Page 48 of Just My Luck

“I’ve… been better.”

“You’re an idiot,” she said suddenly.

I chuckled. “Why am I an idiot this time?”

“Kit had my things brought up to the suite.” I waited. “Which apparently included a few things you’d gone out to buy without me.”

I groaned. I hadn’t even thought of the bag. Thankfully, I hadn’t been able to take the ring with me since they were resizing it for Nova’s finger. I had planned to pick it up the day before we were set to leave Vegas. My hope was to propose to her our last night here.

“I wasn’t going to make you wait as long as my dad made my mom wait,” I said, resting my forehead against the wall.

“My parents’ flight lands in an hour,” she said. “Your brother and Sofia are staying in the suite with me.”

“I bet Kit loves that,” I said dryly.

“What happened?”

“The best I can tell, it was a standard setup. I came back from shopping and the door was open. There was a woman sitting on the edge of our bed. I didn’t even really get a look at her. I have no clue what she was wearing. I think I got one word out before I was tackled,” I said quickly, knowing my time was limited.

“Mom’s going to get your bail set and paid,” she said. “Just hold on.”

“Will do. Nova?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. This isn’t what I had planned for our trip.”

“Me either. I love you.”

“I love you too.” At this point, the guard hung up the phone for me, and I wasn’t able to say goodbye.

I was shuffled into a different private cell, where I lost track of time, replaying in my head everything that had happened to me my entire life. I must have slept for a while because I was jolted awake when someone screamed at me that my lawyer was there.

Sitting across the table from Nova’s mother felt humiliating. Until her eyes landed on me.

“Nova, your brothers and your mother are just outside.” She motioned toward the doors. I knew I wouldn’t be able to see them.

Bethany Clark—Beth, as she liked me to call her—was like my adoptive mother. For the past, hell, I don’t even know how many years, she had stepped in anytime a mother needed to and mine wasn’t available. My mother had done the same for Nova through the years.

I wanted to cry and hug the woman. Instead, I sat straight in my chair and listened as she explained the process. I really should have gone to law school or something, because most of what she was saying was causing my head to spin. Then again, I was working on only a few hours of sleep.

“If all goes well, you’ll be out on bond by tonight.” She smiled at me. “How are you holding up?”

“Good,” I lied. “Nova?”

“She’s got us here now.” She cleared her throat. “Now, I need you to tell me exactly what happened. Starting from when you left Nova in your room to head to your meeting.”

She wrote down everything I said as I replayed it for her. I explained the shopping spree and even included both clerks names, since I’d spent a great deal of time with them. Hell, by the time I’d left the stores, I was pretty sure I was going to take Nova back there and introduce her to them. I knew they would get a kick out of meeting her and vice versa.

She made me run through everything two more times, making sure I hadn’t left anything out. By the time she left, she had that small crease in her forehead she got when she was worried or pissed. I was hoping the latter, since I’d seen what she could do when she was pissed.

I was shown back to a small cell and given what resembled a breakfast. I ate half it but then threw everything up in the toilet that sat in the corner of the exposed room.

I had never felt more humiliated than when I was using that thing while guards strolled by outside the bars.

Lunch was a cold bologna sandwich and stale chips. I passed the time by counting the cinder blocks in the cell and reading every bit of graffiti in the room. Most of it was very colorful, some of it funny.

By the time a guard showed up to take me to my arraignment, I was starved for dinner.