Page 9 of All Bets Are Off

“I don’t want to look selfish,” I say, “and I also don’t want to tell anyone in case it all falls through and I don’t get the deal.”

“You just told me.”

“You don’t count.”

Theo pouts his lips at me with feigned hurt. “Ouch. Maybe being handcuffed to you is my dare, because you’re kind of brutal, Hails.”

I give him a playful shove in the chest. Oh—a weirdly muscular chest. When did he get so buff?

“You know I didn’t mean it like that. You’re just Addy’s little brother. You make fun of me regardless, but I can handle you, Theo.”

“I’m not going to tease you about it,” he promises, and there’s a softness in his eyes that’s convincing—right before it turns into a devilish twinkle. “I’m going to help you instead.”

6

Evelyn

A month ago, when Hailey asked in the group chat what kind of budget she should keep in mind when planning the bachelorette party weekend, and Addy and Melissa both said a figure with one too many zeros out of my comfort zone, I shouldn’t have tried keeping up with the Joneses by agreeing with them like an absolute idiot. I should have reminded the three of them back then that I’m still a college student, and I’ve already spent so much money on the flights and hotel, and that my budget will not stretch to restaurants where the steak alone without any sides is eighty dollars.

The filet in front of me is so expensive I can’t even enjoy the fucking thing.

Instead, I’m sick to my stomach, doing the math in my head every time the table orders another round of drinks, wondering how much this one meal alone is going to cost me. I’m not confident I’ll get to the end of the weekend without maxing out my credit card, and my debt to Michael Montgomery feels like the devil lurking over my shoulder, pressing down on me like a crushing weight, and I’m making the whole situation worse by not having enough of a backbone to advocate for myself.

But it’s my sister’s bachelorette, and I can’t make it about my own financial woes.

I glance at Adelaide at the opposite end of the table. She’s like a princess with her veil on, her smile so radiant and beautiful it lights up every single room she walks into. Always has. I’ve never known anyone in life who didn’t instantly warm to her and wish to be her friend. Addy’s selfless and kind and soft, and it’s for those reasons she has allowed Liam to gatecrash her weekend. Despite her reassurances, I’m not sure she’s totally on board with the idea.

Liam sits by her side, chair slightly angled toward her, eating with only a fork because his other hand refuses to detach itself from her thigh. She’s smiling, of course. She won’t ever stop smiling. But I can’t shake the feeling I get sometimes when I watch her closely, this weird intuition that her smile doesn’t quite correspond to the look in her eye, and then I convince myself I’m just bitter and jealous and a terrible sister. Jealous that Addy is older and therefore a few chapters ahead in life—jealous that she’s already establishing her career, that she’s already met the love of her life, that she has the luxury home, that she doesn’t lie awake at night, worrying if she’ll have both her legs broken by the University of Florida’s most feared alumnus if she doesn’t repay him soon.

My gaze travels down the table to the other end where Theo is still handcuffed to Hailey. The pair of them are in their own bubble, too busy figuring out how to eat that they’ve barely gotten involved with any of the other conversations going on around them. You’d think Theo had just won the lottery, the way he’s been grinning for the past hour, but I suppose in his mind he has—he’s handcuffed to Hailey Clark, the girl I’ve had to watch him dote on my whole entire life while Addy warned him to leave her alone. And of course, Hailey has been none the wiser over the years, because she’s kind of like that. Obvious things go straight over her head and she completely misreads people. I wish she’d read between the lines for once and ask herself why my brother loves poking fun at her so much so that I don’t have to sit here and roll my eyes at the way she turns Theo into complete mush. I catch my expression shifting in time to put a stop to my grimace before it can materialize.

I’d much rather hit the casino and drink away my anxieties than sit through this expensive dinner making small talk, and by the time the check arrives on the table and Hailey announces the damage to the tune of two thousand fucking dollars, I realize that in fact I’d much rather simply be dead. Because when I pay my share, I actually feel the tears prick the corners of my eyes.

“Hey, so my phone is about to die,” Theo announces to the table once the check is settled. “I’m going to go grab my charger, which means Hailey is also going to come grab my charger. We’ll meet you guys back downstairs in the casino.”

“You’ll find us camped around the roulette table,” Connor says, “where I’ll be throwing a hundred bucks all on red.”

“Good luck,” Hailey says, right before Theo whisks her away, their connected wrists swinging awkwardly between them.

As the rest of us follow out behind them, Melissa sidles up next to me. “You’ve been super quiet during dinner, which is a far cry from the obnoxious idiot who drank too many mimosas and was singing karaoke songs on the flight this morning.”

I stare at her as we walk. “You don’t know me well enough to call me an obnoxious idiot to my face yet.”

“But you’re Addy’s little sister and by the time this weekend is over I’m sure we’ll be best friends too!” she drawls, throwing her arms around me and pulling me into a cuddle against my will.

“How many drinks have you had?” I ask, pushing her away.

“Too many, so you need to catch up. I think you’re sobering up.”

“I’m a perfectly acceptable level of drunk,” I counter. “I’m just eager to hit the casino and start winning some money.”

Liam and Addy lead the way through the hotel, hand in hand, back down to the casino floor where suddenly all of the guys become animated at the prospect of hitting it big in Vegas. Same, honestly. I’m excited to finally solve all of my problems.

“There’s space at that table over there,” Liam says, gesturing across the heaving casino to the live roulette tables.

“I think us girls will find some cheap slot machines . . .” Addy says, and thank God, because I do not wish to sit at a live table with actual dealers. That’s way too intimidating for my first ever (legal) casino experience. “You guys go ahead. Do your roulette or your poker or whatever, and we’ll be wherever the bright screens and cute jingles are.”

“Addy, it’s Vegas,” Liam says, squeezing her hand a little tighter and encouraging her in the direction of the roulette tables. “Slots are boring. Let’s try our luck together on the roulette. I’ll let you pick out the numbers.”