CHAPTER 86: CHAPTER 86 CASINO NIGHT

Caroline’s POV

The morning sunlight filtered through the curtains as I stretched on my mattress in Eleanor’s living room. The delicious aroma of fresh coffee filled the apartment. Mabel had already prepared a beautiful breakfast spread for us. After our karaoke adventure last night, we’d all crashed in the living room, mattresses scattered across the floor like a teenage slumber party.

Little Liam came bounding into the room, his purple eyes bright with excitement as he jumped between us. "Mama! Auntie Elle!" he squealed, immediately becoming the center of attention as all the girls cooed over him.

"God, he gets cuter every day," Kyle said, ruffling his blonde hair. "Those eyes are killer. "

"Come on, Carrie," Kyle pressed, sipping her coffee."You have to choose eventually. Jax or Draven? The tension between those two last night was insane."

I sighed, pulling Liam onto my lap. "This has nothing to do with Jax."

"Carrie," Ruby interjected quickly, "Jax is my brother. I won’t let you hurt him. He really likes you."

"The way Draven sang to you though..." Ava sighed dreamily. "That was straight out of a romance novel."

"And the way he danced with you," Eleanor added, wiggling her eyebrows. "the possessiveness in those purple eyes when he looked at you!"

"Can we please talk about something else?" I groaned, burying my face in Liam’s hair. "Like how we’re going to spend our Saturday?"

Rory stirred inside me. "You know who you want," she whispered in my mind. "Our Alpha."

We were still laughing about last night when Ruby’s phone lit up. She put it on speaker.

"Good morning, little sister! Did you sleep well?"

"Very well, big brother!" Jax replied in a great mood. "Are you still at Caroline’s house?"

"Yes, I am. I’ll stay here a bit longer and head home after lunch, why?"

"Look, little sis, your friends ruined our night yesterday, so the guys and I thought you could make it up to us," Jax said in a playful voice.

"You boys are getting too comfortable!" Ruby replied sarcastically.

"Aw, Rubes, help your brother out," Jax said in a pleading tone.

"What do you want?"

"To invite you all to the Casino tonight, so we can play, talk, and have fun. We’ll pick you all up at home and take you back later." Jax was quite excited.

Ruby looked at us as if asking what we thought, and we all gave thumbs up saying yes.

"Alright, the girls are in. But we’ll go by ourselves and return home by ourselves. I don’t want any of you thinking you can get handsy just because you’re taking us home." Ruby was categorical.

"Rubes, we’re not those kinds of guys. But okay, and thank you. Meet at seven?"

"And I don’t want you becoming those kinds of guys either! See you there. But you call and make the reservations."

"Will do. Take care, see you later."

Ruby hung up the phone and looked at us with sparkling eyes and a little smile that indicated she was up to something.

"Ladies, what do you think about making those alphas work a little harder for our attention?"Ruby spoke like a child inviting others to make mischief.

"What do you mean, crazy? Do you want them to kill themselves or kill us, or are you just interested in a ménage?" Eleanor asked laughing.

"No one’s going to kill anyone, Elle. Maybe some of us might enjoy a threesome, why not? But anyway, we can have fun with all of them," Ruby replied.

"I’m loving this! Especially the threesome part..." Kyle chimed in, making us laugh.

"I still don’t get the idea..." Ava seemed confused.

"It’s simple, Ava. When Draven’s fella finds out where we are, they’ll come running after us. So, let’s let them know where we’ll be. And we’ll let them and my brother’s group compete for us. They need to work harder," Ruby explained.

"You know they’re going to freak out, right?" Ava commented.

"Yeah, but is there a better way to punish Hottie and his little gang? I don’t think so!" Ruby was thrilled with the idea. "Let’s wear those dresses they insisted on buying us this week, the most provocative ones."

The girls decided to stay at the apartment with Eleanor and me again, so before lunch, Eleanor took each one to their homes to get what they needed, as we’d all get ready together. This would also give us the perfect excuse for the guys to know where we were going, as Kyle would find Luke at home and tell him we were going out again, but wouldn’t mention it would be with Jax and his friends again.

"So, Kyle, did it work? Did Luke take the bait?" I asked as soon as they got back.

"He barely waited for me to close the front door before he had his phone in hand to tell his little friends," Kyle said laughing.

"They’re so predictable," Ruby commented, rolling her eyes.

"And Nate must be totally worked up because I sent him a message saying I don’t want to see him today, not even if he was painted in gold," Eleanor said with a huge smile.

We spent the day playing with Liam, and in the late afternoon, we got ready. At seven o’clock, we entered the Casino, ready to make that bunch of men suffer. We spotted Jax and his friends at a huge table and went over to them who, as always, welcomed us with many compliments and flirtations.

"So ladies, what would you like to drink?" Wesley asked.

"Shall we all go for sex on the beach, girls?" Eleanor suggested, and we all happily agreed.

"What a lovely choice!" Dominic said while Wesley ordered the drinks from the waiter.

"What game do you want to play today?" Paul asked enthusiastically.

"Blackjack! Poker is beyond our comprehension!" Kyle said, making everyone laugh.

"Blackjack it is!" Jax said and called a dealer to set up the game.

"And what are we betting? Chips? Or something more interesting?" Paul said, leaning towards Kyle.

"Control yourself, Paul!" Ruby called him out. "We’re betting chips. And we’re here to have fun, that’s why we’re here."

Our drinks came and we did a loud cheers. The dealer set everything up, we placed our bets, and the game started. We’d barely played a few hands when I felt a strong grip on my shoulder. That familiar cedar and musk smell hit me, making my stomach drop.