CHAPTER 48
Lex
Amie and I separated from the rest of the crew once we got to Hard Rock. Her excitement was palpable, which was exactly the distraction I needed. And she was right. I had miraculously acquired a second wind once our plane touched down.
“Slots,” she said to me as she tugged on my hand, her brows wiggling with eagerness. She dragged me past the lobby and into a maze of machines and lights until we paused at an ATM. “Here”—she slid to the side and pointed—“get some cash.”
I opened my mouth and shook my head. It was one thing to watch Amie play the slots, but there was no way I was gambling away my hard-earned money. Money had been decent ever since the show checks started coming in, but that money would need to last me until I booked another gig, which might not be until well after Winter’s show ended. No. I had to be smart with my money.
“C’mon, Lex. Just get out twenty dollars and call it your entertainment money. You have to experience this one time in your life, and I want to be the one you experience it with.”
I chewed on my lip while studying the cash machine, debating just how stupid it would be for me to take a single dime out of my checking account. I wanted to make Amie happy, and if I was honest, I wanted to try something new. Something adventurous. Something risky.
“Amie—” I was still debating with myself and about to tell her no again when she reached into her pockets and pulled out a five-dollar bill. “What are you doing?” I asked.
She handed the bill to me. “When you win, you can pay me back.” She threw me a teasing look. “But don’t worry if you lose it. That won’t even last you five minutes.”
I didn’t care if it lasted five seconds. The less time I gambled, the better. “That five dollars could buy me dinner.” My annoyance was mere fluff, because at this point, adrenaline was soaring through me.
Amie looked at me as if I were crazy. “Honey, that five dollars wouldn’t have bought you a small packet of French fries at the nearest fast-food restaurant. We’re in Vegas. However, you can probably score a free drink if you make that five last long enough.”
I didn’t want to tell her that I probably wouldn’t be drinking either.
We pulled up a stool at the nearest row of machines, and I watched Amie as she played, pushing buttons and achieving a loud dinging sound when she won something.
After a few minutes of playing, she leaned toward my machine and pointed at the buttons. “This is the bet,” she explained, pointing at each button. “This is a quarter slot, so if you push ‘One Coin,’ you’ll only gamble twenty-five cents. Just play that until you get comfortable.” My guess was that “Two Coins” doubled my bet.
Yeah, I’d take her advice. “One Coin.”
“After you select your bid, just hit this button.” She pointed at the big round button on my right side that read “Spin.” Then she flashed me a smile. “So easy. Basically, you just push buttons and pray you get lucky. Give it a try.”
I couldn’t help giggling when I pushed “Spin” for the first time. The symbols inside the glass started spinning so fast I couldn’t read them anymore.
Shane would have gotten a kick out of watching me play the slots. We always talked about going to Vegas together for the first time. We talked about doing everything together for the first time. A pang hit my heart when I realized how much I missed him. Theo had done a great job over the past week of taking my mind off my best friend. And now… Shit. No. Not going there.
“Anything to drink, loves?” A waitress in a sexy black number walked up, her eyes darting between us, as though she was in a hurry. Her name tag read “Chelsea.”
“Green apple martini, please.” Amie smiled at the waitress then looked at me. “They’re so good. Try one.”
“Um.” It wasn’t as though I was going to be driving anywhere, and Amie was a safe enough person to be drinking with. And I could already tell it would take more than the distractions of gambling to take my mind off Theo. I smiled at the waitress. “Same for me.”
Shit. My entire body felt alive already. Why did I just say yes?
When Chelsea came back with our drinks, I was already down to my last seventy-five cents.
The drink was sweet and sour all at once. And strong. I wrinkled my face, and Amie laughed as I pulled the cherry from the cup.
“You don’t like it?” She giggled the question.
I let the liquid settle in my stomach before answering. “Actually, I kind of do.” I took another sip and confirmed that I liked the taste. “Yeah, I love it,” I said with a grin.
Amie laughed and shook her head. “I’m already rubbing off on you. Better be careful. You’re going to wish they’d paired you with anyone else but me.”
“I highly doubt that.” It was not as though I’d never had a drink before. And the gambling thing, wasn’t that natural when in Vegas? I was simply having an experience. It didn’t mean I was going to do this every night.
I turned back to my machine and let my finger float over the “Spin” button. I had only twenty-five cents left. I laughed at my horrible luck, feeling lightheaded from the martini, and pushed the button.
When the spinner locked on three of the same symbols, the alarm on the machine started sounding. I jumped out of my chair, afraid I’d done something wrong.
“Holy shit.” I heard Amie say the words when she looked over, but I still hadn’t made sense of what had happened. I watched as her jaw almost fell on the floor. “Lex,” she breathed, then she pointed at the machine that was still screaming.
“Did I win?” I looked at the machine again. The siren at the top was going off like crazy. The lined-up symbols all said “Ten Times Pay.” Excitement whirled through me.
“Yes, you freaking won.” Amie stood up and gestured at something at the top of the machine, where the same symbols were lined up three in a row beside another number that listed the payout.
My heart lurched into my throat. I stopped laughing. “Are you telling me I just won five thousand dollars?” I shrieked.
Amie threw her head back and howled. When she came to, she was still clutching her stomach, nodding. “Yes, Lex. You just won five thousand freaking dollars off my measly five-dollar bill. Did I mention that the five dollars came with interest? Looks like we’re going shopping.” She winked and stuck her martini glass in the air and gestured for me to grab mine. “To Vegas.”
I grabbed my glass and clinked it with hers. “To Vegas.” I laughed.