Sucker Bet (Vegas Vampires #4)(19)
Author: Erin McCarthy

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.