Fight for Her#3 (8 page)

“See, you won some,” I say. She’s up forty cents or so.

She hits the button again. I look around. The casino isn’t terribly full for midafternoon. The Roman theme extends to all the walls and ceilings with fake pillars and statues. A couple girls walk around with trays to take drink orders. Even though I almost never drink, I feel like one now.

The machine makes coin-drop noises again, so I look down. Maddie’s turned the twenty into almost thirty. “Hey, who needs fighting?” I say. “I’ll spare my face and just let you place all the bets.”

Maddie glances up with another small smile. I’ll take it. “Should we quit while we’re ahead? I would love to have a working phone.”

“Absolutely.”

She cashes out and gets her printed ticket.

“Save it,” I tell her. “We can come back.”

She looks around at the lavish ceilings. “It is pretty here,” she says.

I steer her to the Forum Shops, where the Apple Store has her phone waiting. Maybe I’m asking too much for her to get over what happened right away.

I’ll just need to be patient. And I can do that.

Chapter 16: Maddie

It’s a relief to have a phone again. The sales guy tries to explain all the features, but I just want it back on my plan so it will load my backlog of messages.

“It’ll probably take an hour or so to sync since we’re porting the phone number,” the man says. “Then you’ll be able to retrieve anything that’s on the servers.”

“What about her old photos and things?” Parker asks.

“You can send in her old phone to see what they can rescue from it,” he says. “The memory is probably fine inside.”

Parker pulls his wallet out.

“You don’t have to pay for my phone,” I say.

“I want to,” he says.

I’m not thrilled about this. I like my own control of things. Besides, now I have to wait for my messages and voice mail to be transferred to the new account. I’ve already waited most of the day.

And if things don’t work out with Parker…

“Hey,” he says. “I’ll keep the accounts separate. If you decide you never want to see me again, you can just take it over.”

The sales guy puts on a big fake smile. “You have control of the plan,” he says to me. “The big guy is just paying the bill. You can call and switch payment methods whenever you want.” He hands me the phone.

“Okay,” I say. That part doesn’t matter right now. I keep the phone in my hand so I’ll know when it starts getting messages through.

We walk out of the store and through the Forum Shops. Like in the casino, the walls and ceiling are ornate, all resembling Rome. Or at least a fancy gilded version of Rome.

“You have to be hungry,” Parker says. “You want to stop for something?”

I’m not, but I say, “Sure.”

“Should I ask Colt and Jo?”

I look over at Parker. He seems at a loss at what to do with me. I don’t know what to tell him. I plaster on a smile. “That sounds like a great idea. I like Jo a lot.”

He seems so relieved, I’m glad I decided to at least try to act normal. Hopefully the longer I act it, the sooner I will start to feel it.

Colt and Jo are just up the Strip, so we pick a restaurant in between us, one that isn’t likely to be flooded with tourists and families.

When we walk in the enormous glass doors surrounded with thousands of twinkling white lights, I halt. It’s so fancy. I’m in jeans.

“Parker, we’re not dressed for this,” I say.

“We can dress any way we want,” he says. “We’re celebrities.”

The maître d’ comes from behind his podium to shake Parker’s hand. “Fine fight last night. Excellent shutdown.”

Parker smiles a little sheepishly. “Thanks.”

“Mr. McClure is inside already. Let me show you to the table.”

I run my hands down the sides of my jeans a little nervously. I’m expecting to see nothing but elegant gowns and tuxes inside.

Which is silly. It’s midafternoon.

As we pass through the tables, it’s a relief to see people dressed normally. Maybe a little better than us, but not much. A couple of the men stand up when Parker comes by to shake his hand.

This is really odd. He just won the fight last night. How does everyone know him?

“You’re on all the news, old man,” Colt says as we come up to his table, tucked in a quiet corner. Jo is wearing jeans too, so I immediately feel better. Her hair isn’t even braided today, but in a plain ponytail.

“I haven’t turned on a television,” Parker says.

“Your 22-second takedown is all over the place,” Jo says. “With that viral video Cam made, you’re the talk of MMA.”

“Welcome to insta-fame, bro,” Colt says.

The maître d’ pulls out a chair for me and I sit gingerly on it. Another man arrives and spreads a napkin across my lap. I’ve never eaten anyplace that paid this much attention to details.

Parker plunks down in his seat. “Nobody knows anything about last night, right?”

“Nary a word,” Colt says. “You got the video?”

I snap around to Parker.

“I saw it,” he says.

“What video?” I ask.

“A little intimidation we set up for Striker,” Parker says. “It wasn’t much. Just something to remind them to back off. Sam’s big plan.”

“You want to see?” Colt asks.

I shake my head. I’m not comfortable with the idea that they are needling those people. They could do anything.

A third man arrives with a bottle of wine and shows it to Colt. He waves him away. “We’re all training here,” he says. Then he looks at me. “Unless you want it, Maddie.”

I shake my head. “No, thank you.” My voice wavers.

“Let’s go take a peek at the bathroom,” Jo says. “You look like you could use a break from the boys, and I’ve heard there’s people in there to wash your hands for you.”

“Really?” I ask.

Jo stands up and waits for me. “You boys can order for us. Something decadent that will make you jealous because you can’t have it.”

She leads me toward a back corner of the restaurant. I clutch my purse and the new phone, unwilling to leave it behind for even a few minutes. My messages should patch through anytime now. I know there’s notes from Lily that Delores typed. Parker has talked to them several times, and Lily keeps asking if I’m going to write her back.

The bathroom is as sumptuous as any fancy house I could have ever imagined. Cushioned benches with gold trim. Giant mirrors. Fresh flowers in vases on every surface.

“See,” Jo whispers. “There she is.”

An elderly woman is sitting at the end of the row of individual sinks, all gleaming white with gold faucets.

“Take a seat,” Jo says and drops down on one of the benches in a sitting room adjacent to the one with the stalls. “Colt’s worried about what happened to you last night. Did anyone hurt you?”

I want to laugh. Hurt me? In how many ways?

My expression must make Jo anxious, because she asks, “Nothing really bad happened? Nobody…touched you? Or worse?”

“No. No. Not like that.”

She exhales in a big rush. “Okay. I figured you would tell Parker if that happened. Jax would want to know.”

“They just tied me up with duct tape. They…threatened to do…that…a couple times. But some of the people weren’t on board with it. They wouldn’t help.”

“Shit,” Jo says. “That had to be terrifying as hell.”

“Wasn’t my best night,” I say.

“Why don’t we get you home?” Jo says. “When is your flight?”

“Not until midnight.”

“I bet we can get you something sooner. Do you want that?” Her face looks so young, so worried. I know we’re about the same age, but she is so petite, I always forget that she used to be known for going ballistic on other women in the fighting cage.

I wonder for a second why she doesn’t fight anymore.

“It’s okay,” I say. “It’s really just a few more hours.”

“All right.” She looks around. “I don’t know how you grew up, but this is a long, long way from the projects for me.”

I glance up at the gilded trim on the ceiling. “My father is homeless,” I say simply.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I never could figure out a way to help him.”

She sits back against the wall. “I only met my mother a few months ago. She ran away from the hospital the night I was born.”

“Sounds like we’ve both had lives of wealth and ease,” I say, a laugh starting to bubble up.

“And they just keep getting easier,” she says. “I get shot. You get kidnapped. Maybe we should run from these guys!”

Now we’re both laughing. It seems so ridiculous. “They should make a movie about our lives,” I say.

“Ooooh, I think you should be played by Zooey Deschanel,” Jo says.

“And you should be Jennifer Lawrence!” I tell her.

“Who would be Zero?” Jo asks, and the question makes us laugh so hard that I almost miss it when my phone starts going crazy with alerts.

“It’s working!” I say.

There are messages from Delores and Lily. One from work.

Then two I don’t recognize.

I scroll through, and freeze. “Oh my God,” I say.

The first one.

Found ya.

And the next.

Still flashing those green panties like a whore?

I start sobbing and hiccuping and retching at the same time. I can’t control anything about my body and slide off the bench.

“What is it, Maddie?” Jo asks. She kneels next to me. “Talk to me.”

I shake my head and clutch my phone.

“I can’t help you if you don’t tell me.”

I stumble until I’m standing up. I keep shaking my head.

The hand-washing lady doesn’t look our way. I turn to the door. I have to get out of Vegas. I have to go now. If they know where I am, they’ll know Lily. I have to get home. I have to get to my baby girl.

“Maddie, let me help you,” Jo says.

But I can’t do that. She’ll involve Parker. I have to get away. But she’ll follow. Then he will. My only hope is to escape all this. Far away. Gone again. Where no one can find us. Not Parker. Not these crazy enemies.

My brain is racing. Get a cab. To the airport. No, they’ll go there. Just take the cab a long way.

I stop by the door, ready to fake whatever behavior I have to show to escape. “I need Parker. I need to go. Can you get him for me? I don’t want to walk through the restaurant.”

“Yes,” Jo says. “I’ll get him right now. You want to stay here?”

“Yes.”

She hesitates by the door. “You promise you’ll stay right here?”

“I will.” Though I know I won’t.

She leaves the bathroom. It’s not far to the table, but at least they are in the back corner.

As soon as the door closes all the way, I pull it open again and dart along the side wall. I’m afraid to try and make it to the front door, so when I see the swinging doors to the kitchen, I go in.

A few cooks look up in surprise, but I’ve already spotted the back door, which is open to an alley. I run through before anyone can stop me. It’s a short sprint to the street and then I’m blending in with the Vegas crowd, the sun beating down on us.

I spot a taxi and wave at it, jerking open the door before it even comes to a full stop.

“Can you drive away from the Strip?” I ask.

The taxi merges back onto the street.

I look back at the door of the restaurant. Just as we are about to go out of view, I see Colt and Jo and Parker burst out onto the sidewalk. I watch as we drive away, Parker looking frantic, dashing one way, then the other. Then we’re too far and their figures are lost to the bend in the road.

Chapter 17: Parker

“Where the hell did she go?” Panic courses through me. The sidewalk is full of people. The street has a lot of cars, but they’re flowing through easily.

Maddie could have done anything, run any direction, jumped in a cab.

“You think she went back to the hotel?” Colt asks.

“Why would she run like that if she was just going there?” I ask.

Jo turns around from scanning the street. “She got a bunch of messages that upset her,” she says.

“What did they say?” I jerk out my own phone. Is something wrong with Lily?

“She wouldn’t tell me, but they really freaked her out,” Jo says.

I punch my phone on and send Maddie a quick text.
Where did you go?

Colt claps my shoulder. “We’ll find her.”

But nobody else is staying at our hotel. No one can intercept her if she goes there to grab her things. And I don’t even know if she went there. She might be heading for the airport.

What the hell sort of message did she get?

It had to be about Lily.

I scroll through my old messages and find where Delores wrote me to meet me at the airport what felt like a lifetime ago, when I first went back to see them for the party. I tap out a message to her.

Have you heard from Maddie this afternoon? She has a new phone.

Hopefully that will seem like a normal message. If Delores finds out about any of what happened in Vegas, she’ll no doubt pressure Maddie to stay away from me.

Although I’m starting to wonder if maybe that’s the way it has to be.

Colt leads us down the sidewalk. “Let’s go to the hotel first. I can alert Jax again.”

“No,” I say. “We need to handle this ourselves this time.”

He nods. “You’re probably right. Their system doesn’t quite mesh with how fighters handle things.”

“Exactly.” If Delores comes back with no news, we can drop that possibility from what might have upset Maddie enough to bolt.

My phone buzzes. It’s Delores.

Not yet. Is her flight delayed?

I’m not sure what to feel. Relief that Lily is obviously fine. But an increasing sense of unease that maybe something worse has happened. Something with Striker.

No, she dropped her phone and had to get a new one. Just seeing if it’s working.

Hopefully that will satisfy her.

“It’s not Lily,” I tell Colt and Jo. We walk swiftly toward the Bellagio.

“Then it has to be Striker,” Jo says. “Unless there is someone else in her life that could upset her that much.”

“How would he find her?” I ask. “We’ve been very careful about who knows about her. She’s been out of the press. Nobody knows I have a daughter or that Maddie lives in New York.”