Family & Fortune (The Adventures of Anabel Axelrod Book 5)

by Tracy Ellen

  But I also didn’t want Luke to believe for a nanosecond I wasn’t happy with his gifts, so I bit the bullet. “Luke gave me these diamond earrings for Christmas.”

  Anna looked up from removing my black dress from the bag. She blinked, as if she needed to process what I’d said, and then her big grin broke out. “Of all the rotten damn luck. Why wasn’t I in the bookstore that day Luke came into town last April? I’m a friend of Pam’s. Luke could have used the hell out of me just as easily as you. Hell, easier.”

  I laughed. “Said my best friend who’s marrying my brother tomorrow and pregnant with his child.”

  “Oh, details, details,” Anna brushed me off with a cheeky smile.

  She held up the short black dress covered in sequins. She turned it around and whistled at the deep cut out in the back. She checked the label and whistled again. “A Parker.”

  “What’s a parker?”

  She looked puzzled at my question and murmured, “A Parker is not a what but a who--a designer label from New York. Okay, I know you don’t pay attention to brands, but you didn’t even realize you were buying a designer dress?”

  I opened my mouth to answer, but then her sudden shriek cut me off when she held up the high heeled booties. “Oh my God!”

  “Hot, right?” I agreed with a smile. I loved the two silver studded straps wrapped around each boot and the saucy studded bow on each side. They gave the black dress a badass Batgirl vibe.

  “They’re Valentino!”

  “Okay, if you say so,” I agreed with a shrug, wondering when Anna had gotten so obsessed with labels.

  “Junior, these are fifteen hundred dollar booties and this is a six hundred dollar dress! Have you won the lotto and not told me that, either?”

  Heat rose to my cheeks. “Wow, they cost that much? Uh, Luke surprised me Saturday night.”

  “Luke bought you Valentino boots and this dress,” she shook the dress on the hanger again and her voice rose, “and surprised you for no reason on Saturday night?”

  “I keep telling you, Luke always has his reasons, Anna. He does nothing without a reason.”

  “Who cares? I hate you,” Anna breathed, admiring the booties until I had to physically remove them from her hand and remind her we had to get ready.

  It wasn’t so bad putting on makeup and doing our hair together. We laughed a lot and I drank the chilled Riesling Anna had ordered through room service while she had sparkling apple juice. Anna wore a red empire waist cocktail dress with a small pleated bodice that displayed her new plumper cleavage. In the spirit of maid of honor cooperation, I admired her breasts while she performed different poses, such as pressing her arms together, to show them off.

  Of course, no good time with Anna these days would be complete without tears, but at least they were happy tears. We had a special moment when she presented me the maid of honor gift. It was an old turquoise brooch consisting of three stones set in silver, each surrounded with brilliant blue gemstones. She had converted it so it could be worn as a pin or as a barrette in my hair.

  “Oh, Anna, thank you. It’s beautiful,” I exclaimed softly. “It will be perfect to wear in my hair tomorrow. What a treasure.” I looked up from the jeweled pin to smile at my friend. “And the brooch ain’t too shabby, either.”

  She giggled.

  We hugged.

  She cried.

  I warned her to quit or I’d be forced to throw chilled marbles at her eyes.

  She laughed while crying.

  I told her I was so tickled we would officially be sisters this time tomorrow night.

  We hugged again and she cried harder.

  I had warned her, so I stoned her, but not with chilled rocks. I used ice cubes from the ice bucket, and I pelted her bare legs, not her eyes. But it did the trick, and soon she wasn’t crying, but shrieking curses as I chased her around the suite.

  The only depressing moment was when Anna received a text update from NanaBel that the storm was still going strong in London. That was also when I realized I’d lost my phone. I never lose anything, so it was more amazing to me than worrisome.

  Anna coached me to retrace my steps after saying, “Okay, you never lose anything. I heard you the first time, now shut up and concentrate.”

  I did as she ordered. We determined the last time I’d been on my phone was checking the time in the limo. Anna called the concierge’s desk. No cell phone had been reported in by the limo service, but they promised to check it out.

  Anna was freaked. “You can’t be without a phone. As soon as everyone gets here, we’ll go to the closest store to replace it.” Her eyes lit up and she snapped her fingers. “Wait, I can probably say the baron’s name at the Chairman’s Lounge. They’ll hop to it and go buy you a phone, and have it delivered.”

  I shook my head sadly. “Listen to yourself, Anna the Great. Queen for one day and already the power has gone to your head.”

  Anna wagged a finger. “You are one person that should not be running around Vegas without a phone. Who knows how long it will take to get it back from the limo service people. What if the driver took his limo home and is off for New Year’s?”

  “You’re getting your taxis and your limos mixed up. You know I hate it when you do that.” I waved off her laughing protests. “No shopping or hopping to it is necessary. I’m fine with waiting until the limo service finds my phone. I can always borrow a phone from one of you guys. Besides,” I added brightly, “except for NanaBel and the bookstore, anybody who would normally call me is here.”

  Anna was grumbling that somebody may still need to call me while we were here, but I stopped listening when the suite buzzer rang.

  Jazy, Tre, Mac, and Pam arrived in a whirl of glitzy dresses, high heels, and perfume.

  Jazy strode in holding her phone up high. “Word’s officially in. All those voting on Henry that Ash would stay conscious past 7:00 PM singing Lion King ditties?” She glanced for raised hands and then broke into a big grin at Tre J. “Loser! Ash was pronounced passed out at 6:37 PM!”

  Tre laughed and raised a fist. “Hakuna Matata! Drinks on Jaz tonight!”

  In accordance with our prearranged plan, the girls popped open the champagne while I retrieved Anna’s special bachelorette party favors from the zipped deep pocket in my garment bag. Somehow it had survived undetected when Anna foraged through my stuff. I smiled when hearing a roaring cheer from the living room, as Anna informed them Kenna and Candy were “meeting up” with us later.

  We made Anna sit on a straight chair placed in the middle of the room.

  Gathering around her chair, I instructed, “Close your eyes, Bride-to-be Anna. Good. Can you be trusted to not open them until I give you permission?”

  “Yes,” she vowed with a giggle.

  “Uh huh. And are you a little fibber?”

  She giggled louder. “No.”

  “That’s right. We all know you’re a big, fat fibber and cannot be trusted, so without further ado…”

  So of course I made her wait several beats in silent suspense while the girls tried not laugh. Anna’s high heels started drumming the floor in excitement.

  At my signal, Jazy turned on “Pomp and Circumstance.”

  Tre held up her phone to video.

  Over the music, I warned Anna to keep those eyes closed and nodded to Mac.

  Gently, she placed the elaborate crown on top of Anna’s head and fastened it carefully with bobby pins tipped with black crystals. Anna was squealing and begging to see what we were doing, as Pam expertly teased and fluffed out Anna’s softly curling brown hair to cascade over the back of the crown. Mac waited to apply the hair spray. Anna may be thrilled to be the star for the night and wear a ridiculous crown in one of the bridal traditions she took such an incomprehensible delight in, but I figured there was no reason she couldn’t look sexy hot while doing so.

  Hood had outdone himself creating the black and red crown for Anna. Made out of strong, but lightweight black wire, a sassy, short
veil of red lace the color of her dress was attached on either side. The crown was adorned with black faux gemstones and large hanging wire charms. Wedding cakes were interspersed with male stick figures sporting enormous erections poised near stick females with huge breasts. Whenever Anna moved tonight, and especially when she danced, the crown should make for a showpiece of gettin’ busy stick figures.

  I raised my brows. My sisters and friends smiled back we were ready.

  “You may open your eyes.”

  Anna’s eyes flew open and she screamed at the sight of the crown on her head in the mirror. Hands over her mouth, she burst into manic giggles once the obscene jiggling started.

  As the song marched on sonorously in the background, I tapped Anna’s shaking shoulder with a short wand. It was wrapped in red lace, bedazzled with black gems, and topped by an anatomically correct black dildo of interesting proportions.

  “Anna Lynn Johnson, on this auspicious occasion of the last night of your life as a single, albeit far from pure woman, and with the powers vested in me by nobody in particular, I hereby dub you forever Anna the Greatest, the High Priestess of Prick Teasing. With this staff’s end may you comfort thyself.” I tickled her sides with the dildo while the girls shouted with laughter. “Or, should you not require such solitary comfort, I’ll use this scepter to grant you vast territories to rule in the Kingdom of Faulty Condoms.” I tapped her three times on the shoulder, intoning, “All hail Anna the Greatest, the High Priestess of Prick Teasing.”

  We all hailed and genuflected with shoulder shimmies. Anna was sprawled back in her chair, holding onto her naughty crown and laughing uncontrollably while gasping, “Oh my God! Oh my God!”

  The song changed and “Low” by Flo Rida blared out. The living room was instantly a bunch of white girls dancing like they could.

  I moved to the beat across the floor to the door. Grinning at my rowdy pack, I threw my head back and howled. “This bride needs to hit the floor!”

  We started at the Bellagio’s Lounge bar. Anna whispered something to the cute guy manning the velvet rope and we were in. Another whisper and she scored a choice private table in the middle front before a large window. The clubs didn’t begin dancing until 10:30 PM, so we sampled signature cocktails, listened to music, and people watched. Jazy challenged us to a game of Biggest Flirt. We’ve played this game forever. The rules are simple. We do a round robin of individual turns. When it was your turn, you called out your choice of flirt from anywhere in the room. Without leaving your seat, you powered up the charm and flirted shamelessly. You did whatever worked for you, or if you felt daring, you could try out new techniques. Majority peer vote chose the winner. Ties had a Flirt Off.

  ‘Is the definition of “exclusive relationship” unclear?’ the mean mommy voice demanded.

  I thought Luke would appreciate my harmless attempts to keep my flirting game sharp, much like the brain stimulation of playing cards helped prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

  I agree, if a girl doesn’t use it, she could lose it.

  Technically, Mac was the only one of us married, and even she wasn’t quite dead yet. She went first and picked out an older man wearing a sad toupee. He was cruising the women in the bar like a land shark following chum. His evident hunger made him an easy mark. I sipped on a Jasmine’s Margarita while thinking her choice wouldn’t win Mac many points with the peer judges.

  We stopped and declared Anna the winner when the iconic fountain show began dancing above the lake beyond the Lounge’s window. The Lounge piped in the Michael Jackson song being played outside. Our table had a million dollar view of the fabulous water display with the Eiffel Tower and the Paris Hotel across Las Vegas Boulevard as its backdrop.

  At 10:30, a long dividing wall slid open. The Lounge was transformed from a bar famous for its Bellagio lake view into part of the new nightclub called Hyde. The nightclub’s décor was elegantly funky with white leather sofa groupings and black and white striped chairs. Hyde was separated into room areas and the dance floor wasn’t the huge size of some clubs, but smaller and intimate.

  Tonight Hyde was throwing a special opening party. A great DJ got the party started, and the space was mobbed with people who’d been waiting in line to experience the new club.

  At a reserved V.I.P. table on the edge of the dance floor, we drank Don Julio and danced for the first solid hour. Pam began drinking more Don Julio than dancing, and was soon drunk dialing John Smith and sending kissy selfies. Anna was sipping on Lemon Thyme Sours, minus the vodka, and having the time of her life. In her black crown with the sassy red lace veil, and carrying the naughty scepter, the cute bride in the short red dress attracted attention everywhere she went. Everyone wanted to watch Anna’s crown when she danced. Even the DJ had called her out with a spotlight.

  When the next song was a slower jam, I weaved through the crowded dance floor towards our table to sit one out. Almost there, a man touched my arm. He nodded his head with an enticing smile back toward the crowded dance floor, but I shook my head and smiled my regrets. Flirting from a tableful of girls was one thing, a dude rubbing his junk against my butt on a dance floor was another.

  I turned to continue to the table when my arm was touched again. Prepared with another polite smile of denial, I looked back.

  Luke met my wide stare with gleaming eyes. They skimmed over the back of my tight black dress and lingered on the Valentino ankle boots.

  I turned into his arms at the same time he drew me close by the hips. His hands caressed slowly up my sides and over my bare shoulders to cup my flushed cheeks.

  Our eyes met. Falling under the spell of his gaze, the chemistry ignited between us and filled my senses until the crowd disappeared around me. It was only Luke that I saw, smelled, and was on fire to touch. I’d like to think it was Don Julio doing the talking, but the tequila only loosened my body to move uninhibitedly with the music. I was resigned to the fact total sexual capitulation had been my body’s reaction to my Dark Prince since the minute I’d laid eyes on him, and it had only gotten worse as I learned to love him.

  “You always look good, but Princess, in that dress and those boots I want to eat you the fuck up.” He reached for my hand and brought it to his lips. “I’ll have to be happy with a dance,” his smile was a sensuous promise, “for now.”

  Without another word, he led me to the dance floor and pulled me into his arms. It was our first dance together, and the song had a slow beat made for making love. I wasn’t surprised to learn Luke was an excellent dancer, easily fitting my body to his. A leg between my thighs, his moves were slow and subtle as we rocked together. In no time, I was unaware where he began and I ended as our bodies moved in harmony to the music.

  The song ended too soon and the thumping opening beats of a popular dance cover blasted through the club. Luke’s deep goodbye kiss still tingled on my lips when he melted into the crowd. As if awakening from an erotic dream, I stared in the direction he disappeared while people danced all around me.

  Anna stopped at my side and threw an arm around my shoulder, wire charms humping wildly. “My God, who was that masked man? I almost had to use my scepter watching the two of you dance. It’s the damn Valentino booties, they’re friggin’ hot.”

  I laughed a little shakily and simply shook my head.

  She squeezed me close and shouted in my ear over the blaring music. “This is a pretty awesome bachelorette party, even if I can’t get wasted off my butt like Pam and Jazy.”

  We grinned at each other.

  I yelled back, “So how are you holding up, little mama?”

  “I feel great!” She waved over to a cluster of grungy, skinny people in leather and dripping with long silver chains and big diamonds. “Gotta go, my public beckons.” Anna held her arms out and shimmied over to the group who had been gesturing wildly to get her attention.

  “Well, I’ll be a son of a…I bet those are The Beautiful People,” I whispered aloud while squinting hard in their
direction. I smiled in satisfaction when I spotted an upper thigh gap wide enough to drive a vintage Jaguar through.

  But now the Don Julio was definitely talking, and I made my way slowly towards our table to see if anybody else needed to hit the bathroom.

  Still smiling in pleasure that Luke had stopped in for a dance on his way to his poker game, I felt my skin start to prickle suddenly and knew somebody was watching me. The prickly goose bumps were nothing like the hard nipples that sprung to attention in Luke’s vicinity. The prickly feeling didn’t excite me, but made me sick to my stomach with foreboding. I may have had a couple of drinks, but the lessons of situational awareness my Sensei had been drilling into my head for the last few weeks kicked in.

  Casually, I glanced around. There was nothing to my left to account for the yucky feeling, but when I looked to my right, I thought I caught a glimpse of a tall blonde man in the crowd. My heart beating faster, I scanned carefully. If it was Kyle Koch who’d been watching me, the man was gone now and so was the dread curdling in my gut.

  I didn’t continue in that direction to our table, but veered off to the left. I preferred going to the bathroom alone, anyway.

  Somewhere, I took a wrong turn and came to a bar area off in a separate room. Several men stood to one side of the wide entrance, laughing and exchanging ribald comments while they looked into the bar. They appeared hesitant to go inside.

  I also noticed a tall, long-legged woman ahead of me dressed casually in Levis. White blonde hair fell straight to her waist from a middle part, and she was slumped against the wall across from the sniggering men. Her body language screamed dejection and I instantly wondered what her story was. A glass of red wine was in one hand. She took a swig from it after swearing under her breath at whatever she was seeing inside the bar.

  The odd behavior of the men and the woman had me curious.