Bit the Jackpot (Vegas Vampires #2)(54)
Author: Erin McCarthy

He looked down at Fritz, stunned. "What the hell just happened?"

Fritz barked and sat down.

That seemed like a good idea, so Seamus sat down, too."Holy shit."

He’d just had his heart ripped out of his chest and, he had to say, it didn’t feel all that great.

Cara knew she must look like a psycho with her clothes a mismatched mess, her hair going in twelve directions, swollen eyes and red cheeks from crying, animals and luggage hanging off her. But it never occurred to her that she would be denied a room.

"I can’t give you a room without an ID or a credit card, miss," the desk clerk said like this was totally obvious, which normally it would be to Cara.

At the moment, though, she was feeling just a hair shy of hysterical. "But I left my purse in Mr. Fox’s room and I just can’t go back up there. I just can’t!"

"Okay," the man said carefully, like he was afraid to argue with her. "Is there a friend you could call?"

"A friend?Yes." She nodded in relief. "I’ll just call Alexis. Can I borrow your phone?"

He hesitated, then lifted the receiver, finger posed over the touchpad. "What’s the number?"

"It’s here in the hotel.Room thirty-two-twenty, Mrs. Carrick’s room."

Now his eyes went wide. "Your friend is Mrs. Carrick?"

"Yes." She held her hand out. "Give me the phone!"

Except Ethan answered, so she hung up on him.She couldn’t face him, not even on the phone, knowing he probably knew about Seamus and their argument. Knew that Seamus was feeding her like a like a sex slave. She shuddered.

The desk phone rang immediately and the clerk answered, looking relieved to be diverted from Cara. But two seconds later he was shaking his head in alarm. "No, Mr. Carrick, I absolutely did not hang up on you. There is this, this woman here and she’s insisting she knows your wife and she wants a room but she doesn’t have any ID and she has these dogs with her I don’t know." He shifted the phone and asked Cara, "What’s your name?"

"Cara Kim."

"Cara Kim." He listened. "Uh-huh.Alright. Okay.Definitely, yes, sir. Thank you. Have a nice day, sir." There was a sweat breaking out on the guy’s forehead, and when he hung up, he let out a sigh before glaring at Cara. "I can’t believe you hung up on Mr. Carrick!"

"Sorry, but I didn’t want to talk to Ethan because he’ll talk to Seamus and then Seamus will come looking for me, and and " She tried to stifle a sob, but it slipped out. "What did Ethan say? Can I have a room or not? I’m just so tired." Now she was crying full force and Button was starting to rub against her leg in sympathy.

"Oh, God, it’s okay," the guy said, adjusting his tie. "Don’t cry, God." He darted a nervous look left and right. "Mr. Carrick said to give you a room and charge it to the business expense account. He said you’re Mr. Fox’s girlfriend and to give you whatever you want. So, I’m really sorry, but I didn’t know, you didn’t have any ID or a credit card or anything and I was just doing my job, so what do you want? Mr. Carrick said to give you whatever you want."

"I want a room!" Cara spoke so frantically the woman checking in with the desk clerk to the right glanced over in alarm. "And I am no longer Mr. Fox’s girlfriend as of ten minutes ago. So I would like a bellman to go to Mr. Fox’s apartment and get my belongings and bring them to my new room. I have some clothes and toiletries, plus all the pet supplies, and I want the raspberry and orange crush drapes hanging in the living room. And the pink towels in his bathroom."

He had never wanted them in the first place, so she’d be damned if she’d leave them there. They had been expensive, and when she’d ordered them online she’d put them on her credit card.

The desk clerk, whose name badge said HARRY, was scrambling around, yanking a piece of paper out of the printer and quickly writing. "Clothes, pet supplies, drapes, pink towels.Anything else? Turn-down service in your new room?A robe or something?"

Turn-down service for a vampire.That struck Cara as funny. "No thanks, I’m not big on chocolates on my pillow. I just want a place to sleep for a little while. I’m really, really tired."

"Got it," He typed with manic speed and produced a key card for her."Fourteenth floor.Far enough away from the noise of the casino and the pool, but plenty far enough away from him, too."

Cara took the card. "Thanks."

"Hey, I understand. I just went through a nasty breakup myself. The last thing in the world you want is to run into the shit by the ice machine, you know what I’m saying?"

"Yeah.I know exactly what you’re saying." Cara turned.

"You can leave the bags. I’ll have them sent up," said suddenly helpful Hansen.

"Thanks." Cara trudged over to the elevator, made it up to the room, got inside, and collapsed on the bed.

She was sobbing before her head even hit the pillow.

Seamus was trying to sleep, with zero luck, when the doorbell rang. He sprang out of bed and headed for the door vampire speed, hoping it was Cara. She’d only been gone for an hour. Maybe she had taken a walk in the casino, cooled off, and now they could talk rationally about the situation.

He yanked the door open. "Cara."

It was a bellman.

"Can I help you?" Seamus asked, incredibly, sickeningly disappointed.

"Good morning, Mr. Fox. I’m here to, uh, collect Miss Kim’s things." He looked at the list in his hand."Her clothes and some other things."

"You’re kidding." Just drive the stake farther into his chest. Damn. It hadn’t taken her long to act on her anger. She was really and truly moving out.

The chunky middle-aged man shook his head. "No. I’m sorry, sir."

Seamus started to get angry. She could have at least given him time to explain. She could have come back herself and said goodbye."Fine." He swung the door open wide. "Come in."

In the bedroom, Seamus jerked Cara’s dirty jeans out of the hamper and threw them on the bed along with her hairbrush and nine thousand hair bands, which had been cluttering up his dresser top. From the bathroom, he scavenged all her face and body junk and threw it all into two plastic bags. He had to shove the expensive smelly shit out of the way every time he brushed his teeth. It would be nice to have all his counter space back.

The bellman hovered in the doorway. "And the pink towels, too, sir."

"The towels?"Seamus asked in outrage. "She wants the f**king towels?"

"Yes, sir."

Now that took some kind of nerve."Fine." He ripped them off the towel bar. "Hot pink isn’t really my color anyway."