A/N: Dedicated to all Hunt Me Down fans. Have a blast during the holidays! <3

*****

Nathaniel’s POV

I was in awe. The sun had long set and the town was at its brightest; neon colors, light chasing each other on signs that bid you welcome to their affiliated establishments… And people… Swarms of Vegas citizens and tourists from all races imaginable; I had never seen a place so buzzing with life except for the bazaars in India and we were only at the outskirts of the town.

“The cabs here cost a fortune,” Val grumped as she joined Hunter and me at the front of our hotel.

“I don’t see why you are complaining; I am paying,” I commented, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Hunt is paying his fair share,” she pointed out.

“That’s hardly the point, Val.” I shook my head but she just patted me on the shoulder on her way in.

“Come on, let’s go to our room.”

“Rooms,” I corrected and she paused, turning to me with raised eyebrows. “You said ‘room’; as in singular.”

“Do we look wealthy enough to get individual rooms?” My sister rolled her eyes and I gaped at her. Not that she saw me; she was already making her way to the sign-in desk.

“We are also sharing a bed,” Hunter murmured in my ear before he followed her inside.

“We are what?” I shouted after them but neither replied. Val wouldn’t do this to me, would she? Then again she did steal my money and emotionally blackmailed me to come here.

As it turned out, there was one thing to make me go to Vegas with Hunter Harris and that thing was Vallery. She’d said she’d go with or without me and I dreaded what she might get into if I wasn’t there, especially when teamed up with the charming menace our blond neighbor was.

“Don’t worry! He promised to try and behave when it came to you while we are in Vegas,” she’d tried to reassure me once I agreed to come with them. But that hadn’t brought me much of a consolation; he’d said that he always kept his promises – and so far that had been true – but his presence was enough to make me uneasy and one look by him was all it took for my pulse to start racing.

So no, I was not happy to spend a weekend in Vegas with Hunter Harris and I was more than displeased at the news of having to share a bed with him. As I begrudgingly walked inside the hotel, I prayed there was a couch I could sleep on in our room. I was so caught up in my plans of finding possible resting places, that I had forgotten all about our fake ID-s until I reached the sign-in desk and was asked to provide mine. I startled but Val was quick to step in:

“I have his in my purse,” she said to the man behind the desk and showed him the card. He studied it, then scrutinized me, before nodding and writing some information in the sign-in forms. I let out a shaky breath of relief as he turned them around and slid them Val’s way so she could sign them.

“That’s one big TV,” my sister pointed out and the man’s twisted about ninety degrees to where the machine was.

“Yeah, we’ll be watching the football game on it later,” he shrugged and turned back to us just as Val finished with the papers.

“American football, you mean,” she corrected and the man raised an eyebrow.

“That’s what I said,” he murmured, his eyes reading the forms for one last check.

“Actually…” I squeezed her arm, just above the elbow.

“Please don’t start the American versus European quarrel again,” I insisted in a tone that contradicted the polite first word.

“Fine,” she sighed and pulled her limb out of my grasp.

“I guess she must feel a bit guilty for dragging you here,” Hunter murmured to my other side and I nodded; she had agreed too soon.

American football, stay away from me.

American football, I would not let you be.

I groaned as she quietly sang the altered lyrics of American Woman. I should’ve known better than to think my sister would let it drop that easily.

Don’t come airing on my TV,

I don’t want to see you try hooking me.

I got more important things to do,

than spend my time listening about you.

American football, stay away.

American football, listen what I say…

The guy from the reception finally finished perusing the forms and reached beneath the desk, a key between his clasped fingers. We heard the click of a lock before he retrieved his hand with two keycards in it.

“You have a double bed room, so you only get two of these,” he announced and Val slung her black handbag over her shoulder before taking both.

“Will you get the rest of the luggage?” She asked Hunter and me.

“Don’t they have a porter for that?” My question was aimed at my twin because the all-so-hospitable reception clerk had disappeared as soon as he had given us the keys.

“It’s a small hotel; just the first storey with the lobby, restaurant and gambling center and another four with six rooms each,” she began to explain, her voice becoming less audible as she walked away from me. I grabbed the only bag which Hunter hadn’t already taken and followed them up the stairs. “It’s what we can afford with our… okay, with your money. Besides, that way we’ll have more cash for attractions…”

“We are not going anywhere else, Val,” I said sternly, puffing under the weight of the enormous bag. It was hers. Who knew that makeup and hair spray could be this heavy? “We might’ve fooled these guys but I doubt it will work on everyone in Vegas.”

“So you expect me to stay in this hotel the whole weekend?” She exclaimed, stopping at the last step before the first storey landing and turning around to gape at me.

“We are already risking…” I readjusted the bag which kept slipping off my shoulder. Hunter put the luggage he carried on the landing then took the strap of the one I held and with a muttered ‘The fuck is in this bag?’, he placed it with the rest. I rubbed my shoulder – no doubt it was red – and went on.

“We are already risking a lot, Val, so please… If you have even the slightest respect for me and my mental health, let’s try to stay low.”

She groaned and stomped with her foot.

“Fine,” she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. “But we will go to some safe daily attractions like the Bellagio fountains and for a swim with the dolphins.” I nodded in agreement. Those were indeed safe activities which we could do with our real ID-s. “And I’m still gambling at the casino downstairs,” she went on then her face lit up. “Hey, if I earn some cash, can we also go swim with the sharks?”

“You have to be a certified scuba diver for that,” Hunt put in. “Which room are we in?”

“103,” Val replied and led us that way. I reached to grab the same bag that I’d carried before but Hunter pushed another, considerably lighter one in my hands and took the rest himself.

“How did you know about the scuba diving?” My sister asked as she ran the card atop of the card reader and held the door open for us after the machine beeped and the small light on it switched from red to green.

“I have a friend from England who’s been to Vegas and he told me about that,” Hunt said as he walked in and put the luggage on the floor before turning on the lights.

“I guess I’ll just have to spend all the money I make on something else,” my twin shrugged and closed the door behind her.

“You are not gambling, Val,” I forbid, my eyes going through the room. It was small and something between a kitchen and a living room; it had a sink, counters, one of those tiny refrigerators, a stove, a table and to my greatest relief – a couch; just a two-seater, but it would do. There were two other doors apart from the one we’d just entered through and I assumed they led to the bedroom and the bathroom.

“Like Hell I ain’t!” She frowned, ready for battle. “I’m already making compromises here by not going to other casinos but I will be going to the one in this hotel. As you said: they already bought it. They think we are twenty-one. Good thing we weren’t born short!”

“The fake personalities are not what worry me when it comes to you and gambling,” I tried to explain. “You have a serious problem with that. You are too competitive and you just don’t know when to stop, Val.”

She jabbed a finger in my chest.

“I do not have a gambling problem,” she insisted. “Sure, I enjoy the occasional poker game and yes, I often make bets, but it is only a problem if you keep losing and keep betting; in my case – since I usually win – it’s… an investment.”

“Like that time on Easter when you lost a bet and had to dress like a play boy bunny and hop around the park, giving thirty painted eggs to random strangers?” I asked and she grinned.

“That was actually a fun bet to lose.”

“You haven’t told me about that one,” Hunt pointed out, opening the mini fridge and taking a beer out.

“I looked amazing,” she winked. “Now give me one of those.”

She turned away from me and went to Hunter who handed her a beverage identical to his, but I wasn’t finished.

“What about that time you lost a bet and had to do someone else’s homework for two weeks?”

My twin scrunched her face and I knew it wasn’t because the sip she’d just taken displeased her.

“Okay, that one was bad. I mean, I don’t always do my own homework, but I had to do his?” She took another gulp and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand before she went on. “I admit that I don’t always win and that I find it hard to back down on a challenge or a bet which could lead to not so pleasant outcomes, but I have my limits, bro, and I don’t bet more than what I can pay.” I shook my head and she groaned. “Look, you are here, right? I know you won’t let me do something too stupid and although I appreciate the concern, how about you try and have some fun? We are in Las Vegas… The Las Vegas. Just try to loosen up, will you?”

“She has a point,” Hunter put in. “Tonight we’ll go out for dinner, do a little sightseeing; tomorrow we’d probably sleep off the morning, then we’ll get lunch, do some more sightseeing, swim with the dolphins, get dinner and then – under your supervision – Val will do some gambling; on Sunday, we’ll eat, see one or two more shows and go back home. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“We are going only to teen-allowed places,” Val hurried to support him. “Except for the casino downstairs, but they already think we are twenty one.”

“Fine,” I gave into their persuasions after a brief musing. They were right: if we stuck to that schedule, we’d only have to use our fake ID-s while in this hotel and the staff believed they were real. As for the risk of Vallery gabling all of my savings away – it would be nonexistent if I was standing right next to her in the casino; if I bugged her enough, she’d give up on playing cards or wasting coins in front of the slot machines in no more than an hour. “Fine,” I repeated, “but I’ll be sleeping on the couch.”

“Suit yourself,” Val shrugged and took another sip of her beer.

“But if you get lonely and decide you want to snuggle…” Hunter didn’t finish the invitation but his wink was more than enough for me to know what he was offering.

Is this his version of behaving around me? I thought as my check burned and that annoying pang appeared in my chest.

*****

A/N: Our lovely trio is all settled and it’s time for the fun to start. Do you think Hunter would be able to behave?

Do you think he actually promised he’d try to or was it something Val made up to get Nat to come along?

By the way, Hunter’s English friend is Devon, a secondary character in my Here We Go Again who (along with Hunt) also appeared in two chapters of Frost on the Green.