Page 1 of The Right Garza
CHAPTER ONE
“Checking me out, Lexi?”
Lexi
I’ve been bad.
And I’m paying for it.
Big time.
The glittering lights of the marquee smirk down at me, proud and triumphant. As a silent but furious retort, I tip my head back and blow vape smoke up at it. ButBlack Goldisn’t the only casino that’s mocking me. All along the strip, the alluring bright lights and giant letters across tall, grand edifices taunt me, gloating at my ousting.
Like I said,I’ve been bad.
I straighten up and take another slow strut through the grand canopy, lingering, tipping up on my toes in my Balenciaga heels, trying to get a glimpse of inside. But it’s futile.
One of the beefy security guards at the entrance spots me and narrows his deep-set eyes. I flip him the bird. We’ve got history, him and me. In my early days of counting cards, back when he was a freelance bouncer, he’d booted me from quite a few casinos. I think I even tried to seduce him to turn a blind eye at one point, and it almostworked.Almost.
“Go home, Lexi,” the meathead calls to me.
I keep the bird flipped at him and strut leisurely from the grand canopy while taking another slow and deliberate pull of my vape pen.
Once I’m back on the curb, I slide my phone from my purse and fire off a text to Ellie.
Me: How’s it going in there?
Ellie: Amazeballs! Up 8k. Got some suckers at this table.
Me: A little too much too fast, don’t you think?
Me:Be sure to take some losses, ok? Like I told you, things are different here, a whole diff ball game.
Me:Get the hell out once you hit 10k, ok?
Ellie: I know. Quit distracting me.
I glance out at the endless flow of vehicles cruising up and down the strip as I gnaw at my bottom lip. Ellie hasn’t been inside for forty minutes and she’s already up eight grand? I want to be happy at the prospect of that sum, but my nerves override it. Wedesperatelyneed the cash, but Ellie is known to get too eager and sloppy when she’s desperate. Yet I’ve got no choice but to trust her to get out of there unscathed.
Unlike me, she’s allowed inside. As a Floridian who’d never been here before, Vegas is unchartered territory for her. Collectively, we’re banned from damn near every gambling hell across all fifty states. All we’ve got now is Vegas. In other words, allI’vegot is Ellie. Which means I’m relying heavily on her to not muck things up and get her ass ousted here, too. Small wins and big losses for survival. That’s how we have to play it right now.
I shift in my heels, the balls of my feet starting to ache, and eye the sports bar a few blocks down. I can’t keep lingering out here like a hooker waiting for a pick-up. It’s not as if I can be seen with Ellie when she comes out anyway, so I ease into a lazy stroll, questioning all my life choices with each unhurried step.
The strip is alive and pulsing—music, bright lights, and excited chatter everywhere. Gawkers and fast-walkers. Cameras flashing, drunks staggering, horns blaring. Vegas is like wonderland; a rapturous city. But linger long enough like I have and all the things that once made it magical start to annoy the crap out of you.
What should have been a three-minute walk turns into ten.
Nine-8 Bar & Grill is one of those places where you’re inside and outside all at once. Open-air, with retractable glass roofing that only comes out at closing hours or when it rains. Flat screen TVs hang above the bar and on the exterior walls, all showing various sports games. There’s more of a crowd than I would have liked, but hey, it’s the strip.
I weave through to the bar and order a gin and tonic. As I wait for my drink, I hike up on a stool and check my phone to see if there’s anything from Ellie. There isn’t, so I snap a selfie with a smile that belies how I’m feeling on the inside and begin browsing filters.
“As I live and breathe,” a deep voice comes from the left of me.
Glancing up from my phone screen, I find myself staring up into the deviant dark eyes of a Garza brother.
“True,” I say just above a whisper as my eyes rove him over. Wait, when did he get so…hot? So…ripped? Or was he always this fine and I just didn’t notice because I was head-over-heels for his brother?
His plain maroon tee stretches tightly across his formidable muscles, a silver necklace with an anchor pendant resting on his chest. Sharp jawline shadowed with dark hair. Lips full and firm. Daring dark eyes, thick dark brows, and dark hair. I honestly don’t remember him looking this…well, sexy as hell—or rather,them.
