The Code of The Alpha

Chapter Two - Catastrophe in the Casino

When I woke up the next morning, I rolled over to see Mady was still asleep in her bed.

I looked over at the alarm clock, noticing that it was around six in the morning, too early for vacation. I laid there for a while longer and begged my brain to turn off so I could go back to sleep but it never did.

Sighing in annoyance, I rolled out of the bed.

I showered before brushing my hair and my teeth, hoping all the while that Mady would wake up.

When I exited the bathroom and saw that she was still sound asleep in her bed, I was slightly jealous that she had yet to be woken up by the sunlight that was peeking through the curtains.

I was in desperate need of caffeine and I decided that I couldn't wait on her to wake up. I grabbed my sketchbook and pencil bag and walked towards the door.

Quietly, I left our room and wandered into the elevator. Riding all the way down to the lobby, I found the hotel's coffee shop and grabbed a seat.

I don't know how long I was there, but I drank almost two cups of tea and nearly finished a sketch of the Vegas skyline before I began to get jittery.

I walked around the hotel for a while and found myself wondering into the casino.

The neon lights and greedy machines had yet to turn on for the day and the room was nearly empty except for a cleaning crew and a man who stood behind the bar cleaning drinking glasses.

He looked up and caught sight of me, immediately waving me off.

"We're closed!" he yelled.

I mumbled out an apology before turning to leave. I walked back to the elevators, deciding it was time to go back to the room.

Just as I hit the button to call for an elevator, I looked up to see Mady walking off one quickly, looking panicked.

She sighed when she saw me.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" she asked, her tone furious. "You didn't let me know you were leaving or where you were going and you left your phone in the room. What if something had happened to you?"

I laughed as I looked at her wild expression.

"Good morning to you, too," I said. "Remind me though, what was that you said last night about me being a grown woman?"

She rolled her eyes and turned to get back on the elevator.

When we got back to the room, I waited for her to change and get ready before the two of us went back out to explore for the rest of the day.

"Dad said he wants us to meet them in the lobby around six after their meetings are over so we can all go to dinner together," Mady said, reading the text her father sent her.

I nodded.

"Sounds good to me."

We left the hotel and walked out onto the sidewalk. The charm and appeal of flashing lights had long since escaped the city now that the sun was shining directly above us. However, the streets were just as crowded as they had been the night before.

Since we were only a few minutes away from the Strip, we decided to head that way and decide what to do when we got there.

"There's an aquarium in Mandalay Bay," I said as we walked up the sidewalk next to the resort. "We could do that?"

"Sure," Mady agreed.

We walked inside and got lost in the maze of people for a few minutes. Once we had finally gathered our bearings, we found the aquarium and paid for our tickets.