The Contract

03

We managed to land in Vegas without running into Alex or Kendall at all which amazed and relieved me since I had held my breath during the whole time we had gone through passport checks and baggage claim. Harry and the boys had gone ahead of the rest of us and would meet us at the hotel since they had to arrange security for Vegas.

Juliette had refused to acknowledge me since we had landed and I was quite fine with that since I had no desire to talk to her. Tina had done her best to chatter incessantly and try to lighten up the dark mood that Gemma had arrived in America with. David was also working on attempting to cheer her up but it didn’t seem to be working that much until Gemma saw the limo that had been waiting to pick us up once we had left the airport.

We drove away from the airport and through a short stretch of desert until the strip began to appear before us. It didn’t look as glamorous in the daylight but never having been to Vegas before I was pretty excited for this weekend. Things hadn’t gone so good during the first part of our trip but I was hopeful they would get better. The limo dropped us off at the Cosmopolitan casino and we checked in to our rooms, although Gemma and David opted to have their own suite.

We made plans to relax separately for a few hours before meeting around 6 for cocktails before the show we planned to see that evening. I had taken the liberty of booking the four of us front row seats at the Chippendale Show that evening – Gemma didn’t know we were seeing a male strip show but I figured it would do me some good to get back into her good graces.

“Guess that means the three of us are rooming together!” Tina announced after David and Gemma had gone towards the elevator to go find their suite.

Juliette scoffed and glanced over in my direction. “No way. I’m going to go find Louis’ room. At least I don’t treat him like he’s just a pawn in my sick little game because one member of One Direction isn’t enough for me.”

I bit my tongue because she stormed away quicker than I could reply.

“Bitch,” I mumbled under my breath as she stalked towards the elevator.

Tina shook her head.

“What?” I asked.

She shrugged and glanced around, eyeing up the slot machines. “Nothing. Let’s get a drink and test out my fake ID. We have time before we need to get ready, right?”

“Sure. Let’s go. I could use a drink.” I agreed and followed Tina in the direction of the flashing lights that were enticing us towards the slot machines. The ringing of the bells and whistles mixed with the smoky haze of the casino provided an intoxicating atmosphere. Tina and I found a penny slot and had drinks in our hands within a few minutes of having sat down.

I didn’t even realized how much time had passed until I realized I was out of the $500 I had withdrawn from the ATM and I felt slightly dizzy and drunk as I stood up to go find another cash machine so I could gamble some more.

“Maybe we should go nap now, sissy,” Tina giggled.

I checked my phone and realized it was 3:30 and I had 8 missed calls from Harry and 6 text messages. I had one from Louis but I scrolled through my messages to see what Harry was up to.