Page 35 of Don't Bet On It
Tallulah was done messing around. “You just sit there and look pretty, huh? I think we would all appreciate that.”
Before I could tell her I was all for that outcome, Kyla stepped up and raised her hands above her head. “Everybody stop what you’re doing this very instant!” She was serious, which somehow made the situation funnier.
I froze. Tallulah stopped fighting with Misty. Celeste went wide-eyed, as if she were about to get scolded by the teacher. Only Maisie wasn’t interested in playing the game.
“Yeah, I think we need more drinks.” As if to prove it, Maisie dumped her drink—some pink concoction with a lot of fruit—over Kyla’s head. “Get on that, will you? We’re paying good money to be here.”
With that, Maisie turned on her heel and flounced over to the couches, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.
This situation had gone from bad to worse in an instant.
“WHAT HAPPENED?”
Zach sat at his desk, his forehead creased, and stared down an irate Kyla. Our boss—she’d reminded us of her position so many times I’d lost count—was close to losing it in a very unfortunate way.
“They antagonized the clients to the point where they attacked me,” Kyla replied, her chin jutted out and her fury off the charts. She’d changed her clothes, and her hair had dried, but it was sticky from the drink.
I didn’t respond to her charge. I stood there, hands clasped in front of me, and waited. Zach wouldn’t simply take her word about what had happened.
Next to me, hair disheveled, Tallulah crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip. She looked as if she was prepared to go to war.
“You antagonized the clients?” Zach looked at me. “How did you manage that?”
“We didn’t antagonize the clients,” I replied.
“We didn’t,” Tallulah agreed. She was still wound up, and that wasn’t going to change anytime soon. “They antagonized us.”
“They antagonized you?” Zach looked as if he was going through some sort of ordeal.
“I’ll tell you what happened,” Tallulah volunteered.
“No,I’lltell you what happened,” Kyla snapped. Her dislike for Tallulah was on full display.
Zach made a throat-clearing sound. “Actually, why don’t you tell me what happened, Ronan?”
I was caught off guard. “You want me to tell you?” I darted a quick look at Kyla and found her glowering. I didn’t want to be put in this position.
“Yes,” Zach said. “Keep the story short.”
I filled him in. It didn’t take long. Kyla opened her mouth several times to correct me, but Zach silenced her with a look each and every time.
“Is that it?” he asked when I was finished.
“That’s it,” I confirmed.
He sighed. “Okay, well, you did the right thing telling her to take a break. It’s not as if you can just give her a queen.”
“I was in the middle of telling her that when things turned ugly,” Kyla snapped.
“Except Ronan had already told her that,” Tallulah fired back. “I mean, how stupid do you have to be to think that you can demand a queen at a casino?”
Zach shot Tallulah a quelling look.
“What?” Tallulah countered. “I’m not saying anything that’s not true.”
“You’re not,” Zach readily agreed. “It’s all true. You were right to cut her off too. I just … don’t understand how a five-foot-one actress managed to take you down.”
“Oh, I took her down.” Tallulah fervently shook her head. “I took her down hard.”
