"Refreshing," he says. "You going in?"
"Maybe in a little bit." I don't get as much chance to work on my tan back in Toronto. Especially not in October.
"So what do you think about that movie idea?"
"Chase, we just got here!"
"I know, I'm not saying we go now. In a little bit."
"I just want to relax for a while. Don't you ever sit still?"
"I seem to recall a couple of days you and I spent in my hotel room without leaving the room once. Doesn't that count?"
"No, because I wouldn't call what we were doing during that time sitting still," I giggle.
"I dunno," I can hear the grin on his face even with my eyes closed against the Vegas sun. "I did feel pretty relaxed each time we were done."
"Well give me some time to soak in some rays and you might get to feel relaxed again."
"Deal."
To his credit, Chase kept himself quiet for at least long enough for me to fall asleep.
"Shit, Lila, wake up!"
My eyes struggle to open and I have to blink a few times against the sun. "What? What?"
"We fell asleep!"
"So? What's wrong? Did I get a burn?" I look down at my skin and it is looking a little tanned, but not pink thanks to the sunscreen I applied before we left the hotel.
"No. I mean, nothing's wrong, I just didn't expect to fall asleep as well. But it's been over an hour."
"Is that all? I could use another hour." I yawn and lift my arms over my head. It feels good to sleep in the sun. This is exactly how I wanted to spend the day anyway.
"We should get going if we're going to catch a movie."
"Are you kidding me?" I sit up now and look at Chase. His hair is a bit tussled from falling asleep on it while it was still wet, but he looks just as gorgeous as always. "Chase, I really don't feel like going out to a movie. I could use a drink though." I stand up and walk into the house and he follows.
"I just think we should do something else," he persists, as I hand him a bottle of water before taking one for myself.
"What is wrong with staying-" I stop as the I hear the front door lock click. Both Chase and I turn just as it opens and watch as a middle age couple walk in. The man is wearing a polo shirt and slacks, and the woman is wearing an orange blouse and long dark skirt. They look just as surprised to see us as we are to see them.
"Who the hell are you?" I blurt out immediately. Despite my accusation I step back against Chase, not that the couple look physically threatening. Both of the strangers gawk at us for a moment and I realize I'm standing here in a fairly revealing bikini. I pull my arms up against my chest, suddenly feeling even more vulnerable.
"Young lady," the man says, his facing turning red. I'm not sure if it's anger or embarrassment, but by his tone it could be a bit of both. "I believe it's my right to ask you that question. This is my house."
"What? No it isn't. This is Chase's house."
I turn to look at Chase, expecting to see a mirror of the same indignation I feel, but as usual his face is a stony mask of unreadability. "Chase? Tell them."
His cool blue eyes shift from the couple to me, and then back to the couple but he doesn't say anything.
"Were you swimming in our pool?" the woman asks. I turn back to see they've walked further into the house now. The woman has stormed over to the door leading outside. She turns back to her husband. "Henry, they have towels out there. They were swimming in our pool."
"What the hell is going on, Chase?" I demand. He still hasn't said anything.
"The two of you better get out of here this instant, before I have you arrested for trespassing." The man is definitely more angry than embarrassed now, but I'm still completely confused.
"Chase, what the hell is going on?" I repeat. "Is any of this true? Is this really their house?"
Our eyes lock together and I finally see a crack in his armor as he takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. There's something in his gaze now that I've never seen before.
Chase slowly nods. "Yes, it's true."
I feel my heart sinking as I look at the man I've spent almost every minute with for the last week and I wonder if I really know him at all.
22
“I can explain.”
The words are uncomfortably familiar, even when spoken in a different voice. From a different mouth. My thoughts are spinning enough that I have to reach out and grab the kitchen counter for support. It’s Harrison all over again.
Lies.
“Lila-”
“I think your explanation needs to be to us, young man.” The older couple are still standing in the room as well, and the man in the polo shirt has a cell phone in his hand with his thumb poised as if ready to dial. “Or you can explain it to the police.”
“I need some air,” I say. I have to shake off Chase’s hand as he grabs for me on my way to the front door. I left Harrison, who’d I’d been dating for months, because of his lies. Chase and I have only been together a week.
Outside, the hot desert sun is stifling, but it still feels like I can breathe easier. Chase’s limousine is parked in front of the house. I wonder if his driver would take me back to the hotel if his boss isn’t with me. I feel like I need to run. Get away from the lies again. But there’s a pain in my chest, a heaviness born by fresh betrayal. I really felt like Chase was different.
“Lila.”
Chase is standing at the front door, staring at me. His blue eyes are catching the sun, causing them to sparkle, but there is a depth to them now as he looks at me. He’s asking me to wait with them just as clearly as if he said the words.
“What is going on here?” The older couple are behind him now, I can see them through the open door. He still hasn’t dealt with them, but he’s not even looking back. His eyes are focused on me. “That’s it, I’m calling the police.” The man is looking down at his phone, but Chase is still ignoring them, all of his focus is still on me.
“You’d better explain yourself to them,” I finally say, my heart beginning to speed up as the situation continues to escalate. “He’s calling the police.”
“I don’t care,” Chase says without wavering his gaze or changing his expression. I would believe him, except that his entire profession revolves around his being a good liar and a master of keeping his emotions under control. Apparently those skills extend to his personal life as well.
“Well I do,” I say, glaring back at him. “I didn’t stay in Vegas to end up in jail. You’re an asshole for involving me in this. If you want to be a fucking criminal who breaks into people’s houses, leave me the hell out of it.”
Chase is shaking his head. “We didn’t break in.”
“Then what do you call being caught in my house?” the man asks. He still hasn’t dialed the police, which surprises me. If it were my house that’s the first thing I would have done. He must not view us as much of a threat, although if Chase was violent he could easily overtake the older man.
“It was a viewing,” Chase replies, not even bothering to turn his head. “I’m entitled to three of them as per the contract.”
“Hold on, you’re Mr. Anderson?”
Chase nods, still looking at me. I have no idea what’s going on.
“Well as per the contract, those viewings are supposed to be with advance warning, and you’re supposed to be accompanied by your agent during each one. You aren’t entitled to just show up here whenever you feel like it. It’s still ours until we close.”
“Apologies,” Chase said, finally turning to look at the other man. “My agent was supposed to inform you. I thought everything had been squared away. She was supposed to meet us here but had to cancel. We were already here so decided to just come in anyway, I didn’t see any harm in it.”
“You were using our pool,” the woman said, sniffing at Chase as she ogled his half naked body. I’m pretty sure I catch a subtle change of expression on her as her eyes take him in, but it’s gone almost immediately. Is she
wishing her husband had a body like Chase? Did she want to see the rest of him? I don’t blame her, either way.
“Wait, what the hell is going on Chase?” I interrupt. What is he talking about? Viewings?
“It’s true, this house isn’t mine,” Chase says, turning back to me. “Yet. I put an offer in yesterday.”
My eyes close as I shake my head, trying to make sense of the time lines. Even still, the lies still exist. This was never his house, and he told me it was.
“That doesn’t give you free run of the place. Not until it’s yours. I’ll be calling your agent…”
“Would you like to walk away from the deal?” I hear Chase snap at the older man.
When I open my eyes, Chase is glaring at the man behind him who has now taken a step back. “We have a contract…” he’s protesting, somewhat feebly.
“A contract with clauses on both of our sides that would allow for this deal to fall apart. If you want to cancel it right now, let me know. I’d be happy to let you walk away from it. Perhaps you’d rather wait another three months for your next offer?” The man’s wife grabs his arm as if to hold him back from Chase, but it’s clear the man has no intention of arguing. “Fine. Now as I said, I apologize for the mix up with the viewing. I promise you, it won’t happen again.” He turns back to me, taking a step in my direction, crossing through the doorway and into the Vegas heat.
“Lila,” he begins again as he reaches for me. I step back, letting his hand grasp at the empty air between us.
“Why would you lie about this?” I finally say, gesturing back towards the house. It doesn’t make sense to me. None of this makes sense. “What else are you lying about?”
“Nothing, Lila, please. Let’s get into the car and let me explain.” He nods at the limo that is still parked in front of the house. His driver must be watching him as I hear it start up at his gesture.
“Yes, please leave,” I hear the real owner of the house say from behind us. He and his wife are still standing in the open doorway, watching us.
Chase stiffens, but then points to the car that is now pulling into the driveway. “Please. Lila. Let’s just go. I know I wasn’t totally honest about the house, but please, just hear me out. I’m not Harrison. I can explain what happened, it’s really not that big of a deal. I should have just told you up front, instead things got away from me. But I promise, this is all that I’ve lied to you about.”
I relax my jaw a bit as I realize I’ve been clenching my teeth. I can at least hear him out. At least he didn’t involve me in a crime, we weren’t really breaking and entering and the couple, although pissed, seem to agree with the fact that he is intending to buy the house. I’ve only known him for a week, after all. I can’t expect that he’s filled me in on every detail of his life. Maybe I’m taking this issue too seriously. There are plenty of other things, or people, he could have lied about that would have been a lot worse.
I turn to his car and take a step just as the homeowner calls out to us again. “I’m still calling your agent about this,” he says. “What’s her name again, honey?”
“Denise,” his wife says. “Denise Parks.”
23
It’s funny how you can think you’re about as angry as possible about something, and then something else happens to show you just how much more angry you can get. The sound of Denise’s name rolling off the tongue of that woman gave me that particular feeling. I had been angry at Chase about the house and his lies, but then finding out that his bitch of an ex was involved just made it that much worse.
What burns me even more was being forced to sit in the limousine with Chase as it slowly makes its way through midday Vegas traffic, back to his hotel room where the very last of my belongings are. I’ve already lost most of what I arrived in this city with, thanks to Harrison’s betrayal — he took that bag back with him to Toronto – and I’m not willing to be reduced to the clothes on my back once again because Chase is a liar as well. Even though most of the clothes I have back at his place are ones he’s bought for me. Fuck him, I’m taking them with me anyway. Not that I have a clue where I’m going to go.
“Lila, can we please just talk about this?”
I continue to stare out the window.
“Okay, well I’m just going to talk then, and you can listen.” He pauses, but when he gets no response from me he continues. “The whole thing with the house… it was supposed to be a simple little thing that got away from me. You were asking to see it, adamant, even, and the reality was I had nothing to show you. My lifestyle, it doesn’t require having a home. I mean, in the past I’ve had one, but then I realized that I just didn’t need it. It didn’t make sense. So I basically just started living in hotel rooms.”
Despite myself, I can’t keep quiet. “I asked you the first night we were together whether you lived in that hotel room, you said no.”
“Because I don’t. I don’t live in any particular room. Each time I go somewhere else I check out, and when I come back to Vegas I check back in. Sometimes I get that room, sometimes I get a different one. There’s no point in paying for it if I’m not there, despite the favorable rate they give me.” When I raise my eyebrow, he explains. “Vegas is notorious for comping gamblers things like drinks, meals, or even rooms in order to get them to come to their hotel and lose money at their casino. With me it’s a little different, since I play poker against other players, not the house. I don’t lose money to them. Still, because of my… because I’m on television and I have a certain amount of recognition, they like me to stay at their hotel. For the fans. Because of that, I pay a lot less per night than the posted rate.”
“So famous people get money and stuff thrown at them, that’s what you’re saying. The rich get richer. Got it. What’s that got to do with Denise and your lies?”
Chase lets out a heavy sigh but doesn’t respond to my taunt. “Anyway, it seemed obvious to me that you put a lot of value in a home. It didn’t make sense to you that someone would live in hotels. I guess I wanted to impress you.”
“With what? A big house? You thought that would impress me?”
Chase shrugs, looking down and breaking my hard stare. “Denise is a real estate agent. She deals primarily in big, expensive houses. I asked her to find me a house that was on the market that didn’t have any personal stuff in it, so that I can pretend like it was mine and impress you. Not with how fancy it was. I know the money doesn’t impress you. I only thought it should be big because I thought you’d expect that of someone like me. But the point was more about the stability.”
“What?” I’m confused.
“Lila, I’m used to people knowing who I am. I’m not trying to sound conceited, but especially in Vegas I’m usually recognized. When I met you, you had no idea who I was. That was a breath of fresh air, to be honest. But at the same time, because of how things ended with Harrison, you seemed to have a pretty dim view of guys who gamble in general.” He looks back up at me and when he sees my glare hasn’t disappeared, he adds, “Maybe you still do.”
I continue to wait silently, watching him with pursed lips as he flounders through his explanation.
“Anyway, I guess it seems stupid now, but I thought that if I had a house you wouldn’t think that I was just some degenerate gambler who was at risk of losing everything on the roll of the dice, but would think I had more stability in my life because I had a place of my own. When I first set things up with Denise, I just thought it would be a onetime thing. I thought you and I were just having a fling, and I’d take you to this house and prove that not all gamblers were like your ex, and eventually we’d end up going our separate ways. But something happened in between when I set it all up and when we actually got to the house.”
“What was that?”
“I started to fall for you.” He says it quietly, but he lifts his head to look at me again.
I let out a slow breath, shaking my head slowly. Lies, lies, lies. You can’t build a relationship on a foundation of
lies. My heart is fighting with my head, but I’m careful to keep the frown on my face. Lying comes so easily to Chase. How do I know what is real and what isn’t?
“After we left the house I realized that I didn’t want you to leave, but when you agreed to stay I realized I had put myself in a position where I had to maintain a story that I thought was only going to be a onetime thing. So I had to keep making appointments to see it.”
“And then you just went and bought it? To what, keep the lie going forever?”
“The reason I don’t have a place I call home now is because I didn’t have anyone to live there with me. What good is a big house all to myself? But over this last week I’ve started to be able to envision a time where maybe that will no longer be the case. I decided I was being short sighted in not having a house. So I bought it. That was the real reason I met with Denise secretly yesterday. I was signing the papers.”
“There are still too many lies,” I say, turning back away from him to stare out the window again. I hear him sigh and lean back, the leather of the seats creaking against his weight.
The strip speeds by now that traffic has picked up. The neon lights of Vegas seemed washed out against the midday sun, their glamor and glitz less impressive when they aren’t contrasted against the backdrop of a darkened night. Everything in Vegas is designed, on some level, to fool people. To make them hand over whatever is most important to them, and to do it with a smile on their faces. Chase is no exception. He is Vegas, putting on a show for me, the tourist. He shows me what he thinks I want to see in order to get me to give him whatever it is he wants. And like every fool who has ever flown here thinking he was going to beat the house, I fell for it.
It’s time this tourist takes what little is left in her pockets and goes home.
24
The airport is busy, but I only have a carry-on bag that I was able to shove all of my clothes into so it’s easy to navigate my way through the crowds. Memories of my final conversation back at Chase’s hotel room are echoing through my head as I walk. They’re too fresh to ignore, but hopefully time will let them fade.
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