Page 40 of The Gambler

“Of course, everything changed after he met Mom. Same thing happened to Gio. According to Dad, every man needs a strong woman. A queen. All Dettas are made like that. The first time they set eyes on the right woman, they know.”

The blond asshole leaned closer to Tess. She was animatedly talking to him, using her hands as she was prone to do when she was explaining something. That “something” might be anything from her favorite vegan cupcake to the start of the Universe. Even from this distance, Luca could see the guy was barely listening to her. His eyes were glued to her chest.

Then his brother waved a hand before his eyes. “What?”

“I’m so glad I have your full attention,” Vince said dryly, following his gaze. Then he cursed under his breath. “What the fuck is she doing here?”

Luca waited patiently until Tommie hand-delivered his prize to him. The guy was dressed as Freddie Mercury wearing a king’s robe, complete with a fake mustache.

Tess looked slightly surprised at seeing him, but then she smiled. She looked sugary sweet, especially standing next to Carmen in all black.

He held out his hand and without any hesitation, she took it, plastering herself against him. Finally, his evening felt right again.

“Why are you dressed like that? You’re not a dominatrix.” Vince’s words sounded clipped.

Carmen slapped the whip on the palm of her hand. “And how would you know?”

Vince took a step closer to her, forcing her to step back. “Stop pretending to be something that you’re not, sweetheart.”

“No,youstop pretending like you know me. I can be whatever, or whomever, I want. And don’t call me sweetheart. I’m neither sweet nor do I have a heart.”

With that, she gave him her back and strode away on her six-inch heels.

There was an awkward silence that Tess broke. “Tommie, could you please go after Carmen? She shouldn’t be alone right now. I need to speak to Vince for a sec.”

Tommie nodded and went off.

Before Tess could continue, they were joined by Vince’s business partner.

“Do we have a situation on our hands, Vince?” Sy asked. He’d obviously witnessed the spat between him and Carmen.

“No, we don’t have a fucking situation. Not yet, but we will any second.”

Sy nodded. “A sub dressed up as a dominatrix will probably get her ass in trouble, yeah. But, hey, it’s Halloween. The one day a year anyone can be anybody they want. Even a woman who obviously needs to be someone or something else.”

“You look good, unicorn,” Luca whispered to Tess and placed a kiss on her glossy lips. Cherries. She tasted like fucking cherries. Hell. How much longer was he going to suffer? Maybe giving her the lead in this hadn’t been his brightest idea. This slow burn might actually kill him.

“Look at you, Mr. Detta,” Tess said, with a twinkle in her eyes. “And here I believed they made you wear orange jumpsuits inside. But you look absolutely retro chic in this apparel.”

He knew she’d understand. She was nothing like Natasha, who would have been mortified if he’d worn this to a party, announcing himself an ex-con.

To his surprise, and just because she had to be Tess, she took out a pair of cuffs from behind her back. “I just snatched these from a cabinet,” she fake whispered. “I dare you to put these on.”

“Never dare me, Darth Leia. Never dare me.” He put on a cuff on his left wrist and the other half on her right wrist.

“Hey!”

Now she had no other choice but to stay at his side for the rest of the night. Kurt Cobain could go fuck himself.

Vince gave him a knowing smile, and then it dawned on Luca that his “Dad talk” had been for him. Hell, he’d known that, but he just couldn’t go there. Not yet. He could not trust his feelings about her.

“You needed to speak to me, Tess?” his brother reminded.

She grabbed his hand, looking worried now. “Yes, um, I’m not supposed to tell you, but I don’t know what else to do. I think Carmen’s in trouble. She’s meeting someone here who’s been bothering her. I don’t know who he is, other than real bad news.”

She needn’t say more. His brother and Sy were already gone.

Then she turned to him, putting a cuffed hand to his cheek. “So, this is my first time in a private adult club. What do you say we find a room and make out for a bit? We could conduct our own experiment and see what all the fuss is about places like this that get people all hot and bothered. In the name of science, of course.”

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