Sucker Bet (10 page)

Walking out into the hall so she didn't disturb Nate, Gwenna wanted to both roll her eyes and laugh simultaneously. "I hardly know Kelsey. I doubt she'd appreciate me showing up right now."

"But you're very maternal. Please?"

Gwenna made a face. That was absolutely the way to make her feel guilty. Grateful she couldn't show up on the security cameras since she was rumpled in nothing but her T-shirt and panties, Gwenna paced back and forth. "Okay, fine, but I can't really see what I can do."

"Well, it will definitely be better than my handling of the situation. I told her she was better off without that junkie sack of shit husband of hers, and now she's locked in my bathroom bawling."

"You called her husband a junkie sack of shit?" Gwenna sometimes suspected Alexis was missing the gene for tact.

"It's the truth." Alexis sounded defensive. "You've met Ringo. He's a waste of space."

Gwenna had met Ringo only once at Roberto's when she had gone to discuss her ex-husband's stubborn insistence on continuing to pay her alimony she neither needed nor wanted. Kelsey's husband had been quiet, clearly a drug abuser, though Gwenna had felt more desperation from him than anything else. He'd looked like he was in a silent agony, begging for a way out. She hadn't sensed any violence from him, and she believed everyone deserved a second chance, despite what Alexis was always saying about every offender being a repeat offender waiting to happen.

Which was probably all the more reason that she couldn't justify sitting in a massage room watching Nate sleep when Kelsey was hurting. "Alright, give me a few minutes. I need to pop by my room first."

"Why, where are you?"

Damn. She was terrible at discretion. "Just running a few errands."

"With that hunky guy we saw you with at the hospital?" Alexis's voice sounded downright gleeful. "Shit, if you're with that hottie, don't worry about me and Kels. We'll work through it. I'll get her drunk or something."

"No, it's fine. I'll be there." Then some little devil inside her prompted her to say, "He's actually sleeping now, so it's good timing."

"Oooohhhh. That sounds promising."

Gwenna could feel her cheeks going hot, and not just from embarrassment. She was actually feeling a bit boastful. Yes, she had a naked man sleeping a few feet away from her. And since she didn't intend to inform the world at large, the least she could do was brag on it to her sister-in-law. Because there really was something fun and exciting and delicious about what she had done. "He's mortal. He'll be out for hours."

She didn't mean that quite the way it sounded—like she'd thoroughly wore him out—but Alexis just laughed.

"You go, girl."

"I'll see you in a few minutes." Gwenna quickly hung up, not wanting to give Alexis time to dig further into her relationship with Nate. Because she had no idea where they went from here, if at all, and she didn't want to speculate out loud about it. That would ruin the pleasant satisfaction she felt.

Going back into the room, she finished getting dressed. Nate was still out cold. She figured she had hours before he even roused. He'd had a very rough couple of days, and he probably hadn't slept well. Given what he was still facing with making arrangements for his sister's funeral, it was a good thing for him to be sleeping so deeply. She'd chat with Kelsey and be back in an hour, and he'd never know she'd been gone. It wasn't like she could sleep anyway. After nine hundred years of night walking, nothing could force her to sleep at only three in the morning.

It seemed like she should leave him a note or something and let him know what she was about, but at the same time that struck her as odd. She could call him and leave a message on his cell, but she didn't have the number and she couldn't very well dig through his pants looking for it. Besides, she'd be back in a flash.

Nate woke up to the sound of screaming. Intense, feral, female screaming. It yanked him straight out of a deep sleep, almost sending him rolling off the bed onto the floor. Heart pounding, head thick and disoriented, he sat up and tried to figure out where the hell the noise was coming from.

A woman he'd never seen before in his life was standing in the doorway staring at him in utter horror, hysterical shrieking coming from her mouth. Then as equally baffling as the screaming, she suddenly turned and ran, taking that hideous sound with her. Thank God.

Nate swallowed hard, and tried to settle his heart rate back to normal. She'd taken five years off his life, easily, and no one had the right to produce volume like that before he'd had his coffee. Rubbing his eyes, he wondered where the hell Gwenna had gone. She must have slipped out to use the restroom or something, and lucky her, had missed getting caught in the buff by a spa employee.

Glancing down, he saw the blanket was history. At some point, probably because of Gwenna's body tucked up next to his and the heated bed, he had completely kicked the blanket off. It was on the floor. And he was totally naked.

The woman reappeared in the doorway, with a coworker. The first woman was young and thin, the second was older, and heavily padded. Interestingly enough, it was the younger woman who looked horrified, like she was certain he was a gigantic pervert who had slunk into the massage room to flash her. The older woman looked more curious than anything else, her eyes sweeping over him nice and slow-like.

She said, "You're either really early for your appointment or really late."

"I don't have an appointment."

"We don't do walk-ins." Disapproval crossed her face. "And how did you get in here in the first place?"

"Just call security!" the younger one said, her ponytail bouncing as she backed up, clearly ready to run again.

"No, don't do that." Nate held his hand out reassuringly. "Look, I'm a friend of Gwenna Carrick's. I'm actually a detective with the Las Vegas Police, and Gwenna let me spend the night here." That was the truth, in essence. But he knew she wouldn't want everyone to figure out they'd actually spent the night together.

"Gwenna Carrick?" They glanced at each other, obviously unsure.

"Do you know Gwenna?" Nate tried to discreetly shift the pillow in front of him. He was comfortable naked, but this conversation was getting kind of extensive.

"Sure, she comes in here once a week for a massage, our last appointment of the day."

"Well, she's a friend and she let me crash here. But if you ladies would give me a minute, I'll, uh, get dressed and be out of your way."

"Oh!" The young one blushed.

The older one took another lingering look, not even trying to hide the fact. Nate plopped the pillow firmly on his unit. Geez, he wasn't some stud horse. She didn't need to check him out so intently.

"Did you see Gwenna on your way in here by chance?" he asked, when it became obvious they weren't leaving.

"Nope."

Ponytail shook her head as well.

Nate started to wonder where exactly Gwenna had run off to. And why she'd left him alone, naked, in the massage room. The warmth, the intimacy, of the night before felt suddenly and inexplicably gone without Gwenna in his arms.

And on the heels of that loss, he felt the weight of responsibility crashing in on him, heavy, brutal, and raw. Today he had to make arrangements for Kyra's funeral. Today he couldn't avoid the truth—his sister was dead and it sucked.

There was also a killer to catch.

And a blond Brit beauty to track down.

Tired of waiting for the women to leave, and resigned to a day almost as hellish as the one before, Nate climbed off the table and went for his clothes. He wasn't looking forward to what he had to do.

Yet it was satisfying to hear the younger woman scream again when he stood back up, jeans in hand, and gave her a full frontal.

Gwenna made inane sounds of comfort, patting Kelsey's head, and looked to Alexis for assistance. She wasn't exactly sure what to do with the woman sprawled across her, head in her lap like Kelsey was a three-year-old and Gwenna her mother.

Alexis just shrugged and held her hands out. No help there. No wonder Alexis had called her—Gwenna couldn't see Alex tolerating Kelsey's clinging for more than thirty seconds.

"Kelsey, dear, you have to realize that Ringo just isn't himself right now." Feeling terrible for the pain Kelsey was suffering, Gwenna stroked her long dark hair and tried to use logic. "You're not dealing with Ringo, your husband, but Ringo, the drug addict. When someone is caught in the grip of a drug like that, it becomes their entire priority. They're no longer the person you knew, and you can't take his behavior as an insult."

Kelsey lifted her head off Gwenna's lap and sniffled, her face a swollen, splotchy, mascara-streaked mess. "He told two guys I would give them a blow job if they ignored the fact that he stole drugs from them!"

Okay, so that was rather appalling. "But if he was in his right mind, he wouldn't have done that."

"I know. I like him so much better when he's being Kyle." On her side now, Kelsey wiped her cheeks on the thighs of Gwenna's jeans.

A little unnerved by the invasion of her personal space, Gwenna tried not to squirm. And she always thought it was weird as hell that Kelsey called Ringo by the name
Kyle
. She didn't understand how that was a nickname, but then again, Kelsey wasn't always easily understandable.

"So you have a decision to make… you either have to be patient and hope Ringo will get off the heroin, or you can cut ties once and for all and get on with your life."

"Those choices suck." Kelsey's lip trembled aggressively. It astonished Gwenna that Kelsey had been crying for literally hours on end, but her lipstick had neither smeared nor faded. She'd have to ask for the brand when Kelsey had calmed down a bit.

"Yes, they do."

"There really is no choice," Alexis said, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "You can't go back to that loser."

Really, Alex needed a class. Sympathy 101.

Kelsey's eyes shimmered with blood tears. Gwenna had been intrigued by that fact for the last hour as she'd watched Kelsey cry. She'd met only a few vampires over the years who cried blood tears like she herself did, and it was interesting that Kelsey was one of them.

"Boys are stupid," Kelsey said with vehemence.

That was no news bulletin. "You won't get an argument from me. I was married to Roberto Donatelli, remember? I'm not exactly a poster vampire for Good Choices."

Kelsey sat up, much to Gwenna's relief. Her legs were going numb.

Wiping her nose with her wrist, Kelsey said, "It's Donatelli's fault that Ringo is an addict."

That irritated Gwenna slightly. "So maybe Roberto makes drugs accessible to men like Ringo, but that doesn't make him responsible. Ringo is an adult and he made the choice to start using."

"No, he didn't. Donatelli slipped the heroin in Ringo's blood and got him addicted before he even knew what was happening, when he was still just a fledgling."

"Somehow I highly doubt that." What purpose would that serve? And Gwenna knew Roberto had his flaws, but willful drug addict creator didn't fit his personality. Too messy. Too malicious.

Her voice had got sharper than she intended. But sometimes she was tired of everyone implying Roberto was pure, unadulterated evil. There were lots of positive points to Roberto's personality. He was generous and loyal and charming. She never would have married him in the first place if he were Satan in Italian shoes.

"It's true!" Kelsey insisted.

Alexis jumped in. "Hey, now, no cat fights over worthless men in my house. We can all agree that every man is responsible for his own behavior, and that neither guy is exactly a saint, or guilt-free here. What's more practical and more important is what Kelsey is going to do now. You need a place to stay. And a job."

Gwenna flushed a little. Alexis was right. They needed to focus on practicalities. And why was she defending Roberto anyway? God knew he'd probably throw her to the wolves. But even as she thought it, she knew it wasn't true. Roberto would try to control her, dominate her, subjugate her, but he would never allow anyone to actually physically harm her.