Chapter 6

Skylar

Walking through the casino without bumping into someone else was a near impossible task, and the close proximity was making me anxious. I didn’t like the hustle and bustle, or the filtered air, or the way it smelled like people and carpet and cigarettes.

I let Nikki and my sister take the lead so I could follow in their wake and hopefully avoid people getting in my space. I watched Nikki’s back, amazed and horrified that she had brought two full-sized suitcases for her one-week stay in Las Vegas. When I had asked her about it on the airplane, she told me that one bag had all her shoes, accessories, and beauty products, while the other held all her clothes. My whole closet back home would have fit in one of the suitcases, and all the makeup I owned was presently stuffed in a ziploc bag sitting at the bottom of my purse.

I took my gaze off Nikki’s back and swaying blonde ponytail to look around the casino some more. Although it was overwhelming, I couldn’t deny how beautiful the place was. The ceilings were high—at least twenty feet—and made of something very shiny and black. I could see my own reflection in it as I stared up at myself. I could also look down Nikki’s very low-cut top.

Signs on the walls pointed to different areas within the hotel. There was one for the spa, which sounded more than appealing, one to the pool, to the rooms, to the shopping center, the bars, and the high stakes poker tables. The place was so much bigger than I ever could have imagined.

We followed the sign that pointed us to a tucked away corner hosting eight elevators that rode up the middle of the obelisk to all the rooms. One was waiting for us as Nikki pushed the up button, and we all piled on, having to make room for Nikki’s excessive luggage.

As soon as the doors closed and we started climbing upward, Renee hopped up and down on the spot and clapped her hands together excitedly.

“Okay,” she said. “What do we want to do first? Are you an unpacker, Nikki? Do you need to stay in the room for a bit and get organized?”

“Definitely.” Nikki nodded, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder as she inspected her reflection in the mirrored wall of the elevator. She was a beautiful girl, and she had always known it. “I can’t live out of a suitcase for a week. I need to know exactly where everything is.” Nikki smiled at herself in the mirror and turned one shoulder slightly so she could admire her own butt.

It took every ounce of self-control I possessed not to roll my eyes. Every surface on the elevator was reflective, and Nikki would most certainly see my face. So would Renee, and I didn’t want to cause any tension between the two of them.

We got out of the elevator on the thirtieth floor. The floors were royal blue carpet trimmed in gold along the edges, and the walls were black. Wall lamps cast warm light up and down the wide hallways, illuminating our way to our room at the end.

As we drew closer, a door just up ahead popped open, and two guys tumbled out. It was obvious that they had indulged in a bit of drinking, as their gaits were wobbly and uncoordinated. They were laughing and teasing each other, pushing one another back and forth the way drunk friends always did.

When they saw us, they stopped walking and tried to pretend they weren’t as hammered as they had let on. One was blond, and the other was bald with a shiny scalp that suited his sharp features. He gave us a brilliant white smile, which I returned from behind Nikki and Renee.

“Afternoon, ladies. You just arrive?” The man with no hair eyed me up and down. He ran a hand over his head, and I took a moment to acknowledge how handsome he was.

“Yes, we did,” Nikki said, continuing to walk forward. “And we’re in a hurry to get to our room. We’ve had a long day of traveling.”

Lies. The flight had only been three hours and twenty-five minutes long. All in all, with checking in, getting through security, and all the nonsense of getting our luggage after our flight, our entire travel time had only been a grand total of six and a half hours. It was only two in the afternoon Las Vegas time.

“Of course, ladies,” the bald man said with a polite nod. “Maybe we’ll see you around. Hope you have fun!”

Nikki blew past them and made an unimpressed sound in the back of her throat. They heard her and watched her back as she went. I tried to offer them apologetic smiles as I passed, but I suspected they were a little too intoxicated to pick up on such a small gesture.

I glared daggers into Nikki’s back until we arrived at our rooms. Just because she wasn’t interested in a man didn’t mean she couldn’t let him down in a nicer way.

We paused outside our doors and searched inside our pockets for our room keys. As I fished mine out of my pocket, Nikki shot me a look.

“Don’t worry about those boys, Sky. We can do so much better. This is Las Vegas. The land of possibilities. Besides, we at least want a guy with money, right? Those two clearly had none.”

“It’s Skylar,” I muttered, irritated that Nikki always insisted on calling me by my nickname. It was a name my family had called me. Since Renee was my only living family left, she was the only one who used it, and hearing it on Nikki’s lips always sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Pairing that annoyance with her ignorant remark about the men not having enough money made me want to blow my brains out right there on the pretty blue carpet.

Nikki opened their door, and I opened mine.

“Okay, I’m going to start unpacking,” Nikki said. “I just need a couple hours, and I should be ready.”

“Okay.” Renee smiled. “Then we can go for a couple drinks and maybe an appetizer? Wander the Strip a bit, find a good place for dinner?”

“Sure,” I said. “I’m going to lay down for a bit and get a nap in. I’m exhausted.”

“Okay,” Renee said, giving me a look that I could read like a book. It said, I’m sorry about Nikki. Enjoy your alone time. I’ll try to keep her away from you for as long as I can. Love you.

After I closed and locked my door behind me, I took a deep breath and rested my forehead on the door. If this whole trip went anything like today had, I didn’t think I would survive. I would be booking a flight home on Wednesday.

I turned around and gasped. Maybe Wednesday was a little too soon. The room was absolutely stunning. The floors were, of course, black obsidian and riddled with snaking white lines. The bed was a four-poster of the likes I had never seen before. All the furniture was black and embellished with chrome details. The walls were the same royal blue as the carpet in the halls, giving the place a natural tie-in to the rest of the casino. Crystals were mounted on the walls and backlit with different colored lights, giving the room a pleasant ambient glow.

I could put up with Nikki to spend a week in this kind of luxury, couldn’t I?

The bathroom was exquisite, with a rain shower and jacuzzi that was much bigger than I expected from the photo Renee had shown me. Various types of soap were perched on the ledge, and I was already fantasizing about the baths I was going to have each and every night.

I tucked my suitcase into one corner and fell onto the bed. Yes, I could withstand this for a week.