But no.
When we’d pulled into Vegas, I’d apparently landed back in the real world. And unfortunately, all the things that were happening in Vegas wouldn’t even have the decency to stay in Vegas.
“Don’t listen to Ed, Luna sweetie,” Patty chimed in. “Leo deserved everything you dished out. And then some.”
I. Didn’t. Ask.
But I didn’t say that, just grit my teeth. It’d be a miracle if I didn’t manage to grind them to dust by the time I got home. Wherever that was now.
The elevator dinged on the ninth floor.
They got off with cheerful waves, like we were all still on good terms.
Like they hadn’t all been lying to me for the past ten days.
By the time I reached the sixteenth floor, I’d absorbed enough betrayal to last a lifetime. It felt way too similar to what had happened at the station. Like I was living in one giant illusion. Nothing had been real.
But I would survive this.
I wasn’t the same Luna as before.
I just needed a hug.
Just a familiar, steady pair of arms. I needed the one person in the world who I knew I could trust. Noah would reassure me. He might even help me figure some of this out.
Just…breathe.
I unlocked the door to Room 1616 and stepped inside.
And froze.
There was a woman inside. Wrapped in a towel. Blond hair damp and darkened from a shower.
She turned around, startled.
“Oh! I’m so sorry!” I began backing up. “I must have the wrong room. Tay must have?—”
But then I saw the luggage. Two suitcases lined up by the dresser.
One polka dotted. One gray.
Mine.
And Noah’s.
“That’s…mine,” I said, frowning. Confused.
The woman tilted her head. “This one?” She pointed at my suitcase. “Well, I suppose that makes more sense. I didn’t think Noah would go for polka dots.”
Noah.
“I’m sorry…who are you?”
She smiled like she wasn’t adding one more ingredient into a pot that was already dangerously close to boiling over.
“Sorry, you must be Luna—the girl from that cooking show, right? I’m Courtney Grady.”
Grady.
