Page 99 of Double or Nothing

There are a million places in Vegas where the four of us could have gone after the show, but there was only one place I wanted to be.

Squeezed into Liz’s tiny car, the cooler filled with beer on the seat between Kat and me, we’re headed to the baseball field. The place where my music began. The place where Kat and I ended. Now that it’s all come full circle, I can’t imagine a better place to celebrate.

“So, what are you two going to do now?” Liz is lying on a blanket next to Kat as Mac and I toss a ball back and forth.

“Sex. Lots of sex.”

Mac and Liz laugh as Kat scolds me for my honest answer.

“What? We have a lot of time to make up for.”

“As wonderful as that is, I was referring to where you’re going to live. If Kat’s going to keep working or become a kept housewife,” Liz continues.

I choke on the sip of beer I just took.

“Kat? Kept? I prefer my balls where they are, attached to me. No. Kitty Kat can do whatever she wants… as long as I’m at the top of the list of things she does.”

“Always, baby.” She smiles.

“What about you, Mac?” Liz continues her barrage of questions.

“What about me?” Mac coughs out, taken aback by her interest in him.

“You’ve been on the road as long as Sutton. What are you going to do now that you’re back in Vegas and most likely won’t need to babysit him as often?”

“Trust me, there will never be a shortage of needing to babysit this asshole,” Mac replies with a laugh.

I chuck the ball at him a little harder and a little faster. Always the more athletic, he catches it with ease and tosses it back, turning the situation around and taking me off guard. Trying to dodge the ball, I land on the blanket next to Kat.

“What about you, Kitty Kat? What do you want?”

The decision may have been made, but we haven’t even begun to sort out the details. I’m not sure what headspace she’s in, but whatever we do, we do it together, including where we live. We’ve been apart long enough. There’s no need to waste more time.

Laying my head in her lap, her fingers run through my hair. She’s the most at ease I’ve seen her since I got back into town.

“I have it all, right here.”

“You know, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea,” Mac says. “I don’t know if I can stomach the two of you being back together.”

“Here, here,” Liz agrees, jumping up from the blanket and standing next to Mac. “Us poor single people don’t want to watch the two of you kissy facing all over each other. Right, Mac?”

“Kissy facing?” I laugh. “I don’t kissy-face. I—”

Kat’s hand clamps over my mouth.

“You two need help,” Mac says.

“We need to be alone,” I tell him. “Why don’t you two go kissy-face somewhere else.”

I don’t even have to look at Mac to know he’s scowling, probably Liz, too, but neither of them denies they want to.

“How about you take this shit back to the hotel before I have to bail your asses out of jail.”

“Party pooper,” I say as I help Kat to her feet.

Chapter 45

Sutton

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