High Stakes (Vegas Vampires #1)(51)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Which meant there wasn’t time to stop, reverse.

He hit the ground with a splat and a crunch, as his nose and both wrists broke. Pain shot through him and he heard a woman screaming hysterically.

Damn, love hurt.

And he didn’t think Alexis was going to appreciate that he’d literally fallen for her.

Chapter Seventeen

Ringothought Kelsey was a lot like herpes.A constant sort of painful itch that reappeared at the worst possible time.

"Hi," she said breathlessly as she stood up, her hair in a pony-tail, still wearing the same red dress from the night before.

He ignored her as he stepped past her on the way out of his hotel room. He’d ditched her twice the night before, but somehow she kept managing to find him. Now he strongly suspected she’d spent the night in the hallway here at Caesar’s Palace.

If she wanted to get in his head, she could just read this little thought—Goaway .

"Mr. Carrick dropped to the sidewalk this morning," she called from behind him. "They thought maybe he was pushed off the first-floor overhang."

"Excuse me?" Ringo froze.

"I didn’t spend the whole night sitting outside your door. I’m not that lame." She smiled with a shrug. "I just didn’t have time to change. But at The Ava, Mr. Carrick was splatted on the sidewalk about seven this morning."

"He’s dead?" That could be very good, or very, very bad.

"Nope.And he says he just fell. But you could tell the Italian that you pushed him. Then he won’t be mad at you."

Ringoturned around, a little desperate, unable to think through the implications of Carrick’s accident when it was so damn disturbing to talk to Kelsey. "Why are you in my head? Why are you helping me?"

She bit her lip, for once lipstick-free. Without the crimson smear across her mouth, she looked younger, more vulnerable. "I don’t know why I can hear your thoughts so easily. And I’m helping you because I want you to get out of all this stuff."

Her hand came up and stroked his cheek. Ringo moved away. He didn’t want anyone’s touch on him. And he despised the way she looked at him, with pity.

"I can feel your pain, Ringo ." Her black eyes swam with compassion. "Tell the Italian you quit and walk away. Save yourself."

The laugh came quick and bitter, especially when he realized she might be able to snatch his name right out of his head, but she couldn’t see the plainest truth of all. "Kelsey, honey,it’s way too late for that."

Alexis had called Brittany three times during the day to reassure herself that her sister was okay. Now before she headed back to the casino, she wanted a quick glance at Brittany in the flesh. And maybe Alexis also needed to see her sister, talk to her,touch her, after everything she had spilled to Ethan that morning about their childhood.

When he had asked her to move in with him, make a commitment to him, and she’d said no.

But she wasn’t reassured that all was well when she met Brittany for dinner at a Mexican restaurant on the Strip and Brittany was pale, with dark circles under her eyes. Even her smile looked tired, which wasn’t standard for Brittany at all. She had a genuine power .smile, witha hundred -watt brilliance.

"Okay, Brit, what’s going on?" Alexis took a sip of her mar- garitaand pressed her temples. She was starting to get a headache. An alcoholic drink probably wasn’t the best thing for that, but it sure in the hell tasted good.

"And why is your scarf so tight on your neck? It looks like it’s strangling you." The black, teal, and olive scarf was pretty, but Brittany wore it like a noose.

Her fingers went up and fiddled with it. "I didn’t want it falling down in my patients’ faces. But I get so tired of wearing the same old."

It sounded reasonable, except her sister’s eyes were darting all over the restaurant and there was a pink tint to her cheeks.

"How’s Ethan?" Brittany asked. "Are you having fun spending time with him?"

Oh, yeah, that she was. Alexis meant to say something flippant meant to blow it off, as she played with the chili pepper-shape" chip dish. But instead she blurted, "He asked me to live with him."

"What?" That drew Brittany ‘s astonished gaze right to hers. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Now Alexis was sure she was the one who was blushing.

Her cheeks felt hot and it wasn’t the margarita, even though she’d already finished half of it. "Isn’t that just insane?"

Her burrito platter was dropped in front of her by the waiter, and Alexis stared at it. No answers in the guacamole.

"That is a little crazy, but it’s very cool." Now Brittany gave her a real smile, one that wasn’t distracted. "Can I have your house?"

" Brittany !" She should have known her impulsive sister would see nothing wrong with moving in with a man she’d known for all of four days. "I just met Ethan! I’m not going to shack up with him so soon."

"But you love him." Brittany sipped her mojito and delicately reached for a bean with her fork.

"What makes you think that?" Did she?Maybe.Probably. Weird as it sounded, yes. But she didn’t want anyone toknow that. "And he’s a vampire."

"That doesn’t matter.Seriously. And if it bothers you that he is, maybe someday he’ll be able to return to a mortal man.Maybe sooner than you think." Brittany shook her head. "The thing is, if you love him,which you do, and he loves you, which he must if he asked you to live with him, then why throw that away? Go for it, Alex, letyourself be happy."

The thing was,she wasn’t sure she knew how. Purposeful, she could do.Happy?Content? That could take some work.

"I have something to tell you, Alex."

‘I have something to tell you," she said, almost simultaneously. Then when Brittany laughed, she added, "You go first, Brit."

Instead, her sister took a bite of her food and Alexis’s cell phone started ringing. "Damn, let me just answer this. It could be work related. She flipped her phone open. "Alexis Baldizzi ."

"Alexis, this is Seamus Fox."

"Seamus," she said in surprise. "How can I help you?" Since she got the distinct impression from Ethan that Seamus was not at all pleased with the amount of time he’d been spending with her, she couldn’t imagine why Seamus was calling her.Unless she was going to be treated to a lecture on the proper behavior of a vampire first lady at social engagements.

If so, she’d tell him to stuff it. She could write the manual on political savvy and appearances, and it wouldn’t sound asinine like Seamus’s speech had.

"I’m calling because Ethan asked me to. He’s had a little accident and he would like to see you."