by Holly Rayner
She chuckled. “We had our fair share of craziness too. I was unpacking yesterday and I found a glittery men’s thong in my stuff.”
I groaned. “I haven’t even unpacked yet. Is there anything worse than unpacking?”
“Just do it now.” Elyse waved me toward my bedroom. “I’ll come and chat with you while you do it. Two birds, one stone and all that.”
“Sure.” I sipped my coffee and gestured for her to follow. “Though I’m not sure there’s much to tell.”
That was a blatant lie. There was a ton to tell. I could probably fill a whole book with my adventures in Las Vegas. But there wasn’t a ton I wanted to tell. Maybe it was dumb, but it felt like the experience would be cheapened somehow if I shared it freely. It was special to me as it was. I didn’t want to change that.
Elyse plonked herself down in the middle of my bed while I started unpacking. She looked like Sam did when he was about to hear a particularly exciting story before bed.
“So…what was he like?” Elyse asked. “It was so romantic how you guys met.”
I smiled bashfully. “He was a really nice guy. I enjoyed spending time with him.”
“That’s all you’ve got to say?” she asked. “Come on, Skyler. Don’t leave me in the dark like this. Spill!”
“What do you want to know?”
Elyse looked down at her cup thoughtfully. “Sarah suggested he was probably pretty arrogant. You know, being royalty and all.”
I let out a derisive snort. Jalaal, arrogant? He was a little cocky at best.
“He never made me feel out of place,” I said.
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
“No, I wouldn’t say he was arrogant.”
Elyse shuffled up to the pillows and leaned back, crossing her legs at the ankles. “And what about…you know?” She wiggled her eyebrows.
“Elyse!” I threw a sock at her. “I’m not going to talk about that. A lady never tells.”
Her eyes dropped to my hand, which was holding a bra I’d just pulled out of my bag. “A lady also never shoves poker chips in her bra,” she clucked.
I glanced down. “Oh, crap.”
It was the chip Jalaal had given to me for good luck. And it was stuck to the lining of my bra. Gross.
I peeled the chip off and flipped it absentmindedly between my fingers, thinking back to that night at the casino. A giant smile grew on my face.
“I can’t believe the one friend I have who is always super single and super responsible has a poker chip in her bra from her wild weekend with a sexy prince.” Elyse chuckled. “What are the chances?”
“Hey!” I tossed the chip at her. It bounced off the wardrobe and fell onto the floor, rolling beneath my bed. “I can be wild and crazy, too!”
Elyse laughed. She went to retrieve the chip, but her expression dropped into one of disbelief before she’d even picked it up. “Holy mother of…”
I frowned. “What is it? Am I going to be in trouble for taking it out of the casino or something?”
“Skyler…” Elyse looked up at me. Her eyes were wider than I’d ever seen them and her skin was suddenly chalky. “Did you not look at this chip at all?”
I dropped what I was doing and jumped up onto the bed. Taking the chip from Elyse, I read the gold lettering on top.
And my jaw promptly hit the floor.
I let out a string of curses I hoped I would never hear from my son. Then, when I couldn’t think of more words, I just said them louder. Elyse joined me, and soon we were just swearing at each other on my bed.
The chip—which I’d thought might be worth a hundred dollars or so at most—was for $100,000.
One. Hundred. Thousand. Dollars.
“You’re rich!” Elyse screamed. It was the first intelligible thing either of us had said for some time. “You’re freaking rich!”
I got caught up in the moment, and for a brief time I also celebrated my being rich.
But then reality came knocking and I realized I couldn’t keep the money. It wasn’t mine to keep.
“I’ve got to return this to him,” I said, sobering up.
Elyse furrowed her brow, her mouth dropping open in protest. “No! No, you don’t.” She waved the chip before my eyes. “Do you know what this kind of money would mean for you and Sam? You could send him to a good university, or you could spend it now and finally buy your own place. Imagine how nice it would be not to have to worry about your cranky landlord.”
I snatched the chip away from her. “And what would I tell Sam when he asked how we came into the money?”
“He’s a kid. He won’t care,” she said. “You could tell him whatever you wanted. Say you won the lottery.”
I rolled my eyes. “He won’t be a kid forever, Elyse. He’d figure it out eventually. And I’m not going to lie to my son.”
“And you say you’re not boring…”
“If not wanting to steal from the guy who looked after me all weekend is boring,” I replied, “then I am boring as hell.”
“He probably won’t even notice it’s gone,” she reasoned. “It’ll just be another day in the life of the super wealthy.”
“You can dress it up any way you want, Elyse. It’s still wrong.”
She pouted. “I should have offered to unpack for you.”
I knew she was kidding, but it still struck a nerve. “Jalaal gave this to me to hold on to,” I told her, “and the next morning I left without saying goodbye. Think about how that looks.”
Elyse paused for a moment. “I guess it doesn’t look great,” she admitted.
My forehead broke out in a cold sweat as I thought about how my departure must have looked to Jalaal. He probably thought I was a thief. Oh God, he could be getting the police to look for me right now!
“I would call him and tell him you’ve got the chip,” Elyse said. “You never know, he might even tell you to keep it.”
I gave her a flat look. “In which case I will insist he take it back.”
“Why?” She looked at me like it was the dumbest thing she’d ever heard anyone say.
“Because I don’t care about his money!” I let out a frustrated sigh and backed off the bed. “And I don’t want him to think I care about his money either.”
I couldn’t imagine what he must be thinking about me in that moment. It hurt like hell. After the amazing weekend we’d shared, I would be remembered only as the girl who stole his money and left without saying a word.
“I’m going to call him,” I said.
Elyse stayed seated. “Good.”
I sighed. “I’d prefer to be alone for this,” I said. “This is kind of personal.”
“I suppose I can leave,” she said, dragging out the words, “if that’s what you think is best.”
She continued like that the whole way to the front door. I’d never seen anyone want to leave my apartment less, but she didn’t openly admit it until her shoes were on.
“Let me stay,” she said, clasping her hands in front of her. “Please, Skyler? I promise I’ll be good.”
“No, Elyse.” I opened the door and gestured for her to leave. “Thank you for coming, but I need to do this alone.”
I wasn’t sure if it would end in tears. I hoped to God it wouldn’t, but who knew? Jalaal thought I was a thief.
After I closed the door behind Elyse, I took a deep breath.
Now or never.
Chapter 11
The first problem I encountered when I went to call Jalaal was that I didn’t actually have his phone number. If I’d stayed, maybe he would have given it to me. Maybe not. One of the benefits of leaving without saying goodbye was that I didn’t know for sure, so I could pretend he would have been all about making sure we could stay in touch.
Thankfully, I did know how to find his number. Or a number for him, anyway. I looked up the number for his hotel in Vegas, and after some coercing, the receptionist eventually agreed to connect me to his room.
“Hello?�
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I froze at the first sound of his voice. I’d forgotten how silky and sensual his accent was. How could I have forgotten such an integral part of him so quickly?
“Hello?” he repeated.
“Oh—uh, hi,” I said nervously. “It’s Skyler. From yesterday.”
“Skyler…I didn’t think I would hear from you again.”
I laughed nervously. “Yes, well… I’m home now, and as it turns out, I accidentally took that poker chip you gave me to hold on to. I’m so sorry, Jalaal. I swear I didn’t mean to do it. I know it looks bad because I left so quickly, but it’s not what you think.”
“I’ll take the jet over to you this afternoon,” he replied. “Is there somewhere close to the airport you can meet me?”
I was shocked. He was going to come here?
“Are you sure I can’t just put the chip in the mail for you?” I asked.
“Is there somewhere close to the airport you can meet me?”
I took that as a hard no. Now I was really freaking out. Was he going to yell at me for leaving? Was he going to yell at me for taking the chip? That didn’t seem like something Jalaal would do, but now I was worried. Why else would he take a plane all the way over here?
Granted, the chip was worth $100,000, but still. If he didn’t trust the post, surely a courier could handle it.
“Do you know the Hotel del Coronado?” I asked. “It’s pretty close.”
“Great. I’ll see you there at five.”
Jalaal hung up, and I was left staring at the chip in shock. First and foremost, before I could go anywhere, I had to find somebody to cover my shift at the hospital. I focused my attention on doing that so I didn’t have to think about how I would be seeing Jalaal in a few hours.
Eventually, Sandra said she would cover for me, but she didn’t sound happy about it. I felt bad for lying, but I couldn’t tell her about the poker chip—even if she did believe me, it wasn’t the kind of thing you shared with everyone you knew—so I just told her I’d picked up a virus on the plane.
So of course she thought I was just hungover.
I decided not to let it bother me. I had bigger things to worry about than my coworkers speculating behind my back.
After I got off the phone with Sandra, I immediately tore apart my closet to try to find the perfect outfit. I wasn’t expecting anything out of this meeting, but I still wanted to look my best for Jalaal. I still wanted him to think I was beautiful.
But even after I found the perfect outfit, showered, and did my makeup and hair, I still had hours to kill before I was supposed to meet Jalaal.
It was going to be a long day.
I spent most of the day in an anxious tizzy. And when I felt anxious, I organized things. Before I even knew what had happened, half of my apartment had been organized by shape, size, or color. Most people organized alphabetically, but I’d always preferred a more basic approach.
And I knew how much Sam liked having his Legos organized that way.
When it was finally time to leave, I had to remind myself the whole bus ride that Sam was coming home tomorrow, and that he would love me no matter what Jalaal thought of me. He would never even know who Jalaal was. It was a long bus ride to Coronado—God, I hated the bus—but my dad and I shared the car, and he wouldn’t be back with it until tomorrow.
Finally, I arrived at the Hotel del Coronado. Sitting right out front was a shiny black town car that I knew had to be Jalaal’s. Panic seared through my stomach, but I forced myself to approach it, thinking I’d just slide the poker chip through a half-opened window and be on my way.
Jalaal, it seemed, had other plans.
As I neared the car, the back door opened and a tall, muscular figure got out.
I stopped. Jalaal.
He looked as regal as ever. His hair was swept back on his forehead, and his piercing eyes found mine right away.
“Skyler,” he said warmly. “How are you?”
How am I? A nervous wreck, actually. Thanks for asking.
“I’m good. How are you?”
He leaned against the side of the car and folded his arms over his chest, just like he’d done that morning in the kitchen while I ate breakfast. But his expression wasn’t nearly as playful now.
I launched into my explanation again, thrusting out my hand holding the poker chip. “I’m so sorry about all this. I feel terrible that you had to come all the way out here just because I didn’t check my bra before I left. I’m also really sorry about leaving so abruptly… I thought it would be easier that way.”
Jalaal didn’t reach for the chip, however, leaving my arm hovering awkwardly in the air between us.
“I actually intended for you to keep the chip,” he said smoothly.
I raised my eyebrows. “What?”
“It was a gift.”
I shook my head vehemently. “No. I can’t accept that, especially after the poor treatment I showed you, leaving like that.” Shaking my fist, I said, “Please, take it.”
But Jalaal didn’t move a muscle.
“I admit, I was baffled when I came back to find you gone,” he said. “I was really enjoying your company, Skyler. I thought you were enjoying mine too.”
My hand dropped limply to my side. There was no accusation in his tone or expression. He was merely expressing himself, and it made me feel so much worse.
“I was enjoying your company, too,” I assured him. “I had a lot of fun. It killed me to leave like that.”
Crap. I shouldn’t have said that.
“If it killed you to leave so abruptly, then why did you?”
I took a moment to measure my words. Would it be enough to say things were complicated? No. He had come all this way to hear why I’d left. That much was clear by his continued refusal of the poker chip.
But what could I say? I couldn’t tell him about Sam now. It was much too late for that.
“Mommy!”
I recognized my son’s voice the moment I heard it, and my stomach fell to my knees.
No. This can’t be happening.
I whirled on the spot only to have Sam crash into me. He wrapped his arms around me and squeezed. I knew he was doing it as tightly as he could; he always did. And it always made me smile.
But I didn’t smile today. I couldn’t.
“Sam!” a deep male voice called. My dad.
I glanced up to see my father jogging towards us, holding two ice cream cones. Sam must have seen me and run off.
“Hey, kid,” I said, ruffling his hair. “You ran off from grandpa.”
“What are you doing here, Mommy?” my son said. “Did you come to meet us?”
“I sure did.” I bent over and picked him up, conscious of how I wouldn’t be able to much longer.
It was a cowardly move; I knew that. But I figured if I had Sam in my arms, I could leave without having to say a proper goodbye to Jalaal. He would know that. And he would understand why I’d had to leave him in Las Vegas.
I turned back to Jalaal, who I had never seen look quite so surprised—and I’d seen him win a ton of money more than once.
“I’m sorry. I’ve got to go,” I said.
Without waiting for his response, I turned and headed over to my father, who had stopped by our car, over in the parking lot. At least I wasn’t going to have to take the bus home.
I reached the car and wanted to turn back, to look at the man I’d lied to, but I couldn’t find the will. My stomach flipped over when I pictured the anger I would see in his eyes. If he was even still there. Better not to look and not to know.
“Who’s that?” my father asked when I opened the back door and started settling Sam into his seat.
“Later,” I replied.
He nodded his silver head and slipped into the driver’s seat. I closed Sam’s door and slouched down in the passenger’s seat. Dad turned on the engine, and the Del was in the rearview mirror before I even had a chance to change my mind.
Chapter 12
/> The journey home was short compared to the long bus ride that had taken me to the Del to meet Jalaal. I spent the whole drive fielding questions about my trip from Sam, though he fell asleep just before we reached the apartment. That was another thing he’d inherited from me. I always got sleepy on long car rides—though for this one, I couldn’t have been more awake.
Why did it feel like somebody had staked me through the heart? I barely knew Jalaal, but him finding out about my deceit hurt more than any guy had hurt me since Sam’s dad left. I was consumed by guilt, and I knew I would only feel worse after I explained what I’d done to my father.
I considered not telling him. I already felt horrible, and seeing the judgement on Dad’s face was something I wasn’t sure I could handle. But he could tell something was wrong. He hung around long after we got home, making excuses about how he didn’t feel like being on his own after the trip.
He stayed for dinner. Sam was still super excited from his trip to see my sister, and he told me every single detail about it. I was glad, as it made the silence between my dad and I less awkward.
But then it was Sam’s bedtime.
I put Sam to bed and gingerly headed back to the kitchen. My dad was waiting at the kitchen table.
“Are you ready to talk about what happened today?” he asked.
I sighed. “It wasn’t a big deal, Dad. Just a guy I met in Vegas who I had to return something to.”
Dad patted the chair next to him. “It looked like a big deal to me,” he said. “Especially since you’ve clearly been cut up about it all day.”
Sliding down into the seat, I considered lying, but I’d done enough of that for one weekend. I should have told Jalaal the truth. He deserved it. And after everything my father had done for me, he more than deserved it.
“I had kind of a crazy weekend in Vegas,” I explained. “Spent some time with that guy you saw today. His name’s Jalaal.”
“He looks rich,” my dad said casually. He traced a finger over the grainy surface of the table. Sam did that a lot, too. He called them “wood rivers.”