"Wow," he breathes into my ear. His breath is hot and fast.
"Wow," I agree.
By the time we wake the next morning it’s almost noon. Chase heads to the shower and I pick up my phone to check my messages. There are a few texts from Harrison. He's asking how I'm doing, if I want to get together for coffee. He heard about Evelyn and wants to know if I'm okay.
Of course, he has no idea I'm in Vegas, and still doesn't know about Chase. There’s really no reason for me to keep things from him anymore. It's been long enough, and I owe him some truth. As shitty as I think it was for him to wager our relationship, Harry's main problem is gambling. People say it’s an illness. Maybe I can forgive him now that I've moved on. Maybe he couldn’t help himself, and I've been too hard on him. Not that it means I want to be in a relationship with someone like that, but after the ups and downs I've had with Chase and the understanding I have now, that each lie, half-truth or omission can't be judged the same and there are always two sides to everything, it might be time to give Harry a break.
Besides, with Evelyn gone now, once I go back home I don't have a lot of people to talk to. Other than Harry and my parents, all of my other friends fall more on the acquaintance spectrum. I guess if I spent more time with some they would become friends, but as of now, going right back would be pretty lonely. Maybe I Shouldn’t shut Harry out completely. I still don't know what I'm going to do with myself now that my roommate’s gone and I have no job.
I notice I also have a voicemail from Evelyn. I listen but it’s just a quick hello from her to say that she is settling in and leaving me her new number. I immediately call her back, anxious to connect with my best friend again.
"Hey you," I say as she answers the phone.
"Lila! Are you still half way around the world?" She sounds happy and full of energy, but that's always been Evelyn.
"Nope. I'm in the same country as you, actually. Back in Vegas with Chase."
"How are things? Still going strong? You patch everything up?"
For a moment I wonder how she knew about what happened yesterday but then I realize she’s referring to what happened back in Toronto after the house incident. Either way, the answer is the same but still reminds me how quick I am to judge. I really should reconnect with Harry. I've ignored him for long enough.
"Yes. Things are good. Great, even."
"I'm so happy to hear that Lila. Chase seems like an awesome guy."
"He really is, Eve. What about you? How's the new job?"
"Busy! Already I'm swamped but it’s actually pretty great. I'm enjoying it so far. But Edward keeps me on my toes. I'm at the office more than home so I haven't even had a chance to unpack anything yet."
"Edward?"
Eve giggles nervously. "Sorry, that's my boss, Mr. Stonewall. He has me call him Edward."
"Uh huh. What's going on over there? Are you two...?"
"No! I mean... not really. I don't know. He's very handsome and refined. Not what I'm used to at all. Very strict and business like at the office. Some people think he’s a complete ass. But he’s not like that with me. I don't know. Shit, I gotta run actually. He just texted me."
Chase emerges from the bathroom just as we're saying goodbye and promising to keep in touch. I wonder whether or not I should stop over in Chicago on my way back to Toronto, whenever that ends up being.
"Eve seems happy. I think she has a crush on her new boss."
Chase smiles. "Lucky man then. She’s a nice girl."
"Yeah," I sigh, already starting to miss her.
"Listen, Lila..." Chase approaches from the bathroom. He's wrapped in a towel but he sits down on the edge of the bed next to me. "We haven't had a chance to really talk yet, but I wanted to apologize for not telling you about Mirana. I wanted to. Especially after... after the thing with the house and Denise. We had that talk and I know that you were hurt by the fact that I wasn't honest, but-"
"It's okay," I interrupt him.
He's peering into my soul again, his blue eyes burning into mine as he looks for something. He's probably trying to tell if it really is okay.
"Are you sure?"
"I should have trusted you, Chase. I should know by now that if you're keeping something from me there’s a really good reason. I shouldn’t have assumed you were automatically trying to fool me. You're not..." I trail off, but he picks up my thought.
"Harrison?"
I shrug. "Maybe I've been too hard on him, too. He has a gambling problem and although I don't want to date someone like that, I don't think that makes him a bad guy. He got carried away at the table with you, sure, but he was probably just excited about playing against the famous Chase Anderson. Probably figured it would be a big story to tell if he won, and as usual didn't even consider what would happen if he lost."
"He's an asshole, Lila. Don't fool yourself into thinking otherwise."
"Why?" For some reason every time Chase puts down Harrison it bugs me and makes me rush to his defense. "I agree, he did a shitty thing and he lied a lot, but just about his gambling. Beyond that he wasn't that bad."
Chase is just shaking his head. "Just forget him, Lila. Trust me."
"Why? Because you know gamblers? The only difference between you and him is that you're a better poker player. If you were shitty at it, you wouldn’t be called the famous Chase Anderson, you'd be called Chase Anderson, the addict."
"No, it’s not that. He's just... he’s not a nice guy, Lila."
"You barely know him. You played with him for what, a few hours? I’ve known him for close to a year. And might I remind you that the whole wager for me was your fucking idea in the first place. You basically led him into it. I'm sure he never would have thought of that on his own. Of course he should have said no fucking way and punched your lights out, but still, who does that? Who asks a guy to give up his girlfriend in a poker game?" The truth is, I've wanted an answer to that question since the day we met. It has always bothered me that Chase suggested it, and the more that I've gotten to know him, the more out of character it seems.
Chase's lips are a thin line and turning white he’s pursing them so hard. It's as if he’s holding something back. "I explained that to you the first night," he finally says.
"Right, you took a chance and he didn't value me, yada yada. What aren't you telling me? What made you think he didn't value me in the first place? Why do you have such a low opinion of Harrison after just playing cards with him for a few hours? I know you're a fantastic judge of character, Chase, but even for you that borders a little too much on the side of mystical mumbo jumbo. Are you a mind reader, Chase? Is that it?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"Why does it matter? You guys are broken up. Let's just drop it, okay?"
"No, I don't want to drop it. Practically every time I bring Harry's name up you have something negative to say and all you know about him is he took the bait when you offered to play for me that first night after he'd lost a lot of money to you. I think lawyers call that entrapment. And you know what, Chase? You're the last person to be so judgmental about exes. Not when you have Denise trying to break us up every fucking five minutes."
Chase lets out a long sigh. "I didn't just play with him for a couple of hours the night we met..."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Harrison came down to the poker room the night before. It was late."
That wasn't a big surprise. I suspected as much. Harry lost money our first night and then I convinced him to stop and come to bed. But I woke in the middle of the night and he wasn't next to me. I had hoped he had just gone to the bathroom or something, but then I fell back asleep waiting for him to return. The next morning he was beside me, but I had a suspicion that he had gone back down to play. "So you played with him the night before as well?"
"Yes. We played for a little while and he lost some money. We talked a bit. He said he was in town with his girlfriend for a few days. Then he lost some more and said he needed
to take a break."
"And then?" There’s clearly more to the story despite the fact that Chase stopped. He's looking at me strangely now, and he clearly isn't comfortable continuing but after I glare at him he finally does.
"He started talking to some women."
Now I'm staring even harder and I can feel my own lips press into a line. I nod for him to continue.
"They were... I know them. Not personally, but... they work... out of the hotel."
It takes me a minute but then I clue in. "They were hookers?"
Chase nods slightly. "Harrison left with them. He was gone for a while, but when he returned he sat back down to play again."
"Did he say anything else?"
"Eventually, yes. He started talking to some other guy at the table and the two of them began having a few drinks. Not long after that he began bragging to his new friend about how he left with those women and had sex with them both. Together."
All of a sudden I feel dizzy and sick.
Chase stands up and moves closer to me. "Are you okay? I didn't want to tell you..."
"I wanted to know. It's not your fault. I just..." I never suspected that. I never would have guessed. But now that he’s told me I know immediately that it’s true.
"So you offered to play for me... to break us up?"
"I didn't know what he would say if I made that offer, but I had a feeling he would agree. It wasn't really my place to tell you what happened, and you didn't know me anyway so I didn't know if you would believe me. But I thought that if I made a proposition like that and he took it, you might see him for the type of person he was."
"Why didn't you tell me? I mean after?"
"I don't know. I thought Harrison was in your past and so it didn't matter. I didn't see the upside to telling you. I just thought it would hurt you to know and since you weren't planning on going back to him, I figured there was no point in putting you through that."
I close my eyes as I let it all sink in. It's only because we’ve been broken up for a couple weeks now that this news doesn't completely devastate me.
And although it’s another secret that Chase has been keeping from me, it’s also another one that I can't even fault him for. He was saving me from mistakes of my past both that I've made and that were made against me. There’s no doubt now. Harrison was a mistake. But Chase helped fix that before I even really knew him.
When I open my eyes he’s looking at me and the concern on his face is obvious.
"Every time I question you, it seems like I'm the one making the mistake," I say.
Chase chuckles softly. "Don't worry, I've made my share of them as well."
"I don't even know what to do with myself now, Chase. I have nothing waiting for me back home. Eve is gone, Harry is a complete ass. I have no job, no plan."
"You have me."
I shrug and smile. "I know. And I appreciate that. But your life is here. My life is... well, I guess my life isn't in Toronto anymore. But I'm not going to just sponge off of you for the rest of my life. That’s not who I am, Chase."
"I know," he agrees, nodding. "Which is one of many things I love about you. You aren't after my money or my fame. That much has always been clear and it’s a big relief. If I wanted that, I'd have stayed with Denise. Vegas is full of women like that."
"So what do we do? What do I do?"
"Well, I had some thoughts about that." Chase leans away from me now, using one of his muscled arms to prop his body against the bed. "My foundation is still in the early stages, and although I'm not bad at organizing poker players and their donations, I'm learning that I'm not that great at setting up the actual foundation - securing the space, hiring staff, etc. I could use someone to do all that. Someone that might have experience in the non-profit industry."
I raise my eyebrow at him. "Wait, what about Mirana? I thought she was going to run the thing?"
"When it’s up and running, yes. But putting the whole thing together is beyond her as well, and in between raising Diego and volunteering at the shelter, something she needs to continue to do to get the experience she needs to run things eventually, she doesn't have the time to do it anyway. I need someone who can make it their focus. There’s money in the budget to hire someone, I just hadn't gotten to it yet. And a job offer like this would certainly come with a work visa so that you can stick around for as long as it takes."
"I... I don't know..."
"And I also know of a really nice house that will be vacated very soon that you can stay in. The rent is super cheap. Almost non-existent..."
"Almost?"
"Well, you certainly wouldn’t have to pay in cash, anyway. I hear the owner is willing to accept all sorts of methods of payment."
"Oh really?"
"Well, not for just anyone of course. There is a very strict screening process."
"Go on..."
"For security, it might require a strip search, to start."
"Uh huh..."
"In fact, it might be a good idea to start the process now. It can be quite lengthy and... in depth."
"Well, I'm pretty busy at the moment but I might be able to... squeeze you in."
We both laugh and fall against the bed as his lips brush against mine.
"Are you okay then?" he asks, pulling away for a moment to look at me with his deep blue eyes one more time.
"Yes," I whisper. My head tilts forward until I’m close enough to feel his breath against my lips. "Because of you, I think I finally am.”
"I can't believe you're engaged! It feels like last week that you were asking me who Chase Anderson even was!"
"It was six months ago, but I agree. It's flown by so fast. Anyway, the wedding won't be for a while. Chase is just going through the divorce with Mirana now and we have to be careful not to get married right after or we’ll set off red flags I'm sure."
"Doesn't she have her Green Card already?"
"Yes, but she just got it a couple of months ago. I don't know if they can take it away, but we don't want to take any chances. I would hate for anything bad to happen to her or Diego. He's such a great kid. And she’s such a wonderful woman as well. The shelter would be lost without her. She really holds that place together."
"Well I'm sure you do your part as well. If I know you, you're working just as hard."
I shake my head. "Only on the foundation side of it, not the actual shelter. Honestly, Mirana is the glue that holds that place together. She’s so strong with all of those women. I don't know how she does it. All I do is push papers and make phone calls."
Evelyn is looking at me with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay, I do more than that, especially with the expansion plans on taking the shelters nationwide. But my point is that we don't want to do anything to put her legal status at risk. So we’ll probably wait at least six months before we get married. Maybe more. It doesn't matter. I'm happy as long as we're together, no matter what form that is."
"Well shit, with a ring that size I'd be happy too!" Evelyn grabs my hand and pulls it up to her face again. "Wow, it really is gorgeous! Did he pick it out himself?"
I nod. "I would never have let him buy something so big if I had been with him."
"So you're going to ask him to return it for something smaller?"
I yank my hand back and clutch it against my chest. "Of course not!" We both fall against her couch in laughter. "Let's not talk crazy..."
"Oh Lila, I've really missed you." Eve reaches for the bottle of wine and refills both of our glasses with Chardonnay. She has a heaviness about her lately. I've heard it on the phone when we’ve talked and it was one of the reasons I wanted to get out here and talk to her in person. It could just be that her job has kept her so busy that she hasn't had time to make any friends, and we're 2500 miles apart. She has her boyfriend of course, but she needs a friend too.
"I know. I'm sorry I haven't been out here to see you more."
"It's more my fault. I haven't been to Vegas at all since you
moved there. Between work and Edward, I've been so busy. But that's no excuse."
"Well, I'm here now. And you have me for the whole weekend."
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