Sucker Bet (Vegas Vampires #4)(30)
Author: Erin McCarthy

"What? Then why the hell are you asking all these guys if they’re Slash?"

It seemed obvious to her. "So I know if they’re Slash or not."

Alexis frowned. "You’ve totally lost me. And you’re drunk, by the way."

"I know. It’s kind of nice." Fuzzy. Warm. Making her horny.

"Your brother is going to shoot me."

"So?" Gwenna drained her fourth martini, damn proud of herself for going to the bar and ordering it without help. "It’s not like a bullet would kill you. And Ethan needs to stop treating me like a child. I’m a grown woman and I can make my own decisions."

Her s in decisions did a monstrous slur. Okay, so she couldn’t manage to say decisions right at the moment, but she was still capable of making them.

"I totally applaud making your own decisions. If they’re good ones."

"Don’t be so critical, Alexis, that really makes me sad."

"I’m sorry, but please, can you just lay off the martinis and stop talking to strange men?"

That sounded boring, but she nodded, not wanting to argue.

"Hey, let’s try to run up onstage," Kelsey said, her hips jiggling to the music.

"Okay." Gwenna handed her martini to Alexis. If she was up onstage, she could scan the crowd for Slash. Even though she had no clue what he looked like, somehow the logic made sense to her martini-soaked brain.

Her sister-in-law sputtered. "No! Bad decision. Bad, bad, bad. You’re going to get thrown out!"

"Nah. I know half the guys in the band," Kelsey said. "And I had sex with the bass player back in the sixties. It’s cool."

"See?" That sounded highly encouraging to Gwenna. "Kelsey knows the band."

And she proceeded to follow Kelsey through the crowd, weaving and smiling and dancing with concertgoers as they made their way to the front. Getting past the bouncers was a snap, since they were mortal. She and Kelsey just fast-walked, vampire speed, between two of them on the side, and then leaped onstage.

Wow. It was hot and bright up there. And loud.

Pulling Gwenna behind the guitar player and turning sideways, Kelsey swayed to the music and made a few "oh, yeah, oh, whoo, ooh" sounds at appropriate times in the music.

Backup singers in a rock band. Brilliant.

Gwenna turned and did the same. This was kind of fun. The guitar player glanced back and looked them up and down, amusement on his face.

The bouncers didn’t have the same loving feeling toward them. Gwenna felt a meaty arm encircle her stomach and she was contemplating using her strength to break free when she glanced to the side and saw a very familiar face.

"Nate!" She waved as the bouncer lifted her completely off her feet. "What brings you by?" Not that he could hear her, but she was delighted to see him, and his very handsome face.

He looked a bit off put, though.

She wondered why that was.

Nate had been pretty damn sure he wasn’t going to enjoy his little stroll into The Impalers concert, and that he was going to hate Slash on sight just for the simple fact that he was spending time with Gwenna. Nate wanted to spend time with Gwenna. Nate wanted Gwenna. He didn’t want her trolling around town with other guys. It was that simple.

He was also worried about her and her lack of concern for her personal safety. She was knee deep in a murder investigation and didn’t even seem to realize that. It was obvious she had been telling the truth when she’d said she lived a sheltered life.

That particular fact was a little difficult to remember, though, when he stared up at the stage watching Gwenna gyrate and sing along to the music wearing a scrap-of-nothing blue dress.

For a brief second, he thought she was a legitimate backup singer because that was the only explanation his brain could conjure up. Until the bouncer grabbed on to her and hauled her lily-white ass off the stage. Gwenna Carrick had apparently charged the stage. Jesus, what the hell was she thinking?

She spotted him, giving him a big smile and a perky wave. "Nate!"

He thought she might have also said something else, but it got lost in the black T-shirt the beefy bouncer was wearing as he made fast work of flipping her over his shoulder and hopping off the stage. It was clear he was going to keep walking and toss her rear out of the club, so Nate stepped up.

"Hey, sorry about that, she’s with me."

The guy stared him down, obviously trying to decide if he gave a shit or not. "Keep her drunk ass off the f**king stage," he said, dropping Gwenna to the floor without warning and giving a little nudge on her shoulder to send her in Nate’s direction.

She stumbled backward and would have totally gone down except that Nate grabbed her arm and steadied her. She still tripped out of her shoe, though, giving a cry of pain, and that pissed him off.

"You got a problem?" he asked the bouncer, any patience he might have hauled out of reserve just used up. "You may be a badass bouncer, but I’m a f**king cop, and you’re shoving around my girlfriend."

"Hey, I’m just doing my job, man. She went up onstage and I took her off. No big deal." The bouncer held out his hands. "Tell her to stay the f**k out of restricted areas and I won’t have to touch her."

It wasn’t exactly an apology but the guy didn’t give him the fight he seemed to be looking for, so Nate took a deep breath and nodded. "Fine." Then he took Gwenna’s hand, since she seemed to be struggling fruitlessly to bend over and put her shoe back on without toppling onto the floor. "Come on, babe, forget the goddamn shoe. You can put it on in the car."

"What about Kelsey?" Gwenna asked, turning around and pointing to her friend he’d met earlier in the evening, as she was likewise carted offstage by bad-ass bouncer number two.

"Oh, Jesus. What the hell were you two doing up there?" And he wasn’t sure why it shocked him, but Gwenna clearly was drunk. Her eyes looked glassy and she was wobbling precariously.

"Kelsey knows the band," she said, like that explained a damn thing.

"Don’t move." He shifted closer to the stage and went through the same routine with the second guy, flashing his badge so he wouldn’t throw Kelsey out of the building either.

In two minutes he was standing in front of Gwenna and Kelsey, frowning at the party pair. "Don’t do that again," he told them, then immediately felt like a jackass. He sounded like their father, and truthfully neither one of them looked the least bit repentant or grateful for his assistance.

"It wasn’t a big deal," Gwenna said, her mouth opening very widely when she spoke, her words all rushing together like her tongue was out of commission.