Sucker Bet (4 page)

There was a mix of both exasperation and fear in her voice. It bothered him. She was a very petite, fragile-looking woman, young. Mid-twenties at most. A part of her worried that her ex could hurt her, he could sense that. And he was good at assessing people. It was half his job as a homicide detective with the Las Vegas Metro Police. An overzealous ex might also explain why she'd taken to the fantasy of a vampire slayers' group on the Internet. It was a way to exercise her version of control.

"How long since you split up?"

She squeezed the phone again, and glanced at the display screen, frowning at whatever was there. "Three years." Flipping the phone open, she pushed some buttons. "He texted me a message this time."

Three years was a long time after a divorce for a guy to still be pursuing his ex. "What does he say?"

Shrugging, she closed the phone and put it in her purse. "It's nothing. He just wants me to call him."

"He just wrote 'call me'?"

"Yes. Well, he added a
now
to it, because it irritates him that I ignore him. Why?"

"It sounds like he's a problem." A problem that Nate understood. One he could deal with. What he couldn't deal with was the image embedded in his brain of his baby sister lying in that hospital bed, all the life, vitality, and essence gone from her.

"He is what he is. I'm used to it."

"But you're afraid of him, aren't you?" Nate shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans and watched for her reaction to his question. She actually looked startled.

"No, I don't think so. Roberto would never hurt me, not physically, if that's what you mean." She tucked a strand of that pale wheat hair behind her ear. "But… he's very controlling. And what I think I'm afraid of is that when we're together, when we were married, I was willing to compromise what I thought was right because of him. He made me stretch my moral boundaries. Do you know what I mean?" She looked at him earnestly. "I don't want to be like that ever again."

Nate nodded, feeling his nerves settle, his near panic abating. He wasn't going to lose it, not right then anyway. He had a handle on it. "I know what you mean. We walk the line, and some people help us pull one way or the other."

"And we can't blame them really, we have to be responsible for ourselves, but we know it's wrong, and so it's better to stay away entirely." She shoved her cell phone in her purse, her previous bravado back.

Before he was even aware of what the hell he was doing, Nate said, "I'm headed to the coffee shop over there… care to join me?"

It wasn't the need for caffeine that had him craving coffee, but the desperate desire to stay away from his house, where Kyra's hospital bed loomed, and the pervasive sick smell clung to the carpet. He didn't want to go home and he didn't want to be alone. Gwenna Carrick looked like she needed company as much as he did. Despite her earlier words, he doubted she'd encountered a whole lot of dead bodies in her life, especially not one done up like a pretzel and crammed behind a ticket dispenser.

"Okay," she said without hesitation. But then she bit her lip and darted her eyes to the elevator.

"Are you here with someone?" He could read the signs, and he didn't want to cause her complications. His own selfish need for distraction wasn't justification for getting her in trouble with a boyfriend. Though he had to admit he was curious as to why she was at the hospital in the first place.

"No. My brother and I were both visiting a friend, but he came with his wife. He's just very protective of me."

Not protective enough, given her night's activities. "That's good and not so good, I bet. It's nice that he cares so much, but it probably cramps your style. Maybe he would have a point if he objected to you hanging out with a total stranger. You know, say at a coffee shop, or meeting up with someone you don't know in a random place like a monorail station."

She made that face again, that ridiculous-looking pout that showed her distaste. "True," she said with a smile. "But I'd love a cup of coffee anyway, so shall we?"

Nate had originally thought her accent was British, but the way she spoke her vowels made him question his original guess. There was something about her that Nate couldn't put his finger on… like all the pieces to her puzzle just didn't add up. His sense of logic, the detective part of his personality, wanted to figure out who exactly she was beyond his first assessment of dumb blonde.

"Sure." He gestured down the hall and she started walking next to him. "So, you have a friend who's sick?"

"No. Our friend, well, actually she's my brother's wife's sister, so my brother's sister-in-law, but definitely my friend…" She stopped talking and flushed a little. "God, I'm babbling. All I'm trying to say is that Brittany had a baby tonight and we were visiting her. There were some health concerns, so we're very excited that everything is fine. She had a girl."

For some reason, Nate actually felt a smile tug at his mouth at her explanation. "That's wonderful." And amazing that he could actually freaking mean it. There was something soothing in knowing that while his sister had been leaving the world, a baby had been entering it. Kyra would have appreciated that.

"It was a little odd, too, though, considering what I saw earlier… I felt, I don't know, unclean. Like I shouldn't touch that sweet little baby. God, that makes no sense, does it? Just ignore me." She rubbed her lip and studied a painting on the wall as they walked.

"Hey, I understand. I see a lot of death. Sometimes it's hard to cross back over." God knew he was having a hard time crawling back at that very moment.

"Why are you here?" Stopping outside the coffee shop, she studied him. Nate wanted to squirm under that scrutiny. He knew what he looked like, because he felt like it, too—total hell. It made him feel exposed to have her blue eyes probing over him, compassion on her face.

"It isn't for a good reason, is it?"

"No." Nate pulled in a breath and made himself say it. "My sister just died." His voice cracked but he held on, fighting off the tears, the feeling that if he let loose that tidal wave of grief, he would just go right under and drown.

Gwenna's eyes went wide. "Oh. I'm so, so sorry." She reached out and took his hand in hers. "They're empty words and they don't fix anything, but I mean it sincerely."

Her touch was comforting, firm, despite the fact that her fingers were small and thin. She was close to him, their clasped hands brushing his thigh, and her pale blue eyes stared up at him with compassion. "Thanks." He should say something else, do better than that, but he wasn't capable of anything more.

She squeezed his hand. "Maybe we should skip the coffee… maybe you should head home."

"No. I don't want to. I can't, you know what I'm saying?" Nate stroked his thumb over the back of her hand. It was smooth and very cool. There was something reassuring about her, her obvious femininity, delicateness soothing. "Have you ever lost someone you love?"

There was a slight nod, than she whispered, "Yes. I know exactly how you feel."

"Who did you lose?" he asked, which was rude, but he wanted to hear, wanted to know that someone understood the pain he felt, the grief he was trying so hard to control. It wasn't the kind of thing you vented with your buddies over a beer about. There wasn't anyone he could really talk to, just say what he felt with total honesty. But for some whacked-out reason, he was spilling it to this woman, and wanting answers.

"A sister. A brother. My mother." Then her eyes went wide, tears suddenly there, shiny and wet and agonized. "My daughter."

She might as well have kicked him in the gut. Nate felt horrible for asking, at the same time he felt a shocking sense of relief that she would, did understand. That he wasn't alone in his grief. But he couldn't fathom, absolutely couldn't get his head around losing so many people he cared about. And a child, a baby. His gut twisted at the thought.

"God, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked." With his free hand, he swiped at the tear that had fallen down her cheek with his thumb. "I can't imagine going through…" Nate looked at his thumb, suddenly distracted. Her tear wasn't clear, but a ruddy rust color, staining his skin. "Are you bleeding?"

"What?" Her expression was confused and she looked down at her arms and hands. "Where do you see blood?"

"On your face." He pulled his finger back so she could see. "It's like your tears are bloody." Which didn't sound healthy.

"Oh." She relaxed and waved her hand. "That's just normal for me. It's a genetic medical condition, nothing dangerous. But it's like when people have extreme sun sensitivity… I've been teased that I'm a vampire." She shrugged. "I know it's kind of nauseating, but it is what it is."

"A vampire, huh? Yet you're in the slayers' group." Nate wiped her cheek again, to show her it didn't bother him. He was just glad she wasn't injured in some way. Bleeding out your eyes sure in the hell didn't sound like a good thing. "So you must be a vampire playing both sides then. Have you come to suck my blood?"

Her head tilted and she gave him an intriguing, sly smile. "Only with your permission."

Ethan knew before he even got off the elevator that his sister was still in the hospital. He could sense her presence. And when the doors open, he smelled her vampire scent.

An apology was probably in order. Alexis had already told him as much, and he had a feeling his wife was right. For nine hundred years he had been criticizing Gwenna's involvement with Donatelli, and it had never done anything but drive her faster into his weasel arms. So maybe it was time for a new tactic.

He was scanning the lobby for her, preparing to be sheepish, when he spotted his little sister with a man he'd never seen before in his life. And Gwenna was holding hands with him.

"Who the hell is that?" he asked Alexis. Gwenna didn't hang out with mortal men, which this one clearly was. Gwenna didn't hang out with anyone. She stayed in her hotel room and did… Gwenna things. Ethan was never really sure what his sister did with her time.

"I don't know," Alexis said, craning her neck to get a better view around him.

Ethan shifted so she could see, feeling outraged. "They're practically on top of each other."

"Wow, check that out. He's touching her face. Go, Gwenna."

"No." Ethan glared at his wife. "No 'go, Gwenna.' We don't even know who this guy is."

"What we do know is that he's not Donatelli. And if she's seeing this guy, I seriously doubt she's making it with the Italian, too. That's not Gwenna's style."

That was a good point. Gwenna was sedate. Steady. Reliable. Even in her stupid insane devotion to Donatelli she was predictable. She had always loved him and no one else. But if she was with another man…

"They look rather intimate, don't they?" Ethan asked, studying his sister's posture. She was leaning toward the man slightly.

He wouldn't have expected Gwenna to take a mortal lover, but as long as she was staying away from Donatelli, Ethan was happy. Of course, that didn't mean he trusted anyone around his sister until he was certain of his intent. "Can you get this guy's name from Gwenna? I'll have Seamus run a background check on him."

Ethan didn't even have to look at his wife to know she was rolling her eyes. It was her favorite response to him, one he had to admit turned him on. Virtually everything Alexis did turned him on, which made for a very satisfying marriage.

"Here's an idea," Alexis said sarcastically. "Let's leave Gwenna alone and let her date whoever she wants. In peace. Without interference. You know, like let her make her own choices, whether they're mistakes or not. I like that better."

Gwenna and the mortal man moved off in the direction of the hospital coffee shop a few feet away. Ethan glanced down at his wife and scoffed. "Like you did with your sister? You've been telling Brittany what to do for twenty-six years."

Alexis, sexy little spitfire that she was, bristled. "That's totally different."

"How? We both love our sisters and we both stick our noses in their business. Just admit it."

"I won't."

"Which makes you a bigger hypocrite than me." Ethan saw the guy put his hand on the small of Gwenna's back as they got in line for coffee. "At least I'm honest about my protectiveness."

And as they soon as they got back to his casino, he was going to put in a call and have Gwenna's new little friend checked out.