Because the Night Page 2

  “Why would we want to hang around here with a bunch of tourists?” I extended my hand to our new friends. “I’m Callie, and this is my cousin Keisha.”

  “I’m Amanda,” the redhead squeezed my hand. “And this is Janelle.”

  “So when you say hot vampire guys,” I ignored Keisha elbowing me in the ribs. “Do you mean Immortal Dilemma will be there?”

  I mean, how many ‘vampires’ could there possible be?

  “Yeah, Callie’s hoping to spend some quality time with Tristan.” Keisha added, and it was my turn to elbow her.

  Both girls laughed. “Aren’t we all?”

  Chapter Two

  “Want to get a drink before we head out?” Keisha would do anything not to go to this party. I wasn’t going to take the hint. How could I possibly resist the promise ‘hot vampire guys?’

  Maybe it would explain what was going on with Tristan. Two years ago, he’d disappeared. Stopped talking to me after being friends, and more than that, for years. No fight, no explanation, nothing. Just radio silence. It didn’t make any sense. And it hurt. Then last year, he’d shown up on a vampire ‘reality’ show on TV.

  I worried about him, now more than ever. If there was a drug or a drink he didn’t like, I don’t think he found it yet. Sometimes I swore parties were created to give Tristan his place in the universe. Now, if the TV show was to believed, his life was a free for all. Drinks, drugs, whatever he wanted. I knew that was a recipe for disaster.

  “A drink would be good. Give everyone a chance to get there,” Janelle agreed.

  “We’ll be fashionably late. Let’s go to The Serenade Cantina,” Amanda suggested. “They have the best margaritas.”

  The Serenade Cantina’s bar opened out to the lobby and casino. We chose a high topped table by the walkway and watched the tourists and Immortal Dilemma fans wander by.

  Amanda recommended the coconut margaritas. They sounded too good not to try.

  “So what’s it like living in Vegas?” Keisha asked.

  “It’s so much fun. Everything is at our fingertips, whenever we want it.” Janelle boasted.

  “Including hot vampires?” Keisha asked with a smirk.

  I glared at her. She needed to stop making fun of these girls right to their face.

  “You girls have no idea.” Amanda leaned forward, like she was about to share juicy gossip. “You haven’t lived until you let one feed from you.”

  I blinked hard, trying not to gag. I needed to steer this conversation back to normal. “So what do you girls do here?”

  “I’m a promotional model.” Amanda said. “And Janelle runs a website for Immortal Dilemma.”

  “Which one?” This sounded promising. I had scoured them all a million times looking for any information on Tristan.

  “Immortal Fans Forever dot com.” Janelle beamed.

  “That’s a great site! Especially the forums.” Her site gave me a way to keep an eye Tristan.

  “Thanks.”

  “So have you girls, like, met the band? I would think you’d have to have a connection, running that website.” Nothing was going to impress Keisha.

  My phone vibrated against my hip and Keisha glared at me as I pulled it out of my pocket. She’d sent me a text. These girls are so weird.

  Right, but I’m dying to know about this party. I answered.

  “Well, we’ve been to parties and stuff for the show. But it’s not easy to get to them.” Janelle looked down and took a sip of her margarita.

  I hoped she didn’t figure out Keisha was making fun of the whole thing. My cousin was only putting up with this because we were best friends and she loved me dearly. And she probably planned to hold this night over my head for a long time.

  “You know, Callie used to date Tristan.” Keisha swirled her straw around in her margarita as our new friends looked at me in disbelief.

  “Really? How?” Amanda questioned. “I mean no offense, but you just don’t seem like his type.”

  I swallowed hard, and smoothed the folds of my brightly colored tie dyed skirt. Compared to all the tight leather and cleavage baring corsets most of these girls wore, I knew I stuck out like a sore thumb. I hoped she just meant my outfit.

  “He stayed next door to us a couple of summers ago. At his aunt’s house. We live on Martha’s Vineyard.” I felt stupid talking about him, stupid being here. “We stayed in touch until this band thing happened.” I played with the fruit on the side of my glass.

  “The whole band has girls crawling all over them. And he’s with Chantalle, anyway.”

  Chantalle was a demonized Barbie doll looking thing who dominated every scene of the show she was in, attaching herself to Tristan each time like a leech. Her signature strappy metallic dresses did nothing to cover her enormous boobs, which didn’t make any sense on her rail-thin body, with elbows and knees jutting everywhere. Veins were all too visible under her fake tan. Her lips looked blown up like a bubble gum balloon. Her peroxide white hair was almost as fake as the rest of her head, and just as damaged looking. I felt sick every time I looked at her. Every time she touched Tristan.

  “You don’t think you’re going to get back together with him, do you?” Amanda arched an eyebrow at me, and I hated her smug smile.

  Did I?

  “I just need to know he’s okay.” I slid off the chair and adjusted my skirt. I needed to get away from this line of questioning for a minute. “Excuse me.”

  I made my way to the ladies room and stared at myself in the mirror, smoothing the curls that had gone wild with the humidity inside the theater. What did I expect to happen? Tristan was famous now. If he wanted to talk to me, he knew how to find me. My number hadn’t changed. I tried my hardest to push the delusion that his on stage message had anything to do with me out of my mind. But being here, so close to him, I could practically taste his lips on mine. He dominated every thought I had.

  I forced myself to take a deep breath. I just needed to talk to him. Then I could forget him. Move on with my life. That’s all I wanted. I ignored the tiny part of my brain that screamed liar at me. I knew he wasn’t okay and I knew I wouldn’t just forget about him.

  But I wasn’t going to find anything standing in this bathroom. I squared my shoulders and started to pushed through the swarm of bodies in the lobby had become thicker and more frenzied while I was in the ladies room. I was shorter than many of the people around me, and I couldn’t see anything as I wove through packs of drunk groupies and old gamblers. Maybe it was just the margarita working its magic, but I felt like something pulled me through this crowd.

  I found an opening and slipped by a giant man in a suit.

  “Miss!” He reprimanded me immediately.

  If he said anything else, I didn’t hear him. I didn’t hear anything. The swell and the motion of the crowd, gone. The music being piped over the loud speakers, gone.

  Nothing else existed in the universe at that moment besides Tristan standing in front of me.

  I froze.

  He moved in slow motion. His eyes, full of question and surprise, caught mine.

  “Callie?” His deep melodic tone gave me goosebumps.

  “Hi.” It was all I could squeak out.

  “What are you doing here?”

  I didn’t have a chance to answer. Two men, identical to the one I’d slipped by to reach Tristan, materialized out of nowhere, grabbed him by each arm, and whisked him away from me. I blinked my eyes at the spot where he’d stood. A woman elbowed my back as the crowd dispersed, jarring me from my shock. I made my way through the lobby with ease now, though my limbs moved like I was walking through marshmallow. Fireworks exploded in my brain.

  Oh my God. I saw him. He knows I am here.

  What does this mean? What happens now?

  My foggy brain hardly registered the girl’s faces when I got back to the restaurant. I didn’t know if I wanted to tell them yet that I’d seen Tristan. I wanted to keep the moment to myself just a little bit longer. Again, he was gone without a trace. Just like before.

  “Callie! Are you OK?” Keisha waved her hand in front of my face as I climbed back on my barstool. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

  Chapter Three

  Las Vegas immediately looked less than extraordinary once we left the stip. Amanda pulled into a neighborhood full of cookie cutter stucco houses and stopped behind a row of cars. The people who climbed out were clad in leather, short skirts, fishnet, and concert t-shirts. This must be the place.

  Music pulsed from inside the party house as we pushed our way passed the crowd. Janelle and Amanda disappeared immediately, leaving Keisha and me on our own.

  “Alright, it doesn’t seem that bad, but I could have gone to a frat party at home, Cal.” Keisha surveyed the room.

  “Maybe someone here will know something about Tristan.”

  “Well, we sure as hell won’t see him at this random kegger.”

  “I saw him.” My confession made Keisha’s eyes grow wide. “When I went to the ladies room. He was in the middle of a big crowd, and he got taken away before I could even say anything.”

  “You’re telling me this now? Did he see you? You didn’t talk to him?”

  “I didn’t want to say anything in front of the other girls. He saw me. All I could say was hi. I was in shock.”

  Keisha rolled her eyes and sighed. “I can’t believe you let him get away and you still dragged me to date rape central.”

  I didn’t have a chance to defend myself before some dark haired guy put his arm around Keisha’s waist and started talking to her. I couldn’t hear what they said over the music, but he was clean cut and muscular, just how Keisha liked them, so she quickly changed her tune about the party.

  I envied Keisha. She was at ease everywhere she went. Her velvety chocolate skin and waist length microbraids made her stand out in any crowd. But it was her confidence that made her fit in anywhere. Being half Jamaican and half Irish left me with café au lait skin and a wild tangle of blonde curls. I always was aware that people didn’t know quite where I belonged.

  The guy whispered something else to her and I turned away with as she laughed. No reason to stand here feeling like a third wheel. The living room had very little furniture, just some ratty cushions on the floor. The centerpiece of the room was the huge TV framed by posters of half naked women. The dining room had been transformed into a band practice area, with a drum set and microphones. Beer and alcohol bottles covered every inch of counter space in the kitchen, while a trash bin in the corner overflowed with empties. The place stunk like stale beer and stale bodies.

  Some people danced, some kissed and pawed each other in the dim corners, and the rest broke off in little clusters, talking and laughing. I wandered around for a little bit and finally settled on one of the filthy cushions. A bulldog greeted me and nuzzled his head in my lap. He probably felt as out of place here as I did. He wasn’t much of a talker, but I learned from the tag on his collar that his name was Knuckles.

  I rubbed between Knuckles’ ears and resigned myself to a night of watching infomercials with no sound.

  “Hey, is this seat taken?” A friendly looking guy with shoulder length blonde curly hair, a black T shirt with a skull on it, and ripped jeans took his place on the cushion next to me.

  “It is now.”

  “Is that cool? I’m not interrupting anything, am I?”

  “Nah, I’m just hanging out with Knuckles here, thinking about buying a Squee Gee Cleen.” I jerked my head at the infomercial playing on the TV.

  “I have one of those!” He declared enthusiastically.

  “Really? A Squee Gee Cleen?”

  He laughed. “Nah, just kidding. What’s your name?”

  “Callie. What’s yours?”

  “I am Blade,” he declared emphatically, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

  “Blade,” I giggled. “Is that really your name?”

  “Nah,” he confessed. “It’s Brad, but everyone calls here calls me Blade.”

  “The way you say that makes me think you’re not from here.”

  Blade scoffed. “No one is from Vegas. I’m from Calgary.”

  “That would explain it. You don’t seem as crazy as some of the people I’ve met.”

  “Well, how about you? Since no one is from here, you must be from somewhere else too.”

  I hesitated, not sure I wanted a stranger knowing more than my name, but his kind blue eyes reassured me. “Massachusetts.”

  “Aaaah. Baw-stin. You must be a big sports fan.”

  I shook my head. “No. Why?”

  “I thought everyone in Boston was fanatical about sports. I mean, they kicked me out of Canada for not liking hockey.”

  “And sentenced you to do hard time in the desert?”

  “Right on,” Blade laughed. “So, who’d you come to this party with? Is Knuckles your date?” He leaned over to scratch the dog’s back and the soft curls of his hair brushed against my arm.

  “Knuckles was waiting for me here. Do you know Janelle and Amanda? My cousin and Keisha and I came with them.”

  “Janelle and Amanda,” Blade pretended to be in deep thought, tapping his finger against his full lips before shaking his head. “Nope, don’t know them.”

  “Well, they kind of look like every other girl here.”

  “Except for you.”

  I blushed and glanced away from his smile.

  “So, you know what people do at these parties?” He continued.

  “What?” I forced myself to look at him, to ignore the heat in my cheeks and pretend I was actually good at this flirting thing.

  “They come here to make out.” He nodded and looked really proud of himself. Normally I would have thought that was obnoxious, but when Blade said it, it was kind of cute.

  I laughed.

  “So, do you wanna?”All I could think of was Keisha calling this place date rape central. But Blade was adorable. I found myself actually considering it.

  “Maybe later. I only have 10 more minutes to order my Squee Gee Cleen, and I don’t want to upset Knuckles.”

  “You Massachusetts girls drive a hard bargain.” He smiled, taking it in stride.

  Amanda and Janelle reappeared with Keisha. “This party sucks, we’re leaving.” Amanda declared.

  “They’re my ride. It was nice to meet you.” I slid out from beneath the sleeping dog’s head. I didn’t want to say goodbye to Blade yet.

  “Can I text you?” he asked.

  The stupid blush was back with a vengeance and I nodded. “Okay.” We exchanged phones and I put my number in his.

  Our fingers brushed as I handed his phone back, my skin tingling.

  “I’ll see you later, Callie,” he called after me as we walked out the door.

  We hit a drive through on the way home as we compared notes about who we’d met at the party. It didn’t get me any closer to Tristan, but I had to say it ended on a better note than I expected.

  “So who was that guy is going to text you?” Keisha asked once they split the food between the three of them.

  I gagged at the smell of her greasy burger. “His name’s Blade. Well, it’s Brad, but he goes by Blade.”

  “He was cute,” Amanda interjected. “I’ve seen him around before.”

  I paused. Interesting. Maybe he’d be helpful getting me closer to Tristan after all.

  “Are you sure you don’t want anything, Callie?” Janelle said with a mouth full of fries.

  “Callie only eats twig and bark. She’s a hippie chick.” Keisha laughed. “Who cares about food, I want to hear about Blade.”

  “He’s from Canada,” I realized I didn’t really know that much about him. “He doesn’t like hockey, and I don’t know much else.”

  “What did you guys talk about?”

  “Squee Gee Cleens.”

  Chapter Four

  The hot sun beat down on me as we sat by the pool. I could stay here forever, reading my book, watching the palm trees sway in the breeze. Paradise.

  “What do you want to do tonight?” Keisha asked, twirling her floppy hat on her finger and tapping her feet on the lounge chair like she couldn’t sit still. “I got us VIP passes for one of the clubs from some of the people in the pool.”

  “I don’t know.” I really wanted to try to find Tristan, but I knew she wouldn’t go stake out the Alta Vista without giving me major grief about it. “I’m still kind of tired from last night.”

  “We’re on vacation. Suck it up!” Keisha flagged down a waitress and ordered drinks for both of us. It shocked me that no one questioned my fake ID.

  My phone vibrated on the table beside me. My heart did a flip when I saw Blade’s name.

  “Blade wants to know if he can see me tonight.” My smile felt too big for my face.

  “Did you like him? He’s awfully cute.”

  “I did.” He reminded me a lot of how Tristan used to be, before he became some larger than life rock star. Fun and sexy, without the darkness.

  “Then go! I’ll go dancing with some of the people here. It’s perfect!” She headed back over to the volleyball game in the shallow end to let them know.

  I texted him back and made arrangements to meet up. I tried not to feel hurt that Keisha seemed relieved I had my own plans. Maybe she was just happy I met someone who might get my mind off of Tristan. She had agreed to this trip even though she knew exactly what I was up to. I mean, who’d say no to a Vegas vacation? But I knew she hoped, once I saw Tristan, I’d be discouraged from my mission.

  She underestimated her little cousin.

  Blade and I agreed to meet in front of the Venetian at seven thirty. He didn’t say what we’d be doing, but he didn’t seem like a tux and tails sort of guy, so I decided to wear a peasant blouse and jean skirt. Casual but cute.

  I stepped from the cab and scanned the sidewalk. Crowds of tourists wearing fanny packs and comfortable shoes mingled in front of the fountain taking pictures. My gaze drifted over them and I frowned. It had been so late when I’d met Blade at the party and my head had still been spinning from my unexpected Tristan encounter that I was afraid I wouldn’t remember what he looked like.