Page 46 of Vegas Daddies

Peter nods in agreement.

“Alice is fine, don’t worry,” Lifesaver assures him. “We’ll take good care of her.”

Peter rises from the bed to slap an arm around his friend. They embrace for a moment, and then he pulls away with a smile. “Thanks so much, man.”

“It’s no problem.”

“No, really,” he says. “I’m glad you’re on shift.” He extends his gaze over to Alice. “Don’t worry, baby. You’re in good hands. The best.”

“Thanks, man.” Lifesaver straightens a crease out of his scrubs and crosses the room to open the door. “Here. I’ll show you out.”

Peter kisses Alice on the temple, squeezes her hand, and then makes his way over. “I love you, sweetheart. Come straight home tomorrow, okay?”

“Okay, Daddy. I love you too.”

The door closes behind them, and everyone relaxes.

“Fucking hell,” says Brander.

Alice relaxes her shoulders. “I know.”

“That’s your fuckingdad?!” My finger slices through the air as I point to the door. “Fuck me, Alice, a heads-up would’ve been nice.”

“I didn’tknow!”

“When did you know?”

“Just now when?—”

The door flies open again, revealing Lifesaver. He slams it behind him. Locks us in.

Alice slowly travels her eyes up to him. How the hell will those two be able to see one another the same again? They flash each other a hesitant glance that lasts no longer than a second. The guilt. The sudden distance between them.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Lifesaver asks.

“I didn’t know!”

“Yeah right.”

“I’m serious! Fucking hell. You think I would’ve let you undress me and—” Alice cuts herself off, and I don’t blame her. “Sex” and “dad’s best friend” are two things that should never be talked about in the same sentence. Not even in the same paragraph.

“Look.” Her chest deflates as she exhales a breath. “I didn’t know until you guys started talking about the fucking Bratva wanting to kill my dad.”

“You referred to him as Peter,” Lifesaver says. “Why?”

“Because…I needed a minute to digest everything.”

“Was that your plan? To let me find out for myself?”

“Guys!” I interject. “Jesus fucking Christ.” It’s like I’m seventeen years old and in the middle of a domestic all over again. “Chill out. Yelling is unconstructive. It’s a shock to everyone, but we need to talk this out and come to some sort of resolution.”

“Thereisno resolution.” Lifesaver joins Alice on the bed and blows out a breath. “He’s my friend and I slept with his fucking daughter.”

Brander, over in the corner, wears the same anxious expression as Lifesaver. I’m not sure why. Lifesaver, out of all three of us, is in the biggest shit here.

“There’s no getting out of this.” Lifesaver nets his hands and swings them between his legs, thinking. I gather this is what he does most of the time at work when not diagnosing patients—thinking. Most things can be medicated and treated, and operations can be performed to surgically remove things, but this situation has no cure.

His features soften as he goes on thinking. The swinging hands stop, and he resorts to picking at his fingernails, staring intentlyat them until words finally pop into his head. “I don’t want to get out of this.”

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