Jinxed

T E N

Chapter Ten: 1922

EMILIA

The cadence of the Jazz music was the first thing that woke me up.

The second thing that had me opening my eyes was the gaggle of voices surrounding my room.

"What in the ever-loving Hell" I uttered, looking out at the window to see that almost no time had passed since I crawled into bed and closed my eyes "Did the Dinner party end early?"

I looked around the room and found that I was alone and Kai was still not back from his earlier storm out.

I exhaled a harsh breath and the voices rose in volume.

"Can't a girl just get a few minutes of sleep?" I groaned, picking myself out of bed and shuffling to the bedroom door.

I swung it open swiftly and was immediately greeted with the vibrant change of scenery.

Cigarette smoke and loud laughs permeated the air while shouts and hollers could be heard from a few rooms away.

The clanking of chips and the barrage of low pitched slot machines rang clear throughout the halls.

I stepped out of my room to investigate the noise but quickly stopped in my tracks when I noticed couples mulling around the hallway.

Couples that were dressed in 1920's attire, much different than what I was wearing earlier. 

A few people smiled and waved to me, commenting positive sentiments as they passed by me. 

I smiled and nodded back at them, having no clue or idea about what they were referring to. 

When I tried to withdraw back into my room without drawing attention to myself and the current predicament I was in, I was flabbergasted with what I was met with in the room that was previously mine. 

 The room, which was completely normal less than five seconds ago, now served a different purpose. 

Instead of the bedroom setup that used to occupy the open space, a grand and golden roulette table now sat in the middle of the room. 

In the very back of the room, and away from the roulette table, sat a  couch and two arm chairs.  

A few women where milling on and around the couch, chatting animatedly with one another or smoking leisurely in the company of their friends. 

The couples in the arm chairs were minding their own business, lost in their own worlds, and making out with each other to the point where it was quickly becoming raunchy. 

My gazed quickly shifted back to the men at the roulette table as a few of them let out rambunctious bellows. 

When I walked closer to the table, to observe how they played roulette, I found myself rolling my eyes at the thinly veiled insults being thrown back and forth between some men. 

Typical. 

No matter what era I was in, men would always act like brainless apes whenever another man threatened their pride and masculinity.