Sucker Bet (Vegas Vampires #4)(20)
Author: Erin McCarthy

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.

Damn, it was complicated when you shared the kind of history they did. Though not even Roberto knew Gwenna’s deepest secret, and that worried her lately. Half a dozen people now knew about Isabel, her daughter. But Roberto didn’t. And she suspected for the first time in their long lives, he would want to kill her when he found out she’d had his child and had never told him, not even during the three hundred years of their marriage.

"I’m sure Ethan will let Kelsey stay in the hotel."

But Alexis shook her head. "I don’t know about that. It’s a security issue, and you know how Ethan is about security lately. Kelsey didn’t exactly endear herself to Ethan when she helped Ringo escape from his house arrest."

Kelsey didn’t say anything, just bit her pouty lip as she sat on the couch next to Gwenna.

"And Ringo did try to kill Ethan, after all." Alexis looked rather put out by that fact.

"On Donatelli’s orders," Kelsey said.

They were getting nowhere. "Okay, we’ve disintegrated into defending our respective men again. And frankly, I’m not sure any of them deserve our loyalty."

Both Alexis and Kelsey’s mouths shot open.

Gwenna held up her hand. "It doesn’t matter! The question is, are you leaving Ringo for good or just taking a little marital break?"

"I don’t know." Kelsey rubbed her hands on the knees of her tight jeans. "I really, really love him. I want him back to him . I want him better."

"Babe, you can want it all you want for him, but Ringo has to decide he’s ready to be clean, and stay clean. You can’t make it all okay for him," Alexis said in a soft voice.

Gwenna heard the genuine sympathy from her sister-in-law, and she knew she was right. Kelsey couldn’t fix her husband. Any more than Gwenna could alter the inherent flaws in Roberto. You could care about someone until you were blue in the face, but that didn’t solve real, concrete problems.

"But it’s because of Kyle," Kelsey said.

The tone of Kelsey’s voice had Gwenna swinging her head around to stare at her. Kelsey sounded odd, eerie, unnaturally high, and suddenly very calm.

"Who the hell is Kyle?" Gwenna asked.

She glanced over at her sister-in-law, who was shaking her head. But she wasn’t sure if Alexis didn’t know the answer, or if she was indicating that Gwenna shouldn’t go there with Kelsey.

Kelsey suddenly stood up and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "I shouldn’t have come here. I don’t want you to get into trouble with Mr. Carrick. He hates me now."

"Where are you going to go? Don’t worry about Ethan." Alexis ran her hand through her short blond hair. "We’ll work something out. Why don’t you go check into another hotel? Get a good day’s sleep and we’ll see about finding you a job tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night I’m going to The Impalers concert," Kelsey said, adjusting her bra and V-neck T-shirt so her nonexistent cle**age was visible.

Gwenna was struggling to follow the thread of Kelsey’s thoughts. Obviously so was Alexis because she flexed her fists and took a deep breath.

"Okay… so after the concert we can discuss finding you a place to stay permanently, and a job. And by the way, who the hell are The Impalers?"

"They used to be The Suckers. They play classic rock. All vampires. I know the bass player. We used to party in New York in the sixties when my name was Summer."

Honestly, Gwenna just had to give up. She had no idea whatsoever what Kelsey was talking about.

"Who are you going with?"

"No one."

"You’re going alone?"

Obviously attending a rock concert solo sounded as batty to Alexis as it did to Gwenna, but then she’d been a virtual recluse for three hundred years. She’d never set foot in a bar or concert, and the thought of doing it alone was literally incomprehensible.

"Sure."

"I know I’m going to regret this," Alexis said, "but maybe I should go with you. We haven’t had a girls night out in a while."

"Cool." Kelsey smiled at Alexis. "Wear something sexy. There will probably be cute guys there. And the boys in the band are all single."

Gwenna wished she could flip a switch and turn off her angst as easily as Kelsey did. She could have spared herself a few centuries of worry.

"Want to come with us, Gwenna?" Kelsey asked. "I could do your hair."

As tempting as that offer was, she had to pass. "I think I’ll skip this time… I might have plans for tomorrow night."

Maybe it was presumptuous, but she was rather hoping Nate would be interested in another go at it. Especially as he was sure to have another painful day ahead of him.

Alexis grinned. "Gwenna has a mortal boyfriend."

Damn it, she was blushing. "He’s not a boyfriend. He’s just a friend." Who she happened to have shagged. She thought they called that friends with benefits, which absolutely worked for her. "And if my plans don’t work out, I’ll ring you. Maybe I will go to the concert."