After a long grueling day at work, we drove back to The Venetian, so I could unwind by taking a long soak in the tub. While I drew a bubble bath, Theo flicked on the TV and started watching the news.

“Worried your handsome mug will pop up on the flatscreen?” I asked. I had a tendency to joke and laugh more when I was anxious. Usually, it helped calm me down somewhat, but this time, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe it was insensitive, acting so nonchalantly around someone who clearly was in some deep shit. Normally, I had a gut feeling about people. But with Theo…nothing was certain. He was an enigma, one who looked harmless. But weren’t those the ones who were always the most dangerous? I shrugged off my jacket and hung it up in the closet. “You hungry? Want me to order some room service?”

Theo shook his head. “Nah, I’m good.”

I knew he was lying, because I’d heard his stomach grumbling throughout the drive home. I dialed room service and ordered two steak dinners with a bottle of red. “Answer the door when they get here, Theo. I’ll be in the bath.”

“Sure.”

Once I was inside the bathroom, I got undressed and slid into the steaming bath. My headache melted away, and I could feel my dry pores opening up, thanks to the steam. I slid down lower into the bath and tried to relax. I was stressing out way too much. There was no way whoever was after Theo could’ve tracked us back to The Venetian. Unless he was involved with the CIA or some other outrageously powerful organization. We weren’t fugitives in some action/thriller, even though he was fit enough to look the part. His abs in particular were especially lickable, and even though it wasn’t a good time to fantasize about his body, I found the thoughts drifting unbidden into my consciousness anyway.

After I’d soaked most of my stress away, I wrapped myself in a towel. When I stepped out of the steamy bathroom, Theo was still in the same position on the sofa, eyes glued to the TV. Anxiety seemed to gnaw on him like termites boring through wood, and despite wanting to comfort him, I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t reassure him we were safe because I wasn’t really sure. There was hotel security downstairs, but they were probably easy to bypass.

Were we in danger?

A sharp rap made me jump a little. “Who is it?” I asked.

“Room service,” came a woman’s small voice.

I looked through the peephole. A young woman dressed in a navy uniform with a black bob smiled on the other side. Beside her was a stainless-steel cart, carrying what looked like the dinner I’d ordered.

“Give me a second,” I called out. I made eye contact with Theo and motioned for him to hide. He nodded and disappeared. Once he was out of view, I unlocked the door and smiled. “I’ll take it in, thanks.” I reached for the two covered dishes. The woman watched my every move, then her gaze darted to my suite’s interior.

My hair dripped onto the carpet as I leaned over to lift the plates. They were surprisingly heavy. One of the domes slipped off and landed by my feet with a thud. The woman picked it up and put it on the dolly.

“So…I’ve got it. Thanks.” I shuffled backwards into my room, desperate to shut the door, lock it, and put down the plates. But before I could retreat to the safety of my suite, she said, “Let me help you. These are quite heavy, and your towel is slipping.”

I looked down and realized she was right. My towel was coming undone, threatening to expose me. I didn’t want to flash the poor woman. I nodded, heat prickling my skin. The woman quickly relieved me of the plates, so I could fix my towel. I reluctantly let her inside and watched as she strode in with purpose, then efficiently placed the dishes on the coffee table. But instead of turning to leave, she remained standing in the middle of the room, surveying the space.

“Thanks for your help,” I repeated, hoping that was enough of a hint for her to leave. Why was she just standing around?

She waited a few seconds more before I realized she probably wanted a tip. I penguin-waddled to my purse, took a fiver out of my wallet, and pressed it into her hand. She shoved the bill into her pocket and nodded. “Have a good night, ma’am,” she said before slipping out the door.

Once I’d locked the door, I let out a huge sigh. Had I overanalyzed the situation? Maybe my anxiety overcomplicated her actions. It wasn’t as if the room service lady would suddenly whip out ninja sticks, beat me up, then interrogate me on Theo’s whereabouts. God, maybe I was too sleep-deprived to function.

I walked back toward the food, hoping it wasn’t already cold. When I lifted the domes, I realized the food wasn’t what I’d ordered. Instead of two steak dinners and a bottle of wine, two pasty-looking chicken breasts paired with boiled vegetables greeted me.

“Is she gone?” Theo whispered loudly.

“Yeah. It was really weird. She kept looking around the room and waited until I gave her a tip. And I just realized, this isn’t even the food I ordered.”

Theo sprang out of the closet and came to my side within seconds. He looked down at the unappetizing dishes, then back up at me. Clearly, I wasn’t the only paranoid person in the room. “What did she look like?”

“Dark black bob. Navy uniform. Maybe 5’4”. Asian.”

“Hmm. Doesn’t sound familiar. But we can’t be too careful.” Theo looked down at the food again and swallowed hard. “We should throw this out.”

“Yeah. It doesn’t look too tasty, anyway.” I reached over and tilted the plates’ contents into the trash. “Want to go out for dinner?”

“No, we shouldn’t.” Theo’s lips twitched. “I’m sorry I involved you.”

“I involved myself,” I reassured him. “This is not all on you.”

“It—I don’t want to see you get hurt, Rose. It’s unfair. You have no responsibility to protect me.”

“I want to do this,” I assured him. “I signed up, remember?”

“Why risk it all for a stranger?” Theo shook his head, not comprehending. “Doesn’t make any sense. You have a great life, great friends, family…Why are you doing this for me?”

“Because it feels like the right thing to do.”

“Throwing yourself in harm’s way feels right to you?” Theo wouldn’t buy it.

“I see a man who’s made some poor decisions in the past. But one with huge potential. I want to help you break out of your cycle, Theo. Set you free.”

“Why me? I don’t understand, Rose.”

“You remind me of someone I once knew.”

“An ex?”

I shook my head. “No, his name was Teddy. Had these huge puppy dog eyes, big glasses, and the world’s most awkward smile. We were high school classmates. He was my Chem lab partner.”

“Okay…?” Theo looked more confused than ever.

So, I decided to tell him the whole story. I sucked in my stomach and took a deep breath. It’d been almost fifteen years since I forced myself to relive that day and retell the story.

“Teddy was bipolar. He was a sweet kid but had these bad mood swings, and sometimes he acted in a very unpredictable way. Teens, you know how cruel they can be. There was a group of students that bullied him day all the time. One day, he lost it. Stole his dad’s revolver and brought it to school. He probably meant to only threaten them. I don’t think he planned to actually hurt anyone. But during the altercation, he lost control and shot two people. One of them was the main bully. The other was our Chemistry teacher, who tried to step in and stop him. The bully lived, but our teacher…she was old…about to retire at the end of the year…she died before the paramedics arrived. Worst part was, Teddy had turned eighteen the month before, so he was tried as an adult and sentenced to the death penalty.”

“Shit,” Theo muttered, scratching his knuckles with his thumbnail. “And I remind you of that guy?”

I nodded my head a little. “I dunno…you both have this look in your eyes, you know? Like you’re lost, and no one understands you. If I’d spent more time talking to Teddy, maybe I could’ve helped him fight those bullies in a safe way. Maybe he wouldn’t have felt so desperate. I saw that same desperation in your eyes the night I saw you on the roof, Theo. I was tipsy, sure, but I remember that look. I remember it well. It’s haunted me for years. When I saw you with that gun in your mouth, I thought for a second you were Teddy. It all came back, you know. And I knew this was my second chance to do what I couldn’t when I was seventeen.”

“What happened then wasn’t your fault, Rose,” Theo said, squeezing my shoulder.

My lips trembled. “I sat next to him three times a week for ten months, and I never knew. Never bothered to even ask, or get to know him.”

“Is that why you go out of your way to help strangers now? To make up for it?”

“Not make up for it, per se, but it does help. Maybe I’m just doing all this P.I.F. stuff because I still feel guilty about Teddy. I’m crazy, aren’t I?”

“We’re all crazy in our own way.”

“So, now I’ve told my whole story. Will you tell me yours?” I asked, hoping Theo would open up to me. “I want to know your whole truth, Theo.”

Theo turned his back to me, then started pacing back and forth. He ran a shaky hand through his hair. “I’m a compulsive gambler. A reckless one. That’s why I’m broke.”

“The money you owe—all gambling debt?”

Theo nodded. “Six months ago, I stole something that wasn’t mine and pawned it, so I could replace money I’d stolen from a motorcycle club president. I was a thief who got caught, and I was punished for it. That night, I wanted the easy way out…but you stopped me from pulling the trigger. It’s cowardly, I know. It’s just…every time I started saving, I’d blow it all at the casino the next day. No self-control. It’s like this impulse…this switch in my head and I can’t turn it off, no matter how hard I try. It controls me. Sometimes it feels like my body doesn’t even belong to me anymore, you know?”

“Have you tried getting help? Rehab? Talk to a therapist?”

“Can’t afford it. Been living dollar to dollar. Literally.”

“Why not find a second job?”

Theo went silent. I knew that look. It was a look I was familiar with.

“That…consulting for a friend…it’s not just helping them out, is it? Are you involved in something illegal? Trafficking guns? Women? Drugs? Theo, whatever it is, you have to tell me now, so I can help you. I don’t like being kept in the dark.”

“I’m a prostitute, okay? A high-class escort, if you prefer,” Theo blurted out.

I tried to keep my expression neutral, even though my heart felt like splitting open. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Would you have wanted to go out with me? Even get to know me better, let alone sleep with me, if I’d told you right off the bat what I did to make money?” Theo exploded, his face turned away from me.

“We all do what we have to do, Theo.” Even as I said the words, I felt disgust choking me. How many women had he been with? Was he even clean? How many filthy strangers had he touched just to make ends meet? The germaphobe inside me dialed my paranoia up to a hundred.

“At least you have something to show for it. Something you’re proud of. You’ve accomplished things, Rose. Me? All I managed to get for fifteen years of work on the Strip was a black book full of old ladies’ names and numbers. And a shitty trailer in the middle of nowhere stuffed with crap I salvaged from a dumpster. I’m a waste of a human being. Not even worth the air I breathe.”

I set aside my disgust and focused on him. He was troubled, but not beyond saving. I firmly believed anyone could be helped with patience, kindness, understanding, and most of all, respect. “You’re depressed, Theo. You have low self-esteem. All these things can be fixed with a little patience.”

“I’m not just some fixer-upper project, Rose. This is my life. My whole life has been like this. It’s never been more than this.”

“It can be more than this. It will be, Theo. Please, trust me.”

“I don’t want to be your charity project, Rose. I know I can’t ever repay your kindness. You’ve already done so much for me…but I don’t want your pity.”

“It’s not pity; it’s compassion for a fellow human being. What are we, if not just two people trying to survive in a world that’s run us ragged?”

“Some more ragged than others,” Theo mumbled.

“Theo, I can make all of this go away. I can pay off your debts,” I offered again.

“It’s not just about the money anymore,” Theo said, shaking his head. “Hester…she’s out for my blood and won’t stop till I’m either dead or in prison.”

“You can’t run forever. Sooner or later, you’ll have to face your demons. Does she have enough on you to convict you?”

“I stole something worth twenty-five thousand dollars from her. She has it all on video and it’s damning. I’m 100% guilty.”

“My best friend is a top notch criminal lawyer…”

“Hester is untouchable. What she says, goes, in Sin City. She’s queen.”

“No one’s above the law.”

“Her word is law here.”

“So, we run off to Northbridge and stay frightened all our lives? Why not turn yourself in?”

“I could be in prison for years. And after I get out, if I get out, Hester would still be after me. She won’t ever let it go.”

“Then we bring her down,” I said, sounding braver than I felt. “We tear down her empire and burn her connections, until she’s the one behind bars.”

Theo shook his head. “That’s impossible.”

“Do you want to live or die? Make a choice, Theo, and stick with it. If you want to live, you need to look your greatest enemy right in the eye and give her a big ‘fuck you’.”

“How?”

I bit my tongue. “Give me some time to think. I’ll come up with something.”