“That’s different,” I argue.
“How?”
I set my beer down. “Because Mr. Walden thought I had just freely given it to him, thinking he wouldn’t remember.” I sigh.
“Anything you need me to do?” Derek asks. “Want me to talk to him about something? Is it girls?”
I shake my head. “I found a key card from Kingdom at the shop today. I think it fell out of his jacket pocket.”
“What?” she asks. “How the hell would he get in there?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure what the hell he would be doing with that.”
Derek’s dark eyes dart around before he leans forward and whispers, “Kingdom is bad fucking news, April.”
I wave him off. “It’s just a casino.”
“No. I hear shit in here. Kingdom is into some bad shit.”
I’ve lived in Vegas most of my life, but I know nothing about the casinos or the nightlife. I have always lived in my own world. From the moment my mother opened Roses, I worked there with her. Before school. After school. Once I turned twenty-one, I still never ventured onto the Strip. It’s just not my scene.
“Like what?” I frown.
“Yeah? Like what?” Alexa asks him.
“I hear that the guy, Bones, is in tight with the mafia. Whatever they want, he gets them. Vice versa. And they bury bodies in the desert.”
“Mafia? Really?” I laugh. “Since when do you believe in that shit?” I know they exist. But in Vegas? They’re in places like New York, Chicago, and Italy. “And what could this Bones guy get them?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know exactly. I just know that anything goes there. I guess there’s a black market that the guys run.”
“Illegally?”
He rolls his dark eyes. “That’s what black market stands for.”
I’m still not sure I believe it. But even if I did, I ask, “What would Ethan have to do with that?”
He shakes his head. “You need to find out. And better hope that it’s not too late to get him out of it.”
Alexa frowns. “He’s a teenage boy. Maybe some friends of his had a party there or something.” She shrugs. “Kids do it all the time.”
“Or it’s something much worse,” Derek argues.
I sigh and tip back my beer as he helps a man who just walked up to the bar.
My brother better not be into shady shit, or I will beat him so badly he won’t be able to sit down for a week. He forgets I can knock his ass out. I’ve done it before. Many, many years ago, but a woman doesn’t forget how to fight. It’s like sex. Another thing Ihaven’t done in a while. When your body is put in that situation, it just knows what to do. Instinct takes over, and cravings need to be satiated.
“What are you going to do?” Alexa asks me.
I shrug. “Not sure just yet.”
“Well…” She slaps the bar top. “How about we go out tomorrow night?”
“How is that going to help me?” I arch a brow.
“It won’t, but you need to have some fun and let loose. When was the last time you went out and had some fun?”
I sigh. “I don’t know.”
