Accidental Billionaire (14 page)

Ella clenched her hand around her one coin. “I can’t believe he took your money.” She raised her voice. “I’m fine, we’re good, go in.”

Fritz took off, too, not looking back.

Ella didn’t have enough to go in.

“What are you doing?” Baylee asked.

“I lose he loses.” Ella shrugged, but grinned. She handed Logan her sole quarter. “I’m taking him out of the game.”

That was really nice of her, and mean to her partner at the same time. They thanked her, said goodbye and went to the exit. The doorman held up three fingers, extending his beefy arm to block them. “Three quarters to get out. And quarters only, don’t try the dollar, it didn’t work for anyone else. It’s not working for you.”

The corridor led them back to the main room, where rock music poured from speakers. Guys were high-fiving themselves in tuxes. Girls were spinning. Total prom flashback.

Logan brushed Baylee’s shoulder with the tips of his fingers. “I’m glad you’re my partner.”

Shivers traced under her skin where his fingers touched. Baylee raised her gaze to Logan. “Me, too.”

Logan repeated the gesture, as if appreciating the texture of her skin.

It was like a glow followed his fingers and kept moving through her even when his hand lifted away. Logan shifted to face her and her mouth went dry. He stepped closer. The music stopped. The lights went out.

Gasps sounded in the room. Laughter followed.

Logan took her arm.

The lights flashed back on. Baylee blinked, clearing her vision of Logan, and dark, and brightness. Their room now had two arched doorways on display. Chapel or Magic.

She really, really liked Logan. She needed a distraction. She tried to count the couples by using the dress colors. There were still a good number in here, maybe seven with a few random solos. “What do you think of the game? I don’t feel like we’re winning,” Baylee said.

“We’re not.”

“Why does Fritz think you owe Drake?”

Logan frowned. “I have no idea. I will be having a talk with him about that.”

Baylee wanted him back in a happy mood. “Is it like events you’ve done before?”

He got a considering look on his face. “Sort of. We’ve done big dinners. We’ve done small group stuff. Last year’s was a big event, but the elimination element is new. The time factor is new. It all serves as a group bonding experience.”

“Who won last year?”

“Me.”

“No way.” She clapped him on the arm. “What’d you get?”

“Pride of winning.”

Baylee searched his face. “Not even a trophy?”

“Nope.”

Logan touched her watch. “The wearable tech is new.”

“I wonder what the Resource button does?”

He reached out to push it.

She grabbed his wrist. “Wait until we need it.”

Logan grinned, looking carefree, and trapped her hand under his. The fun of the moment bubbled up inside her. She stepped closer. He stepped closer. The watch screen flared red. One minute. Baylee dragged her head back into the game. Everyone was headed to the Magic doorway. The acute avoidance of the chapel made her grin. She pointed at the wedding rings. “You don’t want to promise me forever?”

“I’ll promise you tonight.”

“Lame.” She groaned and rapped his arm at the line. “Come on.” They slipped through royal blue crystal curtains into a group of ten or so. The floor jolted and rose. Baylee grabbed Logan’s arm, half to steady herself and half to take his arm.

“We’re in an elevator.” Kira lifted her palms like she was raising the roof. Drake repeated the gesture.

“Drake’s a Philpott. Imports,” Logan explained.

“What do you say when you introduce me?” Baylee asked.

He blinked at her.

“No one in my family is captain of any industry. If we’re lucky, someone might make shift captain.” She could tell from his expression he didn’t know what a shift captain was. He might not even know what a shift was. She let go of his arm. They were different. She shouldn’t forget that because he made her smile.

The floor came to a halt, opening to the roof. Warm wind whipped over her bare arms and shoulders. The hot dry night wrapped around them. The watch flashed text:
Make your way down and take double pyramid selfies.

One hour. They had an hour to figure out what double pyramid selfies were and to get down from the roof. Murmurs erupted around them as the couples explored the empty concrete and puzzled over the task.

The whole of Vegas lay out before them: bright, vivid, multi-colored casino lights: royal blue, red, white, green, and tons of golden glows. The city celebrated every shade of neon. But there was no obvious clue as to where to go next or how to get there. “What do you think?”

Logan caught her hand and threaded his fingers with hers. He ignored what she’d just asked and answered her earlier question. “If someone asks who you are, I tell them you’re Baylee and you’re with me.” His low, serious voice melted her. Not softened. Straight up melted like hot caramel on a stove: sweet, delightful, couldn’t reform again if she tried.

“Fritz’s watch went dead and he had to leave. He was so mad. Ella must have bombed at the casino.” Kira crowded into Logan. “For those of us still in, they’re arranging a sky dive.” The dresses were stunning, but the full skirts were a hindrance in the wind. Baylee couldn’t imagine skydiving in them. She couldn’t really imagine skydiving in anything, anywhere.

“I’ll check on that,” Logan said and headed to the edge of the roof where most of the guys were standing, getting away from Kira.

“I heard there’s a side pool going with bets on who’ll drop out first.” Kira leaned closer and lowered her voice. “You’re not supposed to make it past midnight. We call that Cinderella-ing out.”

Who’d yanked her chain?

Kira shook her head in response to Baylee’s expression. “No offense meant. They have me and Drake down for tomorrow morning.”

The time frame hit her. “Tomorrow? How long’s this supposed to last?” Her voice pitched high and was taken by the wind.

“It lasts until someone wins.” Kira puffed out her green skirt. “Love the dresses Ella picked out. Shame she’s out of the game.” Kira sounded delighted about it.

They were joined by Nadine, whose face tightened. “Ella had help. It’s not like she did it all herself. I can’t believe she got Fritz kicked out of the game. Where’s her boyfriend anyway? She should be playing with him.”

“I think he comes in tomorrow.” Kira shrugged and swiped at a loose strand of her red hair. The wind was pulling it down fast. “The next leg of this race better involve a salon.” Kira spun away. She paused to ask a returning Logan, “You know anything”

He opened his palms and continued over to Baylee.

Baylee lowered her voice. “We’re going to have to find a phone if this game goes into tomorrow.” She waggled her eyebrows, reminding him of tomorrow’s deadline without saying the words aloud.

He nodded.

Nadine didn’t pretend not to listen. “If you use a phone, you’re out. That’s not fair.”

“Not for an advantage, I want to check in with my mom.” She risked ridicule saying it, but at this point, whatever. Nadine didn’t need to know her business or Logan’s, and she did want to check in back home.

“Your call. But I heard that one of the girls had an extra phone. I think it was the girl in black. Araceli? Did you see her? The one with the bateau neckline?”

Baylee shook her head. Maybe she had, but she’d met so many people tonight that she didn’t know anymore.

“Well, yeah, I’m pretty sure it was her. She used Jaye’s phone, just to check email. And her watch hit zero. Jaye’s, too. They were kicked right out. Both of them. And Jaye was just watching.”

“Who told you that?”

“Kira saw the whole thing.”

“Oh.”

Logan’s hand touched the small of her back. “If you need to make the call, we’ll do that.”

Nadine’s eyes flashed. “Good, less people for me to beat.”

Yep, her first impression of Nadine at the airport was correct. She didn’t like her. Baylee squirmed at the idea of calling, focusing on the question. “I can be late. I called earlier. It’s just that I said I’d check back in tonight.” She wished she hadn’t now, but it wouldn’t have been a problem any other time.

Logan held up his watch and hit
Resource
.

A sense of
wait, we’ll need that later
hit her like when Mom donated stuff she was on the fence about. “No,” Baylee breathed out.

Kira was walking up with Drake. She had her arm hooked through his and he was dragging his feet. “Sorry, bro, about the coin. I didn’t know.”

“It’s cool,” Logan said.

“Logan used his resource,” Nadine said.

Drake perked up and made air guns with his fingers. “Pow. Pow,” he said, as he shot them off.

Logan spoke to his watch like it was a Trekkie transporter. “We’d like one phone call, please.”

They waited.

Nothing happened.

Kira giggled. “Bad luck that.” She touched Logan’s watch for no reason Baylee could discern.

Drake frowned at Kira’s hand on Logan. “Some of the guys are talking about scaling the wall.”

“If Rawlings brings in a harness, I’m out. I don’t care if that means I have to wait ‘til later in life to get my Lambo wish.” Kira gave Logan a blatant look that Drake seemed to notice. “I’m patient like that.”

“Lambo?” Baylee asked the obvious so she didn’t have to address the come-on. What was she supposed to do when someone hit on her date? Address it with her? Address it with Logan? This hadn’t been an issue on her random dates in high school. Any guy she’d dated in high school would have taken one look at Kira or Nadine, model gorgeous, then looked at her with her braces and lack of makeup and left her holding a half-filled red plastic cup beside the keg. Would Logan? What was the equivalent of a red plastic cup in this game? Waterford crystal and a champagne fountain?

“Lamborghini,” Logan said. It was a clueless answer. He didn’t really answer the problem at hand. He was a guy. Maybe he didn’t know there was a problem at hand. Were guys truly oblivious or just pretending? Would Logan have left her holding the cup in high school? He’d seen her without makeup, wearing her retainer. He’d still asked her out tonight and he wasn’t walking away.

She’d play oblivious, too. “Ah. Are we supposed to tell our wishes? ‘Cause with birthdays, they’re supposed to be secret.”

Logan shrugged. “No one said we couldn’t.”

“What’d you wish for?”

Logan didn’t answer. He touched her arm. “What’d you wish for?”

Baylee put her hands in her pockets and toyed with the torn card. If he wasn’t telling, then she wasn’t telling. “I’m not saying.”

Chopper blades rotated loud and coming close, headed their way. The helicopter lit up a raised area on the roof with its spotlight. Baylee held her hand up to shield her eyes. The bird landed at the other end of the roof. A crew member in a navy jumpsuit and headgear hopped down and ran over. Everyone paused their half-formed plans to turn to him. The blades rotated off but the crew member still shouted, “Resource for St. John.”

Logan grabbed her hand and pulled her through the tuxedo and silk-wearing crowd.

A guy she hadn’t met held up his watch and said, “All I got was information, and it wasn’t worth the cost. Logan gets an eagle?”

What cost?

Drake pumped his fist in the air. “Good luck, Logan. Fly high for the East Coast.”

Baylee yelled, “What cost?”

The guy’s face soured, and he didn’t answer.

The helicopter crew waved at them, like ‘hurry’, as if there wasn’t a six-foot concrete wall in front of them, blocking their way to the helicopter.

The guy leaned over, holding out his hands.

“Okay.” Baylee stared at the hands she couldn’t reach.

Logan scooped her up at the knees. Baylee wobbled and grabbed his shoulders. The crew guy, carrying the scent of garage repair, hefted her into the air. Her skirts billowed, and she was down moments later, relieved to be back on her feet. They jogged toward the chopper. But the guy waved and led them off to the side where two crew guys were laying out equipment.

“We asked for a phone call.”

“You get what you need, not what you ask for,” the guy said, which was annoying. They strapped in. “Where to?” the crew guy asked.

“We don’t know,” Logan said. “Like I said, we were hoping for a phone call and you guys came along.”

“Our only instructions are to get you down. You pick the target zone.”

Logan looked at her. “Luxor for a selfie?” Wind whipped away the last of his question. “Or Paris?”

“The Eiffel Tower’s sort of a double pyramid.” What was the word from Geometry? Pyramidal? And it was closer. Baylee looked at the guy. “Can you take us to Paris?”

The crewman gave her a thumbs up.

Logan gave her a thumbs up.

They lifted-off with a rush noise that matched her rush of excitement and flew straight over the strip. Palm trees, limousines, tourists all miniaturized like they were in a video game: dancing Bellagio fountains, the Paris’ Eiffel Tower, and the Luxor’s pyramid. Exhilarating, terrifying, cool all at once.

They landed on the Paris casino rooftop and got out. Her legs were as shaky as if she’d run here. “Good job, guys.” The crew member gave them another thumbs up and took off after they backed away.

The wearable tech lit red. Thirty minutes.

Logan stared at his watch and then toward the Luxor in the distance. “We aren’t going to be able to do this and get to the Luxor.” Logan twisted his mouth. “This resource may have done us in.”

That was really unfair, a resource should have gained them an advantage. She was missing something. Staring out into the night at the pyramid, it clicked. “The Eiffel Tower experience has a platform with a 360-degree view of Las Vegas. We could get selfies with all of it – a panorama.”

Logan stared at her. “Anyone ever tell you how clever you are?”

“I read the guidebook.” Had Ella put that in her gift bag on purpose? Thank you Ella.

Logan grinned and they ran to the elevator marked in blue paint. Running the short distance was much harder on shaky legs than it would have been before the flight. “Did you get the same guidebook when you arrived?”