Chapter 3
JUKEJOINTBAR &GRILL
LASVEGAS,NEVADA,USA
She was laughing like a loon the first time I saw her. Her head thrown back, her long blond hair trailing down her shoulders, the most alluring laughter flowing from her perfect mouth.
I had to have her.
She was the embodiment of everything I wasn’t. A carefree twenty-something with nothing more to worry about other than waking up ontime tomorrow for work or school. Most of the women in my social sphere were so concerned with appearances they wouldn’t dare move their lips wider than their practiced smiles—their faces almost frozen in exaggerated pouts. But this woman didn’t seem to care that when she smiled her nose scrunched up and her eyes creased with wrinkles. She enjoyed life.
“What do you think of the brunette?” Iasked in French to Dimitri. Somehow our group of five men had managed to enter the bar without drawing any undue attention—mostly because I made the guys dress the part and leave their conspicuous suits behind. It also didn’t hurt that my other three guards had taken up spots across the room.
Dimitri surveyed the table I’d asked about. His eyes passed over both women, lingering on the brunettefriend, before he shook his head. “Not your usual type, but then again this isn’t your usual hangout, so what do I know?”
“Not for me. You.”
Dimitri snorted into his glass of Perrier sparkling water. “I’m on the clock,monsieur.”
I twisted my chin until my neck cracked. “What did I say about calling me that tonight?”
“Je vous demande pardon, monsieur.”
I grunted in reply, but it was hardto accept his apology when he continued to address me as monsieur.
It had been my choice to come to this particular bar tonight, despite Dimitri’s protests. He’d tried to talk me into a VIP space at some club on the Strip, somewhere he’d be able to control the room, only letting in “appropriate people.” It reminded me too much of my conversation with my brother, only this time I’d literally bebehind a Plexiglas cage. No, I wanted to pretend for a night that I was a regular Joe, a faceless guy in the crowd, like the last time I’d visited Las Vegas, before palace protocol had invaded every aspect of my life as the spare.
And I had just found the perfect means for my oblivion.
Unfortunately for me, she’d drawn the attention of every man in the bar with a functioning cock. And that wassaying something. There was a loud, boisterous hen party cackling away on the opposite side of the bar—although the way they were waving huge dildos around was a sure boner-killer for most men. No way could any man measure up to their expectations tonight. Then there was the trio of scantily clad women with huge breasts on display in their low-cut blouses, all wearing knee-high go-go boots. I waskinda curious about their act. They’d gone all out, and the way they were drinking meant it’d be an interesting show for sure.
But all those women paled in comparison to the one I wanted. As I watched a second guy approach their table and get shot down, I realized I’d have to come up with a more creative style than thoseimbéciles.
“At least the music would’ve been better at the club I suggested,”Dimitri muttered as a truly tone-deaf guy caterwauled onstage about lost love.
I tore my stalkerish stare away from my future hookup and shrugged at Dimitri. Right now he was the closest thing I had to a confidant. “Yeah, but at least here no one knows who I am.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing to be…” He hesitated for a second and looked over my shoulder before finishing with, “you.”
“You know better than anyone what my life is like, and what’s waiting for me at the end of this trip. Anything is better than being home right now.” Or anytime, really. Not that I could ever say that out loud. “I thought it was bad when it was just the state-sponsored mourning. But ever since Bastien made his wedding announcement, it’s turned into a three-ring circus. No, thank you. I’d rather be backin the desert eating MREs.”
Dimitri snorted. “Nothing could be that bad,monsieur.”
I raised my eyebrows as I took a swig from my beer. He didn’t know. No one could understand. It was times like this that I really missed my twin brother, Julien. He was the one person in the whole world who understood me. The shit with our parents. The pressures of being in the spotlight. The need for somethingeasier, something stable.
Something normal.
I never should’ve started drinking. It had made me all emotional and whiny.
A distinctive thrumming beat came from the stage as a smoky, seductive voice threaded through the bar with her “na-na-na”s. I turned in my chair and saw that while I’d been brooding, my future hookup had taken to the stage solo and was jumping around while belting out thelyrics to Pink’s “So What.”
Although it’d been a while since I’d heard the song, I recognized the bitter breakup anthem. But whose breakup were the ladies celebrating?
“C’est pas vrai,that’s hot.”
I narrowed my eyes at Dimitri’s exclamation. I hadn’t thought that we had the same taste in women, but to be honest I’d never thought about it much. Although that could be due to my recent dry spell.Apparently I hadn’t thought about women much recently.
“What’s hot?” I asked.
