I spin, looking for Micah and Holly, searching for a shred of sanity outside the looney pool I’m swimming in. Holly’s looking baffled as Micah hunches over his machine protectively.
“Do you guys not realize you’re rich?” I say, turning back to my machine. “You don’t need the money.”
Zach sneers at me. “It’s not about the money, Cara. It’s the principle of it.”
“Oh, right. Of course, the principle. What’s the principle again?”
Zach's lips firm, and he deliberately turns his stool away from me. I turn to Declan, hoping for a smidge of sanity, but nope, out of luck there.
I get a drink from a passing waitress and settle back in my chair, relaxed, playing my slot. We chill, still aware of the white hair around us, for a couple of hours. At some point, Kade and Becca, deep into a very public make-out session, tip off their chair and hit the floor. They barely come up for air long enough to wave goodbye, then they’re heading out. Holly drags Micah out, hand on her belly, soon after. Smart of her. She’s the only one who was likely to get him to move. Before he leaves, he slaps hands on Zach and Declan’s shoulders. “It’s on you.” Then glancing at the lurkers behind him, he signs to them. They nod grimly and turn back to the machines with renewed purpose.
“What did he just sign?” Micah’s always used a combination of sign and speech, though his speech is coming more easily now. But the guys still use it to communicate all the time.
It’s Declan who answers. “He told us to stop drinking. And not to give in.”
“He doesn’t want you drunk?” I don’t really get it. We’ve been drinking all night.
“He doesn’t want us to lose our machines because we need a bathroom break.”
Yep. They’re crazy.
Three hours later, closing in on midnight, I’m convinced of it. Declan and Zach are both doing a seated version of the pee-pee dance. And it’s no wonder. I abandoned my machine an hour ago, needing the bathroom. Declan and Zach got into a heated argument with a blue-haired woman pushing eighty, but she won. Apparently, saving someone’s seat is against the rules. I don’t see any rules posted, but the guys backed down after she shoved them. They didn’t move, of course, but were wise enough not to push her back. They’re crazy, not vicious. So now they’re sitting there, two hulking men on either side of a little old woman, determined not to give in.
“Guys, maybe it’s time to call it.” I don’t really mean it. This is way too much fun.
“No fucking way,” they mutter in unison. Declan can’t stand it anymore, wiggling off his seat to dance beside the machine. I could leave and go back to my room. I’m pretty sure Declan would pull himself away to escort me. That protective streak in him is alive and well. But I kinda want to stick around and see if one of them pisses themselves. God, that would be an amazing Vegas story to tell over and over. And over.
I nearly lose it when the lurkers start up.
“Gee, I sure could use a big glass of water. I’m parched,” an old man says next to them.
A tall, stylishly dressed lady, somewhere between sixty and eighty, chimes in. “Norm, do you remember that trip we took to Niagara Falls? The water was just amazing. It poured over the edge like a wave. Just whooshing and pounding. I’ve never seen that much water in my life.”
A round cherub cheeked woman joins in. “Oh my, we should go see those dancing fountains while we’re here. I can’t wait to see that water spray up in the sky like that.”
The guys resist for a good ten minutes, but when one of the ladies orders a pitcher of water and empty glasses from a passing waitress and proceeds to pour everyone a glass while standing right between the guys, they break.
With curses and an exchange of middle fingers with two ladies wearing matching pink sweat suits, they bolt for the nearest bathroom. But they’re still in earshot when the sirens on Declan’s machine wail, paying out one of their tormentors.
I laugh the entire way back to the hotel, plastered between two very grouchy men.
“Fucking lurkers,” Zach mutters, leaning against the cab’s window forlornly.
“Fucking lurkers,” Declan echoes with a sigh.
34
DECLAN
“W here are you going?” I nearly jump out of my skin at Zach’s voice. “Jesus. Fuck. Don’t do that,” I whisper yell at him, spinning in the hallway to face him.
He smirks, leaning against his room door, still covered in unicorn paint but somehow making it look cool. It’s late. I thought I’d be safe from prying eyes. I thought no one would catch me.
“So jumpy,” he says with a snicker. “Seriously, where are you going?” My intentions must be written all over my face. He shakes his head. “It’s one in the fucking morning. You go to her room right now, it’s a booty call. Is that your plan?”
I roll my eyes and shove him back into his room, following him in. There are way too many people who could come across us. His suite is just like mine and Nick’s. Big living area, view of the city and desert behind, then two bedrooms. The door on the left swings open, revealing Jonas in his white boxer briefs.
“I thought I heard voices,” he says, studying me. “Are you having Cara problems again?”
