“If you kill me, you’ll have to bury my body.” I tossed another bar at him. “Do you really want to dig another hole?”
“Just be careful, all right?”
“Okay.” Another bar landed with a spray of dirt. “Stack faster.”
Ryan’s cell phone rang. “Shit.” He dug it out of his pocket. “You here?” It had to be Reese. “Yeah, cool. Fifteen minutes.”
“Reese?” I asked after he hung up.
“Yeah. Let’s unload and you can go pick up her half. I’ll stack this while you’re gone.” Worked for me. Five minutes later, the remaining half of the bars were scattered on the ground around the hole. Ten minutes after that, I got back to the highway. Reese was parked on the shoulder looking the part of lost girl. I parked behind her.
“You look like hell,” Reese kindly informed me. Sure, I was sweaty and dirty, and I smelled like dirty sweat, but I thought it was a little unnecessary to point it out.
“Thanks. Open the trunk.” I was all business. Shower, drink, sleep, shower, drink, sleep. I just had to keep my goals in mind.
“Here are your room keys.” Reese handed me two red plastic key cards. “We’re at the Wynn. In the Tower Suites. It’s on the Strip.” All of which meant nothing to me.
“Just help me move the gold.” I pocketed the cards.
“You’re a little uptight.” Dutifully, Reese started moving gold from the trunk of her Mercedes into the 4Runner. Hers were wrapped like Ryan’s except the numbers were written in green instead of black.
“I’m tired and hot and sore. I just want to get this shit finished.” I turned around to grab more gold and she was right behind me.
“Maybe you should get a massage at the hotel.” Somehow, her hands ended up pressed against my lower back. “You’re tense.”
Damn, that felt good. I had to bite my lip to keep from moaning. Hopefully, she couldn’t see that in the dark. “Of course I’m tense. Stop that. We need to get this finished.” I stepped around her and continued loading.
“You are such an ass.”
“Took you long enough to catch on.” We finished working in silence after that. Reese didn’t seem too talkative.
“So I guess I’ll see you guys in a couple hours.”
“Yep.” I immediately got back in the SUV and retraced my steps. When I pulled up, Ryan was just starting to bury the gold.
It took us the better part of an hour to unload the second set of bricks, stack them in the second hole, and fill it with dirt.
“We should clean up.” I dug around in the mound of gear in the 4Runner until I found the larger containers of water.
“Clean up what?” Ryan looked at me like I was crazy.
“Us. If we walk into a hotel looking like this we’ll draw too much attention to ourselves.”
“Oh, okay.” Ryan took the shoulder holster off and stashed the gun properly. Then he uncapped a gallon bottle of water and poured it over his head. The water ran down his face collecting dirt and leaving streaks behind. With a shake, he flung the damp hair out of his eyes. “Your turn.” Before I could move, he dumped the remaining half gallon of water over my head.
I screamed like a girl. “Asshole.” The water ran down my hair into my ears and eyes. It went down the back of my grubby shirt and collected in the waistband of my underwear. Ryan was already dying of laughter. I felt surprisingly good.
“Was that what you had in mind?” He stripped off his shirt and used it like a towel on his hair and face.
“Not entirely.” I followed suit with my shirt. “I’ll get you back though.”
“Sure you will.” He was totally mocking me. “You ready to go?”
“Yep. I want first shower.” I called dibs.
“I don’t care.”
Ryan drove the rest of the way. He seemed to know where he was going so I just watched in a semi-comatose state until we pulled up to the private entrance.
*
Eighteen hours later, I woke up. It was already dark again. Wearing only my boxer briefs, I padded out to the main room of the suite. Below me, the Las Vegas Strip flashed and blinked and screamed. I pressed against the cool glass to see it all. Our room was dark and quiet. I wondered for a second where the twins were until I heard movement behind me.
“Isn’t it beautiful?” Reese asked softly.
“In sort of a corporate America kind of way, yeah.”
She chuckled at my response. “You want some champagne?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.” I spun around and leaned back against the window.
“I’ll pour it if you put on a shirt.”
I glanced down at the expanse of skin that was showing. “If you insist.” I let out a big sigh and went to find a shirt. A minute later, I reemerged wearing tight jeans and an oxford shirt with a single button done. Reese was still in front of the expansive windows. A flute of champagne dangled from her long fingers and another stood behind her on a low table. Mine, I assumed.
“Where’s your brother?” I joined her.
“He’s still crashed. Did you guys sleep at all on the drive?”
“For a couple hours. Before that, the last time we slept was before the party.”
“No wonder you were so tired.” Reese turned to look at me. The gaudy lights from outside reflected in weak imitations of color across her face and chest. She pushed her hair back and took a slow drink of champagne. Girl was sexy. She knew it. I searched for something, anything that would distract me.
“So, uh…you think he’ll come after us?” I gathered the courage to ask. I knew the answer, but I wanted someone else to say it.
“Christopher?” she asked. I nodded. “If you took the time to put thirty-four million in gold bars in a wall and someone stole it, would you go after them?”
“Fuck, yeah. But, technically, it is your money,” I pointed out.
“He thinks he’s entitled to it or something.”
“Why?”
“I’m not sure really. I think he helped my mom get it in the first place.”
“So? It’s from some business she ran, right?”
“I guess.” Reese stared out the window. “You want to go walk around?”
“Sure.”
“You’ll need to button up your shirt.” She dragged two fingers down my bare stomach. My boxer briefs got suddenly wet. I’d need to change those.
“You ask me to put on clothes and now you want them buttoned? You’re so demanding.” I went to find shoes.
“Where are we going to go?” Reese asked me in the elevator.
“You tell me.” She looked at me like I was crazy. “I’ve never been to Vegas, but you have, right?”
“Oh, yeah. I guess.”
Either she had or she hadn’t. Maybe she’d gotten really trashed or something and didn’t remember.
“So you can show me around then?” I slung a casual arm around her shoulders as we cruised down the street. Surprisingly, she didn’t punch me. She didn’t even move it.
“Sure. Whatever.”
A mile later, we stood in front of what was supposed to be a spectacular water show. I leaned against the wide railing next to Reese “So these are the Bellagio fountains?”
“In all their glory.” Her sarcasm was duly noted.
“They seem so exciting in movies.”
“I think they improve with alcohol consumption.” Reese was so smart.
“Want to find out?” I couldn’t think of anything better to do. “We could get trashed and walk around. That fake Eiffel Tower will be way cooler.”
“You make it sound like Disneyland.”
“I think Vegas is supposed to be like Disneyland, but for big kids.”
Reese looked around, but I guess she didn’t see much because she shrugged and said, “Why not?” Then she took off through the crowd. So I did the logical thing. I followed her.
I probably should have asked what she was looking for.
*
Drunk Reese was awesome. She c
ouldn’t walk a straight line to save her life, and she couldn’t focus on a single subject longer than thirty seconds, yet her speech was impeccable.
“I am not entirely sure if that is a good idea.” Reese clung to my arm to stay upright as we stumbled back to our hotel. Navigating through people, around trees, and past the sidewalk vendors peddling beer merchandise was apparently far more than she could handle.
“Nope, it is.”
“Cooper, I believe we are intoxicated and should not engage in certain pursuits.”
“Are you trying to sound like a pompous ass?” I genuinely wanted to know. “I love it. Really. It’s like you’re compensating for not being able to function at all.”
“I am perfectly capable of functioning.”
“Really?” She nodded emphatically. “Then let’s do it.”
“Oh, fine. Now will you open the door?”
Belatedly, I realized that we were in front of our door and that Reese couldn’t unlock it. I took the key card and slid it through the reader.
“No, wait for the red light.”
“That’s why it’s not working. You wait for the green light.” I pushed the door open.
“Oh. Well.” She grasped about for something to say. “Thank you.” Then she sashayed into the room.
“Where the hell have you guys been?” Ryan was perched on the small desk with a handgun tucked into his waistband.
“Where the hell have you been?” Reese countered.
“Put that away.” I pointed to the gun. “Why the fuck do you need that?”
“What? This makes you nervous?” He pulled it out, waved it around, and tucked it back into his pants. “Well, I’ve been fuckin’ nervous. So deal. You guys have been gone forever and neither of you were answering your phones.”
“Damn, Ryan. Calm down.” I put up my hands in surrender. “And put the gun away, please.”
“I don’t know why they freak you out so much. You’re a better shot than I am.” He was right, but just because I could shoot like a cowboy didn’t mean I liked guns. I didn’t see why he had to bring that shit in the first place. Ryan took the gun and put it back into the small safe on top of five gold bars.
“It’s a machine made to kill people.” Exasperated, I fell back onto the designer sofa. We’d had this conversation before.
“Hey, Ryan?” Reese collapsed next to me. “Guess what we’re doing?”
“How drunk are you?” he asked in response.
“Suitably,” she said.
“What does that mean?” I’d never been suitably drunk in my life.
Reese ignored me. “Ryan, I said, guess what we’re doing?”
“Getting married?”
“No. We tried. It’s illegal here.” She wasn’t exactly telling the truth. We’d been walking down the strip, and I asked where all the chapels were and Reese said she didn’t know. That wasn’t exactly trying. “We are going swimming.”
“No, you’re not.” Ryan sounded the voice of reason.
“Sure we are.” I backed Reese up. It was my idea after all.
“No, you’re not.”
“Ryan, we are.” I used my serious tone.
“Not happening.” His serious tone was better. Maybe the deep voice helped.
“Yeah, huh,” Reese brilliantly contributed.
“Come on, Ryan,” I whined. “Why not?”
“You’re both drunk,” he said.
“If we keep annoying you, will you give in?” I didn’t think he’d actually go for that.
“Not even a little bit.”
“Come on.” Reese jumped up and immediately fell down.
“Definitely not now.”
“Is it weird that I’m totally attracted to her right now?” I asked Ryan.
“Yes.”
“Let’s go swimming,” I said again like it was a new idea.
“No. The pool is probably closed and my sister is about to pass out.” And then she did.
“Damn.”
Chapter Eleven
“Your sister sure knows how to pick accommodations.” After two days, we’d taken full advantage of the disgustingly opulent hotel Reese had chosen. Mostly, that meant Reese and I had gone shopping for Ryan. Weird, but we liked to dress him. Ryan knew his marijuana, he knew computers, he knew wine, and he even knew a little Spanish, but he didn’t know shit about clothes. After the age of fifteen, Reese and I didn’t let him pick out his own clothes. Even weirder, Reese had picked out some clothes for me. I think the girl just liked men’s suits, but she didn’t like to wear them so she dressed Ryan and me up like Ken dolls.
“That she does.” We were at the virtually empty private pool watching the heat rise in waves from the ground. It was sort of hypnotic. “Hey, happy birthday.” Ryan held out his mimosa and I tapped mine against it.
“Thanks.”
He hooked a finger in his oversized aviators to look at me. “You feel old?”
“Yep.”
“Me too.” The sunglasses went back into place.
“So what’s with the bathing suit?” I’d been holding back all morning. It was time to ask.
“What’s wrong with my bathing suit?” We both looked down at the very slim mid-thigh length trunks. They were cream and deep blue, which looked damn good against his dark skin, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.
“Just a little shorter than usual.” Actually, they weren’t bad. Ryan had the muscle in his legs to pull them off. “Way shorter. And super tight. You see James Bond wearing them and thought you’d try it out?”
Ryan’s jaw dropped. “Daniel Craig. How’d you know?”
“You’re so transparent, darlin’. At least you kept your chest hair.” We both looked down at all four of his chest hairs. His St. Christopher hung on its long silver chain just below them. It was bigger than the patch of hair.
“Sometimes I hate you,” he said unconvincingly. “Should I put on my shirt?”
“No, you’re hot.” He was. “Just lacking hair.”
“You know I was going to give you your birthday present, but now there’s no way in hell.”
“I thought the party was my birthday present.” News to me. I wasn’t going to complain about more presents though.
“Sort of. Reese and I talked about something else though. I couldn’t convince her last year, but…” He waved his hand through the air, which made him look exactly like his sister. “Never mind, you’ll see.”
“That really didn’t tell me much.”
“Doesn’t matter. Be patient.”
“Why’d you mention it in the first place? Now I’m all curious.”
“It builds the anticipation.” He smirked.
One of the cell phones on the table between us vibrated. It was mine. “Damn.” I fumbled the phone open. “What’s up?” Only two people had the number and one was sitting next to me.
“Happy birthday,” said Reese. “Are you as hung over as I am?”
“Totally. The cure is to drink more.” A mantra we’d been living by for most of the summer.
“I’ll keep that in mind.” Not much of a drinker, that girl.
“We’re having mimosas.”
“Well, I just ordered brunch. You guys want to come back to the room? I can order more mimosas if you want.”
“You rock.”
“I know.” She hung up.
“What did she want?” Ryan asked when I set the phone down.
“She ordered brunch for us. You want to go?”
“Yeah.” We stood and Ryan’s phone went off. “Why’s she calling me now? Hello?” Ryan reached out and grabbed my arm. “No way. All right, cool. Yeah, I’ll call.” He hung it up and looked at me with feverish eyes. “Our first shipment is ready.”
We weren’t so good at codes. I was pretty sure that meant the fake IDs. “No way. Are we driving up?”
“One of us will have to. Paulie said he’d overnight them, but it’s probably not a great idea.”
“Considering
what they are, no shit.” Sometimes I had to help him with the most obvious things.
“Let’s go eat breakfast and then we’ll figure it out.”
“Works for me.”
*
I’d never had such good French toast. Reese ordered all my favorites right down to the coffee. Italian roast. The girl knew what was up. After we ate, we collapsed facing the windows and watching the Strip. It was way less sexy in the daylight.
“So I figured I’d drive back up to San Francisco,” Ryan said. “I mean, it’s your birthday and Reese drives so slow it would take days.”
I considered arguing. Driving sixteen hours there and back sounded really unappealing though. “I’ll go with you if you want.”
“No, it’s cool.”
“Okay,” I folded.
“Hey, wait. Don’t I get a say?” Reese didn’t look happy at the evaluation of her driving.
“Not really,” Ryan said.
“Do I get my present before you go?” I really couldn’t follow too many trains of thought at once.
“You told her?”
“Only that there was a present.” Ryan moved out of hitting range. Reese swatted at him anyway. “I didn’t tell her what it was.”
“I guess we have to give it to her now.” Reese disappeared into her bedroom and came back out with a velvet box the size of my fist. She tossed it into my lap.
“You guys got me jewelry?” Boxes like that are pretty distinctive.
“Just open it.” Ryan was literally on the edge of his seat.
“Okay.” So I did. Inside was a St. Christopher like theirs. It was a little bigger and wasn’t quite as ornate. It was also very familiar. “Oh my God. No way.” I glanced up and Ryan nodded. Reese was smiling but trying to hide it. “No, you didn’t. You can’t give me this.”
“Sure we can.” Ryan reached out and took the box from me. He pulled out the long silver chain and put it over my head. “She would be proud to give it to you.”
“This was your mom’s. You can’t give me it.”
“Cooper,” Reese cut in. “You’ve always wanted one.”
“Not this one.” My fingers automatically started playing up and down the chain.
Dirty Sex Page 11