Broken Dreams (Broken Series) (15 page)

My phone buzzed in the pocket of my designer trousers and I groaned. I wanted nothing more than to ignore it, but if it was Mallory, I knew I had to answer.

“Sorry,” I told Rainey as I slid my thumb across the screen of my cell. “Hello?”

“Dude! Where the hell are you?” Luke’s voice yelled in my ear. I glanced at the screen again. He was calling from Mallory’s cell. I would have to kill her.

“What do you want?” I barked.

“Where are you?” he asked again.

“Vegas.”

“What are you doing in Vegas?”

“What are you, my mother? I’m here with Rainey and we’re on a date, so unless you have something important to say, I am going to hang
up in five seconds. Five…”

“Umm, Mallory said you were going to bring Rainey home – are you?” he tried.

“…Four…”

“Did you really sell the bar?”

“…Three…”

“Are you going to move to LA permanently?”

“…Two…”

“Are you in love with her? Mal said you were but I don’t believe it-”

“…One… Bye, Luke.”

“Wait! Will you answer my damn question?”
h
e screamed in my ear. I had to pull the phone away from my head.

“Not unless she wants to. Yes. If I have to. And abso-fucking-lutely I love her. Goodbye
,
Luke.” I pressed the end button, effectively cutting off whatever he might have said in reply.

I had unknowingly stopped on the sidewalk and Rainey stared up at me with amusement in her eyes. “What’s so funny?”

Her smile widened. “Well, the phrase ‘abso-fucking-lutely I love her’ is a pretty awesome thing to hear. I can assume you’re talking about me…”
S
he wanted to hear the words again, so I decided to torment her.

“Actually, I was referring to my
other
girlfriend,” I teased.

She slapped my shoulder with her free hand. I was still clinging tightly to her left hand. I looked down at our entwined fingers and raised them to my lips, gently kissing each of her fingers.

“You, Rainey. Only you,” I said in between kisses. She blushed at my words and tried to escape my grasp, but I wouldn’t let her. Instead, I laughed, tucked my cell back into my pocket after switching it to silent, and then tugged her along the sidewalk toward our dinner date. Rainey giggled while her face turned red
,
but she followed along.

Dinner was more than filling, and we both ordered more food than we could possibly consume. She still had room for dessert, a feat that I admired her for. I hated when women suppressed their appetites to appeal to a man. Rainey made good on her promise to eat her weight in food. Then she devoured most of a fudge brownie sundae, hardly leaving me any at all.

“You ready to do some betting?” I asked once the last plate was cleared and the waiter left our bill on the table. I didn’t want to look at it, but I was pleasantly surprised that it was under two hundred bucks. I thought for sure we would have spent more than that easily. I pulled three hundreds out of my wallet and left them on the table.

I helped Rainey out of her chair as she stared at the bills. “When did you become Daddy Warbucks?” she asked incredulously.

“I have to keep my money situation under wraps. Otherwise, the ladies would be all over me
.
” I winked at her.

“I can imagine. Having a sugar-daddy at my disposal is pretty interesting.”

We laughed and made our way to the lines of tables. “So what’s your game?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve never really gambled before,” she admitted.

“Okay, how about we start with some slots, then?”

She nodded and we wandered around for several minutes before a slot machine caught her eye. She started to open the small clutch purse she carried with her but I stopped her. I shoved a hundred dollar bill into the machine before she could protest and sat next to her, throwing a twenty into the machine. I wasn’t too interested in gambling, but watching her was just as satisfying.

Her eyes lit up as I explained how to choose the number of lines and bet per line. We went through a couple bucks as she figured it out, and once she did, she was off, bouncing up and down on the seat every time she won the slightest amount. I set my machine to the minimum bet and then hit the rebet button every once in a while, just so I could occupy the machine. When a
waitress came by and asked us if we wanted a drink, I requested a whiskey and cola.

I didn’t want to get drunk, knowing as I did that Rainey couldn’t drink, but a little buzz would loosen me up. Especially if we hit any of the clubs on the strip and she wanted me to dance. I knew better than to think that my dance moves rivaled Channing Tatum, but I could throw down, if I needed to. The problem was, I lacked the courage, and no one had seen me dance.
Ever.

But if Rainey asked, I would agree, no matter what my reservations were. For the time being, though, she was content to spend money in the slots. After an hour of play, she lost quite a bit but then managed to get herself ahead of the game. When she had two hundred bucks sitting in the machine, I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

“Let’s try one of the table games,” I suggested.

“Okay,” she replied, breathless in her excitement. “Which game?”

“Blackjack is the easiest to learn,” I informed her. I showed her which button to press to cash out and she took her printed ticket to the cash machine. I followed closely behind her, enjoying the view.

“Stop staring at my ass,” she reprimanded me once she had a wad of twenties in her hand and we were walking toward the game tables.

“I can’t help it,” I admitted. “It’s amazing.”

She laughed and we found two seats open at a blackjack table near the edge of the room. We sat and she traded her money in for chips. She bet like someone who had no idea what she was doing, and within minutes, she was broke.

“Damn!” she groaned, getting up from the table. “How do people count cards? I could barely keep track of the ones he dealt to me, let alone everyone else’s.”

I followed her, carrying my drink in my left hand and dropping my free hand to the small of her back. I guided her through the now much more crowded space and she turned to talk to me, her voice an octave louder than normal so I could hear her.

“Where to next?”

“Anywhere you want,” I promised her.

She seemed to think about it for a moment and then an evil smile crossed her lips and I knew I was in trouble. When she leaned close to my ear to tell me her suggestion, I swallowed hard.

“Let’s go to a nightclub!”

Chapter Seventeen

Rainey

The first club was filled with about a million sweaty people and we quickly ducked out, moving on to another. The second one had more of a laid-back feel, definitely more my style. The music was loud, though, and I pulled a hesitant Baker onto the floor. He moved gracefully, but without much enthusiasm. He complained over and over that he was hot.

“Go give your jacket to the coat check!” I suggested over and over.

After about the fourth time, he finally sighed in defeat and left me on the dance floor, pulling off his jacket as he went. I danced by myself for all of ninety seconds, and thankfully, no one tried to join me. When Baker returned, he’d rolled up his sleeves, loosened his tie, and looked extra sexy. Some pop culture hit blared through the speakers and pounded out a rhythm and I pulled Baker to me by his tie as he approached. I figured I would just dance around him a little, maybe get him fired up, and then we would leave and return the hotel.

What I wasn’t prepared for was Baker. His dance moves looked like the
y were taken straight out of a recent male stripper movie. His body matched the beat perfectly and he rubbed himself against me in perfect unison with the thumping bass. I turned and ground my ass into him a bit and he replied in kind. I could feel his hardness pressed against me, and it was more than exciting. His hands gripped my hips to keep our bodies together and I threw my hands up in an attempt to be sexy.

I should never try to be sexy.

I smacked him in the face with my left hand then when I turned around to apologize, the heel of my traitorous shoes dug into his foot and he howled in pain.

“Shit! Sorry!” I yelped, truly mortified.

When he lifted his foot to his hands and jumped around for a full minute, hopping on one foot while he held the other, I lost it. Laughter bubbled up out of my throat and I could do nothing to contain it. He glared at me
,
but I was helpless. He made his way to an empty barstool
and I followed him, both hands covering my mouth to hide my giggles.

Even after he sat, he held on
to his foot with both hands and I stood nearby, helpless to do anything but laugh at him.

“It’s not funny,” he growled.

“Oh, are
you super grumpy now? Will you be able to make it back to the hotel?”

“Not sure,” he mumbled as he pulled off his shoe and sock to examine his foot.

A bright red welt was already forming on his skin and I immediately felt guilty. I hadn’t thought it was that bad, but seeing it was a reality check.

“I’ll go call us a cab,” I said with a pat on his back. I turned away but he grabbed my hand and pulled me into his lap.

He growled again, a trait I was beginning to find endearing, then put his lips on mine. Passion roared between us, in the midst of the crowd around us
,
and by the time he lifted his head, my hands were molded to his neck, clinging to him for dear life.

“Go get a cab,” he ordered.

I almost reminded him that I had been about to do just that, but instead, I stood up, straightened my dress, and left him there.

Outside the club, there were people everywhere. It was after ten and the strip was full. Getting a cab was not going to be an easy task. I went to the curb and put my hand out, just like I’d watched people do on TV for years. Not a single cab stopped. I sighed.

When I felt heavy hands on my hips, my first thought was that Baker had limped his way outside to help me hail a cab. No such luck.

“Hey
,
baby, how much for the whole night?”
a
deep voice boomed behind me. I turned around and looked up at the man before me.

He wasn’t gross, per se, but he was definitely dirty. His hands on my waist were covered in filth and he was missing one of his front teeth.

“You couldn’t afford me,” I said and immediately regretted it. I wasn’t in Maine, where an advance at the bar could be pushed away and there were plenty of good Samaritans to help. People here in Vegas probably would
n’t
help unless I screamed rape. And even then it was iffy. I tried to push his hands away from me, but his grip tightened and I was stuck in his grasp.

“You whores are all the same. Think you’re too good for a paying customer. Maybe I’ll just take the good
s
for free,” he threatened.

Just as panic set in, a hand landed on the creep’s shoulder and he whirled around to face his attacker, my protector. Baker’s eyes were engulfed in silver flames and his face was flushed in anger. He swung a punch at the guy
’
s face and then lifted him up by his neck. No small feat, considering the guy was beefy and at least an inch taller than Baker.

“You touch her again and you’re dead,” he promised before he tossed the guy to the ground. His body hit the pavement with a loud thud and he groaned. Baker met my eyes. “You okay?”

I nodded, still a little shaky from the encounter.

“Let’s get out of here,” he suggested and I agreed. He tossed an arm across my shoulders and we walked several yards away from the scene. He managed to get us a cab and we climbed in the backseat
, where
I got as close to him as I could.

“What were you thinking?”
h
e accused as soon as he was comfortable.

“Me? You’re the one who punched that guy!”

“I’d do it again if anyone dared to touch you,” he vowed.

“You were just jealous,” I joked, desperate to lighten the mood.

Baker turned his unusually serious gray eyes toward me. “It wasn’t jealousy, Rain. It was fear. If I hadn’t come out when I did, what would have happened to you?”

It was a question I didn’t want to answer. “I know. I’m sorry.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

And I knew he was right, but I couldn’t help but look at my outfit and wonder if my attempt to push Baker over the edge was actually a little incriminating. I looked like a high-priced call-girl, no matter what Baker thought. I sighed and hung my head, shamed.