Rose of the Night

Chapter 1

Chapter One

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        "I'd like a tequila with a lime." A middle aged woman asked with the wave of her hand.

        It was easy to lie and fake who you were here. In this casino everyone lied and faked. The men lied their way to the jackpot, whether it was more ladies at their hip or more money in their bank. The woman faked their smiles while their rogue husbands held them by the waist. Whether the diamonds on their plastic chest were fake or their rigid hearts. Everyone faked and lied in this place, including me.

        "Here you go ma'am." I smiled at her and placed the glass of alcohol on the bar counter.

        "Thank you..." She squinted her eyes and poked her head out trying to read my name tag on my chest, "...Alesia! Have a good day." She showed her sparkly white teeth and slid a fifty dollar bill to me. She walked away with her drink in hand and her ass sticking out.

        Money was easy to come by as well. The many people that came in and out of the casino were among the rich, the extremely rich. Of course there were the ones who were in dire debt. Some were in debt at the casino, others were in debt somewhere else. It was easy to know who had the cash and who did not. The men and women who were in debt wore fake high-end brands and they paid little money for their drinks. Some would keep a tab that just kept growing longer every night they came back.

        I was close to having enough cash to move out of the apartment I shared with my close friend Giselle. She had done so much for me in the past four years.

        Giselle was a tall dirty blonde, with bright hazel eyes that had more green than brown. Her long legs and cascading hair convinced you she was a high end brand model. Sadly Giselle was not that, she worked at the hospital as a ER nurse a few blocks from our apartment.

        The two of us had met in highschool and gone to college together where she majored in nursing and I in business, though we can see how well that degree got me. Giselle was the closest friend I had after everything we had gone through together and continue to.

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        "A-an-n-nd he was dancing like a-a fucking monkey!" The man laughed in hysterics and banged his fist on the table, causing the few people who were not listening to his drunk story to be startled. This man had been here nearly 4 hours and the whole time he just kept talking and ordering drinks, drinks he kept adding onto a tab he created the night before.

        Suddenly the atmosphere changed at the table he was at and the guests had stopped talking as if they were holding their breath waiting to be told when they could breathe again. The drunk older man looked over his shoulder, shot back the rest of his drink, gulped and mumbled something under his breath. I diverted my gaze in the way everyone at the table was looking and spotted another man...a younger man, though he seemed to radiate dominance greater than the ignored drunk.

        The drunk man stood up, walked towards the bar, placed a 100 dollar bill down, that was definitely not enough for his tab and walked towards the younger man. He placed his hand on the young mans shoulder and spoke quietly and then walked off. The tall handsome man made a face of disappointment, disappointment that would definitely be mentioned again to the drunk and then walked up to the bar.

        Though the bar was already dark it appeared as though the man created a dark shadow over the bar. I looked up at him and began to ask if he would care for a drink. He looked back at me with dark grey eyes and began to study not only my face but all of me.

        He was tall. Extremely tall compared to my 5'4 self. He wore black slacks tailored to his body and a black button up, that was well tailored to perfection. His skin was a light olive color and light brown curls laid on top of his head and one or two fell in front of his face naturally. He gave off authority and fear like the other men that dressed like him. But those men usually just walked around with their eyebrows furrowed and talked into ear pieces or their phones.