All the Right Moves(64)

Towlie had scored two suites at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in San Francisco for a couple of nights. He’d lined up a flight for all of them, taking off bright and early in the morning. John’s first reaction was hell, no, but the more his thoughts kept spinning, the more appeal the trip had.

He needed to get out of town. Away from his condo, the base, Vegas, Cassie.

Cassie. That would be two nights and three days away from her. She wouldn’t even have studying or school to get in the way. The thought of being in bed with her, making love to her from sunset to the break of dawn, was heady and enticing. But she’d become part of the problem.

He couldn’t stop hearing her. Imaging her. She’d taken over his mind. If he got away, he’d be able to think again. Critically, logically.

His cell rang, and he couldn’t put his drink down fast enough. He’d go inside, talk to her, maybe spend the rest of the evening at the Gold Strike before he had to catch his flight. But it wasn’t Cassie.

It was Sam. This wasn’t the first call John hadn’t picked up from his friend. But he let this one go to voice mail, too. He couldn’t speak to Sam when he was drinking like this. Sam had enough on his plate. He didn’t need to worry about John’s indecisive mess of a life.





16



JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT, half the population of north Vegas seemed to want a drink at the Gold Strike. Of course Tommy was nowhere in sight, and Cassie and Lisa were slammed with orders. At least the worst of the nosy questions had eased up, but no matter what she told herself, she couldn’t stop her reaction with each new arrival.

“Shove over,” Lisa said, pushing Cassie with a bump to her hip. “It’s my turn to wash. You pour.”

“I was going to cut limes.”

“Limes can wait, pitchers can’t.”

Cassie didn’t argue. She staggered two pitchers at a time, careful not to give them too much of a head, then two more followed. Of all people, Spider offered to carry some of the orders to tables, and in return got a free refill of his own.

When the swell of the tide receded enough for Cassie to pull out the limes, she lined up everything around the cutting board and went to work. Her cell phone ringing was most inconvenient, but it could be Tommy. Or John.

Her heart hammered against her chest as she saw John’s name on the screen. “Hey,” she said, loudly. “What’s up?”

“Sorry to call so late,” he said, practically yelling back at her. “I can hear you’re still at the bar.”

“It sounds like you are, too.”

“Yeah,” he said. “I, uh, I’m with Rick and a few guys. And, uh...wait a second.”

The scrape of a hand over the microphone blurred the sounds behind him, but not enough for her to miss the feminine laughter. Another few seconds went by, and she could hear him speaking but not the words he said. “Sorry. Sorry about that.”

He’d been drinking. It was clear in his sibilant phrases, his pauses. The giggly woman. “It’s fine.” Someone came up to the bar to order a vodka tonic, and Cassie turned her back on him. She should have gone into the supply closet but her left hand was dripping with juice.

“I wanted to tell you,” he said, “that I’m gonna be out of town for a few days. It’s a thing. With Rick.”

At least the churning in her gut made the heavy beating of her heart seem less dramatic. “Oh, yeah?”

“I need to get away for a little bit, that’s all. You know. Think things through.”

“Sure.” Cassie nodded as if he could see her, but she was so glad he couldn’t because she had the feeling her eyes would reveal too much. “A couple of days, then?”

“Should do it. Leaving first thing in the morning.”

“Okay, then. Um, listen, do you have a ride home?”

“What?”

That laugh had come back, louder this time. Whoever she was, she must be really close. “You need a ride home? It sounds like you shouldn’t be driving.”

The mixed sounds of her bar and his were a jumble of distraction as she waited for him to say something. To say yes. That he needed her.

“No, thanks,” he said. “I’ve got it covered.”

The ambient noise gave her a perfect excuse to get out of the conversation before she did something foolish. He was going away to think. That was all. Maybe some things she’d said had struck home. Maybe not. “I’m getting slammed here. So I’ll talk to you later, huh?”