✖ lioness.

Tech conferences were Zander’s favorite. He enjoyed walking up and down the rows of inventions and talking to creators at their booths about their projects. It sparked interest in him and gave him creativity that he lacked in his new day to day life. Plus it was a free vacation, if he was giving a talk, so that was never a bad thing.

Day two of the conference had ended a few hours ago and after dinner with some friends Zander had retired to the hotel bar, not quite ready to hit the hay early while in Las Vegas. He deserved to have a little fun and with his talk now behind him he could afford to relax and not concentrate on his presentation. 

“Just a club soda with lime” it was probably odd to not order alcohol at a bar in Vegas, but Zander wasn’t one to drink. It gave him bad acid reflux and he didn’t enjoy the taste. Instead he had come by this bar just to people watch. If the plan had been to get drunk, there were livelier establishments he could have attended.  

Noticing a pretty girl sitting alone next to him Zander drank his drink silently for a minute trying to pluck up the courage to talk to her. After a few minutes of looking everywhere around the bar but at her Zander found someone had shoved in between the pair, taking any chance Zander had at a conversation. Finishing his drink he was about to call it a night when a voice to his left sounded a little perturbed “I don’t want you to buy me a drink. I’m not interested” after hearing her repeat in a few times Zander finally cleared his throat and tapped the man who had shoved between them on the shoulder. “Buddy, she said she wasn’t interested. Buzz off” Zander told him, before rising as he was ignored. “Hey Dude, you need to cut it out” this time Zander’s hands found the guy’s shoulders and promptly pushed him away from the poor girl still fighting off his advances. 

The next portion happened quickly and was unlike anything that had ever happened to Zander before. There was shouting from the bartender for the guy to knock it off, and the guy pushed him before promptly turning around and send a fist sailing straight into Zander’s face catching his jaw. Even if Zander knew how to react he didn’t get the chance as security intervened, pushing Zander back as they apprehended the other man. Zander didn’t even get a punch in before the other guy was hauled off, not that he would have known how, and all he could taste was blood. Had he just technically gotten into a fight? He had a PhD in Computer Science, he wasn’t the type of guy who fought.

Her heels clicked on the ground as she made her way through the hotel lobby, announcing her arrival, causing heads to turn both in admiration and envy. Carla Thorpe was known amongst high society ––America’s elite–– and while men wanted to spend the night with her their wives and girlfriends strived to be like her. A vicious circle as it turned out because when it involved the heiress of the Thorpe empire no one ever got what they desired but for her.

With her tight dress embracing her curves she headed for the hotel bar after a successful day of socializing, of seeing and being seen. Nights like this when she didn’t have to appear at an event were rare though and she decided to make the most of it, not caring for once if her father would approve or not. Some called it tough love but given the countless scandals she had been involved in during her teenage years up to her early twenties some also threw the word ‘child neglect’ out there. Carla, however, didn’t know another life but the one she had now, fighting for her father’s approval and respect every minute of every day. And a part of her was actually scared at times when she contemplated how far she’d go to please him.

But she was a woman now ––one that apparently had grown into the spitting image of her mother as many had pointed out to her throughout the years–– making her own decision or so she believed, decisions that too often fell in line with her father’s plans. But she denied herself to look at it like that, convinced that even without his influence she would do it all again.

Finally reaching her destination she approached the bar, taking a seat in one of the empty chairs before waiting for her drink to arrive, not needing to place an order. The staff knew who she was, considering her father owned this hotel like so many others all over the world. “Miss Thorpe.” the bartender greeted her before setting her drink on the wooden counter in front of her. She paid him no attention, reaching for the glass before lifting it to her lips and taking a sip. Decent, but not the best she’d had.

“It’s a shame that a gorgeous lady like you is sitting all by herself. Fortunately, I know how to remedy that. How about I buy you another drink and you tell me your name in return.” It had only taken a few short minutes for the first guy to approach her and if her expression told him anything then that she was quite unimpressed by his advances. “I don’t want you to buy me a drink. I’m not interested.” Carla said in return, proving to be more civil tonight than usually. She had handled worse guys than him and certainly with more hostility than she did right now. Which she assumed meant it was his lucky day if he only knew when to take a hint. Which he didn’t when he moved even closer, asking again what she wanted to drink with a little more force in the tone of his voice which had Carla raise an eyebrow in return. Status: Still unimpressed yet slightly irritated. “Again, I don’t want you to buy me a drink and there is no way I am getting anywhere near your granola dick, so how about you get lost unless you want security to kick your sorry ass.” She was close to demonstrating what ten years of Krav Maga had taught her but instead was interrupted when the man next to her decided to get involved. Very much to her annoyance because the last thing Carla needed was some guy to play knight in shining armor because he was mistaking her for a damsel in distress.