Page 74 of Never Never

“What?” Fox says quickly. “I mean, you can still call me Fox. It’s a dumb name, I know. I think it was a family name or something, from our birth mom? Honestly, I should just change it at this point, because, like⁠—”

“No,” I cut him off, smiling again. “No, I like it. I think it suits you.” With that, I drop the ID on the surface, smooth out the player card, and scribble it in. “All set.” I hand it over to the floorman, along with mine, and he does a deep nod.

“Right this way, Miss…Bella,” he says, glancing down at the cards.

I take a step before realizing Fox isn’t following. I glance back and hiss at him.

“Fox!” He jumps, like he just realizes he was frozen. “You coming?”

“Right.” He jogs to catch up and stops right beside me at the elevator. “Bella?”

Now it’s my turn to shrug. I keep my eyes fixed on the golden double doors in front of us, only looking away when they ding softly and open.

“Don’t worry, Tink.” I look up, and his face is wide-eyed and sincere. “Your secret’s safe with me.”

I feel giddy. Dizzy, almost, and the rush of the express elevator doesn’t help.

We’re actually pulling this off.

It’s all I can do not to squeal in victory. Too much nervous energy building up inside me. That, and the free champagne. But still. I’m practically wiggling with anticipation as the numbers tick higher and higher.

I’m gonna do it. I’m gonna find this guy. I’m actually going to find him.

And, I add with no small amount of satisfaction, I didn’t need Pan’s help to do it.

“Penthouse level,” says a cool woman’s voice, and the elevator eases to a stop. “Welcome.”

To my left, Fox throws me a glance. He’s nervous, I can tell. More than before. So am I, obviously, but I think I’m better at keeping it on lock. Plenty of practice on that front. I smile at him, but give a warning dart of the eyes up to the corner of the elevator, where a gleaming black dome conceals a camera.

Remember, they’re watching.

Then I take his arm, as much for playacting the happy couple as to give him a reassuring squeeze.

“Shall we?”

Before he can answer, the doors glide open, and we’re there.

The first thing I notice is how calm it is, compared to downstairs. Quieter, darker, more restrained, just a small carpeted landing with low lighting from wall sconces and faint, jazzy music playing. Directly ahead of us, a massive archway with CROW’S NEST spelled out above it in brass letters reveals the VIP room itself: slots up front, but fewer machines, more spaced out, in individual niches with plush red chairs. Beyond that, a circular bar curves around a central metal sculpture that maybe is supposed to resemble an actual crow’s nest on a ship, with burnt orange uplighting flickering at a gentle pulse like firelight. Past that, at least as far as I can see, more tables—poker, blackjack, craps—and beyond that⁠—

“Sir?” A staffer—youngish, male, in the standard dark red and black, appears on Fox’s other side, and that’s when I see the velvet rope strung low across the archway, one stanchion with a sign reading MEMBERS ONLY. “Miss?”

“Hi,” I say. “Hello. We’re, um⁠—”

“New.” Fox to the rescue, smoothly handing over our freshly filled-out membership cards, along with a folded up twenty he pulls from his left back pocket. “Just invited up.”

The door guy blinks. “Certainly,” he says, after a pause. He unclips the rope. “Enjoy.”

Fox grins at me, his nervous energy gone, and gestures for me to enter. “Ladies first.”

“Thank you,” I say, pressing my hand to my chest, all gracious, and step inside.

Now what? It’s not like people are wearing name tags. I chew on my thumbnail, thinking, only to spit it out when I remember I have nail polish on.

“Now what?”

Fox’s words are warm in my ear. Even with heels on, I’m still just shy of his shoulder, and he has to bend down to whisper to me. I shiver—the air conditioning must be cranked up here, I think.

“I dunno,” I whisper back, pasting what hopefully looks like a flirtatious smile on my face for whichever eye-in-the-sky camera has captured us talking. So long as those things don’t record sound, we’ll look like a completely ordinary couple on tape. Couple of people, that is.