Page 7 of The Chances We Take

“What’s wrong?” I was still far enough behind him that I didn’t know what the fuss was about.

“There’s only one bed!” he exclaimed as he looked into the room.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

My jaw must have dropped or something, because he looked me in the eyes and grinned. “I’m just messing with ya, Lawson.”

“Ha ha, you’re so funny.” I flashed him my middle finger as I rolled in my suitcases and walked over to the window to look at the view.

“Lighten up, Reid. Have some fun. This isthe NFR. You’ve made it, man.”

Yes, and Colter and I didn’t work as hard as we did to get here and throw it all away.

The past year had been full of challenges. Between Colter’s injury preventing him from competing for a month and things that had come up in my personal life, we really had to scrap for our spot in the world standings. Winning in Houston helped relieve some of the stress, but slacking off now—or ever—was not an option. Not when the whole world was watching.

“I have fun.” I rolled my eyes. “My idea of fun is just different from yours.”

“And what’s that? Solving everyone’s problems for them is your idea of fun?”

Ouch.He wasn’t wrong, but it didn’t feel great forMikeyto be the one calling me out on it.

“Ah, man, look at the mini bar!” Mikey blurted from behind me.

I whipped around as he picked up one of the boxes labeledpleasure kit.

“Put that down! I’m not paying for that shit.” I walked over to him, snatched it out of his hand, and put it back in its place before the thirty-second window was up and we’d get charged.

“You know, maybe a little bit of action would do you some good. You saw what meeting Ellison did for Colter.”

I glared at him before he shrugged and plopped down on his bed.

“I’m going to take a walk. You coming or not?” Met with silence, I headed toward the door and looked over my shoulder to see if Mikey was following.

He waved me off, so I took it as a no.

I have fun. I’m a fun guy, I thought as I walked down the hallway.

I spotted Colter, Ellison, Hayden, and Jake by a group of slot machines as I exited the hallway leading to the elevators on the main level.

“Pay up, brother.” Jake nudged Colter as I joined them.

“Pay up for what?” I asked.

“They were betting on how long it would take you to get tired of Mikey.” Ellison covered her mouth, unable to suppress a laugh. “Colter said you’d last at least thirtyminutes, and Jake bet you’d be back down here in about ten.”

“At least I had a little bit of faith in him!” Colter complained as he fished out a twenty and handed it over to Jake.

“Yeah, but it’s Mikey, Colt. What did you realistically expect?” Jake chuckled.

“Hey! I can tolerate him, but he almost cost us $50 for a stupidpleasure kitfrom the mini bar!” I scowled and suddenly had the entire group erupting with laughter.

“Sorry, Reid. I guess someone’s gotta take one for the team since Isa and I are here this year,” Ellison teased.

“I mean, you could have paid for your own room?” Hayden suggested. He had a point, but Vegas was expensive. Even with the money I’d won throughout the year,Vegas was expensive. Maybe it was a product of the way I grew up, but I didn’t want to spend it on nonessentials.

“Buddy, I know you’re trying to help, but there was no way in hell I was going to spend over ten grand just to have my own room.”

“At least you don’t have to share a bed?” Colter added, almost like he was asking a question.

---