Bound By Contract

Chapter Eighteen

Christina's P.O.V.

When Michael invited me to accompany him to Las Vegas for some music video he is going to shoot I was ecstatic. Not because of the music video, but because I had never been to Vegas before. Walking hand in hand down Las Vegas Boulevard with a disguised Michael I marvel at the city lights. I always hear of Vegas being so fun, lively and bigger than life, so actually being here tonight is exciting.

"Look at that huge hotel! It looks like a palace!" I say pointing in wonder at the majestic building in front of us with a brilliant water show in its foreground.

"That's the Bellagio. It's beautiful isn't it?" Michael says.

"It sure is," I reply turning to him. The face I see scares me to my wits end and I jump. "I keep forgetting it's you under there," I say, poking at the disguise on his face. "You look like someone else entirely."

He smiles. He has on a long black wig tied in a pony tail, a baseball cap sloppily on top of that, large aviator glasses covering his unmistakable eyes, a thin mustache and big crooked teeth. No one walking around has any idea who he is.

"Your looks can literally kill, Michael."

He laughs loudly. "You want to go inside?"

"Sure!"

Inside the casino it is very spacious with thousands of brightly lit slot machines everywhere.

"Let's try your luck," Michael tells me as we walk towards the quarter machines and hands me a twenty dollar bill. Near us are a couple of older ladies perched on stools, pushing the buttons in front of them steadily and smoking cigarrettes.

"Okay, what do I do?"

"First you put the bill into the machine." The machine jerks the bill in.

"See," he points to the display, "it's telling you that you have twenty dollars worth of credits. Now you can place your bet with these buttons." Michael points to a different set of buttons along the face of the machine. "You can bet eight times the single bet of a quarter which would be two dollars total."

I push the "8x" button on the machine then "bet". The dials started rolling around in the window until they settle finally on a blue seven, a bar, and a white seven.

"So what happened?"

"You lost," Michael says amused.

"Oh well how exciting!" I say looking at the two ladies still pushing the buttons on their machine fervently. "Do people actually sit here and stare at this machine all day?"

"As long as their money last them," he chuckles. "Some people can sit at a penny machine and twenty dollars can last them for hours!"

"How absolutely boring!"

"Not when you win!"

I laugh. "I suppose not."

"Let's go to a poker table!" I enthuse, winking. "Get some of the real Vegas action."

"Oh, you like action, do you?" Michael teases while pushing the cash button on the machine.

"I do like action as a matter of fact," I flirt.

In a smoke filled back room are the high roller poker tables where Michael and I find an empty table. As I sit down, Michael puts a stack of multicolored chips in front of the both of us.

"How much is this worth," I ask pointing at the orange, black, purple and burgundy chips in front of me.

"Ten thousand dollars."