Page 34 of Gamble
Still, they spent a wonderful hour walking through each of the rooms at the attraction, rubbing elbows with sports celebrities and TV stars of the past and present. It was when they got to the music icon room when they came face to face with an uncanny replica of Cash Carter, lead singer of the Crushing Stones, and a close friend of not just him, but more importantly the infamous trio of his bosses.
“I wanted to get tickets to the Crushing Stone’s concert this fall, but I was working the day the tickets went on sale. All three shows sold out in like two minutes. I never had a chance. It was probably for the best. The tickets were uber-expensive.”
Keep your mouth shut, Keaton.
The urge to wipe the dejected look of disappointment off Reagan’s face was impossible to stop.
“Which date would you like to go?” he asked.
Reagan’s eyes snapped to meet his. “You can get tickets to a Crushing Stone concert?” When he didn’t answer, she added, “A sold-out Crushing Stone’s concert?”
“I can. And I will. You just need to tell me which night and how many.”
“No way. They are too expensive. I can’t let you do that.”
“You don’t understand. I won’t need to buy them. Cash and I are good friends. I just saw him three days ago.”
“You. Friends with Cash Carter.”
Elijah didn’t care for the look of disbelief on her face. Did she think he was lying? The idea bothered him more than it should.
“His friends call him Jonah, but yeah. His wife is my boss’s wife’s best friend.”
“No fucking way!”
Elijah wasn’t sure he was comfortable disclosing so much about how he knew the Carters, and he was especially uncomfortable when Reagan added, “You know the Cartwright-Davidsons?”
Well shit. Way to go, Keaton. Why don’t you just spill all your secrets in the first hour.
“Yeah. I work for them now.”
Just watching Reagan’s excitement had him regretting coming to the museum. While he was thrilled to see her look so happy, he hated that it might be because of who he was friends with and not because she wanted to be there with him. Theidea depressed him more than it should, especially considering they’d only be spending at most two days together.
Doing his best to change the subject, Elijah pointed in the direction of the Elvis statue. “Let’s go get your picture with the King. And no. I may be older than you, but I never got to meet Elvis Presley,” he joked.
The rest of their visit to the wax museum sped by too fast. By the time their driver was dropping them off at the High Roller, it was already two and Elijah was getting hungry. He hoped his guest for the day would be on board with the place he had picked out for lunch.
It was only after the slow-moving wheel had spun them to the top that Reagan started looking green around the gills.
“Hey there, you feeling okay?” he asked, holding out a bottle of now lukewarm water he’d brought with him from the car.
“Yeah. I kind of forgot to mention I sometimes get motion sickness. I didn’t think the wheel would be moving fast enough to trigger it, but I think that combined with the height has me feeling queasy.”
Even as Reagan said the words, he could see her wobbling as if she might topple over.
Stepping up behind her, Elijah wrapped his arms around her from behind, stabilizing her before asking. “You gonna be okay? Do you want to sit for a few minutes?”
The car they were in wasn’t full, but several families took most of the seats along the perimeter of the air-conditioned pod with children.
Nabbing the one spot that was still open, Elijah pulled Reagan to sit on his lap.
The fresh scent of her shampoo filled his senses as she tucked her head under his chin, resting her head on his chest.
“Close your eyes for a few minutes. See if the feeling passes,” he said, knowing the joy he felt at holding her in his arms madehim a first-rate asshole considering it had come at the expense of her not feeling well.
“I’m so sorry. I don’t want to ruin everything by getting sick.”
“You aren’t ruining anything,” he said, enjoying holding her a thousand times more than the spectacular view of the surrounding area.
