Page 21 of Gamble
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 silencefor 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.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
ELIJAH
“Ican’t believe I forgot to stop at the bank to stock up on dollar bills,” Elijah’s stuntman friend, Lee, groused over the loud music at the strip club.
Elijah reached into his pocket and came out with a wad of ones. He peeled off a handful of singles and threw them onto the center of the cocktail table where the five men were gathered.
“You guys can fight over them,” he said as several men scrambled to grab a few bills.
Kent took a swig from his bottle of beer before giving their friends shit. “We’re supposed to be here celebrating Keaton’s birthday. You guys shouldn’t be taking his cash,” he berated.
Another friend, Bruce, leaned in to shout louder. “At least I bought the round of drinks! Miller here,” thumbing in the direction of the final guy at the table, “hasn’t even done that much.”
“Hey, it’s only our first night in town. There will be plenty of opportunities to drop a load of cash, trust me.”
Elijah was sure he wasn’t mistaken. Vegas may have a lot of fun things to do, but it was an expensive city.
“I told you guys, you didn’t need to come all this way. We could have had drinks and a steak in L.A.”
“And miss all this,” Bruce waved in the direction of the topless dancer grinding only a few feet away. “Mary would have given me grief if I had gone out to a club at home.”
Kent gave him shit. “And you don’t think she knows where you are tonight?”
“Oh, she knows. She’s just too far away to do anything about it. I can deal with her when I get home.”
Hearing the married men talking about their partners brought mixed emotions for Elijah. Part of him envied having someone to share life with, but then he remembered how his previous relationships had turned out and let out a sigh of relief that he had no one to bust his balls just for living his life.
When the three younger men got up to approach a different dancer, Kent and Elijah had a moment to chat more privately, at least as privately as one gets at a busy club.
“Johnny sent his regrets. He did want to come with us, but his new wife is eight months pregnant, and he didn’t feel comfortable being out of town,” Kent informed him.
Elijah finished his bourbon before answering. “No worries. I figured it would be hard to get the old gang together on short notice.”
Lee Buckley, Bruce Schmidt, and Roger Miller were all nice enough guys, but they were a good fifteen years younger than he and Kent. They were the new guard of their stuntmen group of friends, and watching them having fun in their current setting reminded Elijah again of his own age.
