Getting Lost with Boys Read online

“Shh!” Mike hissed. “Don’t let the dealer hear you!”

  Cordelia giggled. Her hand had been hovering over sixteen, but she moved it swiftly to twenty-one red, and she placed a chip on it. A man in a gold-braid uniform spun a wheel and then tossed in the marble. “Twenty-one red!” he yelled.

  She let out a squeal and clapped her hands. How easy was that? The dealer tossed another token her way. Cordelia took both and put them on fifteen red. The wheel was spun, the marble was dropped; and—“Fifteen red!”

  “Hey, you’re on a roll!” Mike shouted.

  Jake tapped Cordelia hard on the shoulder and she spun around.

  “What?” she growled.

  “Quit now while you’re ahead.”

  “Jake, she’s hot. Why are you trying to spoil it?” Mike said.

  Cordelia smiled at Jake when she saw him get annoyed. “I’m gonna let it ride,” she said cheerfully.

  “Suit yourself,” Jake muttered. “Now I need a drink.”

  Strangely enough, he up and vanished into the crowd, just as Cordelia had hoped he would. Now that she had experienced a little of her own Vegas magic, she figured she might as well see where it would take her, and the farther away from Jake she went, the better.

  “Your turn to pick a number,” she said to Mike.

  “You could start spreading the chips around,” he suggested. “That gives you better odds.”

  So she did. She tried different combinations—the digits that made up her phone number, her social security number, and the day that Mike’s dog died. In every spin of the wheel, she got something. It was such a rush, especially because a crowd began to gather. Each time she won more chips, Mike would throw his arms around her and pick her up off the floor. When she got up to the three-hundred-dollar mark, he began twirling her like a ballet dancer and dipping her. She wasn’t sure if he was excited because she was on a streak or because he had finished his fifth Jack on the rocks. Either way, it was so much fun to be with someone who was cheering her on. In fact, the entire room seemed to be clapping for her.

  “You’re beautiful,” Mike said, grinning from ear to ear. “Keep it up!”

  Cordelia felt like she was floating. She was so giddy, her stomach was fluttering with anticipation. She looked across the table at another player, who just took in a fortune on the last spin. She realized she could make a lot more if she bet more than one chip on a number. So during the next round, she tried two. But she lost.

  “Don’t worry about it,” Mike said calmly. “Try it again.”

  Then she tried three and won. By the time she got to ten, people were shaking her hand, slapping her on the back, and one guy asked for a kiss. She blew one in his direction and laughed. This was completely wild!

  All of sudden, her practical, common-sense inner voice began to sound off. “Quit now while you’re ahead.”

  Wait a second, she wondered. That’s what Jake had said.

  The adrenaline in Cordelia’s bloodstream was at an all-time high. She couldn’t stop. She’d be a fool to cash in.

  “Quit now while you’re ahead.”

  God, shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! she thought.

  Mike pulled her close to him, and Cordelia winced when she smelled his sour breath. “You know, if yoush put all those chipsh on a winning number, you’d have over a thoushandth dollars,” he slurred.

  A thousand dollars? The image of a shopping spree at Hold Everything danced in her head. So did the image of Paul opening up a gift box containing a pair of state-of-the-art binoculars and her mom unwrapping a new Williams-Sonoma cooking set.

  She didn’t analyze her decision any further than that and pushed all the chips onto one square. The dealer spun the wheel. The marble rolled around for what seemed like weeks. Cordelia grabbed Mike’s hand and squeezed it hard. The marble bounced around, hitting off numbers left and right. She was sweating and twitching and laughing like a mad scientist. And then…

  Cordelia went cold as the casino worker made her mountain of chips disappear as quickly as Jake had about an hour ago.

  “Oh boy,” Mike whimpered. “You lost.”

  She dug down deep and did everything in her power not to faint. “I didn’t just lose. I lost everything.”

  Up until this point, the biggest shock of Cordelia’s life had been when Alexis Dunbar won the presidency by five votes in their eighth-grade election. That was nothing compared to this horror. Her money was gone forever and it was all her own fault.

  She was hyperventilating as if she’d just taken off in a twin-engine plane. Mike had to flag another waitress down for some water.

  “Just breathe in and out, Cordy,” he said, sounding a lot like Paul would have had he been there to witness her humiliation.

  But Cordelia knew that wasn’t going to help. Nothing could possibly stop the wicked thoughts in her mind that were taunting her over and over again:

  You should have listened to Jake.

  Chapter Eight

  Cordelia was still crouched down on the floor, trying to recover from what Mike was calling the Vegas Shitstorm, when she heard the following seven words.

  “Guess who made a killing at blackjack.”

  She didn’t want to look up and see who was talking to them, but she didn’t have to. She could identify the sound of Jake’s shrill, mocking voice from a hundred yards away. Still, Cordelia knew she’d have to get up off the ground eventually. This was as good a time as any.

  Mike helped her up a little bit, but then let go prematurely when he caught a glimpse of the huge mound of money that Jake was holding in his hand. “Why, you crafty bastard!”

  “That’s me,” Jake declared happily. “I just booked us a suite for tonight.”

  “Excellent.” Mike hiccupped and then turned to Cordelia. “See? Things are looking up, buttercup.”

  Cordelia was in such a deranged mental state that she couldn’t fully absorb any of their words. Her head still felt fuzzy and she couldn’t stop her thoughts from racing ahead of her.

  I’ll have to call home and ask for money. Mom and Dad will want to know why. And then I’ll have to tell them that I snuck into a casino, gambled even though I am underage, and lost every cent I had. They’ll freak out like a couple of head cases and then tell me to come home. Damn! What would Molly do in a situation like this?

  Cordelia stopped herself. She’d dressed up like Molly tonight and look where it had taken her—the Land of Big, Scary Trouble.

  “Hey, Cordelia. Did you hear what I said?”

  Jake was snapping his fingers in front of her face again. Cordelia grabbed his hand and clenched it tightly.

  “I swear on the grave of…someone really important…next time you snap at me, I’ll break your fingers.”

  Jake turned to Mike. “What’s her problem?”

  Mike let out a reverberating burp. “I told her to pick number eight, man, but she had to go with some girl named Alexis’s address.”

  “Oh Christ,” Jake said warily. “Cordelia, how much did you lose?”

  “Dude, she’s totaled,” Mike said, pulling Cordelia into a tight bear hug. “And she’s sooooooo sad!”

  A waitress passed by with another tray of drinks, so Mike suddenly released Cordelia and sent her stumbling into Jake. When he grabbed onto her, she noticed how strong his grip was. When his sleeves shifted up a bit, she could see his biceps clenching. As she put her arms around his shoulders to brace herself, she was close enough to feel his breath on her cheek. Apparently Cordelia could be extremely detail-oriented and distraught at the exact same time.

  Jake helped her find her balance and stand on her own two feet.

  That was very chivalrous of him, she thought. Why didn’t he just drop me on my ass, like I know he’s dying to?

  Then Jacob Stein showed his true colors once again. “I told you so!”

  “Wow, I can’t believe you held that in for ten seconds. What restraint!” she shouted.

  “Don’t get all upset with me. I told you not to
get in over your head, but you were so hell-bent on being a big shot.”

  Cordelia could feel that her skin was burning hot. “You’re such a hypocrite. Yesterday you said I was always playing it safe. And now that I took a risk, you’re saying I should have done the opposite.”

  “I’m surprised that you’re even listening to me at all. You act as if you don’t have anything to learn from anyone,” Jake said defiantly.

  “And you don’t act the same way?”

  They were toe-to-toe when Mike came staggering back with a whole bottle of Absolut.

  “I just told ’em to put this on my tab,” he said slowly.

  “But you don’t have a tab,” Cordelia reminded him.

  “That’s why I said my name was Jacob Stein.”

  Jake rolled his eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just go up to the room.”

  She crossed her arms over her chest and followed behind them silently. She had no other choice. Jake was the one with rivers of cash coming out of his ears, and all she had was the teeny-tiny purple dress on her back. Like it or not, she was at his mercy.

  Cordelia should have been happier than the time her parents took her to Gymboree on her fifth birthday party (it had been the highlight of her year). A luxury suite in the Mandalay Bay hotel was like an adult version of Gymboree—there were plasma cable TVs in every room (including a small one in front of the toilet) and a huge sitting area with enormous plushy couches and a fully stocked minibar. The two adjoining bedrooms had gigantic king-size, four-poster beds that were covered in thick layers of soft, silky comforters, shams, and pillowcases. The place was polished and decadent from the bottom of the thick colorful rugs to the top of the high ceilings.

  It was way beyond Cordelia’s high lodging standards and Travelocity’s definition of five-star accommodations. But there was absolutely no way she could enjoy any of it, because she had to share this hotel paradise with the vile, reprehensible Jacob Stein and his wasted sidekick, Mike “I reinforcing Irish stereotypes” Cavanaugh.

  She was sitting on the love seat, counting the many ways in which she had derailed her summer by agreeing to this trip with Jake, when Mike plopped down next to her and spilled some vodka on the upholstery. Jake had run out to the car to pick up his backpack and Cordelia’s overnight bag, so she was put on watch-Mike-and-make-sure-he-doesn’t-break-anything duty (oh joy of joys).

  “So, Cordy,” Mike said while slurping his beverage.

  “What do you think of our digs? Pretty nice, huh?”

  She simply nodded her head in affirmation. After the evening she’d had, the last thing she wanted to do was get into a conversation with someone who’d had more to drink in one night than most people do in a week.

  “Are you still upset about what happened at the casino yesterday?” he asked.

  “Mike, that happened an hour ago,” Cordelia corrected.

  He scratched his head before scratching someplace else that was highly inappropriate. “Whatever. It’s in the past. Forget about it.”

  “I can’t. I don’t have any more money, and if I call home and tell my parents, they’ll be really pissed off,” she explained.

  Suddenly, she felt something clammy and moist land on her right knee. That thing was Mike’s hand.

  Oh God, she thought. This can’t be happening.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered,” he said, leaning in closer.

  Cordelia couldn’t believe this. Mike was actually making a move on her! She had no idea what to do. He was Jake’s good friend and obviously he wasn’t using any of his remaining brain cells. She didn’t want to offend him by saying or doing anything too rash.

  Wait, I should mention Paul. That will stop him in his tracks.

  “Actually, I think if I call my boyfriend, he’ll be able to help me out. Thanks, though. That’s really sweet of you to offer,” she replied.

  But he didn’t seem like he was backing off. In fact, she thought she saw his eyebrows go up, as if things had just gotten more interesting.

  “Well, your boyfriend isn’t here, you know.”

  Mike’s hand was moving slowly up her thigh. Cordelia’s heart was palpitating so hard she swore all of Las Vegas could feel the shock waves. She was going to freak out any minute now; she could feel it. The more he inched toward her and the more she tried to crawl away from him, the more she could sense that her knee was centimeters away from his very vulnerable area.

  She remembered how Molly used to tell her when they were kids that if any creepy guys ever tried to hurt her, she had to kick them where it counted. Then she’d demonstrate the maneuver on a male Cabbage Patch Kid. The way this situation was going, it seemed as if it might be one of the few times she’d ever have to follow any of Molly’s advice.

  “Listen, I think you need to go sleep this off,” she said sternly. “I mean it, Mike. You’re drunk.”

  “And you’re absolutely lovely,” he said seductively, and went in for a kiss.

  Cordelia had no choice.

  Hello, Mike’s crotch. I’d like to introduce you to my knee.

  Jake entered the room as soon as Mike had crumpled like a house of cards.

  “What the hell is going on?” he shouted, and dropped their bags.

  At that moment, Cordelia had never been happier to see him. She rushed over and gave him a hug while Mike writhed on the ground in pain.

  “Are you okay?” Jake asked him.

  Mike was only capable of grunting sounds that were incomprehensible.

  “I’m so sorry, but he was trying to kiss me and I had to fend him off.”

  Cordelia watched Jake’s face crinkle up and turn a rare shade of purple. Sweat was beading off his forehead, and his neck was getting very blotchy and irritated. She knew what this meant. After all, she had just busted his best friend’s balls. Her eyes scanned the room, looking for places to run for cover.

  But before she could crouch down under the executive maple wood desk, Jake crossed the room and pulled Mike up by his shirt collar.

  “I can’t believe what an asshole you are!” he yelled.

  “You had no right doing that to Cordy.”

  Mike didn’t do much but whimper something that sounded like an apology. But Jake wouldn’t listen.

  “Go to bed and stay there,” he said while dragging Mike into one of the bedrooms.

  Once they were out of sight, Cordelia could hear the two of them arguing. Mike tried to defend himself a little and then asked for forgiveness. Yet Jake was really hard on him. He said that he was sick of bailing Mike out of trouble and that’s why he’d had to leave UNLV in the first place. He just couldn’t take that kind of pressure. Jake also told Mike that Cordelia was not just some girl he could fool around with, that she was a good person who didn’t deserve to be put in that position. Then his voice dropped lower and Cordelia couldn’t make out what he was saying.

  When Jake reentered the lounge area, Cordelia could see that he was still very upset.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  Jake rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s what I should be asking you.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Too bad Mike can’t say the same for himself,” he said with a chuckle. “You worked him over really good.”

  Cordelia giggled. “It’s a little trick that Molly taught me.”

  He smirked. “Well, I’m glad you never used it on me.”

  “You were asking for it, though. Plenty of times.”

  “Thankfully you are better at restraining yourself than I am.”

  She saw something really warm in his eyes just then, but it went just as quickly as it came.

  “So, are you hungry?” he asked abruptly. “We could order some room service. I’ve got to make sure Mike drinks ten liters of water and doesn’t choke on his vomit, so I’ll be up all night.”

  “Sounds like a blast,” she replied.

  “Unfortunately, I’m used to it.” Jake picked up the room phone and began to dial. “So
what’ll it be? I’m sure they have everything here.”

  Cordelia frowned. “I’ll just have some of Mike’s water.”

  He gave her a sideways glance. “This isn’t prison, Cordy. You can have whatever you want.”

  “But I’m broke, remember?”

  “Listen, you can enter all your expenses into your Treo and add them up later. Then mail me a check or something. I know you’re good for it,” he said.

  “Really?”

  She was so taken aback by how nice he was being, she wasn’t sure how to react.

  “Yes, now order some food before I change my mind,” Jake added.

  Cordelia smiled. “How about a nice heaping plate of tacos?”

  He smiled in return. “Make that two of ’em.”

  Twenty minutes later, Jake and Cordelia had something between a Thanksgiving feast and an impromptu picnic spread out all over the bed. In addition to the tacos, they ordered lobster bisque, a Waldorf salad, garlic mashed potatoes, creamed corn, and two pieces of chocolate blackout cake. The remnants of their meal were scattered around them while they both reclined on a mound of cushions and rubbed their bellies.

  “I think my intestines are going to collapse,” Cordelia said as she licked a stray piece of icing off her spoon.

  Jake took off the napkin he’d clipped to his T-shirt and waved it in the air in surrender. “Mine already did. You may have to pump my stomach.”

  “Why did you make me eat so much?” She brought her knees up to her chest.

  “You didn’t need any encouragement from me, Cordy. I wasn’t the one who inhaled the cake.”

  Cordelia swatted him playfully on the shoulder and he laughed. Then something really curious happened. For a second, she thought she was imagining it, but then it happened again. Jake was definitely, without a doubt, checking out her legs. At first, he just quickly looked over. Then the next time it was a lingering glance.

  “I’m going to check on Mike again. Be right back,” he said hurriedly before darting out of the room.

  She was so startled by it that the moment he took off, she dove into her bag and changed into her Hollister sweatpants and an oversized T-shirt. Even after that, Cordelia felt spooked. This was Jacob Stein. King of the Pains in the Ass. Molly’s ex-boyfriend. Guy who repulsed her since the day they’d laid eyes on each other.