His Kingdom (Owning Vegas Book 1)

Do I want to see Owen again? The visual of the gun and all the knives that were in that drawer I opened makes me think yes. I’d love to see him, have him held down, and use one of the knives to cut off his useless dick. Except I’m not that person. I want Owen to crawl into a hole and never appear in my life again.

Reality is, that’s not going to happen. But do I want to see him right now?

“Absolutely not,” I say with certainty. “I mean, I’d like to see him in the street and mow him down with my car. Maybe reverse over him to make sure he’s really dead, you know. But, no, I do not want to see him.”

Louie looks at me tentatively for a moment. “If you want him gone, for good, I can make that happen,” he says with an eerie seriousness.

I laugh, because I want to believe he’s joking. “Don’t do that. Plus, he’s a cop with cop friends. I doubt they’d take lightly to him going missing.”

“Well, say the word and I’ll do whatever you want me to do.” Louie shrugs.

“He’s already here, isn’t he?” I ask.

I know Owen. I knew it wouldn’t take him long to chase after me. He’d hate the embarrassment of standing in that church waiting for a bride who didn’t turn up. I can only imagine the excuses he made, what he said about me to save face.

“He was asking around downstairs. He didn’t get any confirmation that you’re actually here.” Louie says. “He also won’t be able to enter this casino again without a warrant, which he won’t get.”

“Okay, thank you. But he’ll get that warrant. I should probably call him. He won’t leave until he tries to talk me into going home and fixing what I did.”

“You didn’t do anything,” Louie growls. Yes, growls.

“I left him standing at the altar waiting for me. I told my sister I wanted to make a grand entrance and to ensure nobody came looking for me. I wanted him standing in that church. I wanted him to feel a tenth of the humiliation I felt when I saw them.” The tears are burning my eyes. I’m not going to let them break free again, though. Inhaling, I pick up the glass of water in front of me and swallow down the cool liquid.

Louie tilts his head. “Is he… abusive? Are you afraid of what he’ll do if you do see him?”

I laugh. “Owen? No, he’s never been abusive. He… is set in his ways and has a knack for talking me into doing things I don’t necessarily want to do. I’ve been a pushover. I know that, and I know it makes me sound weak.”

“You’re not weak. A weak woman would have walked down that aisle, Charlotte. You chose yourself. That’s not weak,” Louie tells me.

“Why are you so good at this?” I ask him.

“At what?” he questions.

“Talking? Why is it so easy to talk to you?” I don’t understand how I’m sitting here spilling my guts to someone I just met, when I can’t even bring myself to pick up my phone and call any of my friends.

“You’d have to be the only person on earth who would say I was easy to talk to.” Louie laughs.

“Well, I appreciate you listening to me,” I tell him. “What would you normally be doing? Like right now, if you weren’t sitting here with me?”

“I’d be out walking the floor, talking to high rollers, making sure they were spending as much of their money as possible.”

“Sounds fun.” I smile, trying to be positive. I honestly couldn’t think of anything worse than talking to a bunch of rich people with so much cash they can blow it on gambling.

Louie chuckles. “It makes me money. I wouldn’t call it fun.”

“Do you think you should be downstairs now? I wouldn’t want you to be losing money.”

“I’m good. I’d much rather be sitting here with you,” Louie says, and then his phone rings. “Shit. I have to take this. Eat. You’ve barely touched your food.” He points at my almost-full plate as he stands up and walks out of the dining room.

I don’t think I can eat. My stomach isn’t feeling great. My emotions are all over the place and my mind is spinning. I don’t know what I’m doing here. I know I need to make some hard decisions. I just don’t know if I’m ready to make them yet.

“I’m really sorry. I have to step out for a bit.” Louie stops at the table. “Will you be okay? I can get one of the guys to come up and keep you company.”

“No, I’m good. I’ll go back to my room. I think I just want to lie in bed and binge some crappy television show.” I stand and push the chair in. “Wait… Do you want me to do something with all this? I can pack it away.”

“Leave it. I’ll have someone come and clean up, but you don’t need to go. Come with me.” Louie takes my hand in his and starts leading me down a hall. Into a bedroom. His bedroom. I can tell because it smells like his citrus aftershave. “You can binge watch whatever you want in here. Make yourself at home,” he says, pulling the covers back.

I stare at the bed and then up at him. “You want me to stay here? In your bed?”

“I want to come back and see you right here. So, yes, I want you in my bed,” Louie says.

Well, crap. Did my knees just wobble? I think they did.

“Okay,” I whisper, climbing onto the plush mattress.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. If you need anything, call me.” Louie kisses my forehead and then hands me a phone. My phone.

“Where did you get this?” I ask him.

“Your room. I picked it up before we walked out. My number’s on here,” he says, handing me a business card.

“Thank you.” I dip deeper into what has to be one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever been on.

“Here.” Louie passes me a remote after he presses a button that makes a screen start descending from the ceiling like magic. “See you soon.”noveldrama

“Um, yeah. Thanks again,” I say as he walks out.

I wait until I hear the door click shut. And that feeling of utter aloneness sinks in again. I hate it. Burying myself under the covers, I click on the Netflix app on the television and start scrolling.

After about thirty minutes of not being able to settle on anything to watch, I toss the remote to the other side of the bed in frustration. Then I pick up my phone and turn it on for the first time since I messaged my mom. As soon as the screen lights up, notifications come rapid fire. Ignoring the ones from Owen and my sister again, I open the one from my mom.

Mom:

Charlotte, call me. Answer your phone, please. We can fix this. We just need to talk about it.

Mom:

Charlotte, you’re being really selfish right now. Call me. Let me know that my daughter is alive.

The texts continue. I can tell my mom is worried about me. There’s also the sense that she wants to talk me into going home. I don’t think I’m going to, though. I’m seriously considering taking Louie up on his offer to stay here and figure out the next chapter in my life.

My finger presses over my mom’s name and the dial sound starts ringing out through my speaker.

“Charlotte, is that you?” My mom’s voice is rushed.

“It’s me, Mom,” I whisper.

“Oh, sweet Jesus. Thank god you’re okay. You are okay, aren’t you? Where are you?” Mom asks.

“I’m okay. I’m just going to stay away for a little bit. I need time,” I tell her.

“Time for what? You need to come home and sort out this mess, Charlotte. You know your sister hasn’t stopped crying. She’s been trying to call you.” My mother’s concern quickly turns into her reprimanding me.

“You can’t be serious right now, Mom. Melanie slept with my fiancé. The night before my wedding. And you’re taking her side?” I shout through the phone as anger courses through me.

“I’m not taking anyone’s side. I just want you to think about forgiveness. Owen loves you. He’s looking for you now. He’s a good man, Charlotte.”

I can’t believe my ears. “I don’t want to hear what kind of man you think he is. If he’s that good, and you’re that desperate to have him in our family, have Melanie marry him because I won’t be.”

“Charlotte, please. You’re upset…” Mom starts.

“No. I’m beyond upset. I’m furious. I’m humiliated and I’m just done, Mom. I’m not coming home yet. I’ll reach out when I’m ready.” I cut her off and then disconnect the call. I can’t believe she had the nerve to tell me I needed to forgive them.

That’s not happening anytime soon. If ever.

Scrolling through the other messages on my phone, I click on the group chat I have with my two closest friends. Other than my sister, Rachel and Evie have always been there. I should have called them sooner. Or at the very least, sent them a text.

There’s a bunch of missed messages and calls from each of them. I don’t know what to say, so instead of saying anything, I send them the video. The same one I sent my mother.

It only takes a minute before my phone lights up with a video chat request from Rachel.

“What the actual fuck? I’m going to kill them. Both of them. It will be slow. I knew something bad had happened. Wait! Where are you?” She finally stops, and I smile.

Yep, I definitely should have put my pride aside and called my friends sooner.

“Are you okay? Tell me that’s some sick AI video and it’s not real.” Evie’s face pops up on the screen next.

“I’m okay. Humiliated,” I tell them. “And it’s not AI. Unfortunately. I filmed it myself.”

“Oh my god. Charlotte, I’m so sorry. What a shit excuse for a human. Evie, get the shovels ready. We have some holes to dig,” Rachel says.

“Don’t do that. I just want to forget. I want to… I don’t know what I want. But I want to forget that image,” I whisper.

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry,” Evie says. “Where are you? We can come to you. Girls’ slumber party?”

“I’m in Vegas,” I tell them.

“What are you doing in Vegas?”

“Charlotte, I got something for you.” Louie walks back into the room, holding up a swimsuit. I wasn’t expecting him back so soon.

“Who is that?” Rachel whispers.

Louie comes over to the bed and pops his head around. “Friends?” he asks me while eyeing my screen.

“Uh-huh.” I nod.

“Sorry. I didn’t know you were on the phone. I’ll leave this here. When you’re ready, I’ll be in my office.” Louie leans in and kisses my forehead, and I think I melt a little. Then he just walks away, leaving me in his room with the swimsuit on the bed.

“Who is that? Charlotte? What’s happening?” Evie asks.

“Who indeed? And does he have a brother?” Rachel adds.

“Ah, that was… Louie. A friend. He’s letting me stay with him for a few days.”

“Since when do you have a friend named Louie? A hot friend named Louie who kisses your forehead like you’re in some kind of Hallmark Christmas movie?”

“Since I met him here in Vegas. I gotta go. I just wanted to let y’all know I was still alive. I’ll call you back later.”

“We’re coming to find you,” Rachel says before I disconnect the call and power down my phone again.