Page 39 of The Gambler

Tess grabbed a hold of her arm. “Could you stop with the pacing, please? You’re making me dizzy.”

Carmen stopped in her tracks. A smile appeared on her face. “I’m so happy for my sister. She’s found the one thing every woman wants—a lover who lives and breathes for her. They’re trying to have a baby. How can I tell him about this man? You know how he would take care of him, don’t you?”

“Yeah. Most likely, in a permanent way.”

“Exactly. I can’t be the reason that he takes a life. Not while they are trying to make one. It seems so wrong. I couldn't handle the bad karma.”

“Bad karma?”

“My punishment,” Carmen whispered.

“Um, not sure what you mean.” Her eyes went to Carmen’s fists. They were so tight her knuckles were white.

“I never stood up against Franco. Always being afraid, like a little mouse. I was given to him when I was eighteen. I survived twelve years of a hellish marriage. It took me that long to get pregnant. Unfortunately, it took me too long to leave him. If I had left him when I found out I was pregnant, I wouldn’t have killed my baby.”

Oh, wow. That was some heavy burden Carmen was carrying. Tess wasn’t sure how to respond to that. “You can’t blame yourself for—”

“Please don’t mention anything to Tommie,” Carmen said, when they heard footsteps approaching. “He’s had enough bad people in his life to last him a lifetime.”

“Okay, but about tonight? Are you sure—”

“I need to tell him to back off, Tess.”

“And you think talking to him will do that?”

“I have to try.”

Or die trying.

Those unspoken words just hung in the air. Dammit. The baby dominatrix was going to get herself hurt. She had to save Carmen from herself.

***

LUCA

According to a certain source, his unicorn would be at Vince’s private club tonight. When Tess had told him earlier in the day that she was off celebrating Halloween with her friends, he’d been strangely disappointed. But when he thought about it, the reason was clear. He didn’t like her being away from him. Now, it might be because this fake engagement thing was getting to his head. Or it might be because he’d been horny as hell for days and hadn’t gotten any relief. But mostly, probably, it was because for almost a week now, she was a constant fixture in his life. He liked seeing Tess and her stuff around his condo.

The row of plants that had somehow ended up in his window sill because apparently his place needed color and oxygen. All the organic, vegetarian food, because being a carnivore was going to put him into an early grave. He’d even gotten used to her movies that either had spaceships in them or trolls and elves. And their hours long, heated discussions about which house ofHarry Potterwas the best. Though, that last one was his fault. The second he’d mentioned he’d never seen any of those movies, he was practically force-fed the entire series. He didn’t care much about movies with magic in them—he was more of an action movie kind of guy—but he sure liked the passionate way she defended her favorite characters. Bottom line was, his house felt damn empty without her in it.

His brother grinned when he saw Luca’s costume. So, yeah, maybe it was a bit on the nose, but here he was anyway.

“You look good, brother,” Vince said, handing him over a drink. “The black and white stripes are very retro.”

He took the drink, a single malt whiskey. “Your club looks good as well.”

“We do well.”

Luca could imagine that to be true. Club Obsidian screamed exclusivity, from the design dark, hardwood floors, to the red satin walls, to the white marble bar. He hadn’t visited the place yet in its normal attire, but he could picture it in his head without the people in costume.

Speaking of people in costume, there she was. Tess walked through the door, arm in arm with Tommie and Carmen. She wore a white dress, some sort of black Vader mask that didn’t cover her eyes, and pink ribbons. Sporting a—of course—light saber on her belt. She looked amazing. He owed Tommie for the tip.

“You know, Dad told me about his life before he met Mom,” Vince said.

“Yeah?” Some blond guy in a grunge outfit had walked up to his Tess.

“He basically was a man-whore before he met her. Of course, he didn’t use those exact words, but I got the drift.”

“Hmm.” Who the hell was she talking to? Shit. Hadn’t she told him once that she was into blonds?

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