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“Mercy! This is a lot! Oh, and a ONE-THOUSAND-dollar voucher too! Shoot, I dropped it! Can someone help me find it?”
Liem had taken the lead. I just had to follow.
And later I could tell myself it was all for his birthday.
My gardener, who was now visibly shaken, pulled down her blindfold, revealing real fear in her eyes as her gaze darted around the room. She must’ve known the dealer was a dead end, because she didn’t bother looking his way for help. She swallowed heavily, the motion moving the coins encircling her throat enough that they caught and reflected the multitude of neon lights surrounding us.
The drunk man noticed her predicament too, apparently, because he took a sloppy step forward and lunged.
It was more than enough to urge me into action. Making use of my taller frame, I easily toppled the angry man out of the way, sending him flying down the platform where he landed on his butt with an audible “Oof.”
I was on the step below her within the next two breaths. “Bree?” I offered my elbow to her, which she stared at in confusion, unmoving. “Liem sent me,” I explained, putting all my trust in my brother. “We thought you’d want to make your exit now?”
She studied me for a beat, probably seeing my resemblance to Liem—who would be getting grilled about all of this later—and put her trust in him too by accepting my arm.
Her faith did serious damage to my already unfavorable risk analysis of her.
She stumbled over the first couple of steps before she adjusted her hold on my arm, drew her shoulders back, and became surer of her footing, then descended the rest of the stairs by easily making an arc around the flustered man on the ground.
Once we were through the bulk of the immediate crowd, I leaned down so she could hear me over the casino noise and tried to ease some of the tension.
A move that did not come naturally to me.
“I’d offer to carry you out of here, but that would probably look more like a kidnapping than anything.”
She glanced up at me and surprised me by letting loose a short laugh, then smiling wryly. “That would be a little over the top, don’t you think?”
I barely heard the words because all my energy had been redirected into keeping my feet moving instead of doing what my instincts demanded.
To pause everything—my movement, my thoughts, my life—the moment her eyes locked with mine for the first time.
Her gray eyes.
Gray like stone. Like a gathering storm. The color of steel.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end as the electricity of the moment coursed through my body.
Her hold on my arm tightened, and the scent of oranges and vanilla invaded my being, disintegrating my already feeble resistance.
Happy Birthday, Liem.
I saw what you did.
And I was so fucked.
10
BREE
Ibreezed out of the casino and through Fortuna on the arm of a stranger.
Through every meandering corridor and hallway without a second look shared between us.
Past the ice cream parlor, arcade, ramen bar, and gift shops without another word spoken.
The last words from him, which he had muttered to himself, sounded suspiciously like “I’m so fucked.”
The last ones from me had been assurances that he wouldn’t be in any trouble for what’d happened. His only response was a brief falter in his step before he pressed onward at an even faster pace.
