Linking arms with the girls, she smiled as they went off to whatever Lia had planned for them next.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Nineteen!”
“Yea! Great job, Ari,” Rachel called as she leaped in the air, then turned to high-five several of the men surrounding them.
“You are good luck, baby!” one of the guys said as he picked Ari up and spun her in a circle. Ari laughed when he set her down, and she wobbled unsteadily on her feet.
Ari was losing complete track of time, but winning everything else as they moved through the casinos on Freemont Street. The girls were dragging her from table to table to enjoy her amazing run of luck, and a group of guys having a bachelor party was following the three around.
“Come on, Ari. Give Stephen a kiss for good luck. The poor sucker is getting married tomorrow, so he needs all the luck he can get,” one of his friends shouted.
In the heat of the excitement, Ari leaned forward and kissed a blushing Stephen on the cheek as Rachel took a picture. Stephen then picked Ari up and twirled her while Rachel continued snapping shots.
Because of the sheer number of margaritas Ari had consumed, she saw nothing wrong with Rachel’s documenting their night on the town.
“OK, pick a number,” the dealer called, and Ari set a bunch of chips on seven. All the men followed suit and the dealer spun the roulette wheel. The guys all started chanting seven over and over, and Ari, Rachel and Lia joined in as the wheel started to slow.
It clicked closer and closer, then stopped on seven. The crowd around them exploded in triumphant cheers.
“Lucky number seven it is,” the dealer called as whoops and hollers and whistles of celebration filled the air again.
When Ari was finally back down on her feet, she swayed as the room began to fade out. It was long past time for them to retire, but she hated to call it a night. She knew Rafe was going to be furious with her and she didn’t want to face that sort of music.
“Whoa there, Ari, you just about face-planted. As much fun as I’m having, I think we have to head back now,” Rachel said, looking slightly bummed.
The crowd around them all protested, promising them everything from free drinks to jewelry if they stayed just another hour longer.
“Sorry, boys, but we have to go before her boyfriend comes looking. It’s only a matter of time — and no one wants to be here if he finds her like this,” Lia warned.
Ari was grateful that Lia and Rachel were stronger than she was, because they managed to get her out of the casino and to the front doors, where they hailed a cab in what seemed like seconds. Her head was spinning.
“Do you know how mad my brother is going to be?” Rachel asked with a drunken giggle.
“Yes. Lucky for you both that I’m the one he’s going to take it out on. Lucky for me that I’m drunk enough I don’t care all that much. Did you know he is phenomenal in bed?”
“Ooh, that’s way too much information, Ari. Please, please promise me to never say anything so horrific again,” Lia begged.
“I can’t promise, but I’ll try,” Ari conceded as she laughed with them.
“Where to, ladies?” asked the cab driver with such boredom in his voice and an attitude that screamed so clearly I hate this job! that Ari got the giggles. Sin City cab drivers doubtless saw it all.
“The Venetian, please,” Rachel said before sitting back.
“I’m so glad you remembered that, because I completely forgot what hotel we were staying in,” Ari admitted.
“We stay there all the time. The rooms are great and the shopping even better.”
“Don’t you ever get bored with shopping? I mean, you both are so dang rich that you can shop every day if you want. At some point it would have to lose its appeal.”
“Ari, that’s almost sacrilegious. How could anyone ever grow bored of shopping? New fashions come out almost daily,” Rachel gasped in a mock-serious tone.
“My mother didn’t want us to be brats, so we had a pretty normal life growing up. Now, as adults, we do tend to shop a bit too much,” Lia admitted. “We have to make up for our deprived childhood!”
“I was never into the whole shopping thing before, but now, with Rafe demanding I wear all these dresses and fancy shoes, I have to do it all the time. It’s taken a while, but I admit I’ve kind of grown to enjoy losing myself in this lifestyle. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever done before.”
“That’s more like it!” Rachel exclaimed.
They arrived at the hotel and the three of them stumbled in through the front doors. Ari had taken about five steps when she hit a wall of angry flesh. She didn’t even want to look up into the fire she was sure was in Rafe’s eyes.
Instead, she looked to the left where Shane was gripping both Lia and Rachel. His face had to be a mirror image of Rafe’s. Rachel looked over at Ari and mouthed the words hot, angry sex, which sent Ari into another round of giggles.
Rafe had obviously been pacing the lobby for hours.
Shane and Rafe marched the three of them through the casino and straight to the elevators, where they rode to the top floor in suffocating silence. Maybe she would get hot, angry sex. She could certainly go for that.
“Are you going to take care of them?” Rafe practically growled at Shane.
“Gladly,” Shane replied and he led Lia and Rachel into the adjoining suite.
Rafe dragged Ari into their own huge suite. “Did you have a good time?”
The tone of Rafe’s deceptively calm voice alerted Ari that something sinister was up. If she hadn’t been so drunk, she might have had a clue to what it was, but her brain refused to function correctly.
“Yes, we had a blast, thank you,” she answered happily.
“At what point did you decide it would be wise to ditch the professional men I graciously hired to keep you safe? Obviously I need to find ones who are a lot more discreet if you were able to spot them so easily.”
“Oh, we planned on that from the start. How can we have any fun with two incredible hulks following us all around? Discreet? Nahhhh. They were practically breathing down our necks, making it far too hard to socialize.”
“The whole point of the bodyguards is to discourage people from getting too close and harming you,” Rafe said tightly, fire leaping from his eyes.
“Well, we couldn’t have any fun with them all up in people’s faces. Chill, Rafe.”