “Let’s go find you some rice and a bag to put that in.”

Slade is so dead.

“Are you sure you girls are okay?” Tate asks breathing heavily. His shirt has some sort of liquid splattered on it along with his jeans.

“Where the hell were you?” I snap. I saw him jump in, but why didn’t he get arrested?

His eyes narrow on me. “I was trying to talk them out of getting arrested,” he shoots back.

“Well it obviously didn’t work,” I mumble.

He wraps an arm around me and sighs. “They will get out of it.”

“How can you be so sure?” How long will it take them to release them? Can they keep him the rest of the weekend?

“Did you hear Parker? They will be throwing him back out into the streets in no time,” he jokes, making me laugh.

*****

SLADE

I’m sitting next to Parker on a bench downstairs in the casino as their wanna-be cops are on the phone. I pulled my attorney card and Parker pulled his cop card. They said they are holding us until the Las Vegas police come to pick us up. Something about how they don’t have the ability to transport criminals. I rolled my eyes at that one while Parker told them to ‘fuck off’.

I look over at the door when I hear it open, thinking it will be Angel.

“She’s not coming,” Parker says looking from the door to me.

“What?”

“The cops wouldn’t allow her down here. Especially since they can’t keep us here. She would have to go to the county jail to bail you out.” He smiles. “I thought she was going to punch him.”

I lay my head back against the concrete wall. “She has my wallet.” I close my eyes.

“You don’t need your fucking wallet. We are not giving them a fucking penny.” His voice rises as he spits the words out to the cops sitting behind their desks while on the phone.

I sigh. If we end up in Las Vegas county lock-up, I won’t be surprised.

“Just shut up,” I growl harshly.

His head snaps over to look at me. “They can’t touch us.”

We sit side by side not speaking as the minutes pass by. I rest my head against the wall once again and close my eyes when Parker’s laughter gets my attention.

“You think this is funny?” I ask with no humor in my voice.

“I think it’s funny that at thirty years old we finally get arrested for a fight that wasn’t even that rewarding. How many times have we beat the fuck out of someone for pissing us off? This one time, we are the ones to get in trouble.”

We
have
been in countless fights throughout our days.

“Oh and the fact that you’re in trouble.” He smiles at me.

I frown. “Why am I in trouble?”

“Your woman was pissed. You were too busy to see it. Once I helped her up off the floor, she was drilling holes into your head.”

“Fuck,” I curse lightly. “She is going to kill me.” My jaw clenches.

He nods with a smile on his face. “Maybe she will leave you and date me.” He wiggles his eyebrows.

“You are lucky my hands are cuffed behind my back because I would break your fucking nose right now,” I growl. “That would be rewarding,” I mumble.

He just chuckles shaking his head. I close my eyes and sigh. I can’t believe it. In all of my life I have never been in handcuffs, yet this is the second day in a row I have ended up with my hands cuffed behind my back.
Last night was much more enjoyable.

He chuckles again, and if I was one of those cops, I would think Parker’s drunk. We have drank quite a bit today. “You know I’m just joking. I think she’s good for you.”

“Really?” I say dryly. “How so?” I probably don’t want to hear his bullshit answer, but it’s not like I’m going anywhere.

He shrugs. “You seem happy.”

“That’s because I am,” I respond flatly.

He goes to speak but one of the rent-a-cops walks up to us and looks down at us sitting on the bench.

“Okay boys, you’re free.” He jiggles the key in front of my face. “But one more fight, and you’re spending the night in a Las Vegas jail.”

I stand up and look down at him, my eyes narrowed. I turn facing the wall letting him remove the cuffs.

Once undone, I pull my cell out of the bag they had put it in and call Angel. Straight to voicemail.

I run a hand through my hair placing my phone back in my pocket. Yep. She’s pissed.

“Did she push the fuck you button?” Parker asks as we walk through the doors.

“What?”

“You know, the fuck you button.” I look over at him with an eyebrow raised. “The ignore button,” he says rolling his eyes. “Don’t you keep up with the lingo?”

“No. I don’t hang out with teenagers anymore to keep up with the
lingo
. And no, it went straight to voicemail.”

He laughs. “Even better. No worries, though. I told her I was going to get you out. It’s not like she planned on leaving you down here. She was going to follow to pay your bail.”

Yeah, probably so she could beat me herself.

We get off the elevator and walk to my room. I open the door with my card and see everyone sitting around in the living room. Everyone except Angel. “Where is she?” I ask looking to Micah.

“She’s in the bedroom,” he says with a look of pity on his face.

I nod my head and leave everyone talking to Parker as I go to face her and apologize, once again.

I step through the bedroom door and see her. She has her back toward me, and she is throwing stuff into a suitcase.

“What are you doing?”

“Do you ever think before you act?” she demands keeping her back to me.

“Not really.” I shrug, answering honestly.

She turns around, and I see her shirt and jeans are wet. I sigh. “I’m sorry,” I say hanging my head. “I tried calling you,” I say quietly.

“Well the fucking drink that landed on me drenched my purse, which is where my phone was,” she snaps.

“I’ll buy you another one.” There, that was simple.

“That’s not the point,” she yells at me. “You can’t just throw money at shit, Slade.”

I rock back on my heels placing my hands in my pockets. “So, what is the point exactly?” I ask cautiously.

Her mouth falls open. “Really?” She turns back around giving me her back and continues throwing clothes into her bag.

“Ange…”

She spins around and throws a shirt at me. I pick it up off my shoulder as she starts to scream at me. “The point is that you have to start shit everywhere we go.”

“I started shit?” I take a step toward her. “You’re blaming me?” I demand.

“Yes,” she snaps. “You just had to jump on that man and start a fight.”

“He was looking down at your tits.” I gesture to her massive cleavage with my hands.

“Oh, so it’s my fault?” She places her hands on her hips.

“Well…” My eyes look down to her now soaked white shirt, and I can’t help but think of the time I spilled my beer all over her at Larry’s. “They are hanging out,” I point out the obvious.

She gasps, and her eyes widen. “You bought me this shirt, Slade.” She points to it. “Don’t want men looking at my tits? Then buy me a fucking knitted sweater that comes up to my neck,” she yells.

This is ridiculous. “I will always defend you,” I shoot back.

“He was a homeless man.” She throws her arms out to her side.

I snort. “A homeless man does not have the funds to sit and play blackjack for hours. He was a shark.”

“Argh,” she growls, grabbing her bag, and starts walking to the bedroom door. “This is pointless,” she spits out.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” I demand harshly.

“To stay in Missy’s room.”

I grab her arm. She spins around and pulls out of my grasp. “The hell you are,” I say looking down at her with narrowed eyes.

“Watch me.” She pushes the bedroom door open with force, and I hear a thud followed by a mumbled, “Fuck.”

Then I hear Angel speak. “Why the hell were you that close to the door? We were yelling for Christ’s sake.”

I walk through the door and see Parker holding his nose in his hand. I try to hide my laughter with a cough.

“Fuck you, man,” he says wincing.

I shrug. “You shouldn’t have been listening.” I then turn and run after her, ignoring the look of sympathy on everyone’s face.