CHAPTER 33
LUCKY
Vegas was a circus.
After finally catching some sleep in the bus, we arrived to a crowd of fans waiting for us at the hotel. The Bellagio always took great care of us, and today was no different. After I stopped to sign a few autographs, the manager of the hotel greeted us personally, whisking us away to the entire floor of separate suites on the top floor, which is where we always stayed when we played Vegas.
I ignored the feeling of déja vu as I stepped into my suite, the memories of being here before with Nicholai flooding my mind. I didn’t want to think about him. In fact, I never wanted to think about him again, but I had no choice. At least this time, I had somebody else to distract me.
Ziggy still hadn’t left my side. After the amazing night we had last night, and the delicious do-over this morning, I had absolutely no complaints about that. With any luck, he’d erase every memory I possessed of spending time with Nicholai here and record over them with memories of his amazing touch.
The record signing event was being held at Hyde, a nightclub on the edge of the water at the hotel. Luxurious and sleek, it sported amazing views of the fountains and even better drinks. They’d set up a table out on the patio for me to sit at, cordoned off with red velvet ropes that stretched back into the club to wrangle the public into an orderly line.
It was packed before we’d even arrived and by the time I sat down, the line was so long I couldn’t see the end of it. Panic threatened to overwhelm me, the idea that any of these people could be Nicholai in disguise hitting me full-force.
Alarm rushed through me as I looked up at Ziggy. With calm confidence, he stood by my side, his eyes smiling down at me reassuringly. He placed a warm palm on the back of my shoulder and I took a deep breath and relaxed. My eyes raked across the room once more, and instead of terror, I saw the room peppered with those leather-clad men, their intimidating presence alone enough to scare off the most determined evil people.
Or, so I hoped.
I smiled at the first person in line, a woman and her teenaged daughter.
“Hello,” I said, taking the record the daughter handed me. People brought all kinds of things to these events. Posters, pictures, records, books, concert tickets, anything really.
“Oh, my gosh,” she gushed, placing her hand over her heart as she beamed at me. “I can’t believe this is happening! You’re my favorite!”
“What’s your name, honey?” I asked.
“Lucy,” she said, her eyes wet with tears. The amount of love I felt flowing towards me at these signings never ceased to amaze and humble me. I signed her record, then stood up while her mother took a photo of us. She turned back to me.
“Thank you so much,” she said. “I’ll never forget this.”
“My pleasure,” I replied, waving at them as they walked away. I took another deep breath, relaxing into it. We had a long way to go.
“How long do these things last?” Ziggy asked, leaning down and whispering into my ear a half an hour later, the end of the line still nowhere in sight.
“Usually an hour, but I won’t leave until I’ve greeted everyone.”
“That could take days,” he murmured.
“Buckle up, buttercup,” I replied, with a laugh, turning back to the line. Next up was an older woman, her eyes sunken and disappearing into her wrinkled face, her white hair rolled up into a bouffant, a bright pink cane holding her up.
“Hello, dear,” she said, her voice cracking with age, as she handed me a poster from a show over ten years ago in New York.
“Hello, ma’am,” I replied, smiling at her. “This is an old poster, where did you get it?”
“My granddaughter won an auction online,” she said. “Paid out the wazoo for it, if you ask me. I figured I’d come and meet you and get it signed for her. She loves you.”
“Oh, that’s so sweet of you,” I said.
“Well, life is short, you know. You gotta take all the opportunities you can get,” she said. I stopped in mid-air as I was handing the poster back to her, my head spinning. Where had I heard that before?
I shook my head, and tried to clear the cobwebs out.
“Thank you, dear,” she said, grabbing my hand and smiling warmly into my eyes. “You’re a beautiful woman, don’t ever forget that.”
Maybe I need more sleep, I thought, as she limped away. Still, her words lingered in my head for the next half hour, but I couldn’t put my finger on why.
“I can see the end of the line,” Ziggy said, after another hour.
“That’s good, because my back is killing me,” I said. “Not to mention I think my signing hand is paralyzed into position.”
“That could be convenient,” he quipped, with a playful smirk.
“Shut up,” I chuckled.
With just a few more people in line, a little girl of about ten walked up with a big bouquet of red roses and my heart sank. I jumped up and stepped back, my eyes wide with fear.
“Hi, Lucky,” she said. “My name’s Angie.”
“Angie,” I repeated, staring at her with suspicion. Was this Nicholai? Surely not. He could impersonate a lot of people but I’d never seen him impersonate someone this short. “You brought me roses?”
“No, actually,” she admitted. “An old lady gave them to me. She asked me to give them to you. She paid me twenty dollars and asked me to give you a message.”
The blood drained from my face as I looked over at Ziggy, trying desperately not to freak out in front of this innocent kid, but every urge in my body told me to flee.
“I’ll take those,” he said, grabbing the roses and smiling at the little girl. “What’s the message?”
“She said to tell you that it’s important to take an opportunity when you get it. I don’t really know what she meant…”
“That’s okay,” Ziggy said, motioning to some of the other Gods. Ryder and Riot walked over. “I think we’re done here. We’ve been fooled again.”
“It was the old lady with the pink cane,” I said, my stomach flipping as I finally remembered where I’d heard that message before. “And the woman in the bathroom at the truck stop! Oh, my God, Ziggy! They were both him! He hasn’t left us alone at all!”
“Fuck,” Ziggy said, immediately covering his mouth as the little girl’s eyes grew wide. She’d been standing there the whole time listening.
“Did you want me to sign something, sweetheart?” I asked, taking a deep breath and trying to keep my shit together.
“No,” she said. “I don’t even know who you are.”
“Great,” I mused.
“Folks, we’re done here today, thanks for coming out!” Ryder called out, before turning to the Slade and Riot. “Go see if you can find that old lady.”
“She’s probably long gone by now,” Slade said.
“I don’t care! Go fucking look!” he barked.
Becky, who’d been hiding in the back of the room this whole time, stepped up.
“We can’t stop yet,” Becky whined. “There are still fans waiting. If we disappoint even one of them, it’ll be blasted all over Twitter in five minutes!”
“Like hell we can’t,” Ziggy said, ushering me away from them.
“Lucky!” Becky cried after us, but I ignored her, letting Ziggy lead me away from them all. Blade followed close behind, and as I glanced back, I saw Ryder and Riot waving everyone out of the club.
“What do you want to do?” Ziggy asked, looking at me with concern. “Go back to the room?”
“Honestly? If everyone is leaving, I’d like to sit here and get a drink.”
“It’s barely past noon.”
“So what?”
“Good point,” he shrugged. “Blade, go find a bartender.”
“Will do,” he said, shuffling off.
“There’s a private little spot over here,” Ziggy said. “Let’s sit down for a few minutes.”
I put my head on his shoulder and he wrapped a comforting arm around me.
“I’m so sorry,” he murmured.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” I shrugged. “Maybe he’ll just never leave me alone.”
“This is complete bullshit, you know that, right? Maybe you shouldn’t do events like this anymore.”
“And let him win? No fucking way.”
“You’re a tough cookie, Lucky Lazzarini.”
“Yeah, or a stupid one.”
“Hey, you’re hanging out with me, you can’t be that stupid.”
I smiled and nodded, “you’re right.”
He kissed my head, and held me tighter, his warmth immediately calming me down.
“We’re gonna stop him. I promise you that,” he said, his voice a low growl of anger. My head against his chest, I could hear his heart pounding in my ears. He seemed even more upset than I was. Truth be told, I was starting to get used to this. Hell, I was starting to expect it.
Blade came back practically dragging a uniformed bartender along with him by the collar.
“Found one!” he barked.
The guy looked frightened, but he took my order for a double scotch on the rocks and rushed off, glancing back over his shoulder to see if Blade was following him. He wasn’t. He stood guard nearby, but just far enough away to give Ziggy and I some privacy.
“Lucky, what do you need from me right now?” he asked. “How can I make you feel better?”
My heart melted. Underneath all that tough exterior, Ziggy was the sweetest, most tender guy. Sure, he fucked me like a machine non-stop all night, but that didn’t stop him from being kind.
“You’re doing it,” I whispered, leaning my head back on his shoulder and closing my eyes.