“You need a team to prohibit you from googling yourself?”
Kai found this hilarious. He dipped his head back and howled his famous howl. Elliot wanted to fucking hate him, and part of him did. But he was so magnetic, such a goddamn movie star, that even he, Pulitzer Prize–nominated reporter, had a hard time staying completely objective. It wasn’t difficult to understand why Birdie got trapped in his orbit, even when it was self-destructive. Kai Carol’s gravitational pull was impossible to withstand.
Before Elliot could ask a follow-up, he saw Mona rushing toward the security guard outside the velvet rope. The security guard shook his head and held out a hand, spurning her, so Mona bounced on her toes and waved frantically toward Elliot, then Simon, who locked eyes with the guard and waved her in.
“She’s here,” Mona said, out of breath.
“Where are you coming from? Why are you panting?”
“I was on a roll at the Encore,” she said, “when she texted me.”
“Who isshe?” Kai asked, and Mona froze for a beat in recognition.
“Birdie,” she replied once she composed herself. “Birdie is here.”
“Birdie is inVegas?” Elliot barked.
“Birdie is inVegas?” Kai said with unbridled enthusiasm. He rubbed his hands together like he could notwaitto see her, and Elliot reversed course and decided that he didn’t like him. He didn’t like him at all.
“Birdie is at the Boulevard,” Mona heaved. “This is what I’m trying to tell you.”
“Birdie is at the Boulevard?” Simon parroted. He looked concerned and said, “Excuse me. I need to get back to work.” And quick-stepped toward the security guard and whispered something in his ear. The guard picked up his walkie and spoke into it as he hustled off.
“How did she...” Elliot started.
“I texted her,” Mona finished.
“You texted her?” Elliot repeated.
“I didn’t think it was right, knowing that a couple of dudes were going to sit around and debate her future.”
Elliot had only vaguely filled Mona in on his plans, hadn’t shared all the details about Kai, so he didn’t know how she’dascertained how it was going to play out. Still, he supposed she had a point. The way she was looking at him—he was unnerved. How much more did Mona know than he’d realized? For a long time, as kids, they’d told each other everything, and sometimes they hadn’t even needed to articulate their thoughts aloud. They’d shared a womb, they’d spent their early years inseparable. Maybe she’d been more in tune with his feelings for Birdie than he’d given her credit for.
“I haven’t seen Birdie in ages, since we were last in Vegas, actually,” Kai said, like this was the final scene of a script written just for him. “This is wonderful!”
Then Elliot remembered why he was there. Not for Birdie but for thearticle. For thejob. For hiscareer. Just like he always was. He raised his phone to capture Kai’s response to the question he’d come to ask.
“So.” He cleared his throat. “Since you know why I came, I’m just going to ask you outright.”
Kai nodded. Elliot felt his pulse accelerate, like he needed to know the answer and simultaneously didn’t want to.
“Did you send Birdie an anonymous love letter? Hoping to win her back?”
There was a commotion behind Elliot—a din of voices, a huddle of whispers—but he was locked into Kai and refused to break eye contact. But Kai’s gaze floated over Elliot’s shoulder and grew wide. Then he leaned closer to Elliot’s phone so that his voice was loud and clear.
“Yes,” he said. “I did. I sent Birdie Robinson a love letter. A mea culpa of sorts, because I really screwed that whole thing up, and with some distance, I’ve realized that it was the biggest mistake of my life. Letting Birdie Robinson go was the most catastrophic, disastrous error of my life. Quote me. Print it. Blast thatto the satellites. I messed everything up with Birdie, and I’ve changed, and now I’ll do anything to win her back.”
Elliot heard a gasp from just a few feet away and recognized the sound. He could have identified her anywhere; he could have picked her voice, her breath, out of a crowd. He turned to find Birdie standing with Simon, both hands clenched over her mouth, like she hadn’t seen this coming. Like Kai was perhaps the one she’d been out there chasing all along. Not him. Kai.
Not me, he thought.Him.
44
BIRDIE
Birdie didn’t knowwhy she hadn’t pieced it together. Kai and Las Vegas. Elliot and Las Vegas. Obviously, she knew in the back of her brain that Kai could be here, but she’d assumed Elliot had come only for Simon—she’d never even mentioned Kai and figured her omission was enough to keep Kai out of this. But now her mind was moving in slow motion, through mud, through quicksand, and she was sinking and sinking and sinking.
Kai’s arms were wrapped around her in an embrace so tight it was nearly claustrophobic, then he pulled back and clasped her cheeks in his hands, his breath minty like he was expecting her.
