Another round of laughter erupted. Owen looked in that direction and saw Sebastian. The dust bunny was on the highest rung of the ladder the bartenders used to reach the most expensive spirits on the top shelf. It was clear he was after the elegantly curved glass bottle filled with an acid-green liqueur. The two bartenders watched uneasily. It was obvious they were unsure of how to handle the situation. Everyone knew dust bunnies could become dangerous if they were provoked or annoyed.
This was not going to end well.
Owen got to his feet.
“Hey, little buddy,” one of the bartenders said to Sebastian in cajoling tones, “that’s Alien Dream Absinthe. Pretty expensive stuff.”
“Ten bucks says he drops the bottle,” a man perched on a barstool said.
“You’re on,” someone at the other end of the bar called out.
“I’ve got twenty says he doesn’t drop it,” a woman announced.
Sebastian chortled and reached for the bottle with his two top paws.
Alice had arrived at the far end of the bar, but it was the wrong end, the one without the swinging gate that the staff used to come and go. She was trapped, unable to reach the ladder.
“Push the ladder out of the way so that he can’t reach that bottle,” she said to the bartenders.
One of them leaped into action and gave the ladder a strong shove that sent it sailing down the full length of the bar. Sebastian clung to the top step and chortled exultantly.
Unfortunately, he had managed to grasp the bottle of Alien Dream Absinthe before push-off. It was obvious that he was struggling to maintain a secure grip on the ladder and hold on to the heavy bottle at the same time.
Owen made it through the swinging gate just as the ladder carrying Sebastian and the absinthe flew toward him.
Sebastian dropped the bottle so that he could get a more secure grip.
Owen caught the absinthe and set it down on the backbar with care.
“Great save,” the woman yelled, triumphant. “I win.”
“No way,” someone else declared. “The little sucker dropped the bottle. Sure, that guy caught it, but it doesn’t matter. The bottle was dropped. I’m the winner.”
Sebastian, chortling with glee, vaulted down onto Owen’s shoulder.
Both of the bartenders looked at Owen.
“Probably be a good idea for you and the lady and the lucky dust bunny to go somewhere else,” one of them said quietly.
“An excellent plan,” Owen said.
Chapter Fourteen
Alice clutched Sebastian and watchedOwen rez the lock on the door of the suite. She was still a little stunned. Visions of disaster danced in her head. She saw thousands of dollars’ worth of very expensive booze being swept off the shelves and crashing to the floor. That would most likely have been followed by getting arrested and thrown in jail for damaging valuable casino property. And once in jail, she would have been easy prey for Kelbrook and his fixer. Not to mention that she would have owed the Amber Palace a fortune she would probably never have been able to repay. She had lived in Illusion Town long enough to know that it was never a good idea to owe money to one of the big casino moguls.
“I don’t even want to think about how much that bottle of Alien Dream Absinthe alone would have cost,” she said, trying to pick a less disastrous vision.
“Stop obsessing about what might have been,” Owen said. Gallantly,he stood aside and allowed her to stalk past him into the room. “You’re a trained practitioner of the Ballantine Method. You’re supposed to think positive. The bottle was not dropped on the floor, therefore there is no financial issue.”
“Pure luck,” she muttered.
“I wasn’t aware that the Ballantine Method allowed for the factor of luck. I thought it was all about balancing negative and positive energy.”
“Oh, shut up.”
“Right,” he said. “In hindsight, it was an interesting evening. I don’t know about you, but getting kicked out of a bar was a first for me.”
“Talk about embarrassing.” She set Sebastian down on the bed, slipped off her high heels, and flopped into a plush chair. “At the rate we’re going, we’ll be fortunate if Sebastian doesn’t get us booted out of the hotel.”
