by JJ Knight
So I should be busting out with happiness that everything is working out like I hoped. But there’s tons of families here despite the late hour, all walking along, kids on their hips or leaning out of strollers. Their eyes are big and full of awe.
We cross in front of another hotel. Mine is just a few blocks down. I don’t think I can take a lot more aimless wandering among families and happy couples.
“Big day tomorrow,” I say to Colt, and he stops and turns around. “Interviews and stuff. I think I’ll head back.”
“You can’t be tired yet!” Jo exclaims.
“I should go find my trainer anyway,” I insist.
Jo shakes her head. “Don’t worry about him. We’ll collect Brazen and drag him away from the slot machines.”
“Good luck with that.” Brazen was going nuts in the casinos. But he wasn’t the one having to go on camera tomorrow for the expected smack talk against Blitzkrieg. Or to fight him the day after.
“Let’s go up on this bridge,” Colt says. “Then you can head back.”
I don’t know why he’s so intent on us climbing the steps to cross the boulevard on a pedestrian bridge. Our hotel is on the side where we’re walking. But I go. He’s gotten me to Vegas for the fight of my life. I can at least climb a silly bridge.
When we get to the top, the air blows hot on our faces. It’s 96 degrees in October. What a crazy town. Colt and Jo have stopped in the middle, where it overlooks the boulevard.
“Look over there,” Colt says.
I turn. Just a little farther down the Strip, you can see the giant lighted sign rising up above the MGM Grand, where the fight will be held. And on the screen are the words “MMA Exhibition Rematch. Arthur ‘Blitzkrieg’ James vs. Parker ‘Power Play’ Simmons.”
“Your name in lights,” Jo says.
I stare at it for a second. It’s weird, seeing it up there. It’s so much more real than any other thing I’ve done in the last two weeks. Watching footage. Working on my defensive moves. Trying on a new pair of fight shorts with three sponsors that popped up since the news hit of the match.
The screen switches over and there’s Blitz in a fight pose. He looks sort of hilarious with his corporate haircut and his mean expression. Somebody should tell him to buzz his head. It’s hard to take him seriously, although of all people, I should.
Then there’s me. It’s a promo shot from about six months ago. My fight shorts look naked without sponsors, but that’s something only fighters and managers think about.
A soft voice behind me says, “Now I’d do that guy.”
Holy shit. I whip around.
It’s Maddie.
“How? When?” I can barely sputter out any words.
“I’ve got friends in high places,” she says.
I look around, but Colt and Jo are long gone.
I can’t believe it. I pick her up and spin her in a circle. “You’re here. You’re here.” I keep saying it over and over.
Finally, she smacks my shoulder. “Yes, I’m here. Now show me around. I’ve never been to Vegas. I’ve never been anywhere!”
We practically run back down the steps to the street. I have to stop every few steps to snatch her up against me again. I feel like I might burst.
We pass beneath the Cosmopolitan. The Strip spreads before us in all directions.
Maddie wants to take pictures of everything. “Lily would love this!” she says.
“She stayed with Delores?” I ask.
“Yes. I couldn’t see bringing her this time.” She elbows me. “I wanted you for myself.”
I pick her up and swing her in another circle. She bats at my arm. “Good grief, Parker! Good thing I haven’t eaten anything or I’d be tossing my cookies!”
“There’s ALL these buffets everywhere,” I tell her. “Are you hungry? Did you know that after midnight, you can get a steak for $5?”
She shakes her head. “I’m not hungry. But I could go for a drink.”
We pass in front of the Monte Carlo, and that’s when Maddie spots the New York–New York casino. She grabs my arm. “Look! Look! Look! Can we go?”
I can’t even hide my amusement at her excitement. “Of course.”
I have to hustle to keep up with her as she drags me along the sidewalk to the hotel.
She pauses outside the glass doors. “Is it okay to go in even if we don’t have a room?”
I tug on a handle. “Absolutely. They want you to come in and spend money.”
She’s like a little kid as she zooms around the interior. “It’s like you’re on the streets of New York!” she says.
The inside is impressive. I went through it when I arrived. I haven’t told her that I’m staying here, and that I chose it because it reminded me of her.
The pathways are designed to feel like you’re walking in New York. The buildings loom above you several stories high. Cafe tables and trees line the walks. There are Irish pubs and Italian restaurants and hot-dog stands. People mill about everywhere, buying food, sitting and drinking.
“This is so amazing,” she says.
I love the light in her eyes, the way the colored neon shines on her hair. It feels like every other day I’m saying that this is the best day of my life, and I mean it every single time.
I buy her an ice cream, then a slice of pizza, then a Manhattan. “You’re eating everything out of order,” I say.
“Oh, hush.” She stops in front of a magic shop. “I didn’t know there was one of these in the city.”
I come behind her and wrap my arms around her waist, resting my chin on her shoulder. She smells like Maddie, and even with the pulsing sound and flickering lights, I feel like I am home as long as she is here.
She leans back into me and we watch a boy in the shop show a card trick to a customer. “I’m glad I came,” she says.
“How did this happen?” I ask.
Maddie starts walking. “Colt McClure called me. It’s not every day a champion fighter lights up your cell phone.”
“How long are you here?”
“I have a crazy midnight flight back on Sunday. I only took off one day. That’s why I arrived so late. I thought I’d never catch up with you all. Colt was texting me your position for over an hour before I made it.”
“Where’s your stuff?” She doesn’t have anything with her but a purse.
“Colt sent a driver. He took it.”
Good. That means her suitcase is already in my room.
“You getting tired yet?” I ask.
She turns around and looks up at me. “Are you suggesting we should lie down?”
“Maybe.”
“I could be convinced.”
I can feel how long it’s been when I lean down to kiss her. People flow around us, walking along the pretend New York streets with Coneys and pizza and Statue of Liberty hats. She’s warm in the sweater that’s way too much clothing for Vegas. I slide my hands down her back. I’m still half in shock that she’s actually in front of me.
She breaks away, her breathing ragged. “Please tell me your hotel is close.”
“We’re already here,” I say.
“Really?!” She squeezes my hand. “I can’t believe it! I can come down anytime and see all this! Without going anywhere!”
“We have to wind our way around to get to the actual hotel.” I lead her through the shops and restaurants.
We cut close to the casino and she stops, eyes alight as she stares across the colorful noisy concourse filled with slot machines. “I’m glad I didn’t bring a lot of cash,” she says.
“So you’re a gambler now?”
She watches a man in a tuxedo walk by holding on to two women wearing the smallest dresses imaginable. “Maybe.”
“You want to play some slots?” I’m anxious to get her upstairs, but I want her to have fun too.
Maddie is clearly torn between the siren lights of the casino and heading up with me. “Maybe just one?”
I laugh. “Come on.”
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I lead her into the rows of machines. There’s so many different types of games, you could never even see them all. Miss Kitty. Invaders from the Planet Moolah. Lucky Cherry.
“Can we do this one?” A traditional triple-seven slot machine sports a cute little “sizzling bonus” icon. Maddie plunks down in the seat.
I stick a ten in the machine.
“What do I do?” she asks.
“You try to win,” I say.
She elbows me in the leg as she scans the buttons. “Repeat bet, double play, hmmm.” She hits the big red button.
The reels spin inside the case.
“Look, look!” she says.
“You sound like Lily,” I tell her.
She elbows me again.
The first reel stops on a cherry. The second one stops on a cherry. “Oh, oh! I want a cherry!” Maddie says.
I stifle my laugh so she won’t elbow me again.
The third one stops on a gold bar. The “Game over” panel lights up.
She hits the red button again. “Oh, this is where the bet amount is.” She points to the digital display. “I get it.”
This time she gets a lemon, then another, and a number seven.
“I think I suck at this,” she says. She’s about to hit the “Cash out” button when I tell her, “You might as well play it out.”
She runs the reels a few more times. “It likes lemons!” she says as two more line up. But then the third one is “Wild.”
“What does that mean?” she asks. Then the machine starts chiming.
“It means you won something!”
“What?!” She peers at the display. “Hey, I have ten dollars again!”
“See, you just made all your money back.”
She hits the “Cash out” button and peers at the printout she receives. “Look at that!” She hands it to me. “I got to play for free!”
“That’s how they get you.”
Maddie looks around. “I’ll have to come back here.”
I tuck the printout in the front pocket of her purse. “Then you can put this into a machine instead of money next time and play it all over again.”
“This is crazy stuff,” she says.
“I’ll do anything you want to do,” I say.
Now I have her attention. “So strip to your boxers right here in New York–New York’s casino.”
I already have my shoes off when she stops me. “I believe you!” she cries. “To your room!”
I shove the shoes back on and lead her back toward the hotel. She’s still like a kid, staring up at everything. My chest wants to bust open, I’m so glad I’m able to be here, to be part of her getting to do all these things.
The elevator ride is smooth and quiet. Maddie leans against me.
“Been a long day for you, I bet,” I say. “Working, flying, and tracking us down.”
“I’m all right,” she says. “It’s just later for me than for you.”
“Right, that time change.”
The doors open and we step into a carpeted hall. The light is low and soothing. The quiet is almost eerie after the incessant clanging in the casino.
The room is bigger than almost anything I’ve stayed in before. Maddie runs her hands along the bedspread. She walks up curiously to the cushioned pads affixed to the wall that serve as a headboard. “That’s really odd,” she says.
I empty my pockets onto a table. “There are some curious things about Vegas. Oxygen bars so you can stay up later. Windows that never open.”
“In case you gamble too much and want to end it all?”
“Or just to keep the heat out.”
Maddie sits on the bed and looks up at me. “I should have checked the weather here. I brought winter things.”
“We can buy you something new.” I haven’t told her about the sponsors. When they came through, Colt carefully structured the contracts for a modest payout for this fight, and an automatic rollover if I ended up doing more. That way all the choices were still mine after the rematch.
It wasn’t anything crazy, but enough to splurge just a little. The most important purchase had been made the minute the money hit the account.
“So why are you way over there?” Maddie asks.
“Just waiting to see how tired you are.”
“Mmmm.” She kicks off her shoes and lies back on the bed. Her hair scatters across the gold covers.
I approach the bed. “I can get you ready for bed,” I say and unfasten the gold button on the front of her silky pants.
“I bet you can,” she says.
The sight of her bare belly is enough to make my crotch tighten. “Just a little tug here,” I say, pulling the pants down her legs.
She’s wearing dark pink panties with a little bow on top. I want to throw her pants across the room, but I take my time, folding them up and setting them on a chair.
“You must be hot in that sweater,” I say.
“Maybe.”
She watches me as I return and lean over her, grasping the bottom of the sweater and pulling it over her head. The bra sets my pulse racing. It’s pink and sheer, so her nipples are clearly outlined beneath it.
Screw folding stuff. I chuck the sweater across the room, and my mouth closes over the tantalizing dark nub poking into the fabric. It tightens as I pull on it with my teeth.
Maddie’s hips rise up against me, scarcely covered in the scrap of panties.
My lips move along her collarbone, up her jaw, and to her mouth. When I kiss her, she pulls me hard against her, wrapping her legs around me.
“I feel so crazy,” she whispers. “I want to do something crazy.”
“This is a good town for crazy,” I say.
“Get naked,” she says.
“Anything my lady asks.” I kneel over her, yanking the T-shirt over my head. She unsnaps my jeans and pulls down the zipper.
I slide back off the bed to stand up and push them down. A sudden burst of light pierces the sheer curtains and flashes through the room.
Maddie looks behind her at the windows. “Is that a roller coaster?”
“A huge one.”
She stands up and walks to the window. I toss my socks and boxers into a corner.
Maddie throws the curtains open wide. Outside is the roller coaster and just beyond it, the replica Statue of Liberty. “There you are again,” she says, pointing to the illuminated billboard of the MGM Grand. My image has come back around in the rotation of upcoming events.
I can see her reflection in the glass, her skin and pink bra ghostly against the lights of the city. She sees me as well, taller and broader than her, my shoulders and arms patterned with tattoos. People mill around on the sidewalks, far below us. I reach down for the hook of her bra and take it off. “How’s this for crazy?” I ask her, and jerk it from her body.
She closes her eyes. I take her hands and lift them up and push them high on the glass. Her nipples brush against the pane and tighten with the chill.
I rock against her from behind. She turns her face and lets me flatten her against the window.
The curtain sheers are separated into narrow sections, so I take one and wrap it around her wrist to tie into a knot. When she is secure, I pull over another piece and fasten the other side.
Her breath fogs the glass. I reach around and slip my fingers inside the panties, then up inside her. She whimpers a little, wanting more, wanting it faster, but I toy with her, feeling her muscles tighten around me.
My free hand kneads one of the breasts that are exposed to the city. Maddie begins to gyrate on my hand, trying to force down on the pressure of my fingers, as far as the curtains will allow.
Her stuttered cries become more intense, full of need. I speed up, delve deeper, and push harder against the nub. Now she moans, and I know she’s forgetting where she is, what she’s doing, who might see. I let go of her breast and pull down the panties. I lift one of her knees and set her foot on the arm of a nearby chair. Now she’s open to the
world. I can look into the window and see the pink of her body reflected in the glass.
This puts me over the top, and now I’m not able to wait, bending down, finding her, and slipping inside her from behind. I pull her hips back and against me. Now I can plunge into her, hard, fast, her skin pushing against the window, then away. Her skin is flushed where it has made contact with the glass.
She wants control but can’t get it with her hands in the curtains. I work her nub with my fingers, as I thrust with more power and speed. She’s rising, I can feel it, and I watch her in the glass, her expression, her hair falling across her cheek. The breasts, going flat, plumping out, then up against the glass again. I want a room full of mirrors so I can see her from every angle.
Her voice spirals up and I know she’s there. I’ve got her. Her body jerks against me. I wrap an arm around her waist to hold her tight. My fingers move in circles as I plunge into her. Then she’s gone, a long low groan escaping against the window. I close my eyes now and just feel her, soft and warm and rocking back into me. She squeezes down, tightening hard around me, and that sets me off. I release into her like a sigh.
Maddie breathes against the glass, the fog a heart shape from her lips. She pulls back with a light laugh. “I hope we’re high enough to not get arrested.”
“We are,” I say, and reach up for the curtains to release the ties. I’m still inside her, and when her arms come down, she reaches behind to hold my hips.
“Let’s do this again in the morning,” she says.
“In the window?”
We really could get arrested then.
“Maybe.”
“You’re the craziest girl I’ve ever met,” I whisper against her ear.
“Mmmm. That’s the way you like me,” she says.
And she’s right.
Chapter 16: Maddie
I decide I need to mix everything up for Parker’s rematch against Blitzkrieg.
I don’t go back to the green room or see Parker at all that day. I think it might be bad luck, like some brides and grooms feel about their wedding day.
