Page 22 of Missed Sunrise
I grimaced and turned my back to him, granting him the grace to flee without an audience.
I made a mental note to ask Vinh or Bree later where exactly I’d gone wrong.
5
Cody
Fortuna Casino and Resort.
My place of work and play from age thirteen to twenty-two. Formerly.
Home of Lady Luck. Also formerly.
Comprised of two distinct structures with a road in between and an enclosed pedestrian bridge connecting them, the main arena of my adolescence stood wrapped in an insane amount of neon, flashing bulbs, and toxic nostalgia.
It was the first place I’d everchasedsomeone.
Andpunched someone.
Two separate someones, to be clear.
And it was stop one (of one) of my official breakup tour.
The forced air pressed against my newly exposed scalp on the sides of my head as I entered on the resort side, purposefully avoiding the main entrance. There were too many triggers and temptations to be found there, and I wasn’t sure of my limits yet. I ran my hand from forehead to nape, shivering at the short bristles as I amended my thoughts.
This was actually stoptwoof the tour, the first being the scene of my haircut.
I could only hope that the calm, sure energy that Liem Lott had graced me with then stayed with me for this one too.
A swarm of corporate types bathed in purple neon piled out of the theater’s double doors to my right, and I hurried my gait to avoid them, pulling the plastic grocery bag closer to my body.
I probably looked like a college kid working on a school project or something, but I would be more than happy to correct that impression the moment any of them looked sideways at me.
I was not in the mental space to be fucked with.
I was never in the mental space to be fucked with.
Being here, so close to the sets of my failed romance, put me on edge, but even as I waited for that edge to dull enough to give way to sadness, I sensed that it wouldn’t.
The Cody Desmond who last year had relentlessly pursued a contract musician while desperately hoping for change was gone. I left his remains behind when I disgracefully fled the cruise ship the moment my contract ended.
I sincerely hoped Austin would pour his ashes out into the Gulf so they could finally know peace.
Jesus.Fucking morbid.
I clutched the bag tighter as my gaze darted around the hallway before lingering subtly on the security camera in the corner of the ceiling, and I wondered if my dad was in his office, watching. Bree had subtly hinted a few times since I’d been back home that it might be good for me to talk with him, but I wasn’t so sure.
My circle of trust was a line, and it branched only to Bree.
A small voice whispered that I was starting to fold regarding both real-life Lott brothers, too, but I ignored it because even though I believed that Vinh was Bree’s endgame, what I knew for certain was that life was an asshole.
The patterned carpet on the next stretch of hallway always messed with my head, so I purposefully lifted my gaze to force it out of my peripheral as I made my way to The Magnolia Room, one of the seven convention halls on this side of Fortuna.
I shouldered my way inside, the sudden quiet of the dark, vacant room a contrast to the base-level noise of the main thoroughfares. I left the overhead lights off and went to the corner of the room purely on muscle memory, where I plopped down onto the blue-and-gold carpet that even darkness couldn’t mute.
With the plastic sack situated on my lap, I pulled out the small folded flyer announcing the summer-opening performance from Dyse—Austin’s band—and tucked it into the pot of the fake palm plant. There were no windows in the convention halls, so all the coastal-centric plants were artificial. So, as no one watered them, I had no idea how long it would take for my breakup talisman to be found—if it ever was—but that didn’t matter.
I was letting it, along with its few companions, go.
