Page 118 of Vicious Little Games

“You would, wouldn’t you?” she mutters with a roll of her eyes.

“And you would love it,” I say as I take a step toward her, reaching up to grab her face to drag her lips to mine.

But Cass dodges me, taking two steps back and away. “Wait. Before you try to distract me with sex, we need to talk.”

“Okay. I thought that’s what we were just doing.”

Her pale green eyes narrow. “We need to talk about something specific.”

“Fine. What is it, Cassie?” She doesn’t say anything. Her false outrage fades and is replaced with…uncertainty which isn’t a normal emotion for her. In fact, her palm goes to her belly as she swallows hard like she’s going to be sick. “Are you feeling okay? You look a little…green. More now than you did with the dead body lying around.”

“There's something I need to tell you.”

“You're finally going to admit that I’ve got the best dick you’ve ever had?” I joke to try and lighten her up.

“No, Cole. This is serious.”

“More serious than having the best dick in the world or killing one of my previous lovers?” I tease.

She nods solemnly, making my heart race with worry. What the hell could be more serious than murder?

“So, there's a chance we can find out who your father is this weekend. I just need your DNA to compare the samples to,” she explains in a rush.

My brain has to hit rewind to try and replay her words over and over again to comprehend them. When I do, I finally tell her, “That's not fucking funny, Cassie.”

“I'm not joking, Cole. Do you really think I would joke about something like this?”

Okay, she’s serious. I don’t even think the old psycho Cass would do something this cruel as a prank.

“So, then who the fuck is my father and how in the world did you manage to find him?”

“Please don’t hate me for it, but Eli and I brought the frat guys who were at USC in two thousand two to the casino this weekend.”

“All of them?” I exclaim in disbelief.

“Most. Fifteen showed up, so we’re only missing five. Odds are decent but not the best…”

“How?” I ask again. “How did you get fifteen old frat guys here?”

She shrugs. “A few lies, along with free flights and rooms.”

“Fifteen of the men in the frat are here in the casino right this very second?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, that’s incredible,” I admit to her. “But how do you plan to get them to give you a DNA sample? I doubt we can just walk up to each of them and shove a swab into their mouth.”

“The DNA tests are done. The men got free lap dances for an ‘erectile disfunction clinical trial.' That was all Eli's brilliant idea, actually. He’s like an evil genius.”

“Wow. They really believe the DNA sample is for a clinical trial and gave samples?”

“Yes.”

“Eli is an evil genius. And so are you,” I tell her as I stare at her. Cass looks the same as she always does, but it’s like I don’t even know her. Not really. She has more of a soft side than I ever expected, especially when it comes to me. I think she would literally do anything for me, which blows my mind.

“Now I just need your DNA if you want to run it against all of theirs,” she tells me. “The lab can have the results within twenty-four hours, so before they leave the casino Sunday if there's a match. There may not be, so I don't want you to get your hopes up yet. I probably should have just plucked out some of your hair or something…”

I pounce on her and this time she doesn’t back away when I cup the side of her face and kiss her.

---