Hi guys! I am so happy that y'all are loving the story still. I know the snake thing was a little bit unclear, and that is my fault. So, y'all know how Maya was afraid that she had hit an animal? Well she really did; it was the snake that bit Lucas. Snakes are weird creatures, they can find their way into anything, even into the glove compartment of a car. Lucas didn't see anything because the snake already made its way through the car. I thought I would just clear that up.
All I have to say about this chapter is: Vegas! Woot woot!
Enjoy!
The city of lights. Sin city. The entertainment capital of the world. Las Vegas, Nevada. This is our last stop before we arrive in Los Angeles, and I don't know about Maya, Luke, or Elizabeth, but I want to have fun tonight. We are still sitting in the hotel since we arrived earlier this morning. Maya and I crashed as soon as we fell onto a pillow. Elizabeth and Luke are in the room across from us, and they probably did the same thing when we got to the hotel. It's been an exhausting twenty-four hours.
I get out of bed and open the curtains and see the view of the city outside. It looks so beautiful on the outside considering how dirty it really is. The streets are filled with people who are out to have a good time. It looks like a regular night in New York City when Zay and I would patrol time square.
"Go get ready," I hear Maya say. I turn around and see that she is rummaging through her clothes for something to wear to go out tonight.
"Are you sure you want to do this? If you're too tired, then we can stay in," I reassure her.
She giggles. "Lucas, I am really in the need for some fun tonight. And since we're gonna be here for a few days, then I don't think it will hurt to try and win some big bucks."
"Or we'll arrive in Los Angeles tomorrow with no cash at all?"
"Not possible. I have a knack for card games. And I'm pretty damn good at the slot machines," Maya says. Now it's my turn to laugh. Her nonsensical sentences crack me up sometimes.
"You can't be good at slots. Slots is a game of luck. No skill needed," I tell her.
She pulls out a red dress from her suitcase and walks passed me to go to the bathroom. "We'll see about that, Huckleberry."
I laugh after she closes the door to the bathroom. Someone knocks on the door, so I walk over to see who is standing there. I'm not surprised to see that it's Luke and Elizabeth. They look dressed up, like they are ready for a good time tonight as well. I open the door and let them in. Luke is wearing a navy colored suit that shows off his broad frame. Elizabeth is wearing a sleeveless, tight white dress that goes just above her knee. Her cleavage is shown through the keyhole neckline. They looks at me with a smile and make themselves comfortable on our bed.
"So, are you and Maya going out tonight? Luke and I thought we should ask you, just in case," Elizabeth says.
"Maya's getting ready, and I'm waiting on her to be done so that I can get ready after her," I respond as I pull my black colored suit. "Feel free to make yourselves comfortable...but not too comfortable."
I walk to the bathroom door and open it just as Maya is trying to zip her dress. She struggles to reach the zipper in the back. I look at her in the mirror, and I'm taken aback by how beautiful she looks. The dress hugs all of her curves. The neck of the dress is in the shape of a "v" and shows her cleavage in a way that I don't ever remember Maya showing. Her plump lips match the color of her crimson dress, which I've always loved when Maya would wear red lipstick. She looks at me in the mirror and smiles because she caught me staring at her.
"Can you help me, pervert?" Maya asks. I nod and grab the zipper that begins at the small of her back, and I slowly drag the material up until it reaches the nape of her neck. I feel so tempted to tear this dress right off of her and take her right here in the bathroom, but I've set boundaries that I can't break because I've been enough of an ass, and I want her to get back to where she's comfortable around me.
"Thanks," She tells me. "Did I hear someone knock on our door?"
"Yea. It was Luke and Elizabeth. I guess they came to see if we wanted to go out tonight. But I told them to wait while we get ready," I say, taking my sweatpants off. I pull my black dress pants on and take my shirt off. I slip the white collar shirt over my shoulders and fix the sleeves before I start to button my shirt up.
I glance at Maya and see her looking at the bandage on my hand from the snake bite. She looks at me, so I smirk at her.
"Does it hurt, any?" She asks me.
"No. It's starting to heal a little bit, I think," I respond.
She shakes her head. "I mean your bullet wounds. Do they ever hurt? You haven't been cleaning them here lately."
"They hurt a little bit whenever I do too much strenuous activity, but they're starting to heal too. They don't hurt as much as they did when we started this road trip," I tell her.
She laughs. "We were just born, and you already have medical bills to pay. What am I going to do with you, Lucas Friar?"
"Lucas Walker," I correct her.
"Oh...right. Sorry."
I straighten the sleeves on my coat and look at her. "You ready?"
She nods, and we open the door to see Elizabeth and Luke sitting down on the bed, talking. They look at us and smile when we emerge from the bathroom. They stand up and walk over to the door. I walk over to my suitcase and grab my gun and tuck it in the back of my pants while Maya grabs her purse and locks arms with me before we leave the hotel.
Maya and I walk into the casino arm in arm along with Luke and Elizabeth. I take a look around, and I can't help but chuckle at my want to gamble tonight. I'm not very good at cards. In fact, I suck at them. Maya was always the one to beat me in poker or whatever game we would play with a deck of cards. I don't know anything about poker. She named hands that I didn't even know existed.
Luke and Elizabeth make their way to a blackjack table and change two hundred dollar bills. I have a feeling that they're really good at this game, I don't know why. It's just a hunch.
"Changing two hundred!" The dealer yells before handing Maya and I our chips. She sits in between Luke and me and patiently waits for her two cards.
I subtly look at the card with the bottom side down. Right now, I have nineteen. I don't know much about blackjack. I just know that I have to get twenty one or the closest one to twenty one at the table. I'm not sure where blackjack comes in. Ironically, though, I don't feel like much a risk taker when it comes to gambling. People would think that since I risk my life for people everyday that I would be more risky in every part of my life. But there are some things I can't be risky with.
"I'll stay," I tell the dealer. I look over at Maya, who has a tiny smirk on her face, and I ask, "What do you have?"
"Sorry Huck, I'm staying quiet about what I have," She tells me. She doesn't even look at me, and I know that she has her game face on because every time she would kick my ass at poker, she would have this same look on her face.
The dealer turns his cards over to reveal that he has twenty. I turn my cards over, and I'm out fifty bucks, but when Maya turns her cards over, she has twenty one. How in the hell can someone be so lucky at card games?
"Damn Maya, you're good at this," Elizabeth says as she reveals that she, too, has twenty one. The two girls share a laugh and put money in on the next game.
I'm not much of a blackjack person, and Luke isn't either, apparently. We stand up from the table and stand behind our spouses, watching them continue to win at this game. There's no way that someone is this good at this game, but after ten rounds, Maya decides to leave the table with eight thousand dollars. Who the hell am I married to?
"You're good at playing cards. I'll have to go against you sometime," Elizabeth tells Maya. Elizabeth won just as much money as Maya did. Luke and I look at each other like we're the stupid ones at the blackjack table...which, we are, but still.
"Is there anything else you want to do?" I ask Maya.
"Yea. I want to play the slot machines for a little bit. I'm good at slot machines," Maya says, making me laugh again.
"We'll see when you spend all eight thousand dollars you just earned," I tease her.
She laughs and pulls out some money from her purse. "I won't spend all eight thousand. Here's four thousand, go nuts."
"You don't want me to come with you?" I ask her.
"Nah. I'm better whenever I play alone. No offense to you, but seriously, go have some fun. I'll be fine on my own for a little bit," Maya says. I nod and kiss her cheek before I go walking around the casino for something to do. I don't feel right spending this money, so I think I'll just watch some people and see if I can learn something.
Elizabeth and Luke walk around with me. I tell them that they don't have to, but they just tell me that it's their job to make sure Maya and I make it to Los Angeles safely. I don't mind walking around with them anyway. Luke and Elizabeth are a nice couple. For a little while it feels like they could be mine and Maya's friends. Maya and I are a married couple with married couple friends, and it's kinda cool to think about.
We end up at a place outside where it's a little bit quieter, surprisingly. I didn't think there was a quiet place in the city of lights. Luke and I sit down on a ledge and Elizabeth sits on Luke's lap.
"So, Lucas. How did you and Maya really meet? I know that you can't really talk about your old lives anymore, but we know what it's like to have to leave something behind and pretend that it didn't happen. Tell us?" Elizabeth asks.
I smile, remembering the day I met Maya.
"I was born in Texas, and I lived there until I was about fourteen. I used to have a really bad temper, and I would get in fights in school a lot, so I got expelled, and I moved to New York with my dad. It was my first day there, and I was riding the subway to get to know my way around, when all of a sudden this short blonde girl walks up to me and has the fastest relationship with me that I've ever had. I can remember everything about that day. She broke up with me in less than twenty seconds, and I was intrigued by her humor and confidence. Then it turns out that she's in the same class as I am, and we're both in seventh grade at this point," I explain.
"How cute. Middle school romance," Elizabeth says.
"Well, it's more complicated than that. See, her best friend, Riley, had a crush on me, and I liked her too, I just wasn't sure how I liked her. But we tried dating, and everything was weird, so we ended things. Then, we all went to Texas to watch me ride a bull, and I find out at a campfire, by Maya herself, that she likes me. And then, on New Years Eve, Riley throws a party where I am told that Riley still has feelings for me. So, I had two great girls that I had to choose between. And those two girls have been best friends since forever," I continue.
"Holy shit," Luke says. "That must've been rough."
"It was," I respond. "But, anyway, this triangle thingy went unresolved for a long time, but then I went on a ski trip with our class, and Maya tells me to pick Riley. So Riley and I try things again, but things, again, didn't work out. Riley realized that she had feelings of love for someone else, and she is still with him to this day. But I wasn't heartbroken. Maya and I didn't immediately get together after Riley and I broke up. We took things slow because she was going through a lot with Riley, and I didn't think it was the right moment. But I caught her off guard one day. We were forced to talk to each other, and I told her how I felt."
"Aww. And have you guys been together since?" Elizabeth asks.
"No. We actually weren't together when we were relocated. The agency just found it more believable to pair us up as a married couple," I explain.
"What happened? If you don't mind me asking?"
"I honestly couldn't tell you. I think it had a lot to do with the fact that I was a police detective, and I would have to go undercover and work with dangerous people. I could see her getting unhappy in our relationship, but I was so busy that I didn't do anything about it. So, we broke up. But she still lived with me because we didn't have no where else to go, so we decided to live together but in separate rooms. We were on good terms," I tell them.
"Well, what happened there?" Elizabeth asks.
"I was an asshole, and I dated one of her co-workers for a month. It was stupid on my part. She hated me after that. She stopped talking to me unless it was to give me her half of the money for the rent. I couldn't blame her though. I hate myself for doing that. But she started drinking and partying every night. It was almost every night that I would have to go pick her up at some bar or club in the city and take her home where she would keep me awake even more because she puked her guts out," I explain.
"Did she stop partying when she found out that she had to be located?"
"No. She stopped before that. She got scared one night after Riley and her boyfriend lost her in a club way far out in the city. It wasn't long after that night that I walked into our apartment to see her tied up in the floor and three of Marianne's men were there. I was able to loosen the knots good enough for her to free herself, but one of her men already shot me. I had to protect her though. I wasn't worried about anyone else but her. Turns out, she was the one who killed all three of them and helped me as much as she could. She wasn't even told that I wasn't really dead until I woke up in the hospital the next day," I explain.
"Wow. I can imagine how that must've felt," Elizabeth says. I take notice at how Luke squeezes her waist and kisses her shoulder, almost like he felt guilty about something. Working as a detective for so long, it's easier for me to read body language, and I feel that these two are hiding something from us.
"Yea. I just feel bad that she didn't get to say goodbye to her family and friends because the FBI pretty much kidnapped her until I woke up before they even let her know what happened. I get why they done it though, and after I explained it to her, she understood too. I think I'll always feel guilty for taking her away from her friends, her family, and her home. And it didn't help that Agent Hobbs and Agent Hannigan are forcing her to be my wife. I know she hates it, but I just want to make her feel as comfortable around me again as I can. That's why I wanted to road trip to LA instead of fly, but y'all know how that's turning out," I finish.
Elizabeth laughs. "Yea. Luke's intestines still thank you for the yummy snake poison."
We all three share a laugh and continue to talk until we hear screams coming from the inside. We all three run in and see people running for their lives.
"What the hell is going on?" Luke asks.
"I don't know. I need to find Maya," I say, and I run in the direction of the slot machines. Elizabeth and Luke follow me. I grab my gun out of my pants and hold it up, ready to use it if I need to. I turn around to see Elizabeth take a gun out of holder that is strapped to her thigh, Lara Croft style. Luke pulls a gun from behind him as well, and they follow me to the slot machines.
When we make it through the crowd of people running towards the doors. I see Maya standing over a guy, pointing her gun at him. I step closer to her, seeing that she has blood running down her arm.
"Are you okay?" I ask her.
She nods, out of breath. "Yea. He-he came up behind me and shot his gun. It didn't hit me at first, but it ricocheted off the machine and into my arm. I tackled him to the ground as fast as I could, and he tried to shoot me again, but I grabbed his gun and slapped the hell out of him with it. He almost got me, but I turned the gun around on him before he pulled the trigger."
Elizabeth bends over and presses two fingers to the pulse on his neck. "He's dead."
Luke pulls out his cell phone and makes a call. "Hey, this is Agent Luke Kessler. They tried to attack again. Mrs. Walker fought the man and ended up killing him. Mr. Walker was with Agent Elizabeth Kessler and me."
I stop paying attention and try to tend to Maya's wound. I hear Luke mention the wound on the phone, but as soon as he gets off, he tries to get us out of the casino as fast as he can.
"Can one of you at least get my large bucket full of coins for me?" Maya jokes.
"How can you joke at a time like this?" I ask her.
"It helps me not go insane at the fact that I've just been shot," She replies. I help her out of the casino, and we get a quick cab to the hospital.
Maya sits up in her hospital bed, and tries to take her IV out of her arm.
"I think it would be a good idea to leave that in," I tell her. She looks at me like she didn't know I was in the room. I stand up and gently settle her down.
"I don't want to be here. I fucking hate this place. I'm surprised it's not your dumb ass that is in here right now," Maya says, making me laugh.
"I know. It's a good thing you're so good at slots. We have a lot of hospital bills to pay. And you winning twenty thousand dollars last night? You might want to thank Elizabeth for grabbing all of those coins, by the way. I think that might help us out a little bit. Plus, the eight thousand you won at blackjack. I'm glad you had a great time last night," I joke with her.
"Haha yea. It's not a party until someone gets attacked," Maya says sarcastically.
I wrap my arms around her. "I'm happy that you're okay. You're a maniac, you know that?"
"I think you've told me that a few times," Maya says.
I kiss her forehead and climb into the bed beside her. I wonder what the police thought when they arrived to the casino to see a dead guy at the slot machine. I wonder if whoever Luke called on his phone helped Maya not get any charges brought up on her.
I also wonder how in the hell Marianne's men know we aren't dead.
I hope y'all liked this chapter! I had fun writing it. In the next chapter, they will arrive to their house in LA. Luke and Elizabeth will explain what happened with the police, and who knows what else?
I know there's a mystery as to how Marianne's men know that Lucas and Maya are still alive, but I want to give y'all a hint because I can't really foreshadow anything.
(The hint is kinda stupid, but work with me) Think about what happens in a mob when a leader of a mob is taken out or put in prison. (For those of you who like soap operas. Think about Sonny Corinthos from General Hospital (my fave soap opera). How do you get Sonny Corinthos on your bad side? How do you make Sonny Corinthos send out a man to kill or, depending on the situation, kill someone himself? (This hint sucks, but still.)
Love y'all!