Chapter 2

The warm spring air wasn't as oppressive as it could be later in the summer. Not out there in the desert, where Nadia's hair was likely to get dusty and her elbows were always at risk of peeling off the bone. I did not forget my hemp moisturizer or medicated lip balm this time. When she and Eva were last in Vegas a year ago, Nadia had learned a direly important lesson. So had Eva, who reminded her wife to pack those things when they prepared to leave for Vegas two days ago. Eva was the one who had to hear the whining.

Dinner was pretentiously French. The exact kind of "casual" spot on the Strip where loaded heiresses like Kathryn and Eva went to "wind down" while feeling like tourists. Yet they couldn't fool Nadia, who was still trained to mentally count up how much the bill might be before it arrived. Including tax and tip. Because it's basically my job. Even now, seven years after finally succumbing to Eva's flirtations, Nadia still struggled to "let go" and order whatever she wanted off the menu. Money was never an object when Eva held the check.

Which was how Nadia ended up with a single glass of wine even after the table ordered two whole bottles to split between the four of them. Their server spent several minutes going over everyone's decadent orders and expertly suggesting which bottles to splurge on – one costing much more than the other, of course. Nadia, who had been relegated to the corner on the patio lining the Strip, couldn't escape when her wife turned to her and said, "I dunno, think we should get a Moscato to go with yours. It's so savory, and you like to pair sweet with savory."

"I'm perfectly fine sharing your guys' Sauvignon Blanc."

Eva had long learned to not argue when Nadia was cost conscious. Makes me feel like less of a burden, which is the silliest thing in the world. That was the upfront reason with herself. In reality, the actual explanation was that Nadia didn't want to transform into Eva Warren or Kathryn Alison, who would more than likely leave their bottles half-drunk and not take them back to their hotel rooms to finish later.

Just because I married into this, doesn't mean I have to emulate them. No, Nadia was not fully self-aware of how smug that made her sound. She was too busy trying not to sound smug about splurging on the truffle sauce for her baked chicken. Real truffles. The real stuff!

"I have to be up at five in the morning." Kathryn slumped against her chair, dinner half-touched as she scrolled through a message on her phone. "It's going to be an all-day affair."

"That's why you have a personal assistant," Eva said, looking at Ian across from her.

He did not immediately bite her bait. Nor did Nadia feel comfortable jumping in to quip about how she was a professional assistant but was on vacation. Only my second one so far this year. Luckily for her, Mr. Cole was generous with his benefit packages, and Nadia was now in a financial position to take unpaid time off when she wanted. Gotta work enough to keep my job. She liked it, for the most part, and she liked having something to do with her days. Unlike Eva, who had been unemployed for going on a year.

"How many people are registered?" Eva asked.

"On which end? Stock or buyers?"

"I don't know. Either?"

Kathryn brushed her bangs out of her face, pulled down her sweater over her bellybutton, and placed her phone on the table. "We've got fifteen people auctioning themselves off for dates tomorrow." She glanced at her husband. "Including Ian, who is probably ending up with some eighty-year-old heiress from California."

"And I will show her the time of her life."

"Don't break her hip, please."

"How many are buying?" Eva asked.

"Thirty. We might have some more sign up at the last minute. We're projecting at least half a million in charity proceeds. Assuming it doesn't blow up in my face." Kathryn grunted. "I really hope it doesn't. With the way AI is going, ChatGPT will be writing everyone's grants instead of letting me do it."

Ian kicked one of his legs over the other. "Says the woman who tears her hair out over grant writing."

"I want to get it right!"

"So maybe people will let you edit ChatGPT's grant applications. That could be fun."

Kathryn opened her mouth to speak. Yet behind her, to the tune of MC Hammer, the Bellagio water show began in earnest.

"Never mind," she mouthed.

The other diners turned around in their seats and took videos of the light and water show, which thundered whenever water was about to blow up or crash back down to the fountains. Delicate water spray fell over the boulevard. For every limousine or sedan cruising by at twenty miles an hour, there was a truck depicting half-naked women and the words GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS! DELIVERED STRAIGHT TO YOUR ROOM. Nadia's eyes always went straight to one model's airbrushed cleavage. Every. Time. Like staring into a doll-like void.

Eva caught her wife's gaze. "Naughty," she said through the corner of her mouth.

"Oh, stop."

It wasn't until the show stopped five minutes later that Kathryn was allowed to speak again – and be heard, anyway. "So, yeah. You guys know me. I'm on a thread between sanity and…" Forgoing vocabulary, she stuck two fingers up in the air and blew air out of her mouth.

"Wouldn't have you any other way," Ian said. "It's how I know you're alive."

"Seems to me," Eva began, while Nadia checked her hair for desert dust, "that what you could use is a nice, fat donation from a woman who wants to have a good time in Vegas."

It wasn't until Nadia finished picking through her hair that she realized her wife was staring at her. "What?"

"I know for a fact you've been saving up your money to give to charity," Eva said.

"Nothing's set in stone. I might not see anyone who makes me go, ‘Yeah, I want to have dinner with that asshole.'"

"Aw, come on. Ian's right there."

Kathryn sighed; her husband shifted in his seat. Eva was the only one attempting to enjoy the moment while Nadia witnessed another GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS! truck drive by.

"I'm having dinner with him right now," Nadia said. "Where's the novelty in that?"

"Indeed!" Eva's voice raised higher. "Where is the novelty in having dinner with Ian Mathers, with his divinely… masculine… eyes."

Kathryn hid her face in her hands. "You are so bad at this."

"A fine specimen of manly things." Eva's hand snapped into a fist over the table. "Only rivaled by his handsome contemporaries Pedro Pasqual and Justin… Bie… No." Eva's finger shot out and wagged in Ian's direction. "Trudeau. Justin Trudeau."

"You were seriously going to call me Justin Bieber just now."

"I get my Canadian Justins mixed up all the time. Ask Nadia. She knows I can't remember the names of Canadians." Eva shook that same finger in Kathryn's direction. "Didn't you used to date some Canadian? Martin something?"

Kathryn was still in a state of embarrassed disbelief. "Very long time ago. What does he have to do with this?"

"Is he going to be there tomorrow? I bet Nadia would love him."

"No. I haven't spoken to Martin since we were in Paris years ago."

"Better than what usually happens in Vegas," Ian muttered.

"Is that what this is about?" Eva snatched her wineglass off the table, one arm draped over the back of her chair. "That time you guys got drunk, snorted cocaine, and woke up needing an annulment?"

Ian slowly closed his eyes with a shake of his head. Kathryn was quick to correct, "There was no cocaine. I haven't done that shit since college."

"We are strictly a pot and alcohol household," Ian said. "Specifically, edibles."

"Really wish I had some right now."

That was Ian's cue to pick up the tab and collect his wife, who had a long night of final preparations and an early morning awaiting her. He mentioned the good fortune of being in a state where things such as marijuana were legal because he was in a hurry to get Kathryn back to their suite and sleepy enough to turn in that early.

"Knocks her right out," he said to Eva and Nadia with a wink. "What are you ladies up to this fine evening?"

Nadia answered before Eva had the opportunity. "I don't know about her, but I am planning on heading back to our room, watching TV, and going to bed. I think I've finally reached the exact age where that's a lot of fun."

"Don't remind me how old I am," Eva said.

"You're like over thirty."

"Ew."

"I'm older than you both." Ian stood up, hand reaching for Kathryn. She reluctantly slapped her hand in his and got up with two weights wrapped around her waist. "Which means it would be a bad idea if I got blasted and had a really bad hangover tomorrow."

"Please don't have a hangover tomorrow." Kathryn wrapped her arm around him as he picked up her purse and draped the strap around her shoulders. "I need you to be handsome and charming, so people pay big money for you. I hear you're a strapping piece of masculinity."

"The strappingest."

Kathryn only backtracked to collect her wine bottle and wave goodbye to her friends. Once the couple disappeared into the maw of the restaurant, Eva slapped her hand on Nadia's knee and said, "The night is young, babe. It's barely nine." Another truck drove by. "We could have a girl delivered to our room and party hearty."

"You're lucky I know you're joking."

"Please. If I meant it, I'd call any other agency before that one. Specifically, I know this woman who only has three others who work for her, and they…" Eva stopped. "You're not into that idea."

"I honestly can't tell if you are."

"How about we stroll through the casino on our way up to the room? I've got a fifty burning in my pocket."

"Why?" Nadia barely acknowledged the server clearing away dishes. "What is the point of gambling when you're rich?"

"Because it's fun."

"I don't get it."

"Come with me and enjoy the magic of the blackjack table."

"Does it have to be blackjack?"

That was enough to spur Eva out of her seat. Unlike Ian, who delicately guided his neurotic wife through the restaurant, Eva yanked on Nadia's hand. She tripped in her heels once.

Their sojourn back to their hotel included a quick trip down the Strip, Eva protectively shielding Nadia from the buskers, scammers, and pimps attempting to get their attention through the throng of tourists and the locals hustling their wallets. It was too loud over the sound of traffic and parties calling out to one another for Nadia to ask Eva if she had been serious about some gambling before they went up to their room.

She had a feeling that this went beyond "having fun," or attempting to explain the appeal of gambling to a woman who never had money to bet away before she met Eva. She wants to ensure we do something together as a couple before tomorrow. Besides, Nadia didn't hate gambling, or at least not as a concept. What people did with their money should be between them and the accountant. Yet what she hated – besides the smoke that permeated every casino floor – was the frenetic energy that vibrated between gamblers who could either be having the time of their lives or about to lose their house. Never mind their kids' college education. The addictive personalities currently surrounding Nadia as she moseyed past blackjack and poker only made her more nervous. The craps table? Roulette? God, no. To Nadia, something had to have some skill behind it to be worth the risk.

Not that she knew what she was doing at any of these tables. She certainly didn't know what was going on when her wife approached an employee standing off to the side and flashed her black credit card.

What the hell are you doing, Eva? She only did that when she wanted to flaunt her status. That invitation-only credit card, granted to the wealthy denizens of the world to whom money was a fact of life and not an object, opened more doors than Nadia liked to admit.

In this case, Eva was not led to a door. Instead, the employee in a green vest and a platinum name tag showed the couple to a more secluded table at the far end of the room, where the smoke was lightest – aside from one woman puffing away at her cigarette with one hand and playing cards with another.

"Sorry, babe." Eva took a spot at the far end of the table. "Blackjack tonight."

It wasn't obvious at first glance that the two other people playing cards against the house were almost as well-off or as rich as Eva, who was right at home ordering a cocktail for her and Nadia to share. Nadia remained slightly off to the side until she was more certain of what she was dealing with. Like the lady with the cigarette, or the woman in a flowy blouse and trousers who looked more bored than present at the moment.

"Lacey Cruz. As I live and breathe."

The woman in the blouse looked up from the cards in her hand. Whatever her response to Eva's presence, it was only matched by the nonchalant demeanor of the dealer, who signaled to Eva that the current hand was almost completed. Her cards would soon come her direction.

"Eva Warren."

The smokey cigarette was extinguished next to Nadia. "I'm out," the stranger announced before grabbing her purse and nodding in appreciation to the table. "See you around, Cruz."

Lacey curtly nodded, but when her old companion left the table, she did not acknowledge Nadia and Eva. That honor went to the woman now receiving her chips after flashing her black card again. This particular dealer dealt his chips. Nadia didn't understand how both he and Eva knew exactly what to give and receive, but if Eva went along with things, so did Nadia.

"You wanna play?" Eva asked her wife.

"No thanks. I'll watch."

The dealer shuffled the cards. Nadia glanced past Eva at the woman perched at the end of the table. The waitress returned with a dry martini for Eva, who gestured for Nadia to take the first sip. The only reason Nadia bothered was because she knew the olive was hers.

"You guys know each other?" Nadia finally asked.

Eva looked askance at her; Lacey's brows raised.

"We went to undergrad together," Eva said. "Good times in college, huh, Lacey?"

For the first time since they sat down, Lacey cast her gaze on Eva, then Nadia. Wow. That hint of a glance was enough to send a chill down Nadia's spine. She wasn't sure if it was attraction or fear that hit her, but she knew it was intense.

"It's been a while since I've seen you around." Lacey's deep and breathy voice could have been exhaustion, but it also could have been the way she spoke in the present company. She touched a glass of clear liquid to her lips. Nadia was intrigued by the possibility that it was straight vodka… or water. Probably water. She sipped her wife's martini before Eva could ask for a turn. "Since long before the pandemic. Feels like ages ago."

"Did you come to our wedding?" Eva gestured to the woman beside her. "Wait, have you met my Nadia before? Or is this the first time you two have had the pleasure?"

The dealer finished presenting the two players with their cards. He gave himself one card face up and another face down. Nadia counted up a total of thirteen for Eva and nine for Lacey. The dealer had an eight.

"I don't believe we've met," Lacey said. "As I said, I haven't seen you around in years. We're always at different parties and events."

"You still living in Texas?"

Lacey tapped her cards. The dealer granted her a two. "I'm based out of San Diego now," Lacey said. "Just as hot with a better view."

"Ha! I now remember your droll sense of humor."

"If you wish to call it that." Lacey asked for another card. She was now up to seventeen. "Seeing you at this table has brought back some memories. I don't suppose you're in Vegas for the charity auction tomorrow. I know that you and Kathryn are good friends."

"As it so happens, we are." Eva politely waited for a three to touch Lacey's pile. Now that she was at a total of twenty, she chose to stand, and the dealer's attention was focused on Eva. "In Vegas for that, I mean." She tapped the table. A six brought her total up to nineteen." Eva was already done. Good call. There's no way you're getting a two with one of them already out of play. Had Nadia accidentally counted cards? "You must be here for the same thing as well. Suppose I'll see you there tomorrow."

The dealer busted. Lacey won the round, an impressive stack of chips telling Nadia that the stranger was good at blackjack – or lucky. Perhaps in more ways than one.

"It should be an interesting day," Lacey said. "I'm also doing Kathryn a favor. I've been in touch with her again since getting into non-profit work myself. It really is a small world."

Eva cocked her head. "Is that so? She's never mentioned you."

"Why would she? I doubt she knows we went to the same school for a couple of years."

"That's right. You transferred."

They started another round. Eva grabbed her drink before Nadia finished it.

"Please place your bets, ladies," the dealer prompted.

Eva was the kind of distracted she exhibited when in the same room as her mother, a woman who loved her children as much as she loved the fungus between her toes. Is this another ex-girlfriend of yours, Eva? If there was one thing Nadia had learned in the past seven years, it was that Eva was more than a ladies' woman – she was one of the most powerful flirts to ever hit America, with the enviable power to seduce even the "straightest" women who were looking for attention. Eva's tall, flirty, and rich. It was the flirty aspect that eventually got Nadia into bed with her wife, but she wouldn't deny that at 5'3, Nadia was curious about what it would be like to make love to a woman over a foot taller than her. As it turns out… pretty fun.

Lacey placed the first bet. Eva soon followed, although her grabbing two chips and putting them forward was more function than fun. She received her two cards shortly after. Nadia didn't know much about blackjack, but she knew an Ace in the hand was a powerful tool.

"When's the last time you came to Vegas?" Lacey coolly asked. "You've got the first-timer jitters."

"I don't come as much as I used to. Not since getting married."

Two small eyes looked right at Nadia, who averted her gaze in the hopes that Lacey hadn't meant to imply that Eva's wife was the reason someone didn't party in Vegas anymore. I mean, I don't love Vegas, but neither does Eva. Eva was simply the kind of woman to make the most of a place if she had to be there. In that weekend's case, Eva was helping her best friend, so she might as well find some fun too.

Even if it meant playing a couple of rounds of blackjack. With Lacey Cruz, who was a figment of her collegiate past.

Yet another woman who probably knows more about me than I do her. Nadia was still recovering from their family trip to Hawaii, where one of Eva's ex-girlfriends went out of her way to hit on Nadia to… make her feel better about herself? Nadia had long stopped asking why Eva did things like that.

Yet if there was one thing Nadia did know about her wife, it was that Eva had a crazy past full of ex-girlfriends, lovers, frenemies, and actual enemies who wanted to see her skewered over an open fire. The fact that Eva had been in a monogamous relationship for the past seven years (including three and a half of those years married) blew Nadia's mind.

"Do you know how to play these games?" Lacey sweetly asked the woman without cards before her. Eva glanced at her wife as if to say Be careful. Nadia knew how to hold her side of a conversation though. She hadn't spent over ten years as the head receptionist of Thomas-Cole (including when it was known as Jackson-Cole) without knowing how to converse with some of the strangest people to walk through the gilded doors of a high-rise office.

"I'm not much of a gambler," Nadia said with a placid smile. "Card games are a bit difficult for me to follow."

"Seems to me that your wife should teach you if you're to hang out at a Vegas table."

"I offered," Eva butted in, "but she said she wasn't interested."

Lacey did not take her gaze off Nadia, who inadvertently tucked hair behind her ear and blushed beneath such a stoically seductive stare. Ooookay, this woman's got something going on. Nadia kinda liked it. As a woman who usually got jealous thinking about Eva with her exes, she suddenly didn't mind the image flashing in her brain. I bet Eva wasn't on top every time… Excellent. Exactly what she deserved sometimes.

"I could easily teach you how to win every game of poker against this woman," Lacey continued, as the house won the round and took its winnings. Eva clicked her tongue in defeat. Lacey was not bothered to part with three of her chips. "She has a hundred tells, and they're all embarrassing."

"Go to hell, Lace."

Nadia's eyes widened. So rarely did Eva speak like that, let alone to another woman. What happened between you two? This was juicier than the chicken at the French restaurant.

"You always had a filthy mouth, Warren."

As if to spite the woman near her, Eva put up three of her chips for the next round. "I see you haven't changed at all."

"What are you talking about? So many years have passed since you and I were in school. I'm a completely different person."

Even Nadia, who hadn't met this woman until now, knew that was a calculated hit. Yet what would have normally been a red flag for the woman sitting without a pair of cards was now a promise for more intrigue. Nadia didn't suffer bullshit from anyone in her circle, but she liked how confidently Lacey asserted her position. Not to mention how she looks at me every time she says something saucy. Maybe it wasn't flirting in the purest sense, but it had the same effect on Nadia, who turned her whole body away so Eva wouldn't notice how flustered someone became.

"I think that's enough for me tonight." Eva lost the last of her chips in the next round, which went to Lacey. "Always know when to cut yourself off."

"Having money problems, Warren? I remember what happened with your parents."

Eva thanked the dealer for his professionalism as she slipped off the stool without smacking her knees against the bottom of the table. Lacey remained in her seat, finger perched atop her upper lip as if she considered joining Eva for a chat in the hotel hallway.

Instead, she kept to herself after asking such a personal question.

"Things are fine in my family, thank you," Eva said. "How lovely catching up with you, Lacey. Perhaps I'll see you at the event tomorrow."

"Oh, you definitely will. Nice to meet you, Nadia. You've got quite the catch on your arm. You must feel like the luckiest woman in the world."

That was sarcasm, but Nadia couldn't help herself from replying. "If being with Eva lets me meet interesting people like you, then maybe I am the luckiest girl around. See you."

Eva's arm snapped around Nadia's as they made their way to the nearest elevators. "One of the last people I expected to see here. Lacey Cruz, of all the women…"

Nadia craned her head over her shoulder. They had lost Lacey in the distance. "Who was she? One of your mortal enemies?"

Eva was not wont to talk about it until they were back in their room, where she collapsed onto the bed with a loud sigh and Nadia took her time undressing. When she's ready to talk, she'll say something. Maybe. There were times when Eva "conveniently" forgot to resume a conversation if she wasn't inclined.

This was not one of those times. She probably saw the expectant look in Nadia's eyes after rolling around on the bed.

"Long story."

"You're full of long stories, and it's never stopped you from sharing before."

Eva watched her wife strip down to her underwear, but that wasn't the lewd look of lechery that often accompanied such a countenance. "We went to college together."

"I gathered as much."

"Believe it or not," Eva continued, "we never dated."

"Now that I don't believe."

"I haven't dated every woman who's crossed my path. Sometimes I'm dating other people when I meet them. Or, you know, they're Lacey, and I'm not into them at all."

"I like how you haven't had to confirm that she's queer."

"Come on. You look at her for five minutes and you know she's got at least two women of her own floating around somewhere. I bet whoever she's dating right now was conveniently up in her room or trying on some lingerie in a shop on the Strip."

"Uh-huh."

"Sorry." Eva wasn't interested when Nadia took off her bra and folded it atop her luggage. If she's not staring at me while I'm naked, then she really is distracted. Nadia flung on her nightshirt, the frumpiest – and comfiest – thing she had in her possession. Sometimes, Eva teased her that it made her look like a mom of three toddlers who needed some sleep, but it never stopped her from spooning Nadia for hours at a time. It was that comfortable.

As soon as Nadia was dressed for bed, she sat on the edge, looming over her wife. "Tell me more. What did you do to her?"

"What are you talking about?" The fact that Eva was instantly offended meant Nadia's hunch was right. "You always go straight to me pissing someone off or breaking their heart."

"That's how this usually goes."

Sighing, Eva took a page out of Nadia's book and began undressing. She started with the socks, which crumpled onto the carpet while she kicked her feet out behind her. "The last time we saw each other, we had a big fight over nothing. I barely remember what it was about."

"Eva."

"What? You think I keep track of every fight and altercation? My teens and twenties were a big ol' mess before I met you. Shit, they were still a mess after we got together. My thirties are blessedly boring in comparison."

"Eva."

Defeated, Eva stretched her arms over her head and groaned. "We discovered that a girl was two-timing us."

"Oof."

"Yes. Oof."

Nadia pulled back the covers. While she wasn't about to go to sleep, she enjoyed her nightly ritual of getting ready for bed and sitting in it for a good hour or two before attempting to sleep. This hotel room layout wasn't too much different from what she and Eva had back home, including the flatscreen TV mounted on the wall. Except we have way more channels and apps. Nadia made do with a late-night show that aired much earlier in the evening here than it did in New England.

"I didn't know she was also seeing Lacey, of course." Eva prompted her wife to turn down the show host so she could hear better. "I also don't think Lacey knew that this girl was dating me at the same time. Ah, I say ‘dating' pretty loosely. More like hooking up while I assumed she wasn't seeing anyone else. Let alone someone who thought they were exclusive."

"You make it sound like this third woman was cheating on Lacey with you."

"I think that might have been what happened, now that I think about it. Ugh. I felt awful, but Lacey didn't help. I think she thought that I was dating her girlfriend on purpose when that couldn't have been further from the truth. You know me, Nads. I never go after another woman's girl. That's the opposite of fun and sexy. I like my relationships to be string free."

"Do you think Lacey still holds it against you?"

"Who knows? You heard us. We haven't seen each other since undergrad. For all I know, she's harbored a deep resentment toward me. Or she forgot about it until she saw me at the table. Hm. She said something about helping Kathryn out. Maybe I should text her."

"Kathryn was taking edibles, finishing the wine, and not existing for ten hours."

"Right." Eva stopped reaching for her phone. "Hopefully that's the last I see of Lacey for a while. I can't believe I forgot all about that until tonight. Hope she didn't put you out."

"Put me out? Quite the opposite. I thought she was interesting."

"She used to have that effect on people. Guess not everyone does change that much."

"You don't think you've changed since we started going out?"

Eva shrugged. "I know I've changed, but I attribute such things more to getting older than being married."

"I think they have a lot to do with each other."

That garnered a curious look from the woman who had been out to lunch since they returned from the casino. "How do you think I've changed?"

This almost felt like a trap. Dare Nadia poke the lion in the proverbial den? This room is the den. Nadia may have as much right to be in this room as Eva, but it was the Warren money that paid for this Vegas high-rise suite. Not that Eva had ever threatened to do something to Nadia before…

Suppose there's a first chance for everything.

"You're a lot less concerned about other people's opinion of you. Guess that comes with maturity, but a lot of people don't ever get over it."

"Other people's opinions… here I thought I was never that concerned with them."

"It's the little things. Like, when we first started dating, you wanted everyone in a room to know that you had entered. Now you're a lot more casual wherever we go. I like that."

Eva wrapped her arm around Nadia's waist. "Whatever makes you happy, darlin'."

Something new makes me happy. Nadia kept that to herself, though. If Eva heard her espousing such ideas, she would think she had a hundred possibilities at her fingertips.

They both knew that wasn't true!