I Should Have Stayed

Chapter 20

"Dakota?" I heard a voice from the other room. I quickly finished drying my hair in the soft towel in my arms and put on some clothes before heading out into the open.

"Good morning." I said. She stood by the window looking out at the tall buildings and all the lights outside the window. The blanket was wrapped lightly around her shoulders as she stood there. She was mesmerized just like I was when I looked at her. Wait what?

I watched her turn towards me and I saw the sleepiness evident in her eyes. "What happened?" She asked.

"You were shot." I said, "I took you back home and got the bullet out, stitched you up, and then we took my private jet to Las Vegas."

Ava blinked a few times and then pulled the blanket around her tighter before looking at me again.

"You worried me so much." I whispered to myself more than to her. She must have heard as she turned to look back out the window.

"How long was I out for?"

"Three days. You've been here in this hotel room for two of those days. It's Saturday."

She grabbed at her stomach in pain and I silently handed her some water and some painkillers.

"So! What do you want to do today now that you're up?" I asked.

She gave me a look of pain before turning back around again to look outside.

"Okay." I said holding up my hands in surrender. "We'll start off easy. Just, go take a shower, then we'll explore the hotel and maybe go outside." I gave her a reassuring smile and she gave me one back before dropping away the blanket. She wore just a thin white shirt and bra along with a pair of shorts that barely passed her butt. That was the only thing I had to give her when I ripped off her other shirt to get to the wound. The bullet hole wasn't all that appealing to look at.

I watched as she slowly walked to the bathroom to take a shower and I left a pair of clean clothes on the sink for her when she finished. I worried for her way too much. I left the bathroom and shut the door and listened as she turned on the shower as I went to the window to look out. Las Vegas was filled with a million lights and there were plenty of bars to get wasted in along with nightclubs and casinos to lose all your money in.

Currently, we were staying in the Venetian Hotel. It had the look of Venice, Italy inside with an entire gondola ride that went inside and outside the hotel. You'd never find something like this anywhere else. Maybe we'd go on it later...

A few minutes later Ava came out of the bathroom looking a little bit better than before, but still slightly dazed. "Let's go. I think some fresh air outside this stuffy hotel room would do some good for the both of us." I said.

Ava simply nodded at me before we stepped outside and locked the door. We took different elevators down to the shops in the hotel and the first place I took Ava was the food court. "How did you know I was starving?" She said as I heard her stomach rumble.

"Well, you haven't eaten in three days so I thought that this would be our first stop." She gave me a weak smile as we headed over and got food and then sat down. After we ate, Ava looked better but not a hundred percent. We walked around and through shops until we came to the front of the hotel. I watched as Ava looked up at the ceiling to see the magnificent paintings across the ceiling and the gold colored columns lining the sides. It made me smile watching her in her amazement. It reminded me of the first time I had ever stepped into the hotel with Lindsey at my side. I missed her, but now wasn't the time to get all nostalgic.

We sat down by the fountain by the door and talked for a while until I knew that Ava was feeling better and then we went outside. The air was hot, but it wasn't humid. I mean, we were in the middle of the desert. We walked past plenty of stores outside and casinos until I could tell she was getting tired. I took her back and we spent the rest of the day in the casino. I was trying my best to avoid the mission at hand and all the shit that revolved around me, and now was the best time to relax.

"God, these stupid machines are all rigged." Ava said, snapping me out of thought.

"Yeah sadly, but I know a few tricks up my sleeve to earn a few bucks playing poker." I smirked.

She rolled her eyes at me before motioning at one of the tables people were sitting at getting ready to start a game. "Then go show me hot shot." She smirked back and followed me over to the table she had been pointing at.

As soon as I sat down I placed a few bets to get the game started, and off we went. I kept my facade plastered on my face no matter how bad of a hand I had. After about four plays and tons of bluffs on my part, I had over an easy hundred bucks in my pocket. I declined the next game and then left the table only to find Ava shaking her head at me. "What?" I asked. "Didn't think I could do it?" I held the money in my hand and waved it around before stuffing it into my back pocket.

"Yeah yeah, whatever hot shot." She put her hands up in surrender and I couldn't help but laugh at her. She was definitely feeling better now. "My turn." The smirk dissapeared from my face as she pushed past me and got up on the stool I was once sitting on. So she was going to play too.

I moved around the casino until she was finally done playing. Her brown eyes quickly caught mine and she walked up. I watched her pull out her earnings and then she waved them in my face in triumph. "Two crisp hundred dollar bills." She said and smirked.

"Ah! Screw you!" I said, pushing her lightly on the arm. The contact sparked something inside me. It spread like a fire and an idea suddenly popped into my head. Since we were in Vegas we might as well enjoy ourselves. "C'mon." I said, "Want to have a little fun tonight?"

"What kind of fun?" She asked. I saw mischief in her eyes. I didn't know what she was thinking, but I had something in mind.

"You'll see. Just be patient." I smiled at her before dragging her to the gondolas and paying for us to get on one.

"Okay, this is a good surprise." She smiled at me.

"Good." I said. It lasted just long enough. When we reached the outside, I noticed the sun was very close to dissapearing behind the horizon. I still had another surprise before the sun went completely missing. I grinned slightly as I thought about it. The gondola ride was over not long after and we went back to the shops.

"I've got another surprise, but first we have to go back to the hotel room." I said. We went back to our room and I looked at her as I unlocked the door.

"Should I be afraid?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Nope. Not at all. I think you'll actually like this. Maybe it'll help you to loosen up a bit."

We walked in and I went straight to the closet and brought out two dresses. "Ever been to a nightclub?"

She stood there with her hands on her hips. "No, do I even want to ask what we're going to do?"

"We're going nightclubbing, duh." I handed her one with beautiful white crystals all over it. It was a cream colored dress that looked white and had two thin straps going over the shoulders and were also covered in white satin. It could've passed for a wedding dress, but it was too good to be one.

I pulled out another that was as red as blood. That was mine. It was cut at an angle on the bottom and was built out of red satin. It had some black lace on one shoulder that came over my chest. It was perfect.

"How much was this?" She asked me as she inspected the eye catching cream colored dress.

"Don't worry about the price. Only worry about tonight and how awesome it'll be."

She rolled her eyes as she went into the bathroom to change. Tonight was going to be fun. I picked up some red lipstick off the dresser. I was going to take awhile with this stuff since I was more of a tomboy and had never done something like this before, except to sneak into a party a few months ago. But now I was actually putting effort into my look. And maybe it was to impress somebody, or maybe it was to show that 'somebody' that I could clean up nicely.