Page 8 of Gamble (Black Light #38)

REAGAN

S he was a coward. Reagan silenced her phone, blocking out the incoming texts from Jeff and Jules bugging her to come join them in the casino.

Even if she weren’t allergic to the heavy smoke that clung to the air in the huge casinos of Vegas, she still wouldn’t be joining them.

The smells and noisy background sounds were awful enough, but she didn’t want to deal with Jeff’s angry rants about how out of line the kind man had been to help her during check-in.

He’d berated Reagan the entire trip up the elevator until she’d been able to hide in her room.

At first, the solitude of her room was a pleasant respite from her busy day, and she’d enjoyed a brief nap before taking a nice soak in the oversized tub.

But now, after hours of seclusion, she felt ridiculous…

trapped in her room alone. This was not her idea of a romantic weekend away, and she planned on telling Tristan in no uncertain terms, just as soon as he answered his phone.

Her anger with him amped up a notch with each unanswered text and phone call she sent to her wayward boyfriend.

“This is ridiculous. I shouldn’t feel trapped in my room,” she announced to the empty space.

Her first plan had been to order in room service so she wouldn’t have to leave, but after seeing the steep menu prices and even steeper delivery and tipping fees, it felt silly to order a tray of food when all she wanted to eat was the amazing ice cream they sold at the poolside bar and grill.

Glancing at her watch, she realized she had to make her move if she was going to go for ice cream. That outlet would close in thirty minutes.

Pushing up from the chair near the window, she shoved her feet into her sandals and grabbed her small cross-body purse, making sure to have the coveted room key tucked inside. She rushed out of the room before she could change her mind.

The ride to the lobby level was uneventful, but as soon as she left the elevator, she realized she was going to play a game of hide-and-seek to keep from bumping into Jeff and Jules.

Moving cautiously, she scoped out her path through the maze of slot machines and other beeping games of chance, trying to avoid Tristan’s friends.

She was nearly across the room to the corridor that led to the restaurant when someone called her name. She had a split second to decide—turn and acknowledge she’d heard or speed up and try to slip away without them catching up to her?

It surprised her how easy it was to decide. Reagan sped up, rushing forward while glancing over her shoulder to see if they were following her. She caught a flash of Jeff’s Hawaiian resort shirt at the exact moment that she ran smack dab into something hard.

Before she could turn to see what, or who, she’d rammed into, a warm hand covered her mouth while an arm wrapped around her waist, yanking her sideways through a random door off the hallway.

Her heart pounded hard, fearful that she was being abducted. Luckily, she recognized the baritone voice whispering in her ear. “Shhh… I don’t think they saw you.”

Reagan looked up into the smiling face of the man who’d helped her during check-in just as he removed his hand from over her mouth.

“I’m sorry if I scared you, grabbing you like that, but I got the impression you could use a bit of help to escape.”

“That obvious, eh?” she confessed, embarrassed. This guy must think she was a hot mess.

“Naw. I’m just pretty good at reading people,” he said, and she had to agree. So far, he’d done a better job of paying attention to her than her own boyfriend had been.

Reagan didn’t have time to respond. An older woman in a flowery dress rushing up to them interrupted her. “Welcome to The Chapel! No need to stand back here near the door. Come in and I’ll show you around.”

Reagan took her eyes off her companion long enough to glance around and realized they’d somehow fallen down a rabbit hole straight into a gaudy wedding chapel.

She didn’t even have time to protest before the woman took each of their hands and started pulling them toward the makeshift altar where a thin man in a too-big suit stood looking bored.

“Oh no…” she countered, trying to pull her hand free. “I think you’ve misunderstood. We don’t even know each other! We’re not here to get married.”

Her companion wasn’t helping. If she didn’t know better, she’d swear he was in on the joke because his only reaction was a low chuckle. Reagan glanced at his face to see him grinning, and she burst out giggling. It really was ridiculous.

It wasn’t until they came to a stop that he stopped laughing long enough to set the lady straight.

“I’m sorry if we intruded, but I’m afraid the young lady is correct. We only met a few hours ago. We ducked in here to hide from her very obnoxious friends who were chasing her down.”

The smile on the older woman waned. “Darn. I’m sorry to hear that. I saw you two laughing together, and I took that as a good sign that you were a couple.”

Reagan shared a quick glance with her savior, sure he would regret getting dragged into yet another drama on her behalf, but the grin on his handsome face had only grown, lighting up his grey eyes in a way that felt warm and welcoming.

Why couldn’t Tristan look at me like that?

Coming to her senses, Reagan teased, “I have a strict rule. I don’t contemplate marrying a man until I at least know their name.”

Even the woman from the chapel laughed at her comment.

“My apologies,” he offered with a slight bow that she suspected would have felt condescending had Tristan done it, but for this older, mature man, she knew he meant it as a sign of respect. “Elijah Keaton, at your service.”

“Well, Elijah Keaton, you’ve already proven you are a man of your word since you’ve come to my aid twice in a matter of hours.” She had reached out to take his warm hand, and their handshake lingered as she added, “Reagan Murphy.”

“Murphy. That might explain the red hair. Irish?” he asked.

“By way of Seattle. I still have some distant cousins in Dublin, though.”

“Just one more thing to like about you. I love Ireland. I’ve traveled there several times for work in the past,” he added before a slight pause in their conversation felt awkward.

“Well, I guess—” she said just as he asked, “Where were you heading?”

They each chuckled before she answered, “I was heading out to grab some ice cream near the pool.”

“Is that your dinner or dessert?” he asked.

She could feel a blush as she admitted, “That ice cream is the best dinner in town.”

“Maybe… but I was going to grab a steak. Care to join me?” he asked before adding, “I promise to order you ice cream for dessert.”

Reagan’s regret was illuminating. It didn’t bode well for her relationship with Tristan that she wanted to say yes to her new friend.

Her face must have projected her thoughts because Elijah smiled again. This time she sensed his disappointment, which only made her wish she could go even more.

“Let me guess… Mr. Goodrich may not be here yet, but he’s your fiancé?”

“Close… well,” she was flustered. “…not that close, I guess—he’s just my boyfriend.”

“Hmmm… just your boyfriend… Well, he’s not a very smart one, leaving you to fend for yourself in Vegas. If he’s not careful, someone…” he paused, broadening his smile again before adding, “…will try to steal you away.”

“Yeah, well if he doesn’t show up by tomorrow morning, no stealing will be necessary as he’ll be given the boot.” Her blunt response surprised even her as she realized she wasn’t bluffing.

“I’m too much of a gentleman to wish for anything that would hurt you, but I’ll go on record to say that even though I haven’t met him, I’m pretty sure you could do better.”

“Are you judging him because he is late?” she asked.

“No, delays can happen to anyone.” Elijah paused, cocking his head a bit as he pondered his answer. “But I do think he could do a better job of keeping that amazing smile on your face. It’s beautiful.”

She felt a blush on her pale cheeks. And since Reagan agreed with Elijah’s assessment, she had to bite her tongue to keep from agreeing with him.

Instead, she reached her hand back out and added, “Thanks again for your help, Elijah Keaton. I’ll let you go so you can grab that steak.

Maybe I’ll see you around more this weekend. ”

“I sure hope so,” he added, still holding her hand longer than etiquette called for.

Rather than being angry, Reagan found herself admiring his cool confidence.

Elijah released her hand before walking back to the entry of the chapel. Cracking open the door, he peered outside and then turned to announce, “The coast is clear. Good luck making it to the ice cream without getting caught.”

And then he was gone. For a moment, she had to fight down the temptation to call after him—to take him up on his offer for dinner. But that was crazy.

“I haven’t met your boyfriend either,” the woman still standing next to her said before adding, “But you just let one of the good guys get away.”

“How do you know he’s a good guy?” Reagan asked, curious since her past romantic history proved she sucked at picking men.

“That man didn’t take his eyes off you. I’ve been in this business for decades, and I can weed out the good from the bad with eerie accuracy.”

The woman’s words made her pause. “Don’t you think he’s a bit too old for me?”

There was no denying Elijah was good-looking, and she could tell by the way he carried himself that he was in great shape, but still… his salt and pepper hair made her think he had more than just a couple of years on her.

The woman leaned in before adding, “Honey, those are the best kind. He has the full package and looks old enough to know how to use it, if you get my drift.”

The women shared a naughty laugh before Reagan took off in the direction of the ice cream before Jeff and Jules could find her.

Hours later, Reagan lay awake, getting angrier by the minute.

As if ditching her for the first day of their weekend getaway wasn’t bad enough, she’d still not been able to speak with Tristan.

The most she’d gotten out of him were a few quipped text messages that told her nothing about what his delay was about.

She’d done her best to go to sleep, but the more she thought about it, the more she needed to get her concerns off her chest. If Tristan would not pick up her call, she at least knew one person who would.

“Hey, are you having loads of fun?” Meena asked as her friend answered her call on the first ring.

“I should have stayed home. This entire weekend is a bust.”

“What’s going on? Is Tristan spending the night at the casino like he did last time? I swear he doesn’t listen to you at all when you tell him the casino’s smoke makes you sick.”

“Oh, don’t I wish that were my problem. He hasn’t even made it here yet.”

“What?!”

Reagan had to pull the phone away from her ear when her friend shouted.

“He texted me while I was in the air to tell me he’d be here tomorrow morning. Like seriously, what the hell could he be doing in Phoenix that is so important that he had to stay another day?” She hesitated before adding, “He usually goes on his sales calls on business days.”

Meena waited before answering. “Do you really want me to say it?” When Reagan didn’t answer, she added. “That’s why you called me, isn’t it? You were already thinking it and needed to hear me say it out loud?”

Tears came to Reagan’s eyes as the truth hit her hard. “This is so humiliating. Why do I keep choosing men who do this to me?”

“Honey, this is not on you. You are an amazing person. You don’t deserve to be treated like this.”

“I thought this one might be different,” she choked out around the lump in her throat. “Maybe he’ll have a good reason for his delay when he gets here tomorrow,” she added hopefully.

“What reason could that possibly be? I can only think of one, and that’s that he was sick or injured and in the hospital, but since he’s still texting, that isn’t the reason.

” Meena waited a few seconds to let her answer sink in before adding, “You know, this keeps happening to you because you are so beautiful.”

Reagan scoffed through her tears. “If you could see me right now, you wouldn’t say that,” knowing her eyes were red and puffy.

You forget that I have known you for over ten years. We’ve lived together for half of those years. Trust me, I’ve seen you at your best and your worst, and I’ll repeat… You are a natural beauty. Even better, you are smart, have a brilliant career… a great body… an outstanding sense of humor…”

Reagan started giggling. “Alright, alright… I didn’t call in order to get you to throw me compliments.”

“No. You called me because you trust me to tell you the truth, even when it hurts. And I’m sorry to say it, but you can do so much better than Tristan. He may be cute and have a decent job, but he’s still too immature to give you the commitment you are looking for.”

Her words hurt, but only because they were echoing what Reagan was already thinking herself. The women sat in silence for a few long seconds before Reagan added, “How did I get lucky enough to get you for my roommate our freshman year?”

“We both got lucky, didn’t we? Hey, Asher is home. He was stuck at the ER super late, but I’m going to go make him some food. You going to be okay?”

“Yeah,” Reagan answered, not wanting to interrupt her friend’s time with her fiancé.

I wanted to chat before bed. Let’s see what Tristan has to say for himself in the morning, assuming he does get here.

I’m hoping we can at least get through this weekend so I can give you and Asher some time alone at the apartment. ”

“That doesn’t matter. You come home if you need to. Promise?”

“Okay. I promise. And Meena?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks. I love you.”

“Back at you, baby. Night.”