by Mj Fields
In front of the Bellagio, in a crowd of hundreds, I spot her.
The guys are all standing in front of a fountain, half of them shirtless.
“She may like to lick pussy, but it appears she may like to at least look at a half-naked man.”
As we get closer, I see that she’s taking pictures.
I hang back and watch as she directs them, moving between group shots and individual. Then I see her talking to Blade. He turns around and waves for me to come over.
“Fuck.” I sigh when I see her looking at me. “Busted.”
I walk over, and she tells me to get in the group shot. And I decide, fuck it.
I peel my shirt off. Not for nothing, I spend a fuck of a lot more time in the gym than most of these guys and it shows.
“Tags, Ranger, and Blade, down in front,” she says as she holds her phone camera out and snaps pictures. “Could you loosen up, act like you’re having fun?”
I hold my fingers up in an L shape and smile. A ghost of a smile crosses her pretty lips, and then it’s gone.
“Okay, you three, Blade, Breaker, and Tags, I need individual shots.”
A crowd seems to be gathering around and watching us. I look at Maze and nod at them. He turns and looks around.
“Okay, men, let’s go check out the flowers.”
“What about the strip club?” Blade asks.
She shrugs. “Feel free, but you’ll miss out on the exposure.”
Three hours later, and we’ve followed her little ass around Vegas while she’s snapped a million photos in front of the most recognizable locations in the city.
“Who’s up for drinks?” she asks.
Two hours later, we’re at a rooftop bar called Inspire. There’s a DJ playing and, apparently, it’s ladies drink free night. She’s done about seven shots and is leaning against the bar, smiling and shaking her ass to the music, but with reserve. That reserve ends when a song comes on that she clearly likes.
Holding up her glass of something pink, she sashays her ass onto the dance floor, right in the middle of a bunch of chicks who look like they’re on Daddy’s dime.
Easy, baby, I think, watching her try to blend in with the type of girls who don’t let others in.
After a couple minutes, I’m eating my words. She’s blending in with the Beverlys.
“Sweet, but psycho,” Blade yells over the music. “Told you she was a closet freak.”
When she takes her button-up off and ties it around her waist, I groan at the sight of her in a tight-ass, white tank. Then, when she pulls her hair out of the top-knot, messy bun and shakes her hair out while shaking her ass, I start to get hard.
I watch her dance for three songs all while sipping on iced water and willing my cock to stay the fuck down.
When the music changes to a slow beat, I see some fucking douche walk up and ask her to dance.
“Oh damn,” Axel says behind his fist in front of his mouth. “She’s gonna be late in the morning.”
“Well, we can’t let that shit happen, can we?” I ask as I walk onto the dance floor, tap on the guy’s shoulder, and glare as I shake my head.
Fucker looks like he’s about to piss his khakis.
“You sent him away, you better dance with me, Carter!” She throws her hands in the air and closes her eyes. Then she starts singing at the top of her lungs.
“I don’t dance,” I yell over the music.
“ ‘But I feel safe here. Lay with me. The stars watch us tonight. That’s okay with me. Tell me all your secrets till the sun comes up—’ ”
“Fuck …” I groan as I step toward her.
“ ‘Place my hand by your heart tonight. Feel your heart beat as we shut our eyes.’ ” She opens her eyes and smiles a big, sloppy yet sexy as fuck smile. “ ‘Show me all your pictures of how we fell in …’ ” She stops and her eyes widen. “Oops.”
“Sweets, this isn’t keeping shit quiet.”
“I was gonna dance with that dude, but you—”
“Like fuck you were.”
“If I wanna, I will.” She shakes her head. “But I don’t wanna.”
“Good fucking thing.”
“You should definitely not kiss me right now.”
“No shit, sweets. Probably shouldn’t be sporting wood either, but you had to go and make it happen.”
“My fault, huh?”
“Well, it sure as fuck wasn’t Maze’s.”
“What about all the girls around here?”
“You think I see anyone but you, you’re wrong. Let me know when all you see is me.”
She pouts out her bottom lip. “That was so sweet.”
“No, what it is, is fucked up. You’re doing shit to me, Isabella Steel. Shit that hasn’t been done.”
“FaceTime?” She grins.
“I’m trying to be pissed at you right now.”
She smiles. “It’s difficult, huh?”
“I don’t like games.”
“And I don’t like telling the guy who did shit to my back, who shouldn’t have been forgiven yet was, that his sexy as fuck face and his big, pierced dick is all I’m interested in riding.”
“You have a filthy mouth,” I say, looking at it.
“You wanna make it filthier?”
“Fuck,” I growl as I nod.
“We can do that, too.” She licks her lips.
“Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
Go Time
Bella
I wake to a call and a banging head.
“Hello?”
“Time to get that ass outta bed, sweets.”
“Huh?”
“Unless you’re glued to it after last night’s activities.”
“What are you talking about?” I moan and roll onto my back.
“Beggin’ to have your ass pounded, didn’t realize I was—”
“WHAT!” I shoot up.
He laughs. “You awake now?”
“You better not have touched—”
“If my cock was in your ass, you’d feel it still, sweets. You passed out on my chest after promising every filthy deed in the book. Some not even in the book. Not yet anyway.”
“What?” I ask again.
“The sun’s up, sweets, and it’s a beautiful day to make art.”
“ ’Kay.”
“ ’Kay?”
“Uh-huh.” I yawn and start to laugh as I lie back down.
“Do I need to come wake you up, or are you good?”
“Am I good?”
“The best.”
“Wasn’t really asking—”
“Bottle of water and some Tylenol on your nightstand. Then shower. You have forty minutes.”
“Oh shit,” I gasp.
When I get to the studio, I see my guy Stanley with his camera all set and ready.
“You drink your coffee black?” I ask, handing him a cup.
“I do today.” He takes it and says, “Thanks.”
“What’s your regular?” I ask before taking a sip of mine.
“Two creams, one sugar.”
“Nothing fancy then?”
He shakes his head. “Nah.”
“Our party girl made it.” Ranger laughs.
“Girl’s a singer, too,” Axel taunts.
Maze looks back at me. “And a dancer.”
“Don’t you guys have anything else to do but harass the help?” I shake my head at them.
“We get to fuck up some lives for the next two weeks.” Axel laughs. “Two people who have the drunken delusions of happy ever afters in a city known for quickie weddings.”
“You got married in Vegas, yeah?” Ranger asks.
“Fuck you.” Axel gives him a finger.
“Get it out of your system now, boys. It’s almost show time.”
Leaving them behind, I walk over to where David stands with some of the crew. “Could I talk to you for a minute?”
He looks at me and nods.
“I helped with a fundraising
event up in Syracuse, New York, an online bachelor auction of sorts. I had the idea of maybe pumping up some social media around the show. Kind of a meet-the-cast thing.”
He doesn’t say anything, so I pull out my phone, hit the app, open the folder I had stored the pictures in, and hand it to him. “I took some pictures around the city last night and could start some social media accounts or help clean theirs up. Only a couple have them and—”
“That’s already on the list of shit to do,” a voice from behind interrupts me. “When this show gets picked up, they’ll want to do that themselves.”
David looks at his daughter and nods. “Good.” Then he walks away from me.
I turn around and look up at her. “Wouldn’t hurt to start building up the—”
“Bella,” Tags interrupts me. “Got a minute?”
What the hell?
“Isn’t he yours?” I ask her.
“You have no idea.” She rolls her eyes and walks away.
I turn to see Tags standing there.
“You look better than I thought you would after last night.”
I look around to see if anyone else heard him. They didn’t.
“Did you hear what that bitch just said to me?” I snarl.
“Easy, sweets. Do me a favor?”
I nod.
“Keep all those ideas to yourself. She’s not buying one of them.”
“Then why am I even here?”
“I think you know why.” He gives me a millisecond wink then walks away.
After the first week, I realize he was right. Nothing I offer creatively is taken seriously. The footage I spend hours going over and picking what’s best for my artists are always discarded by the bitch. And David, well, he doesn’t even look at the work I pour myself into creating, “It’s her baby,” is always his response.
But it doesn’t stop me.
The days we aren’t in studios, Stanley and I are in front of our laptops, cutting footage of heartfelt stories of people in love. The guys joke about covering up a piece you no longer want being harder than actually getting divorced.
I learned a lot about each of them, and they no longer look at me like I’m some flighty little debutante, taking a job for a paycheck to impress Daddy. They know I’m working for them, and they are working for me.
I’m about to close my laptop, knowing Carter … Tags—I shake my head and smile when realization hits that he’s only Carter when we’re alone—when I get a notification that I have a FaceTime request from Dad. I accept it.
“You look beautiful, Little Bell, but are you sleeping at all?”
I lean in and look at myself. I have circles under my eyes.
“I’m good, Dad, just frustrated.”
“About what?”
I unleash all the anger inside of me for that bitch and her dad for not caring about the show. “And the show is about the guys, Dad, not about just the amazing work these men have done. But …” I stop because, if I tell him they’re all ex-cons, he may lose his shit.
“But your heart got involved in a game of elimination.”
He’s not wrong, but in games where hearts are involved, secrets are kept, and lies are told, it’s hard to be objective.
“What is it, Little Bell?”
I fight back the words I want to say.
“The truth.”
I miss our caring dysfunction, is what I want to say, but I go with, “I miss you guys.”
He nods once. “Not often I went a week without meeting you for dinner. Been nearly three, Little Bell. Didn’t like the way you left either. Too quick.”
“We have a break coming up. I’ll be home.”
“When?”
“As soon as this wraps.”
“Two days?” he asks.
“Holy fucking shit,” I gasp, and his eyes nearly hit his desk. “Sorry, Daddy, but two days!”
He frowns. “Yeah.”
I feel my face falling, too, but I pull it up into a smile. “I’ll see you soon then.”
“Little Bell, you know the saying what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas?”
I nod.
“Do me a favor and leave the language in Vegas.”
I cover my face so he doesn’t see me laugh.
“I love you, Isabella. See you soon.”
He disconnects. He never disconnects. Something’s wrong. I feel myself begin to panic. Something is off in Jersey.
Something is … I laugh. I swore. He’s mad. He’ll get over it. We’re two days from wrapping up Vegas.
Sitting at my desk, I try to finish editing the video Stanley and I were putting together. I decided full steam ahead on my idea. It may not be used for the show, but I bet it would mean a lot to everyone in the cast.
After a few hours, I realize I forgot to eat, something Tags seemed to remind me that I needed to do these past couple weeks.
“Gotta fuel up to fuck, sweets.”
Two more nights in his arms, two more mornings waking up to his sexy self and his sensitive side. Then a week where he gets to say goodnight to the moon with his sweet little girl, and I get to spend time with my family.
I send Stanley the email of what I’ve done. It’ll have to do for now.
Two more sleeps, Bella. I sigh as I stand up while closing my computer. Then I shower in hopes of meeting Tags a little earlier than our usual midnight.
When I step out of the room and head toward the elevator, I get snagged from behind and dragged down the hall. I’m about ready to yell at Tags when I see him coming out of his room.
“Hey!”
When he starts laughing, I hear Ranger’s voice. “Just let it happen, Little Bell.”
Little Bell. He called me Little Bell.
“What are you doing?”
“We’re gonna party like tomorrow’s not a guarantee.” He laughs.
“ ’Cause it isn’t.” Maze chuckles.
When they open a door and pull me in, I see Axel.
He pops a bottle of champagne. “Let’s drink!”
Ranger and Maze, each of who have had one arm looped around mine as they dragged me down the hall, split ways, each one taking a side of the bed as the drag me onto it.
Sitting cross-legged, I see Grimm walk out of the bathroom. I’m shocked by his appearance. His face is no longer dusted with some sort of powder, his eyes no longer outlined in black, and his hair isn’t slicked back and stuck to his head.
“Well, damn, Grimm, look at you.”
He gives me a one-shoulder shrug. “Got a date with a girl.”
“Hired a hooker,” Maze whispers. Thankfully, Grimm doesn’t hear him.
I hold back my laugh. “Good for you.”
I slide off the bed and walk over to grab the glass Axel is holding out for me. I see Stanley at the door, holding the camera, taping us.
“This is awesome.” I hold up my glass. “Cheers.”
“Wait. We gotta make a toast.”
They all grab a flute and hold it up. And I wait … and wait.
“Someone going to say something?” Axel whispers.
They all look at each other, and I can’t help laughing. “I’ve heard a million of these things at Sunday dinner with the family but never led one, so take it easy on me afterward, got it?”
“Sure thing, Little Bell.” Maze winks.
“May our friendship be as permanent as the art you all drew. May we look back on these precious memories that bound this little crew. To art and ink and the friends whose glasses we clink.”
We all tap our glasses together then I take a sip while the rest of them slam theirs down.
“So, it’s gonna be like that, huh?” I laugh and raise my glass. “Well, bottoms up.”
I watch Ranger pour a shot of Patron and look at the time. It’s only one in the afternoon. Plenty of time to recover.
I grab a shot, hold it up, and say, “Forever Steel.”
They all do the same, then Ranger asks, “What the hell is Forever Steel?”
<
br /> “It’s not a what; it’s a way of life.” I shrug. “It’s loyalty, it’s truth, it’s the love of a family by blood and by choice. It’s Forever Steel.”
“So, another shot then?” Maze asks.
“Hell yes!” I laugh as I look over them. “Hell yes.”
After a few shots, I’m dizzy as hell.
“Any chance there’s chips or something in here?”
“Some healthy shit of Ranger’s in the fridge under the bar,” Axel says, pouring another shot. “Help yourself.”
Bending down, I look in the tiny fridge. Apples, oranges, hard boiled eggs. Nothing sounds good. Then I spot candy. I pull the baggy out, open it, reach inside, and then pop a few in my mouth.
“You can’t hide sugar from an emotional eater.”
Axel, Ranger, Maze, and Grimm all look at me.
“I found your candy.”
Ranger swallows hard. “You eat any yet?”
“I’m gonna eat the whole damn bag.” I laugh, reaching inside.
Maze jumps forward and snatches the bag.
“Damn, Maze, I haven’t seen you move that fast this whole time.”
“You eat a lot of them?” Axel asks, his face now as white as Grimm’s normally is.
“A few. Why?”
Ranger scowls. “How many’s a few?”
I swallow the last of the chewed-up gummies. “How the hell would I know? And why are you all acting so weird?”
Axel sighs. “Dump and count, man.”
Maze dumps the bag on the table and begins counting. Then he starts counting again.
Freaking out, I grab the bag that he tossed on the floor and look at it.
Blazed Goods.
“Blazed …?” I pause when I remember seeing the name on the side of a food truck. Then I remember when I thought it was donuts, and Tags told me, “It might be, but I’m guessing it’s the special ingredient that gives it the name.” When it didn’t click, he laughed at me. “Edibles, sweets.”
I look up, and they’re all looking at me.
“How fucked up am I going to be?”
“Pretty fucked up. You ate three.” Grimm actually laughs.
I try to stay calm, but then I remember one hit off a pipe in undergrad to mark off one of Dad’s Ds, I was fucked up pretty good. “Am I going to get sick? Die? What the fuck is going to happen to me?”