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« We had to start the party without you ! Get here already ! »

A smile stretched across Lexi’s face as she thumbed through the texts and pictures from Claire and Nate. They looked tipsy and happy as they posed cheek to cheek with drinks in hand and drunken smiles. It made Lexi wish she could jump through the screen and join them. She had never seen a couple so in love and considered it an honor to have acted as match maker for her two best friends.

Picture after picture started pouring in of the happy couple along with the rest of Nate’s crew making hilarious faces and holding up drinks as proof that they had in fact started the party without her. The last picture to come through had the caption « Viva Las Vegas ! » and like an answered prayer Lexi’s flight started to board. Gosh I need this vacation.

Deciding to come to Las Vegas was a last minute decision. One that Lexi made after endless demands from Claire. Claire’s husband and Lexi’s childhood friend, Nate, was being spotlighted at a technology conference and Claire had been begging her to tag along since the day he booked the opening. Plus who could say no to a week long summer vacation in Vegas ?

The endless stream of pictures of the group had Lexi giggling to herself and her attention drifted to Nate’s friends in the background. The men did some kind of private security work with Nate and they were as close as brothers by the way he talked about them. She figured a group of men that protected things for a living would be muscular and masculine, but seeing them with her own eyes was quite a treat. What a group of hunks !

Nate had never said his friends were so dreamy, but then again why would he ? Their muscular builds and chiseled jaws had Lexi blushing, and she shook her head at her body’s response. Her teenage lust-fest was interrupted by a video from Nate and she instinctively turned the volume down so as not to disturb anyone around her.

With her attention focused down on her phone, she moved through the line to board and lifted her hand to stifle a laugh as the video played on her screen. They must have been at a Karaoke bar because Claire was standing on a chair singing off key with Nate and his buddies cheering her on.

The hoots and hollers of the video were interrupted by a text message from a unknown number and Lexi’s smile dissolved along with all of the air in her lungs.

« Where ya headed Lexi Lou ? » The chilling words on the screen spiked Lexi’s pulse and she felt every hair on the back of her neck stand on end.

No. He couldn’t be here.

Her chest started to tighten and bile started to rise in the back of her throat at the thought of Asher having her in his sights. She stood there frozen in place, swallowing hard until she gathered up enough courage to look around. Her eyes darted around the terminal wildly searching for the last person she wanted to see. To her relief and dismay she couldn’t find him.

She mentally scolded herself. He’s messing with you Lexi, don’t let him have this effect on you. Still trying to talk herself out of her own terror she handed over her boarding pass and took her seat on the plane.

Her eyes were glued to the cabin door and she cataloged every passenger who entered. Thoughts started bubbling over in her head as she searched and scanned every face. What am I going to do if he steps foot on this plane ? I can’t run, I can’t hide. Should I scream for help ? Who would believe me if I did ?

Her chest heaved with panicked breaths and she gripped the arms of the seat to raise herself up to a higher vantage point. Her small stature wasn’t exactly helpful when trying to see over the tops of the seats. She was seconds away from a full blown panic attack when the flight attendant finally closed and locked the doors. Thank God. Sinking down into the seat, she forced her head back on to the head rest with a thud, letting out a long breath of relief mixed with frustration. Get a hold of yourself, Lexi.

In an effort to soothe her jolted nerves Lexi ordered a drink and attempted a nap, but couldn’t force herself to sleep, despite the fact that she desperately needed to. Sleep had not come easily over the past few weeks with Asher tormenting her. His menacing texts were coming in almost daily and his sick games were becoming more intense.

When would this end ? When would he finally accept that we were no longer together ?

Lexi’s thoughts turned to Nate and she wrestled with the notion of letting him deal with her insane ex. Nate was former military after all and did all sorts of dangerous contract work for the government and private security firms, not to mention that he was Lexi’s closest childhood friend. If he and his team could protect foreign dignitaries from terrorists, they could easily handle Asher.

She knew in her heart Nate would jump at the opportunity to exterminate the pest. He had protected her ever since they were kids. But what good would that do ? Nate couldn’t fight all of her battles for her and he lived over 1500 miles away. Not to mention that Nate had never been fond of Asher and Lexi didn’t think she could stomach the « I told you so’s » from Nate and Claire even if she did deserve them.

Lexi’s relationship with Asher had always been a point of contention with them. Claire could see through Asher’s bullshit and knew he didn’t truly care for Lexi, but Claire’s words always fell on deaf ears. All Lexi could see was the man she believed Asher could be and not the man he truly was. Lexi saw a man who could be saved, who could treat her the way she deserved to be treated if she could just love him through his drug induced rages. Claire saw a verbally abusive, drug addicted narcissist who took advantage of Lexi’s sweet nature. In her heart Lexi knew Claire was right, but she didn’t want to give up on Asher at the time.

He hadn’t always been so vile, but his shift from descent boyfriend to abusive asshole was abrupt. Sure Lexi knew he ran with some rough characters and did cocaine occasionally at parties, but she never would have imagined that he would spiral into a full on addict who worked closely with some major characters in the drug trade. Using his fathers accounting firm as a front Asher was able to trick everyone, including Lexi, into thinking his wealth was legitimate. She had no idea he was cooking the books for drug cartels, not until recently.

Asher would party until the early morning hours leaving Lexi to agonize over where he was. One night Lexi had had enough. She tracked him down at a party he was attending at some extravagant mansion of a home that was probably paid for by the same dirty money that lined Asher’s bank account. Out of an abundance of caution Lexi kept Claire and Nate on the phone as she made her way through the party to confront Asher. She knew the type of people Asher had surrounded himself with and they were far from safe.

Eyes undressed her as she made her way through the house as if she were one of the strippers there for entertainment. Nate made her promise to keep her phone on speaker and connected to them the entire time. Asher wasn’t even bothered when Lexi found him in a back room with a stripper, snorting a line of coke off of her naked body. « What the fuck are you doing here Lexi ? » he said as casually as if he just asked her about the weather.