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“Free champagne. Free dinner. And a reason to wear a fancy dress. Fuck all the Wrights tonight, and let’s just have a good time. What do you think, Heidi?” Julia asked with a smile. Her red hair was flipped to one side, revealing the shaved undercut.
“Okay, but steer me clear of them tonight, or I can’t promise that I won’t flip my shit.” I popped the door open and stepped out with my nude strappy heels.
“Excellent,” Emery said. She hopped out next to me in her floor-length black dress and flats.
Julia had gone with mile-high black heels. She was rocking it with a short black one-shoulder dress that showed off her tattoos. I wouldn’t fuck with her.
“Shall we?” Julia asked with a wicked grin.
I nodded reluctantly and was ushered inside between my two best friends. I knew that they were only trying to be good friends, but I was not looking forward to this.
Wright Construction had fired me, and I had broken up with a member of the Wright family. Now, I was showing up at one of their events. It was pretty ballsy.
The ballroom was decorated to match the casino theme with enormous signs that said, Wright Charity Benefit Casino Night: Double Down for Charity. Roulette tables were set up in the center of the room. Blackjack and poker tables were already crowded with players. The noisiest area of the room was already the craps table. Women blew on the dice before men threw and hoped to win. It was outrageous and genius. All the money spent would be donated to the local Lubbock Children’s Hospital. From the looks of it, it would be a very generous donation indeed.
We angled toward the least crowded bar, and Emery passed out pink champagne.
She held her glass aloft. “To free champagne, best friends, and a girls’ night out.”
“Let’s get fucked up,” Julia added.
I just laughed. “I might have to get fucked up to live through this night.”
“Y’all are ruining the toast!” Emery spat.
“To Emery being shitty at toasts,” Julia said, lifting her glass again.
“I’ll toast to that,” I said.
Emery sighed, and we all clinked our glasses together.
She muttered, “Bitches,” under her breath as we tipped our drinks back.
Julia’s eyes lit up as we approached the craps table. I had only a vague idea of how to play. I had never been a big gambler, but I could see that Julia really knew what she was doing as she placed her bet.
“Done this before?” I asked.
She grinned. “Not for a long time. I prefer blackjack or poker, but craps is pure entertainment. Less thinking.”
I stared at the board with my head spinning. Yeah, less thinking. Sure. But then again, this was probably what people thought about pool, and it all fit for me like a puzzle.
Julia had a crazy stack of money in front of her after only a half hour of playtime. She shrugged her shoulders, as if it didn’t mean anything, and then pocketed her earnings.
“You do know that this is for charity,” Emery said with a laugh. “You’re supposed to lose.”
“Oh, I don’t lose,” Julia said. Then, she frowned and looked uncomfortable. “Um, maybe I shouldn’t play?”
“I was kidding,” Emery said. “Of course you should play.”
We moved over to the blackjack tables where Julia’s eyes were lasered in on the cards popping up. If I didn’t know better, I would think she was actually counting the cards. Could she do that?
“Didn’t expect to see you here,” someone said next to me.
I whipped my head over and found Austin and Patrick standing and grinning at me. Patrick’s date, Mindi, was drinking a dirty martini and staring blankly at the blackjack table in a silver micro-mini dress.
“I didn’t expect to show up,” I admitted.
Patrick smiled back. “Don’t blame you.”
