by M. S. Parker
*****
That questioned echoed in my head as I washed my face. Part of me felt bad about Carter getting punched because I knew that was at least partially my fault. If I’d been honest with DeVon from the get go, this wouldn’t have happened, and as lecherous as Carter could be, he hadn’t forced himself on me when I’d turned him down. He wasn’t all bad. I wasn’t going to take all the blame, though. If DeVon had taken the time to ask what had happened or had assumed the best instead of the worst, he wouldn’t have hit Carter either. Then again, maybe he would’ve. I’d heard what Carter had said.
I couldn’t go back and change what I’d done, or hadn’t done. All I could do was figure out where I was going to go from here. I didn’t know how DeVon was going to act now that he knew the truth. He could be pissed at me, and I couldn’t exactly blame him for it. Then again, he’d been the one who’d practically shoved me into Carter’s bed in the first place. I wasn’t entirely sure he’d earned the right to be angry, no matter what I had or hadn’t said. It wasn’t like we were anything to each other besides employer and employee. Who I slept with really wasn’t any of his business, as long as I wasn’t breaking his precious rules. Except with him, apparently.
I didn’t want to face him, that much I knew. I wanted to just go back to my room, grab my bags and take the first flight back to Los Angeles, but I knew that was the coward’s way out. I didn’t back down from anything. It wasn’t who I was. Besides, better to do this here than at the office and fuel the rumor mill.
I squared my shoulders, took a deep breath and made sure I didn’t look as flustered as I felt. I was going to march back in there, sit with Landon and enjoy the rest of the fight. And I wasn’t going to let my worry over what DeVon thought ruin the rest of my weekend. He knew the truth now. The ball was in his court if he wanted to patch things up. If not, well, that was his choice, too.
When I got back to my seat, I saw that the main fight hadn’t started yet. That was good. I wanted to see it start to finish. I sat down between Landon and DeVon, resisting the impulse to angle my body away from DeVon. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing how close I’d come to walking out.
“Are you okay?” Landon leaned close so he could ask the question without anyone else overhearing. “I heard what happened.”
“I’m fine.” I smiled at him. It felt a bit tight, but not as forced as I’d feared. “Looking forward to the next match.”
Landon followed my lead and let me change the subject. “It’s gonna be a good one.”
I risked a glance at DeVon, but he was staring straight ahead, his expression stony. Whatever, I thought. If he wanted to act like he’s the wronged party, fine. He was the one who needed to apologize first. It had been his assumption that had started this whole thing. Once he apologized, I’d consider doing the same.
Fortunately, I didn’t have to think about it too much because the fighters were entering the arena and I had somewhere else to focus my attention. I hoped this one was more aggressive than the first. I needed some sort of vicarious outlet for all of the emotions churning inside me.
As soon as the bell rang, I knew that I was going to get exactly what I wanted. Thompson and Rizzo came out swinging, both literally and figuratively. I couldn’t name half of the moves they were using. Before the first few minutes were up, I found myself leaning forward in my seat. I was almost able to forget about DeVon sitting next to me, never speaking, never even looking at me.
I tried to lose myself completely in the admiration of two amazing bodies displaying amazing feats of athleticism, but I couldn’t keep myself from noticing every time DeVon moved, wondering if this time he was going to break the silence. Well, the symbolic silence because the arena was anything but quiet. I could barely hear myself think over the cheering and screaming. In fact, I had a feeling if I hadn’t been thinking about DeVon, I wouldn’t have been able to form a thought at all. As it was, they came in bursts, accompanied with emotion.
Growing anger at DeVon for ignoring me. His lack of remorse over having thought I slept with Carter. The fact that he’d just made the assumption and never bothered to talk to me about it.
Each one took with it a bit of the redemption he’d earned on this trip until I was completely disgusted with myself for ever having thought he was different. Maybe he could do the friend thing with Landon. Good for them. I wouldn’t start anything and ruin Landon’s celebration, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to be friendly to DeVon, either.
When Rizzo fell to the floor, out cold from a round kick, the place erupted and I jumped to my feet, cheering along with everyone else. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw DeVon doing the same and turned slightly so that I was angled towards Landon. I smiled up at him and he leaned down so he could shout in my ear.
“What’d I tell you? Great, wasn’t it?”
I nodded, not wanting to shout back. The entire place was thrumming with energy and I could feel it coursing over me, coating my skin. I’d been to a few sporting events before and knew how emotions in a crowd could be contagious. This was more than that. I should’ve been exhausted after a long day, but I’d never been more awake.
As the noise finally started to shift from celebration to the regular sound of people talking as they gathered their things, DeVon stepped around me so that he could see both Landon and me. I kept my eyes on Landon, though I didn’t turn away from DeVon. I wasn’t going to make Landon choose which of us he wanted to be nice to.
“Ready to hit the tables?” DeVon’s voice betrayed absolutely none of the previous turmoil.
I wondered if it hadn’t affected him as much as it had me, or if he was just that good of an actor. Not that it mattered, I decided. I was going to have fun with my new friend and let DeVon do whatever it was men like him did. He wasn’t my problem.
Landon glanced down at me and then gave DeVon an apologetic smile. “I’m not really much of a gambler. I’d much rather go to a club and I know you’re not a club kind of guy.” He returned his gaze to me. “But I bet you’re a club kind of girl, right?”
I grinned. That sounded like exactly what I needed. “I’d love to go to a club.”
“Do you mind?” Landon asked DeVon. “There’s this great place down at Mandalay Bay that one of the pool boys was telling me about.”
Out of the corner my eye, I saw DeVon shake his head. I thought his smile looked a little forced, but what did I know? I’d actually thought he was starting to be a decent guy.
“Go ahead,” he said. “We’re here to celebrate your part. You should do what you want.”
“Great!” Landon put his arm around my waist. “We’ll catch up with you later.”
As we turned, I saw that DeVon was trying to catch my eye, but I didn’t let him. I doubted he was going to apologize and if that wasn’t what he had to say, I didn’t want to hear it.
“Knock yourselves out.” His words were flat. “You know where to find me.”
He walked off before either Landon or I could respond and I pushed aside my twinge of guilt. I’d initiated our first kiss. I’d made the first sexual advance. I was sick and tired of being the one to put myself out there for someone who couldn’t be bothered to even try to repair damage he was mostly responsible for. I was done.
Chapter 14
DEVON
I watched her walk away with Landon, my mind still spinning from the night’s turn of events. I’d tried to focus on the match, but it hadn’t been easy. I’d kept seeing the expression on her face when she’d confirmed what Carter had said. Her words had rung in my ears louder than the roars of the crowd. I wasn’t sure which was worse: the fact that she’d called me out on my bullshit, or the fact that she’d completely outplayed me. She’d known what I’d assumed and, instead of getting pissed off and setting me straight, she’d done nothing, letting me stew about it. I’d never suspected the truth, and a good part of that was due to her amazing poker face. I made a mental note never to play cards against her.
The problem was, I also knew that some of the reason I hadn’t considered the truth was because she had been right. I did assume the worst of women. Until she’d surprised me, I’d always been right.
I’d been relieved to hear that she hadn’t actually fucked Carter, but I was still angry with her. Not because she’d lied, but because she’d outwitted me, and that never happened.
I was certain she’d done it just to torment me. It’s what I would’ve done, and I’d said before that we were alike.
I paused as I thought it and then shook my head. That wasn’t quite accurate. She wasn’t like me, she practically was me as a woman. And wasn’t the old saying ‘opposites attract’? If that was true, then Krissy and I should’ve been repelling each other like two magnets.
“Fuck it,” I muttered as I reached the doors that led to the casino. I needed to get my mind off of all of this and playing some Black Jack seemed like as good a way as any to get it done.
I headed straight for my favorite table, one with a hundred dollar minimum bet. It wasn’t the highest in the casino, but it was far from the lowest. I liked riding the middle. Tonight, however, I started a bit higher than usual and pushed a thousand dollars out onto the table.
After several games, I’d lost two and won six, putting me up by a couple thousand dollars. I had to admit, in my maudlin mood, I’d been expecting to lose round after round, further proof of the kind of luck I’d been having lately. This seemed to prove otherwise and the thought flashed through my head that maybe I was reading things with Krissy wrong, too. Maybe meeting her was the luckiest thing that had ever happened to me.
I barked a laugh that made the others at my table look at me. I ignored them and pushed another thousand on the table. As the others made their bets, I signaled to one of the waitresses for another Scotch on the rocks. I was getting into my usual rhythm and letting it do what it always did. Clear my head of all the shit I had to deal with in real life.
Before I knew it, I was twenty-five thousand dollars up and a couple of hours had passed. A voice at my elbow pulled me from my narrowed focus.
“Somebody’s doing good tonight.”
I turned and smiled at Landon. “This doesn’t even cover the seats at the match tonight, but who’s counting?” I clapped him on the back and laughed. Some of my previous tension returned as I glanced around while trying to look nonchalant about it. “How was the club? Did Krissy head up to her room already?” My stomach tightened at the possibility that she’d gone back to someone else’s room.
Landon raised an eyebrow, his expression telling me that he wasn’t fooled by my tone. “The club was pretty much dead, hence the reason we came back early. Krissy just went to the restroom. She’ll be right back.” He leaned on the edge of the table. “What’s up with you and Krissy, anyway? She’s a nice girl. You should be nicer to her.”
I turned away from him on the pretense of placing a bet. “Are you telling me how to treat my employees now?”
Landon put his hand on my shoulder and I glanced over at him. His expression was serious.
“Don’t give me that shit. She’s more than an employee to you and you know that. Hell, I can see it.”
I cleared my throat and resisted the urge to throw off his hand. I didn’t want to have this conversation with him, but I didn’t want to do anything to damage my friendship with one of the few people in LA I actually liked. “You know how it is. Business first, pleasure later. She needs to know her place.” Even as the words came out, I knew they were wrong.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Landon’s laugh held his disbelief. “We’re not in the fifties where women were basically property. Stop being an asshole.”
It sounded so much like something Krissy would’ve said that it stung. And he was right. That was an asinine thing to have said. “I didn’t mean it that way,” I said. “You’re right. It’s just that there’s a lot of stuff going on between Ms. Jensen and me.”
“Ms. Jensen?” He raised an eyebrow again. I wondered if I looked just as cocky when I did it. “You can’t even say Krissy now?”
“Of course I can say Krissy.” I tried not to snap.
He shook his head. “What the hell happened between the two of you? This smells like a freaking soap opera.”
I sighed. “I’m sorry, Landon. Sorry I put you in the middle of this. I should’ve just made this trip for the two of us and not brought her along.”
“No,” Landon said firmly. “I’m glad you did. I really like her and it’s been great having a woman around who isn’t trying to ‘convert’ me.” He took the seat next to me and I slid over a small stack of chips. He put two in and continued with what he’d been saying. “But something is going on between you two and you’re not telling. I could go ask Krissy and she might tell me. I would’ve already asked her if it wasn’t for our friendship, and I think she might’ve already told me if she didn’t know we were friends.”
I bet without even really paying attention to what I was doing. “There’s not much to tell,” I said, trying to hedge. “We had a little thing for a while. I got mad at her and she got mad at me.” I looked at the table as if I was focusing on the cards being dealt. “You know how it goes in the entertainment industry. There’s always another one waiting.”
Landon grabbed my arm, forcing me to look at him. If it had been any other guy, I’d have knocked him on his ass, but it was Landon, so I listened.
“She’s better than that.” He released my arm. “Besides, I thought you had a thing about not hooking up with people who worked for you. Didn’t you say it was a bad idea?”
“Obviously, I was right,” I said wryly. “Trust me, if I could take it back, I would.” I wasn’t entirely sure that was true, but I wasn’t about to tell him that.
Landon pulled back the chips he’d won and set another few out. “Look, DeVon, maybe you don’t see it, but I can and I’m going to help you out here. I see the way the two of you look at each other when you think no one’s watching. There’s something there.”
I tried not to sound interested as my stomach twisted. “Has she said anything about me?”
Landon shook his head. “Not a word.” He shrugged. “But I’m not exactly her go-to guy when it comes to relationship advice. Give me a couple weeks and maybe then.” He stood and pushed back the chips I’d given him. I knew better than to tell him to keep them. “Anyway, you should feel lucky. That type of girl doesn’t come around often.”
I spoke in a low voice as I admitted out loud what I hadn’t wanted to admit even to myself. “I know.” I looked up at him. “But I’m no good at relationships. In and out, you know that’s how I’ve always been.”
“Well, you better learn, because I don’t think Krissy is an in-and-out type of girl.” Landon glanced over at another table and I noticed one of the patrons giving him a heated look. He looked back down at me. “She’s worth fighting for, DeVon.”
I bet another thousand as Landon walked over to introduce himself to the good-looking guy who’d been staring at him. I won again, but all I could think about was what Landon had said.
Chapter 15
KRISSY
When I entered the high stakes area, I saw that Landon had situated himself at a Black Jack table near DeVon, though I was pretty sure my new friend was more interested in the hot guy next to him than he was the game. Either way, I didn’t feel like spending the rest of the night watching them flirt and gamble, and I wasn’t about to try my hand at it. Thanks to the vast number of outfits I’d had to buy since starting at Mirage, I didn’t have much money to spare at the moment and I wasn’t about to waste it gambling.
I squared my shoulders and headed over to Landon first. I felt DeVon’s eyes on me as I leaned over my new friend’s shoulder. “Hey, I’m going to turn in.”
Landon turned towards me and based on the way his eyes flicked behind me, I knew DeVon was there. “You can’t,” Landon protested.
“He’s right,” DeVon said.
<
br /> I tossed a look over my shoulder and hoped he’d get the message that it was none of his business what I did.
“Only old people go to bed this early in Vegas,” DeVon said.
I scowled. I knew he’d said that on purpose, trying to goad me into staying.
“Look, I just heard about this great club that’s guaranteed to be a good time,” DeVon continued.
I gave him a skeptical look.
“One hour,” he said, his gaze darting over to Landon. “Try it for one hour.”
I looked at Landon who was grinning at me, the hot guy forgotten. “Please?” he asked. “I need a dance partner.”