Page 15 of Thanking Her Brother's Best Friends

"But since you already know my reputation, I'll temper this by saying I'm just curious. We grew up together in the same shithole. Not a lot of us made it past our demons. What pushed you?"

Selene considered my question. I loved that she wasn't scandalized by my frankness. "I don't know, Aiden. Honestly, the day I learned to cook my first meal, I knew I could never have a life without food. And when I was old enough, it felt like I could do so much and learn so much more. I think when you're cast into corners like we were, escaping becomes a base instinct."

"I get that," I replied. "I thought about getting out all the time too."

"You learn to live for it. It's different if you're born into a life of opportunities. If you're not, you're always thinking, 'I need to make this happen.' It's like a siren call. You never get out of it. I'm still in that mode. I keep thinking I can't be successful enough."

I wanted to come up with a cool reply, but this girl had me absolutely tongue-tied.

Selene peered at me, her eyes twinkling with a mixture of amusement and curiosity. She tilted her head, a playful smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Aiden, you're being awfully quiet. Cat got your tongue?"

I couldn't help but laugh, relieved at her lighthearted response. "More like a whole pride of lions! But hey, if cats are involved, I'm all ears. Maybe they could lend me some feline charm."

She chuckled, the sound like sweet music to my ears. "Well, if we're talking about feline charm, I'm the crazy cat lady in training. I've got enough charm to supply the entire neighborhood."

I raised an eyebrow, feigning surprise. "Oh, so you're saying I've stumbled upon a cat charm black market? No wonder you've got me under your spell!"

Selene playfully swatted my arm. "Careful, you never know what those spells could do to you. You could wake up tomorrow and find that you've become a toad."

I grinned, unable to resist the banter. "Oh, I see how it is. Well, I'll have you know I come equipped with my own array of endearing quirks. I'm like a walking charm factory."

She raised an eyebrow, a mischievous glimmer in her eyes. "A charm factory, you say? What kind of charms are we talking about here? Lucky socks? Cheesy pickup lines?"

I chuckled. "Well, this should be a secret, but my charms are top-secret, patent-pending. They range from perfectly timed dad jokes to random acts of clumsiness. They're guaranteed to make you laugh or groan, depending on your tolerance level."

She burst into laughter, unable to contain her amusement. "I can see you haven't changed at all, Aiden. Man, I wish we could go back to our childhood sometimes. Do you think we'd grow up the same if we got a chance at redoing those days?"

I shrugged at that. "I don't. I think we did the best out of what we could. Even the darkest parts are extensions of how hard we've fought to get where we are," I finished, my tone softer. I knew about Selene's past with Dave.

In fact, I knew that jerk from school, and I could tell that Selene would have done her best to put up with his shit.

"Enough about me, though." Selene's reply was quiet. I could sense she'd understood the topic was going somewhere else—somewhere she didn't want to be. "Tell me, how did you go from being a hot-shot lawyer to... well, this?"

I grinned at that.

A few years ago, I found myself in The Mirage, one of the most notorious casinos situated in the Las Vegas Strip.

"Have any of your culinary pursuits taken you to Las Vegas?"

"Not really. I don't know that I'd go there just yet. Maybe when Ollie is a little older," she replied. "Imagine carrying my son around and playing a hand in a casino! And I'm not going to Vegas and coming back without visiting a casino."

I laughed. "A girl after my own heart."

A moment of silence followed, after which I picked back up. "I was working on the Las Vegas Strip a couple of years back. I can't describe it as anything except a neon-lit stretch of indulgence."

And so it was. Towering, hotel-like casinos rose like colossal monoliths, their façades screaming, "Come try your luck."

The Strip saw throngs of people, a ceaseless tide of visitors from all corners of the globe eager to experience the American dream of unrestrained indulgence.

It was a funny dream, given how many of us actually spent our whole lives trying to make ends meet. Some of us never got to experience the indulgence that made the rest of the world make googly eyes at the mere mention of The States.

"I've heard you have lots of street performers there."

"Oh, on a good day, you could meet anyone. You could run into Elvis Presley's best lookalike to about twenty Marilyn Monroes, each trying to be more tragic than the real lady, who, in my humble opinion, was more of a fighter than anything else."

Amid billboards and digital screens, there flowed an incessant barrage of promises, beckoning the masses with illustrative evocations of tantalizing buffets and star-studded shows.

What came through the loudest was the ludicrous call of ‘get lucky tonight'within the gilded confines of each resort.

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