Chapter 7

Ten minutes later, Mary was still a little bit apprehensive about their approximate encounter earlier, and he knew that from the way her eyes averted every time he gazed at her. However, just sitting beside her made Tyler think naughty thoughts.

She was of sufficient height to be a reasonable match for him on the battlefield of sexual escapades. As if she were ready to take on the world with her simple, taunting smile, she walked with legs meant for high heels and curves that wouldn't stop straining against the taut texture of her simple white shirt.

With her chestnut-blond hair brushed back from her shoulders and long bangs falling to frame her heart-shaped face, she resembled spun gold. Even though her features were not particularly elegant, they were invigorating and inviting, like a summer breeze against the cold of his dead and frigid heart. Her blue eyes glisten with humour and keen understanding, and her heart-shaped lips are delicate, rosy pink, and full. The love that went into her creation was apparent; God must have spent a little more time on her. He thought.

Her ring finger on her left hand indicated that she had been taken. Tyler did not doubt anything she set her mind to that she would succeed at. The disappointment was too much for him, and he felt bad about himself for being so disgruntled unexpectedly.

"So, what do you do for a living, Mary?" he inquired after the flight attendant had arrived to provide them with bowls of nuts and cookies and take their drink orders. They'll each have a cup of coffee. She, on the other hand, chose an almond from the nuts. A pecan follows that as she answers him, "I’m in the hotel industry, I work as a receptionist."

Okay, he could see that.

She looked like the kind who could take a highly emotional holiday clientele, probably from unstable circumstances, and swell it down to something manageable that made the holidaygoers relax and feel at home. "Which hotel?"

"Atlantis…"

"My rival..." he mumbled with a smile as she reached into the pocket of her carry-on and plucked out a hotel souvenir gift card. "I thought I could use this after some busy days, but now I guess it's already expired. This trip of mine is unplanned and my friend's doing." She added a lopsided smile. She paused to sip her coffee and let her words sink in, then set her glass down on the tray. "This is my first ever holiday, and I am not as excited as I was supposed to be because Las Vegas is not my getaway plan."

Her outstanding serenity rankled; he couldn’t say why.

"And how about you, Mr. Ten Years?" She smiled.

"Well, Miss Getaway, I'm here for business, I need to settle some family issues."

"Huh! I know that look. It's a family money issue, and therefore let London's problem off the hook," she said grimly, reflecting on another time. She missed them so much and was just another horror whose actions she resented to this day. If only she had awakened on time and shooed the burglars away from their home. "Whether they deserve to be spared any accountability for what they’ve done or not, they are still family, right?" she added.

Taken aback, Tyler Johnson squinted at her, and she thought she must be from a happy, small family who never had a problem like him.

"Are you speaking personally?" he asked.

Mary thought, "Hell, yes, it has been personal!" Family is family no matter what, and she didn't have one anymore. Only her brothers and her adopted parents

Being orphaned, alone, always hungry, and then backed into a corner was always

Not that she lamented protecting her little brothers; they always came first. He’d done nothing to deserve having their names dragged through the mud. After all, it was a memory she never wanted to relive again.

"I’m guessing that’s a yes," he muttered.

The silence stretched between them, awkward now.

"Are you always this black and white in your thinking, Mr. Ten Years?" She finally said as she proceeded to check him over. "Family is always a family, no matter what."

His turn to shrug. "But not to me," he whispered under his breath, finishing what was left of his coffee. "My life isn't always hugs and kisses, rainbows, and sunshine. Sometimes we have knives and guns," he added as he set the cup down with a thud.

The flight attendant appeared with a refill.

"Is that why you looked so tense talking about them?" Mary knew her curiosity was going nowhere; this man had a huge family problem, and she realised that. She asked curiously when they were alone again.

However, it was all part of it. The rest of the conversation was more personal. "Money changes people." His grandfather had passed on the opportunity. He and one of his siblings had not.

"And..." she urged.

He breathed out, not above admitting that money and power were everything to him.

"In my family, there isn't much space for rainbows and hugs or kisses because there are always money problems—or grey areas."

Either it's right or it's wrong." Simple, fundamental, and important.

Unlike the way he’d grown up,

Mary just stared at him. Unbelievable? Is this what rich people only have in mind? Money and more money? Pathetic... downright miserable.

Then she asked, "And you think what I am doing is wrong? Having to take care of my family before my own?"

"I wouldn’t have put it that way,"

Her delicate, pale brow arched.

"But you think so, don’t you?"

Wishing she hadn’t put him in the hole, he repaid her with a strong, evaluating stare.

"You're alone and miserable?"

"Yes and no..."

"Well, that’s too bad." Mary took a deep breath that lifted her magnificent breasts.

He took a moment to let the beautiful blonde’s words sink in.

---

Thirteen hours later, Mary was now getting dressed for their Vegas sleepless getaway as Jane and Amaya got dressed in their luxurious hotel room, courtesy of her two friends, while the hot stranger on the plane was forgotten.

Earlier, upon arriving at her destination, Mary went inside her best friend's room with irritation thrumming through her veins.

"Amaya, Jane, guess what happened to me on the way here?"

"I don't care what happened to you, girl, but we need to get dressed now.” Amaya mumbled with a small smile. “We are here to enjoy and not to lament your never-ending observation of everything. Vegas s*x and the boys are waving, and we are getting laid here," Jane added, the most elegant, beautiful, and glamorous of their group, a model who belongs to an affluent family in London.

"And we are getting late,” Amaya mumbled, the one who was mothering them all the time. The youngest of them all, yet the one who thought she could mother the two.

"Are you not going to even ask why?" Mary asked her one and only friend and sat in bed watching her rampage through their closet and make-up.

Amaya rolled her eyes. "Mary, I already knew about your boring fiance. We talked for hours on the phone, remember? What is worse than that?"

"I'm not talking about Jasper, silly." Mary took her comb and make-up from her red suitcase and waved them in Amaya's face. "See this, I'm getting dressed, so, listen... I met a guy and—"

"Is he hot?" Jane halted and smirked.

"Jane, I'm serious here."

"I'm asking if he's hot or not. If so, stop wasting our time…"

"Fine, he is soooo hot and…"

"Oh, really?" Amaya took the lipstick from her purse and turned her head towards her. "Wow, you are growing, dear. Maybe that hotty can change your mind and stop this 'I'm marrying Jasper no matter what thingy'"

Mary sighed. "Girls, how many times do I have to tell you that I—"

"Yeah, yeah! You love Jasper. Whatever." Amaya mocked and returned to her so-called important colour shading. They have been friends since their first year of university in France.

"Okay, who is this hotty, you say?" Jane asked and took her hairbrush as she sat on the oak wooden dark-coloured vanity.

"Well, he is a... well, he says he is rich and he is a bloody CEO, but I don't believe him nonetheless, and yes, he is sooo fucking hot. I met him on the flight!" Mary groaned as apparent excitement poured through her, transforming her mood spark into a sizzling warm necessity.

"What?! An impostor?" The two wailed.

"Now, did I get your attention?"

"Oh yeah," Amaya replied with a raised brow.

Mary rolled her eyes. "Not really. I mean, he was not an impostor; he was just, um, I forgot the name he was using. However, he was a force to be reckoned with. A man who is obsessed with money, only money, so disappointing really."

"Disappointing? Is that what Jasper is, right?" Jane mumbled.

"Come on, guys. Jasper loves me... And he is a family man. He proposed to me, remember? See this?" pointing to her ring.

"Yeah, that cheap ring." Amaya growled as she watched herself in the mirror.

"Amaya, it's the thought that counts." Mary answered back, took the hairbrush, and started combing Amaya's very long hair.

"Okay, I know that look, so what is your plan?! I'm all in. I am your friend for a reason. What's the itinerary for tonight?"

"Let's fuck someone and get drunk."

They all giggled.

Mary thought maybe it was not too unfair to enjoy herself before marrying. After all, Jasper told her to enjoy herself and be happy. Speaking of Jasper, he didn't call her or give her a text? Oh, never mind. Tonight she will celebrate, get herself drunk, and maybe flirt a little, because this will probably be her last moment enjoying her single life.

Two hours later, they were now inside an expensive Vegas nightclub.

"Mary, let's enjoy this night. Stop pouting around."

"I am not pouting."

In her ear, Amaya's almost tipsy, harsher voice yelled. "Tonight is your night; get yourself a man and enjoy."

Yes, she will be drinking until she can no longer walk. She thought to herself.

a few minutes later.

"Amaya, I'm trying my best. Let's look for some boys and sex... ha-ha! Don't worry about me!" She yelled back. Well, she must be drunk yet; she grinned and ordered more of the cocktail because it was her night, right? She watched the tremendous minds of her generation get destroyed by red toxic shots and green and yellow alcohol mixtures served from expensive shot glasses. Sweat-beaded bodies wriggling suit-expensive-drunk people, frenzied, hypnotised by subliminal ripples of electronic arousal. How she ended up here was still a shock. How could she say yes to Amaya when she was not even a party girl? And yet here she was, intoxicated and irritated by the many sex-ego-maniac males who thought they could have her tonight. Not that she wasn't dressed for tonight either, but her tight mini dress wasn't doing her any good.

The dark, cold, and sweat-alcohol-odour and luminous place was filled with wall-to-wall adults acting out their job and office resentment on unsuspecting future rich politicians or even businessmen, planting the seeds of the blackmail checks they’ll be writing in the future years. Yes, it was a night for fun, but Mary knew better. Deep inside, these fully dressed and coat-and-tie warriors were braindead, alone or poor, doing all their might to hook up tonight.

"Then start enjoying the night, Mary!" Amaya grumbled.

"I'm trying, okay. Where is Jane?"

"Getting herself a man."

"Oh, very good. I despise her husband for denying her this sweet nectar of alcohol for, what, ten months? Jesus girl, she wasted her time. Anyway, have you ever noticed how dance music kind of sounds like listening to drunk people having sex?" Mary remarked as she smiled and winked at the nearby waiter. She was standing beside her in the corner, where they had wedged themselves between the elite area and a standing electrical torch to best blend in with the furniture.

She gets it. It’s the weekend, and that means the weekly end of the busy days of business industry bosses and office workaholics.

Working as a receptionist in a five-star hotel made her wish she belonged to the group of people who had never worked a day in their lives and could still afford to party all night.

And tonight was their night, one of the many nights her friend referred to as "mandatory fun." As one of the elite daughters, Jane was required to attend, even if that meant bringing Mary and Amaya with her, and just like the first time, her own presence was more decorative than functional.

"Look out." Amaya nudges her with her elbow at the sound of shouts and whistles from the aisle. "Here come the hotties of the century."

A wall of unabashed, still in office suit maleness crashes through the front door to chants of "Here we are, ladies." Like a team of Wall Street geniuses, they trampled through the bar, all thick shoulders and broad chests.

"All hail the conquering heroes!" Mary exclaimed sarcastically, while Amaya covered her snide grin with the side of her thumb and ordered more tequila.

"Mary, I'll go look for Jane. Okay? You'll be good here, right?” Amaya asked.

"Of course," she replied, watching her friend go to the left side of the pub.

A while later, a voice came from her side. A manly, firm voice that never left her mind and wreaked havoc on her senses. "Fancy meeting you here, Miss. I love my family."

"Huh?" Mary raised a brow.

"Sweet lady, you are drunk!"

"Oh, of course I am... F-fancy meeting you here, Mr. Ten Years. But what the hell are you doing here? Trying to get some girls?" She added as he raised her brows and sipped her margarita again as her mouth curled into a smile while the hotty's corner mouth turned up and whispered something in her ears that made her blush. "I love the dress. You look amazing tonight, girl."

Damn if she was not blushing and wet.