Chapter 16

Rory had sent a message to Sean and Jace to see if they wanted to join him and Sophie in their exploration of Vegas. Sean had quickly agreed and told Jace he had to come, too. At the appointed time, Rory pulled up in his new Jeep.

“Where are we going?” Jace asked as they headed out of the subdivision.

“The Stratosphere,” Rory announced.

At the top of the tallest building in Las Vegas was a small amusement park, and the rides were over a hundred stories above the city. ‘The Strat’ was the tallest building west of the Mississippi, which terrified Sean. He looked at Jace, who tried not to laugh.

“It’s not funny,” Sean whispered.

“What’s wrong?” Rory asked.

“Sean is scared of heights,” Sophie explained.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rory asked her.

“And ruin the fun? Hell, no. A bit of trauma is good for Sean,” Sophie said.

Rory kept forgetting that Sophie used to hang out with his Valley crew.

“I can take you home, but there is a carrot at the end of this. I plan on taking you all out to lunch afterward with my friend Sarah,” Rory said.

Sean perked up, but lunch with an unknown girl didn’t cut it. He was ready to tell Rory to take him home when Sophie said, “She’s a girl Rory met at Luv Entertainment.”

Could it be...?

“Is she a porn star?” Sean asked.

“Sean will do anything to hang out with you since you’re the only guy we know who can help us meet adult entertainers,” Jace shared. Then he suggested, “Tell him she’s single.”

“I think she is,” Rory said.

Sean decided to tough out the trip to the Stratosphere.

Rory decided he could check that off his list and would probably never go back. Watching Sean almost pee his pants as he screamed like a little girl was the only part that made it worthwhile.

There were three rides they went on: The Big Shot, Insanity, and X-Scream.

The X-Scream was by far the lamest. It was a roller-coaster car on a teeter-totter that hung over the edge of the building. Everyone would load into the vehicle and get strapped in. The teeter-totter would rise, and the brake would release. The car picked up speed as it went over the edge of the building, but it came to a gentle stop. The ride operator let everyone hang over the sidewalk, giving Rory and his group a look down. If it let loose and they fell, Rory would bet they would make a sizable dent in the pavement. Then the operator would raise the car and send it back to where they got on. On the fun scale, it got a 4.

Insanity was more intense. It was a crane with a giant spinning wheel with octopus arms attached. At the end of each arm were two seats that people strapped into. Once everyone was seated, the crane would swing out over the edge, and the wheel would start to spin. As it picked up speed, the centrifugal force pushed the arms out so that the seats were at a 70-degree angle, basically facing the rider down to the ground. There was no way you would fall because the riders were pressed into their seats by 3Gs of force, equivalent to what astronauts felt when they were launched in the space shuttle. This one earned a solid 7.

The Big Shot was attached to a tower. They strapped everyone in, and a giant air pump built up pressure. They let the air out when it was at maximum, which shot everyone straight up the tower. It felt like they would be thrust into the high atmosphere. On the way up, they said the riders experienced 4Gs of insanity. At the top, everyone was suddenly weightless as they hung in the air for a moment before crashing back down. Rory was sure he had hearing loss in his left ear from Sean’s and Sophie’s screams, earning it an 8.

There was one last activity, but they all passed. They called it the Sky Jump. It was basically bungee jumping 108 stories. Rory’s excuse for not doing it was that there was too much of a line. Truth be told, that one might have gotten him killed.

Rory pulled over a block from Sarah’s place to talk to the guys, specifically Sean.

“Okay, boys, here’s the deal. Sarah has just moved from home, where she was in an abusive environment. We’re not going to ask her about it ... Sean,” Rory said, giving his friend a pointed look.

“What was the issue?” Sean asked.

“You should just tell him. Trust me on that,” Jace said to offer some help.

“Her mother died, which left her as the only girl in the family. Her brothers and dad treated her like slave labor, making Sarah do all the cooking and cleaning. I guess her dad has a drinking problem, and recently, he’s made some unwanted advances,” Rory said.

“I don’t have words,” Sophie said.

Sean just blinked, which Rory suspected meant that he was trying to wrap his brain around Sarah’s situation.

“Sarah is living paycheck to paycheck and has nothing,” Rory said, letting that sink in before continuing. “When I say nothing, I mean she has no furniture or supplies. I suspect Sarah’s too proud to ask for help, so I do what I can. I took her out to lunch yesterday and ordered enough that she had something to take home to eat. I told her I would take her out each day until she got paid again,” Rory said.

“Why did you want us to come?” Jace asked.

“I don’t think she has any friends. And, if there’s a day I can’t be there for her, I was hoping I could count on you guys,” Rory said.

“Do I get to use your Jeep?” Sophie asked.

Part of her punishment was that her company car was now parked at work, and Tyler had put it in the pool for anyone to use. Rumor—specifically Paige, her questionable best friend—had let it slip that Sophie had been going for coffee and Danishes after everyone went to work.

Rory had bought her ground coffee of the kind she liked to drink. He’d been shocked when Sophie admitted she didn’t know how to make coffee. That led to a crash course, including how to use the timer to start it. Now they had coffee waiting in the morning, which she reminded Tyler of daily, hoping he would give her car back.

Rory also noticed that Crystal had bought a variety of coffee cakes, which must have had legs because he never seemed to get any.

“If I have other plans, I’ll tell you where I keep my extra keys.”

“Nice. If I had a sibling, I wouldn’t tell them where my keys were, either,” Jace said.

Rory thought that good-old-boy Jace was a pot-stirrer. Rory made a mental note to check the mileage on his Jeep tonight when they got home.

“Also, no asking Sarah about doing porn. If you have questions, I’ll answer them later,” Rory promised.

“But...” Sean predictably started.

“Remember when I told you about being sensitive to others’ feelings?” Jace asked and waited for Sean to nod ‘yes.’ “This is one of those times.”

Rory pulled back out into traffic and continued to Sarah’s place. He got lucky when a young girl in a small Honda pulled out.

“I’ll be right back,” Rory promised, leaving the keys in the ignition so they could have air conditioning.

It was only 105 degrees, making that a must.

Rory bounded up the stairs. Sarah must have heard him because she opened the door as he reached the landing.

“I have some friends with me if that’s okay,” Rory said.

When he got back downstairs, he saw that Sophie had moved over into the driver’s seat. Rory went around to the passenger door and opened it for Sarah, and he got into the back with the boys, making Sean move over.

“Where are we going?” Sarah asked after everyone met each other.

“Driver’s choice,” Sophie announced.

“Yes!” Sean exclaimed.

“No telling,” Sophie told Sean.

On the way to the restaurant, Sarah did a good job integrating herself into the group. Rory realized that she was in many ways much more grown-up than they were, but only three years separated them, and that allowed Sarah to relate.

They pulled into a bit of a dive called Buldogis Gourmet Hot Dogs.

“Here’s the deal. When we come here, one person is in charge of ordering for the group,” Jace explained. “We then cut up the sandwiches and share.”

“It’s a girl rule,” Sean said.

“Since Sarah’s new, she gets to pick,” Sophie said. “Give me cash, little brother.”

Rory handed her money as he shook his head.

When they went in, it reminded him of some of the Italian beef joints he’d gone to in Chicago. There were a handful of tables and a counter where you ordered, and it looked like most people carried out.

They grabbed a four-top and stole another chair while the girls ordered their food.

“She seems nice. Have you seen her naked?” Sean asked.

Jace didn’t intervene this time.

“I thought you were asking questions later,” Rory tried.

“We seem to be all alone,” Jace chirped.

Rory was starting to get irritated with Jace. Jace could control Sean, but he sometimes seemed to egg him on.

“Part of the application process is to send in pictures,” Rory deflected.

“Interesting,” Sean said and then pounced. “Did you interview her?”

“I did.”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve seen videos of how those go. Did you bang her? And don’t leave anything out,” Sean said.

“I was only fifteen when I interviewed Sarah, which meant any funny business was against the law. There was no way I would be allowed to do that kind of stuff in a business setting,” Rory said indignantly.

Sean looked deflated, but Mr. Pot Stirrer started to open his mouth.

“You know I’ll hurt you,” Rory said to Jace.

He made a locking of the lips gesture, which confused the hell out of Sean.

Before Sean could ask anything else, Sarah brought the first wave of food to the table. Buldogis was the fusion of a hot-dog joint with a Korean flair and not something Rory had even thought of. Sarah had three different cheese-fry combinations, one of which had kimchi piled on top.

The hot dogs were all beef and amazing. Jace and Sean grabbed plastic knives and began to cut the sandwiches up. This clearly wasn’t their first time.

Sophie brought another tray with chicken sandwiches. When she joined them, Sean tried a different way to get information from Sarah.

“How did you and Rory meet?”

Rory’s mouth was full, so Sarah answered.

“He interviewed me, and after I blew him, he fast-tracked my application,” she said.

Rory nearly choked but managed to swallow so he could head this off.

“Whoa. I didn’t do anything of the sort. I fast-tracked you because you were ... uhm ... perfect for what we’re looking for,” Rory said.

Jace rubbed his forehead because if the cat had ever been in the bag, it was now sitting in the middle of the table, waiting for Sean to talk about it.

Rory looked at Sophie, and she raised an eyebrow as if to say he was on his own.

“You all know that Rory has a big cock, right?” Sarah said, and before they could respond, continued, “I was surprised that I was able to deep-throat him.”

Sean’s eyes rolled back into his head, and Rory thought he might have had a brain aneurism. Then Sophie burst out laughing and high-fived Sarah.

Rory quickly did the math and deduced that his stepsister had told Sarah about his talk before picking her up. He gave the girls high marks for punking him—and possibly killing Sean.

“Tell them there’s video proof,” Sophie encouraged.

“Please don’t,” Rory said. “I’m going to the bathroom.”

He got up and went to the men’s room. He was glad it was a one-person john so he could lock the door. Rory didn’t need to go but wanted to get his game face on before going back out. He splashed some water on his face and took a few deep, cleansing breaths.

When he came out, he recognized a woman from the country club. She was the young one who’d stopped him at the fundraiser to talk.

“Rory Walsh. I hear you put my little brother in the hospital.”

He didn’t know that Chad had an older sister.

“He had it coming,” Rory said.

She smiled.

“He’s had it coming for years. I just wanted to thank you. I’m Elise Stanton.”

She obviously wasn’t a fan of Chad’s.

“Well ... you’re welcome, I guess,” Rory stammered.

“I just wanted you to know that if you need any help with Chad, come and see me. When I was younger, I made it a sport to get under his skin.”

“I honestly don’t know the guy. I just don’t like how he treats Clare and has designs on her sister. It’s more than a little creepy,” Rory said.

“Just know that my brother holds grudges. We should talk, and I can fill you in on a few tidbits you probably don’t know about The Valley,” Elise said.

Rory stopped and looked at Chad’s sister. She had an unreadable expression that looked practiced.

’Why would she ever be interested in talking to me? Better yet, what’s her game? What does she really want?’ Rory thought.

“I can tell you need to think about this. Give me your phone, and if you decide you want to, send me a message,” Elise suggested.

“Yeah, sure,” Rory said as he unlocked his phone and handed it to her.

When she walked away, Rory wondered what had just happened. He had no idea what it meant.

Crystal had sent him a message saying she wanted him to come into work early, so he gave Sophie his keys and had her drop him off.

He was a bit worried because it looked like Sarah and Sophie had bonded. On the other hand, if it meant that Sophie wouldn’t be hanging out with Paige as much, it just might be a win. But then again, real trouble could erupt if Sophie introduced Paige to Sarah.

Crystal and Tyler were eating in her office when he came in.

“Can you give Sophie her car back?”

They both looked at him, so he explained.

“She may need to take Sarah to lunch if I’m busy, and I would rather she not drive mine,” Rory explained.

“Why are you so involved with Sarah?” Crystal asked.

Rory told them the whole story and how he was enlisting Sophie, Sean, and Jace to help him, more as moral support and friendship than financially.

“That’s a common story in our business,” Tyler said. “Money is usually the number one reason. They’re looking for a way to make enough to get by and not have to work a nine-to-five job.”

“I thought she had a day job,” Crystal said.

“She works for a realtor who only pays her sporadically.”

“Rory needs an assistant,” Tyler said.

“What?” Rory asked.

“You’ve been complaining you don’t have enough free time. Teach Sarah to do the jobs you hate,” Tyler said. “It would only be part-time to start. If she does a good job for you, we can find other tasks for her to take on that could turn into full-time.”

Rory knew that was what Crystal had used him for, so he got it. Sarah could handle the mail, scheduling appointments, filling out paperwork, and more. That would allow him to pick out possible hires and do the interviews.