“Let’s bring her upstairs,” Blair said.
I shoved Mara toward the steps. “Move it.”
“They made me do it,” Mara whined, holding the edge of her shirt to her nose.
I rolled my eyes. “Tell it to the cops.”
“I can send back the money. Just let me go. Please,” Mara begged.
“Let you go? Like we trust you. That’s not going to happen. So, don’t even try,” I replied.
Mara started crying.
“She’s definitely not a psychic or medium,” Blair said, looking amused. “Otherwise, she would have seen this coming.”
I chuckled.
When we arrived back up to the room, Adam had the gun trained on Earl and Terry. Seeing us, he relaxed.
“Mara, or whatever the fuck your name is, get over against the wall with them,” he ordered. “Now.”
She went over by Earl and sat next to him.
“I’m going downstairs to get hotel security,” Rory said. “Let them know what’s going on.”
“Sounds good,” Adam replied.
Rory looked at Blair and me. “Stay back.”
“We will,” she replied.
He left the room.
“You know, it doesn’t have to go down like this. We can work something out,” Earl said.
“The cops are on the way. Save it,” Adam said.
Earl sighed angrily and then looked at Terry. “This is all your fault. I shouldn’t have listened to you.”
“Whatever.”
“I have a question for you, Terry,” Adam said coldly. “Was it you who wrote all over our garage a couple of weeks ago?”
There was a sudden gleam in Terry’s eyes.
“Don’t answer that,” Earl snapped. “You’ve gotten us in enough trouble already.’
“Oh, he answered it for me,” Adam said, glaring at him. “We pretty much knew it anyway. I just wanted to be sure.”
Terry flipped him off.
Adam looked at Mara’s nose, which was still bleeding. “What happened to her?”
Blair laughed. “Chloe.”
He glanced at me quickly. “I see you still got it.”
“She deserved it,” I replied.
He chuckled. “That’s what you told the principal when you slugged me, all those years ago.”
“It was true then, too.”
“Yeah. It was,” he replied.
44
Chloe
Four Months Later.
Las Vegas
“I now pronounce you husband and wife,” the marriage official said. “You may kiss the bride.”
Grandma Rae and John locked lips and then she threw the pink and white wedding bouquet over her shoulder. Blair, Mackenzie, and I raced over to try and grab it.
“I got it!” Blair hollered, catching the flowers.
Rory, who stood in the background with Adam and Chase, gulped loudly and pretended to loosen up his collar. “That’s great, Babe.”
We all laughed.
Besides Blair, Mackenzie, and our boyfriends, most of the family had attended the intimate wedding. Including my parents, who adored Adam. My father, especially. He’d known who Adam Knight was and had been a fan of his racing. They’d even invited us to Florida, in early August. Of course, I’d had to warn Adam about my parents being swingers. As embarrassing as it was, he was actually pretty cool about it.
“I hope you’re not into that kind of thing,” Adam said after we were back at Grandma and John’s hotel suite, celebrating. “Because, sharing you is never going to be an option.”
I grinned. “It’s just their thing. I mean, I don’t understand it. But, that’s fine. Whatever.”
“Yeah. Exactly. To each their own,” Adam replied. “Anyway, on that note, what kind of a wedding do you want? Big fancy one or something like this?”
I smiled. “I’d like to get married on a cruise ship. I heard it’s relatively inexpensive.”
Adam nodded. “Sounds good to me.”
Was he hinting at a proposal?
“What about kids?”
“I’d like ten,” he said evenly.
My eyes widened. I laughed. “Your poor wife.”
“I’m an only child. What can I say? I’d like to have a whole stable of little buckaroos.”
“Again, your poor wife.”
“Okay, maybe five. But, I seriously think we can handle more.”
“We?”
“Uh, yeah. I told you before, I couldn’t live without you.” He brushed his lips against my knuckles. “I didn’t mean just now. I meant… always.”
I smiled.
“You know, this isn’t my official proposal. I’m not going to ask you to be my wife on the day your grandma is getting married. This is her day.”
Could I love him anymore? “That is so sweet.”
“What’s so sweet?” Rory asked, overhearing us.
“Adam proposed to me. But not, officially. So, don’t say anything to anyone. Because, we’re not engaged yet.”
“Did you accept?” Rory asked.
“Not yet. Not officially. But, unofficially,” I smiled at Adam, “Yes.”
Adam smiled and kissed me.
Rory gave us a weird look. “Okay. Just… forget I asked. The answer is too confusing.”
Blair joined us. “Asked what?”
Rory grunted. “Nothing. Don’t ask. You’ll need a stiff drink. Seriously.”
She laughed.
Rory put his arm around her shoulders. “So, I wanted to bring this up after the wedding, which was cool. Thanks for inviting us Chloe.”
“Of course. My grandmother was thrilled that you guys wanted to join us.”
He grinned. “She’s the bomb. John is a lucky man.”
I smiled.
“Anyway, back to what I’ve been meaning to tell everyone.” His eyes twinkled. “I think I might have found a job for us out here.”
Adam’s eyes lit up. “What is it? A haunted bunny ranch?”
I elbowed him.
Rory laughed. “No. A casino. But, I’ll keep an eye open for one of those in the future.”
Blair gave him a dirty look. “If you wanna keep seeing out of both, you’d better think again.”
Adam and I laughed.
He bit back a smile. “Babe? You’d be with us. Besides, it would be just like at the strip joints at home. You can look, but here? You definitely can’t touch.”
She snorted. “You’re such a dope.”
“So, where’s this casino?” Adam asked.
“The Sin City Silver Plated Nugget. It’s been closed down for a few years. And, get this - the owners say they’ve actually seen apparitions float by.”
Adam grinned. “Sweet. When can we check it out?”
“They said we could stop by tomorrow,” Rory answered.
Adam looked at me. “You in?”
I nodded. “Of course. Maybe this time we’ll actually get to see some real live ghosts.”
Rory looked at Blair. “What about you?”
She gave him an uneasy look. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t be a party pooper,” I said. “Come on. It’ll be fun.”
She snorted. “Fun? The last time you talked me into something like this, we were almost killed.”
Rory rubbed her shoulder. “You know this is totally different. That was a set-up.”
A set-up that had sent Terry, Earl, and Mara to jail. Fortunately for us, they ended up confessing to their crimes, as did Mara. It had helped that Adam had recorded some of the conversation before attacking Earl. The three were now doing time and fortunately, we didn’t get into any trouble with the hotel.
She frowned. “How do we know this isn’t another set-up?”
“Because we’re not paying anyone,” he replied. “And I actually contacted them this time. It’s legit.”
She groaned. “Fine. I’m in.”
He hugged her.
Grandma Rae walked over with a funny smil
e on her face. “What’s going on over here? You four look like you’re about to find some more trouble.”
I laughed. “Rory was just telling us about this haunted casino he wants to check out. We were just talking Blair into going.”
Grandma Rae frowned. “Hopefully, this one isn’t a scam like last time.”
Rory shook his head. “No, Ma’am. This is the real deal.”
“Well, I’m just going to have to join you guys. To make sure.” She smiled. “You know how I love this stuff anyway. Mackenzie should come too, too. Mackenzie!” she called out. Come over here.”
I looked at Rory and mouthed “sorry”.
“Hey, it’s fine. I’ll just give the owners a heads up before we arrive. We’ll just have a bigger ghost-hunting crew than usual. I mean, it is a huge place. And, it was supposed to be built over some kind of legendary Indian burial ground. I guarantee you will see a lot of crazy, spooky ghost action.”
We all stared at him.
He cracked up. “Just kidding. You all watched Poltergeist, right?
Blair smacked his shoulder. “What am I going to do with you?”
They started going back and forth, playfully arguing, and I couldn’t help but smile. Here we were, in Vegas, and I was surrounded by the people I loved more than anything. I wasn’t sure what would happen at the haunted casino, but I knew that with this group, it was going to be fun.
Adam slipped his arm over my shoulders and pulled me in closer. “Should be quite the adventure tomorrow, huh?”
I stared up at him and sighed in happiness. Every day with him was an adventure. I loved the guy more than anything. “It definitely will be, ghost hunter.”
Smiling, he kissed me. “Yes, it definitely will.”
The End
Author Note
Thank you so much for reading The Prize. I apologize for any grammar issues that you may have found. I almost missed my deadline and wanted to get the book out to you before Amazon penalized me for a late release. Once they’re corrected, you should be able to get a new copy for free via Amazon.
If you enjoyed the story, please consider leaving a review. It would really mean the world to me. It helps me to decide if I should keep the series going too. Thank you again!
xx
Kristen
Now available for pre-order!
Bryson Chambers.
My stepbrother. My tormentor.
A royal and selfish prick who moved in with us recently.
Neither of us are thrilled with the new living arrangement, but Bryson goes out of his way to make all of our lives a living hell.
Especially mine. He's had it out for me ever since I inadvertently got him grounded for sneaking out of the house.
He’s also made friends with the snobby and cruel popular crowd at Diamond Lake High School and I’m already on their shit-list.
But... nobody is as cold and devious as Bryson and soon we’re in an all-out war, both at home and at school. If that wasn’t bad enough, he has the sex appeal of a god and even I'm not totally immune to it.
I think he knows it too, which makes him that much more dangerous and me… an easier target.
Reserve HERE
The Prize: An Enemies-to-Lovers Romance (Diamond Lake Romance Book 3) Page 21