𝐋𝐚𝐬 𝐕𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐬, 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝟕
“Awww….” Steve groaned. “Shit….”
Steve tried to open his eyes but simply couldn’t. He was having a terrible headache and his head was spinning around in a way that he would probably puke when he opened his eyes. He felt that there was someone in his arms, holding them close to his body. Judging by how soft and small that person was, the person was be a woman. Steve smiled because he recognized the scent, but he couldn’t pin point whose it belong to.
It probably belonged to his fiancée. He’d lost track of time and place, but he must be back in LA with his fiancée. Steve pulled the woman closer,starting to press kisses on her shoulders. He heard her hum happily,leaning back into his chest.
She turned around as they opened their eyes at the same time. The red hair, beautiful green eyes….It was Natasha! Natasha!!
“AHHHH!!” they screamed, and jumped out of bed at the same time.
They both looked horrified by what they’d just discovered. What the hell had happened last night? They didn’t have any memories of it. All they could remember was that they were at the casino, and after that…it was all a blur.
Millions of thoughts ran through their minds. The most obvious one for Steve was why Sharon had only now felt so perfect in his arms when she’d never been that good before. Yes, it made him a bad fiancé but when he held Natasha…God! It felt so right. He noticed the difference now. For Natasha, she was wondering if she’d been dreaming or not when she’d felt Steve’s arms holding her all night, his hot lips pressing on her skin, promptly setting her body on fire. Oh dear god, what was she thinking?
The two thoughts that they had in common were: was there anything had happened between them last night? And what the hell (had) actually happened that made them not remember anything?
“Before you yell at me, I just want you to know that we’re fully clothed.” Steve spoke up first.
“I do notice that.” Natasha replied. “And this isn’t my apartment.”
“Neither is it my hotel room.”
Their eyes met across the bed and realized that they were in a lot of trouble.
“Shit…” they both muttered, slowly getting to their feet. The world was still spinning around for them. Natasha hurried to the bathroom and emptied everything inside of her out, obviously she’dbeen the one to drink more alcohol last night.
Eww…even her vomit smelled like vodka. How much had she drank last night anyway?
Steve followed closely and helped pulled her hair back. He looked at her worriedly but unable to speak because of his raging headache. He gently rubbed her back to help her get everything out so she might feel better. In the end, Steve couldn’t hold himself up any longer and flopped down next to Nat, leaning against the wall.
“What the hell happened last night?” she asked weakly. “I feel like I’m dying.”
“Yeah, me too. My head is about to explode.” he replied. “I can’t remember anything.”
“Maybe we should ask Andre. He’s a night shift manager at the casino.” Nat said. “He’s a good friend.” she added when she noticed the curiosity on Steve’s face.
“I will order breakfast then, and you can clean yourself up a little.”
Steve helped Nat up, handingher some toothpaste and a toothbrush before he left the bathroom. When Natasha finally emerged from the bathroom, the breakfast was already set up in their bedroom and Andre, the night shift manager, was there too.
“Good morning, Talia.”
“Morning, Andre.” Natasha replied,sitting down next to Steve on the bed.
“Mr. Brushov, can you tell us what happened last night? Neither of us can remember anything.”
Andre laughed. “Of course both of you can’t remember anything! Last night, Natalia told me that I should stick close to both of you all the time because you wanted to ‘drink all the liquor available in the hotel’,” the manager told them. “Natasha, you drank two bottles of vodka last night. It didn’t take you down, but fueled you instead! You were jumping around while Steve was trying to win the motorcycle jackpot.”
Steve was about to laugh, but the pain in his head hurt so bad. Natasha looked grumpy while she was trying to shove down all the greasy food,leaving none for Steve.
“Anyways, Steve won the 2 million jackpot at the special jackpot machine instead of the motorcycle machine because he was mistaken last night when he tried to win the motorcycle. Unfortunately, you made a deal with Natasha that if you won, you would give her half of the prize.”
“I’m a millionaire now!!!”
Steve just shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I’m willing to share my prize with her. That wouldn’t a problem.”
“And you guys told me that if you hit a certain point of drunkenness, you wanted me to take you to one of the room and put you to sleep. Mr. Rogers reached the point of Vulcan talk drunk while Natasha reached the point of Latin drunk.”
The couple looked at each other. Natasha’s eyebrow quirked. “You nerd…Vulcan talk?”
“You speak Latin?” Steve asked back.
Andre nodded. “Yes, Natasha. Your boyfriend can speak Vulcan…”
“No, no, no, he’s not my boyfriend.”
“Oh…bozhe moi, then we have a problem.”
“What?! What do you mean we have a problem, Andre?” Natasha shouted at her friend. Steve chose to remain calm. “Please don’t tell me that we were married by an Elvis priest or something.”
“No, no…as you guys celebrating were your winnings, you decided to buy matching Cartier gold love bracelets and white gold necklaces. It cost you both each $40,000.”
“God….” The couple groaned at the stupid mistakes they’d made while they were drunk last night.
“Would you like me to return it?”
“Yes!!!” The pair replied in unison.
The pair took off the jewelry they’d bought and handed it back to Andre, who assured them that the money would be back into their bank accounts by the end of the day. The manager left the couple alone to their breakfast. When Steve turned back to his food, all of the greasy things were gone.
“Damn it, Nat. Where’s my bacon?”
“I ate it.”
“You’re a billionaire now, go buy it yourself.”
“Urghh, but you’re still richer than me.” Nat retorted. “And you love me, so stop whining, bae.”
Steve just sighed and ate the rest of the food.
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Steve took Nat back to her apartment and made sure that she stayed in bed to get a good rest. He draped a blanket around her before kissing her forehead.
“I have to go back to my friends.” He said. “If you need anything, just call me, alright?”
“Okay.” She replied. “See you tonight, bae.”
“See you.”
He kissed her forehead again before leaving her apartment. Steve went back to his hotel because Tony wouldn’t stop calling or sending him texts.
“What is it, Tony?” Steve asked, annoyed by his friend.
“Finally you found the way home!” Tony shouted at the artist. “Anyways, where did you go last night?”
“Got laid.” Steve replied.
“I do believe that you just sassed with me.”
“I just tell you what you wanna hear.”
Tony sighed. “Whatever. There will be a pool party and we will attend as VIP guests!”
Steve sighed but couldn’t do anything when Clint threw Steve swim shorts and a tank top. Thor pushed Steve inside the bathroom and guarded the door because he knew how his friend could escape without being noticed.
Steve came out of the bathroom and sighed really loud to let everyone know that he didn’t want to party. His friends thought it was best for him, considering how much stress Steve had been through for six months.
“It will be fun. Just relax, dude.” Clint said. “It’s not a strip party or anything like that.
“Just a lot of half-naked women in swimsuits for you guys to ogle.” Steve sassed back.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“You guys can just party without me.”
“What’s the fun in that? We’re the gang. We have to party together.”
Steve didn’t argue and followed his friends down to the pool. Tony led them right in without having to wait in line. The host had them sit at the best spots, where they were surrounded by hot girls who batted their eyelashes at them. Most of the girls were practically swooning when they saw Steve and Thor walking side by side. Thor was shirtless and made sure to flex his muscles every once in a while. Tony and Clint got swamped by girls almost immediately while Steve and Bruce just laid back on their sun beds and pretended like they didn’t exist.
Steve’s phone sounded with a text from Natasha. ‘Bae, I can’t sleep. Miss you, please come back soon.’ Steve smiled and quickly typed a reply.
S: Miss you too but I can’t leave right now. Tony threw me another party
N: Should I know what kind of party it is?
S: Pool party
N : Aww, you ’ re with half-naked women! Should I be worried about it?
S : No, because no one could compare to you.
That was the truth. Even though he was surrounded by the hottest of the hottest girls, all he could think of was Natasha and how she looked better than any of the girls here. He wished she was here to lighten up the party.
N : Awww, if I know that you end up eyeing someone, you can go on your own adventure without me
S : I will do no such thing.
“Why are you not looking at all the hot girls in front of you?You keep looking at your phone all the time.” Tony asked.
“Because I have to work and talk to my fiancée.” Steve lied. But since he’d mentioned that, he would make sure to send Sharon a couple pictures too.
“Just put the phone down and enjoy the moment.” Clint said.
“I would rather read quietly in the penthouse than party all day, Tony.” Bruce spoke up. “It’s too hot and my skin can burn really easily.”
“You too, Brucey. You need to loosen up like Stevie here.” Clint added.
But before a debate took place, Thor rushed in with two girls on his arms. “There are places open for bikini contest judges. Who wants to join me?!”
“AYEEE!!!” Tony and Clint shouted in unison. “And you two losers will be judges too!”
Steve did as his friend said, but knew he wouldn’t pay any attention anyway. Once they sat down on the judge’s chairs, the MC began the announcement.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, today we have special judges! Mr. Tony Stark and his friends, including the bachelor boy, Steve Rogers!!!!!!!”
Steve gave a shy smile and diverted his eyes to his phone again. He hated being the center of attention, but he would endure it for his friends.
S: Guess what my friends made me do
N: What is it?
S: We are now the judges of a bikini contest.
N: I ’ m breaking up with you right now, bae
S: Awww, don ’ t leave me, bae. I ’ m not ogling anyone.
S: I swear I ’ m not looking. I ’ m just lifting the number up.
S: Bae
Natasha didn’t reply to him, and making Steve nervous.Had he upset her? It wasn’t his fault. Why didn’t she reply to the text? Millions of thoughts ran through Steve’s mind. He was waiting for her to text him back, but nothing happened. It took Steve only 30 minutes to break.He jumped out of the judge’s chair and left the party without telling anyone.
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Steve took a cab and told the driver to get to her apartment as fast as he could. Luckily for Steve, the traffic wasn’t that bad and he arrived at her home within 10 minutes. Steve ran to her apartment and repeatedly knocked on the door.
“Nat! Open up!!” he said. “Bae, open the door. I’m sorry.”
There was no answer.
“Nat, bae. Let me in!”
No answer again.
“Bae, open the door or I will break it down!”
There was still no answer from her. Steve kept knocking for ten minutes. His mind was wondering why she was angry to the point that she wouldn’t let him inside. It was sufferable to think about it. That was, until he heard her shout something in Russian and open the door for him. He froze for a second when he saw that Natasha was covered with flour.
“What happened? Why didn’t you return my texts?” He asked.
“I’m cooking!” She replied, putting her hands on her waist and pouting at him. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were having a pool party and was a judge…”
The sentence was cut short by a yelp as Steve caught her waist with his hands,lifting her up effortlessly into her apartment, kicking the door shut. He let her down on her feet but pulled her into his arms. Natasha could see the suffering in his eyes and it broke her heart a little bit. Steve inhaled and kissed her deeply.
“Don’t do that again. I thought were mad at me.” He murmured against her lips. “I don’t want you to be mad at me.”
“I’m not mad at you.” She replied. “It was just a little mind game to lure you here.”
“What?”
“But you came early so you’re the one who ruined the surprise.” She said before dragging him into the kitchen. “I’m cooking us dinner again.”
“Shashlik?”
“Yes, Shashlik. Among other things before we leave to rule this town again.”
“Need I remind you how drunk we were last night?”
“I’m kidding. I will take you to a place that might be an inspiration for your work.” She laughed. “And since you’re here, make yourself useful and help me mash the potato.”
Steve smiled at his redhead. “Yes, ma’am.” Before leaning in for another kiss. This time Nat turned away, his lips landing at the corner of hers.
“Lover boy, remember our deal.”
“Sorry, ma’am.”
Natasha dealt with the lamb while Steve helped her pan fry the vegetables and make the mashed potatoes. She subtly interrogated him about the pool party. Steve answered her truthfully and told her how he’d left the party early because he’d thought that she was mad at him.
“I’m not jealous, bae. I know that you belong to me.” She slyly answered with a sexy smile,winking at him. “Besides, those girls had nothing on me.”
“Yeah, they have nothing on my bae.” Steve agreed before wrapping his hands from behind her, kissing her cheek.
“Steve…”
“Just let me have this one, okay? I’m was scared that you were actually mad at me.”
“You turd.” she chuckled but let him have that one.
Their dinner was ready within half an hour and they set everything the coffee table. As a surprise, Natasha had made him apple pie. Steve didn’t know how she’d known that apple pie was his favorite dessert. Probably a soulmate thing. Wait! That’s not right. Damn it, Rogers!
The dinner was delicious as always,as Natasha continuously proved herself to be the most amazing girl Steve had ever met. Her apple pie was so delicious that Steve took three slices. Nat watched him eat happily because she loved it when people liked what she cooked. She didn’t cook for people much, but only for people really close that she really cared about.
It wasn’t easy to let someone in, but for Natasha, Steve Rogers had somehow succeeded in breaking down every wall.
He was a keeper. She knew from the first night that they’d met. Not to mention his amazing tongue!
God! She just wished that they’d gotten married last night. She wouldn’t have divorced him.
But wouldn’t have been right, and would’ve jeopardized their relationship. He was a good friend, and she would try to keep everything to herself.
Even she didn’t want to.
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After they cleaned up the dishes, Natasha got changed while Steve waited for her in the living room. She came back with a present in her hands.
“What is it?”
“A little gift for the best bae.” she replied. “Open it.”
Steve ripped the paper off and found a sketchpad with a stack of the best quality sketching paper and a couple of pencils. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” she said. “You can bring it with us tonight in case you have some inspiration.”
Nat brought him the sketchpad and told him to bring it along so he could draw anything that he wanted when they were there. They took a cab to the Neon Museum and Nat told him that they should stay until the sun went down to see the real magic. Steve already had hundreds of new inspirations just by standing in front of the museum.
“Can you handle the tickets? I have to make some calls.” he said.
“Of course. I will meet you here then.”
“Thanks.”
Steve made a quick call to the art supply store to make an order for neon colors. The store owner would make sure that everything was delivered to the hotel within one hour. Nat came back with the tickets.
“What’s so urgent? Don’t tell me you have to leave me for something else.”
“Nah, just made an order for art supplies. I have millions of ideas in my head right now.”
Natasha smiled. “I’m glad that I’m your muse, not the neon signs we’re about to see.”
He chuckled. “You’re not even close to being my muse, bae.”
“But I’m your bae?”
“I’m kidding.”
“By the way, I got us a private tour because I told them that Steve Rogers, the famous painter, needed some inspiration and I pointed at you when they didn’t believe me.”
“You are a sneaky little minx.”
Natasha was rather proud of the title he gave her. She grabbed his hand and led Steve to the staff that was waiting for them. The female staff told them that the director had granted them an all access pass and a private tour guide if they wanted one.
“No, thank you. I think I might use the time to think in private.” Steve said.
“We would be honored if one of your arts is inspired by our museum.”
“I will give one of my works for the museum to display at the visitor center.” the artist added.
“The director will be elate to hear that.”
They went to the Boneyard outside the visitor’s building. Steve and Natasha slowly walked around the indoor exhibition in the visitor building first, contemplating the old, small neon signs of Las Vegas. Steve wasn’t really paying attention to the signs, but to Natasha. He loved to watch the look on her face as she admired the old beautiful signs.
He couldn’t help but make a comparison between his own fiancée and Natasha once again. Sharon had never really paid attention to something like this. It hurt him sometimes when she said that his career was just a hobby that had happened to make millions of dollars. Sometime Steve made a quick jab in return, and noting that she worshiped designer clothes more than the real arts.
Unlike Natasha,who encouraged him. She was interested in the same things as him, and it made Steve feel comfortable being around her when he worked. Natasha appreciated art—no, she appreciated everything the world had to offer and never looked down on anything. Why had he fallen in love with Sharon anyway? Oh! She was a successful businesswoman, strong and independent, a woman from high society with powerful connection everywhere.
Steve made a rough sketch of the idea as well as a sketch of Natasha, but she didn’t realize it. Then they moved to the outdoor section of the exhibition to find that it was their lucky day. There wasn’t many visitors, so Steve got a quiet environment to work on his sketches.
“Are you bored?” he asked her. “Considering that we just sat here in total silence for like an hour.”
“No, I’m not bored at all. It was quiet. Peaceful, to be honest.” she replied. “I live my life in a rushing environment, so I learned to enjoy the silence.”
“I guess you’re from the big city.”
“Volgograd, then I moved to New York with my parents. I grew up there.” she told him.
“Can I ask why you moved here?”
“It’s a long story, actually, but since we’ve got the whole night, you will have to endure my history class.” She smiled. “Before I moved here, I lived in New York. I studied ballet, on my way to become the rising star of Broadway. I landed a lead role in one show, but I injured myself during practice.”
Steve immediately wrapped his arms around her to show his support as Natasha continued with her story.
“I broke both of my legs. Luckily for me, I’d already signed the contract and it covered all of the injuries’ expenses, but I couldn’t do ballet for two years and had to undergo a lot of physical therapy. When I made my comeback, they’d already found the replacement and broke the contact with me, saying that was a liability, not an asset.” She inhaled sharply when she thought about the painful memories. “I felt like…the dream had just gotten ripped away. I’d worked all my life for this and turns out I was just a bad investment for them.”
Steve remained silent and listened to Natasha with his full attention, all the while rubbing her arms to tell her it was safe to tell him everything.
“I was depressed. Even though they gave me a lot of money for breaking the contract, I tried to audition for a new job but they didn’t accept me because they were afraid that I might get injured again. It was a whole year of being jobless and the money I got was almost dried up, so I decided to try something new and moved here. I got a job at this club where the owner was mafia, but a really nice and kind guy, especially to fellow Russians. That’s how I began this career.”
“I’m sorry about your ballet career.” He said. “But it’s great of you to move on and find a new part for your life.”
Natasha smiled sadly. It made Steve wanted to kiss her to wipe all of the sadness away. He leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss on her lips before pulling away. “Hey…you got a good life here. Don’t be sad. You had a chance to travel the world without bonding your life to the stage.”
“I know…I just…I loved dancing and it was my childhood dream.”
“You can dream a new dream, Natasha. Everyone does that.It’s the thing that makes people keep on with their lives.”
Nat sighed. Steve was right. She leaned into his embrace, letting him envelop her with his big arms, completely surrounding her with the warmth of his body.
“Thank you, Steve. Thank you for listening to me.” she whispered into his chest. “Being a stripper isn’t a career people praise but people look down on us a lot because some actually sleep with the customer.”
“Have you?” he asked.
“People tend to mix ‘stripper’ and ‘prostitute’ together.” Her voice was hard as she pulled away from his embrace. Steve suddenly became alarmed at her reaction to his question. “I sleep with whomever I want, but not my customers. I had a relationship before and I don’t need to have sex for money.”
“I’m sorry that I asked you about this. It was really insensitive of me. It wasn’t appropriate at all, but I don’t know much more than the society’s stereotype because I tend to bail every time the guys drag me out.” he apologized, "I can be extremely sharp and extremely dumb sometimes."
Natasha calmed down as she realized that it was Steve who was talking to her. He never judged her and he accepted her for who she really was, not something else that people branded her.
"It's okay...I mean... I know you must doubt me." she said.
"I don’t doubt you, Natasha. I just wanted a clarification to make me understand the nature of the career you chose." he replied. “You’re important to me, and I will never doubt you. Your past isn’t something I can judge.”
“Your friends think of me in a very different way.” Natasha told him. “I don’t normally accept that kind of job but your friends offered lots of money…”
“Can I ask how much Tony paid you?”
“$50,000.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, he expected me to sleep with you or at least give you a BJ.”
“You should pay me, you know? Since I’m the one who do all the work.”
Nat punched him really hard in the arm, knowing what he meant. “Shut up.”
Steve laughed. “Yes, ma’am.”
Natasha found that the one thing she really loved to do was snuggle into his chest while he wrapped his big arms around her, protecting her from everything. It felt as if this was where she belonged.
“Can we stay here for a while?” she asked, hugging him tighter.
“Yeah, I will just do my work….”
“Nah, hold me like this.” she ordered.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Steve kept his arms around her, occasionally kissing her forehead and inhaling the intoxicating scent of her body. God! Why hadn’t they gotten married last night while they were drunk? If it had happened, he wouldn’t have asked for a divorce, he would have asked her to elope with him. They could just run away to some place where they could live together for eternity.
But that was just a dream. He was already engaged to someone else.
Natasha would make a good wife and a good mother, though. Damn it, Rogers! That was a dangerous thought. She’s your friend!
Natasha’s phone sounded, interrupting Steve’s train of thought before it ran wild. Natasha broke away from his embrace and looked at her phone, frowning as she answered it. The man on the other side of the phone was speaking in Russian, so Steve couldn’t understand the conversation at all.
She hung up and sighed before snuggling into his arms again.
“What was it?” Steve asked.
“My boss just asked me to do an early shift tomorrow morning.” she replied, closing her eyes,listening to his heart beat. “They are one stripper short, and he will pay me extra money, so I accepted it.”
“Early shift?”
“I work at a 24-hour strip club.”
“Okay, that makes sense. Just text me when you leave home and when you arrive at the club okay?”
“Okayyy, daddy. If that puts you at ease.”
Steve smiled and kissed the top of her head. “Come on. I think we should head home now since you have to wake up early.”
Natasha agreed and got up. Steve collected his work and Nat caught a glimpse. He’d gotten a lot of ideas. She’d helped him with the inspiration in some way. She was rather proud of herself because of this. Steve dropped her off at her home and made sure that Natasha went straight to bed.
“You can stay if you want.” she offered.
“Nah, my friends are probably wondering where I am right now.” Steve replied. “As much as I want to stay with you.”
“Then stay.”
“Probably some other time, bae.”
“Okay…see you tomorrow, Stevie.”