Page 29 of Vegas Daddies

Itneedsto be the last time we’re in her vicinity. Otherwise I’ll be sewing myself to her side like a leech and never wanting to leave.

Strike while the iron’s hot.

I clear my throat to cut through the tension before it grows any more. Even though I’m on the other side of the room, I can practically feel Brander’s and Lifesaver’s temperatures skyrocket. Survival is Brandy’s special talent.

But perhaps this time he won’t make it.

“About the tattoo,” Brander says, cutting the silence in half with his deep-throated voice. “I’m sorry, but a removal isn’t something we can do. We use black ink for a reason, and it’s because it’s the color least likely to fade.”

Alice picks at her lip with her manicured nails. Weirdly, her face is neutral. Her voice too. “Sure you can get rid of it.Look.” She jumps down from the exam table. “If you’re scared of hurting me, then you have nothing to worry about. I have an exceptionally high pain tolerance. My fiancé broke up with me a week before our wedding, and we were together for four years. If my heart can go on beating after that, I can survive painful laser no problem.”

Jealousy cuts through me sharper than a knife. Her ex isn’t a topic my ears particularly like hearing about. It’s like tuning in to a static radio station—the crackling soon worms its way into your bones if you listen to it long enough.

“That’s not quite how we operate things, sweetness.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The tattoo is, like you said, permanent—so we can’t remove it.”

Her eyes space out. A perfect opportunity presents itself for her to lash out and call us all the most hurtful names under the sun, but a lip twitch is the only reaction she has to my words.

I make eye contact with Brander. God, he looks terribly sober now. Darkness shadows under his eyes, but it has nothing to do with the two hours of sleep he caught last night. His thoughts always show on his face, and this one translates into a sort of dread.

That’s when it hits me.

Other women are out-of-bounds now. We can’t distract ourselves. Pretend none of it happened. The mark on her left ass cheek has sealed the deal that Lifesaver, Brander, and I share exclusivity with Alice. She’s only permitted to open her legs for us, and by code of conduct, she is the only girl we can fuck.

I wipe a hand around the back of my neck. Being exclusive with this woman is how I lose my sense of self.

It’s a face-palm moment.

I could accept it if Alice wasn’tAlice.

But here we are.

I can wave goodbye to feeling as light as a bird not burdened by feelings, and hello to complicated. To a heavy heart and an overthinking mind. Things all came together for Bane, Alto, and Colt when they branded Harlow behind Grizzly’s back, and the same followed for some of our other members. But this doesn’t promise a stable life for me.

Last night wasn’t just a fuckup.

It was the day Match died.

“You belong to us now, Alice,” Brander says.

She leans back against the exam table. “What does that mean?”

“It means that you can’t see any other men.”

She folds her arms. “Because I have a tattoo of your names on my butt?”

“Exactly,” I say.

“And what about the marriage?”

Silence answers that question. It’s a good one. Whataboutthe marriage? Normally, that comes years down the line when you actuallyknowa person.

“It means,” Lifesaver begins, “that even after we file for an annulment, our exclusivity remains the same. Me, you, Brander and Match.”

Until death do we fucking part.

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