Alec had mentioned his wife’s sister a time or two, but never anything super specific. I did remember one thing that would make it difficult for her to accept a job from Andrew. “Doesn’t she live in Las Vegas?”
“She’s moving to Chicago to help Alessia when Alec’s on the road for away games. Tamara was keeping an eye on her when her training schedule allowed.”
Tamara was the girlfriend of one of Alec’s teammates, and one hell of a speed skater. “And she just left for PyeongChang since the Olympics are right around the corner.”
“Yeah,” he confirmed. “Alec is worried about Alessia being alone when he’s gone, and they were talking about her maybe moving in with my parents for the last trimester. My parents are great, but—”
“Who wants to live with your in-laws when you’re still in the honeymoon phase of your marriage?” I finished his thought for him.
“Exactly. It was such a huge relief for Alec that Alessia offered to move out here that he hired movers and booked her a flight, giving her less than a week to quit her job and wrap up any loose ends from her life so she’d be here before his next road trip,” he explained. “Since she didn’t balk at how quickly he wanted her out here, I figured the least I could do was give her a job and make the transition a little easier on her. She is family, after all.”
“She might be family, but have you ever even met her?” She hadn’t been at the party their parents had thrown for Alec and his new bride when they arrived in Chicago after meeting and getting married in Vegas during a friend’s bachelor party last year. And although I’d been working my ass off for the past six months to make sure Andrew could spend time with Josie and the baby, I hadn’t missed any of the family holiday get-togethers and she wasn’t at any of them.
“Nope.”
“Nepotism at its best,” I mumbled in irritation. Andrew wasn’t the one who was going to have to worry about getting her trained. He also wasn’t going to have to soothe her co-workers’ ruffled feathers since she was promised primo shifts right away when everyone else had to put in their time before they got to work the nights when the tips were the best.
“Quit being such a pessimist. Ariana will fit in fine,” he reassured me. “Alessia insists that her sister is prettier than she is, which Alec vehemently denies. But he did tell me that she’s worked in Vegas nightclubs ever since the day after her twenty-first birthday. If she can handle the VIP sections there, then she won’t have any problems working in any of our clubs.”
“Fine, maybe she won’t be the worst hire ever,” I conceded. “But if she doesn’t work out, then you’re the one who’s going to have to fire her. I’m not going to piss off a pregnant woman just because you offered her sister a job without seeing her resume or doing a background check of any kind.”
“As long as you give her a real shot and stop bitching about how I hired her, that works for me.”
He stretched out a hand, and I leaned forward to shake it. “Like you said, she’s family. Of course, I’m going to do my best to make sure she fits in around here.”
It went without saying that I’d cut her more slack than any of the other servers. It wasn’t just because of her connection to Andrew, either. She already had my respect for uprooting her life to help out her sister. Andrew was the closest thing to a brother as I’d ever have, and I’d do just about anything for him. But there were a lot of people in the world who’d never make a true sacrifice for anyone else because they were always focused on themselves.
I knew how people like that operated first-hand since my ex had been like that—always worried about her own needs without giving a damn about what I wanted. It was why she didn’t understand how I was more than willing to pull ten hour days seven days a week so Andrew could stay home with Josie and the baby. It was also the main reason why I wasn’t in a rush to dive back into the dating scene, no matter how pushy my mom got about my lack of a love life. I’d wasted too much time in a relationship that was doomed to go nowhere, and I refused to get into another one until I met someone worth the risk.
Chapter Three
Ariana
“I’ve got this place all to myself?” I turned in a circle, taking in the suite Alec had arranged for me at the five-star hotel his friend Jason’s family owned. It was as amazing as the one he’d lined up for me in Vegas when he and Alessia had first met. The bedroom had a king-sized bed. There was a Jacuzzi tub and a huge, walk-in shower with half a dozen shower heads in the bathroom. The sitting room had a leather couch, reclining chair, and a fireplace. It even had a mini-kitchen with a small fridge, sink, microwave, and a two-burner stove in case I wanted to cook.
“Yeah, I wanted to make sure you had your own space for when you’re not staying with Alessia while I’m out of town.”
“She could’ve just stayed in our spare bedroom,” my sister grumbled as she lowered herself onto the recliner and crossed her arms over her swollen belly. “Instead of shuffling her stuff between the hotel and our place every time you’re out of town.”
I walked across the room, dropped down onto the arm of the chair, and leaned my head against hers. “Stop being so grumpy with your hubby. It was beyond thoughtful for him to line this up after everything else he did to help me get here.”
“But—”
I didn’t let her finish, interrupting her to say, “You’ll still get plenty of sister time. I’ll be with you when Alec is on the road for away games, and it’s only a short drive for us to see each other when he’s in town.”
“And if we’re lucky, Ariana will decide to make this move permanent. Then you’ll be able to see her all the time, and she’ll be around to spoil the baby as much as she wants,” Alec pointed out. “She can take over the lease on our place when we move into the house, and she’s already got a job lined up with Andrew whenever she wants it.”
“That’s true.” My sister’s green eyes lit up with happiness. “I’d love to have you stay with us, but I guess I shouldn’t be greedy. If you’re happier having a suite at the hotel, then that’s okay with me.”
“Plus this way, you won’t have to hold back from jumping Alec’s bones when he gets back from his road trips. With me out of your apartment, you can be as loud as you’d like.”
“Shut up,” she giggled, her cheeks filling with a pink blush that made me laugh.
I reached out and rubbed my hand over her belly. “It’s too late for the innocent act. I’ve already figured out that you two have had sex. My little niece-to-be is a dead giveaway.”
“No, really. Shut up,” she gasped, laughing harder. “Or else you’re going to make me pee my pants!”
“And quit calling the baby your niece. You’re going to jinx us,” Alec growled.
“Jinx you?”
Alessia held her hands out, and Alec helped her off the chair. Once she was up, she cuddled into his side and smiled at me. “It turns out my white knight is petrified by the idea of being a daddy to a baby girl. He keeps going on about all the guns he’s going to have to buy to protect her from boys. He seems to think he hasn’t done anything to warrant such a fate, which cracks his brother up since he and his wife had a little girl shortly after I moved here.”
“Really? This is just too cute. Funny, too,” I laughed, looking at Alec. “Now I have all the ammunition I need to torment you for the next few months, especially since I’m hoping it’ll be a little girl. I’m looking forward to shopping for all the pink and purple outfits I can find.”
“I told him we could find out the sex if he’s really that worried.”
“But Alessia was so excited by the idea of it being a surprise when we have the baby; I didn’t want to take that away from her.”
They were so damn happy together; I almost regretted coming to Chicago and messing it all up for them. But my sister needed me, and I wasn’t about to let her down. Not after everything she’d done for me over the years. She deserved the best, and that’s exactly what she’d gotten. I was going to make sure nothing
fucked with the life she was building here. Not even our mom.
“I think I read somewhere that it’s important to go to the bathroom as soon as the urge hits when you’re pregnant. Something about not doing any permanent damage to your bladder, maybe.” I raised my eyebrows at Alessia. “If making you laugh almost made you pee your pants, you should probably hit the bathroom before you guys leave.”
“Have you been reading pregnancy books, too?” She narrowed her eyes at me and jerked her thumb towards Alec’s chest. “I hope not, because this one’s all over me already about eating right, taking my vitamins, and every single random thing he’s seen in those damn books.”
“I’m not that bad, baby,” Alec murmured, his eyes filled with humor that told me he really was as bad as she said.
“Whatever,” she grumbled before stomping off to the bathroom.
As soon as the door shut behind her, I whispered, “You need to block my mom’s number from her cell phone. Start screening her emails, too. And make sure she can’t get to her on Skype or anything like that.”
“Fuck,” he groaned, running a hand through his hair. “I’m going to need your help keeping her distracted since she just mentioned yesterday how she hadn’t heard from your mom in a couple of weeks. If she wasn’t so focused on the pregnancy and you coming to town, she probably would’ve already figured out something was wrong.”
“I’ll do my best,” I promised.
“How bad is it this time?”
I slumped into the recliner. “She owes fifty grand, and the person who holds her marker isn’t the kind of guy who fucks around when it comes to getting paid back.”
Alec’s body tensed. “Why do you sound like you know more about this guy than you should?”
I didn’t want to tell him what happened, but I didn’t feel like I had a choice. If anything went wrong, he’d be pissed as hell if I kept it from him. And rightly so since we could keep Alessia protected better as a team than if I tried to handle it all on my own. So I explained about my surprise visitors from the night before and how they’d tried to get me to meet with Louie to negotiate my mom’s debt.
“You’ve got to be fucking shitting me,” he growled. “When she asked for the extra time in rehab, she swore to Alessia that she was putting all that behind her. How long did it last? A month? Maybe two at best if she’s already in that deep?”
“That’s about when she started flaking out on me, so probably.”
Alec paced the floor in front of me. “The five grand we paid off for her before was the last of it. Helping with rehab was a completely different thing, but now that she’s fucked that up we’re going to have to treat her to a dose of tough love.”
“I agree, but it can’t come from Alessia. Not with the pregnancy. That’s why you need to cut off all forms of contact until this gets settled.”
As we heard the toilet flush, he moved closer to me and lowered his voice further, “You’d better not be thinking about settling this debt for your mom. I don’t give a fuck how tempting it might be to help her out. I know you don’t have the cash to cover her debt, and you’re sure as shit not going to take care of it another way.”
I shivered in distaste, thinking about how it’d felt when Louie had asked me out. “Trust me, that’s not an option I’m willing to consider.”
“Good,” he grunted. “If you hear from that bookie again, send him my way. I’ll make sure the bastard understands it’s in his best interest to stay the hell away from you.”
The idea of a confrontation between Louie DeFiglio and my brother-in-law scared the crap out of me. Not that I didn’t think Alec couldn’t take care of himself, but Louie was in a different league. One that played dirty—and deadly. “From what I know about him, he’s not really willing to listen to reason.”
“But he understands money, and I’ve got enough of it to make my point.”
I shook my head. “That’s not how tough love works. If you cover more of my mom’s debts, she’ll keep on making bets she can’t afford to lose. We’ll just end up right back where we are right now.”
“I wouldn’t be doing it for her, Ariana. I’d be doing it to protect you. That guy doesn’t need an excuse to get his hands on you. If paying him off is what it takes to get him to stay away from you, then that’s what I’ll do. And I’ll make sure he knows that it’s the last time either of us has anything to do with your mom. If he lets her bet with him again, he’ll have nobody to blame but himself.”
My eyes filled with tears, and I dropped my head to look down at my hands twisting in my lap. After swallowing down a lump of pure emotion, I opened my mouth, ready to tell him how much his declaration meant to me, when I heard the bathroom door open. I blinked several times, trying to clear the tears away before Alessia saw, and whispered, “Thank you.” It didn’t come close to expressing how much his declaration meant to me, but it’d have to do for now.
“What’s wrong?” Alessia immediately asked, as though she sensed the tension in the room.
My mind blanked as I blurted, “Nothing.”
Luckily, Alec came up with a better answer. “Ariana was just telling me that she’s nervous about starting work for Andrew. New job jitters and all that.”
“Don’t be silly,” my sister chided, coming up and giving me a quick hug before returning to Alec’s side. “You’ve been cocktail waitressing for two years at one of the hottest nightclubs in Vegas. And you practically broke a record for the least amount of time before you were given the VIP section. You’ll probably be employee of the month here in no time at all.”
“Maybe,” I laughed. “If nightclubs actually had employees of the month.”
“You could always suggest it to my brother,” Alec offered.
“No way!” I protested. “He’s already done more than enough to help me. He didn’t just give me a job; he’s letting me pick which of his places I want to work at. And he said he’d work around my schedule since he knows I’m in town mainly to hang out with Alessia while you’re out of town.”
“More like keep an eye on me, like I’m a baby instead of just carrying one,” my sister grumbled.
“Hey, now! What happened to you being so happy to see me that you wanted me bunking out in your spare bedroom instead of this luxurious hotel suite?” I mock complained.
“That was before you became the bladder police,” she huffed. “I was expecting my fun-loving sister, and instead I got the new, more serious version of you. One who’ll be happy to report back to Alec if I want an extra cup of coffee beyond the recommended limit of one a day.”
I widened my eyes at her and pressed a hand over my heart. “I solemnly swear to never come between you and your coffee. And I also promise not to rat you out if you want an extra cup.”
“Just so long as it’s only one extra cup,” Alec grunted. “And not every day.”
Alessia rolled her eyes and sighed while I laughed. I knew my sister well enough to know that even though she complained about Alec’s attentiveness, she enjoyed it too. And I loved that she’d found a guy who had no problem with showing her how much he cared.
“Why am I suddenly feeling like hanging out with you will be more work than my actual job—once I figure out exactly where that’ll be?”
“Remember earlier? When I told you to shut up?” Alessia huffed.
“Shutting up now,” I laughed.
Alec shook his head at us. “And I’ll use the sudden silence to suggest that when I get back from my road trip, you should visit a few of my brother’s clubs to get a feel for which one you’ll want to work at.”
“Not that there’s any rush for you to start,” my sister piped in. “You should take your time and get settled in first.”
Thinking about the mess I left behind in Vegas, I didn’t agree. When I’d originally planned to come out to Chicago, I figured the move would be temporary and finding a job wasn’t as important as being there to help Alessia through the end of her pregnancy. But that’d changed afte
r my run-in with Louie’s guys. I wasn’t sure what my life would be like in Chicago, but returning to Vegas didn’t hold the same appeal as it did before.
Chapter Four
Mark
Scanning the crowded nightclub for any signs of potential issues, the conversation I’d had with my mom earlier in the day popped into my head. It hadn’t been a surprise that she’d mostly wanted to know about my dating life, and she hadn’t been happy to hear that it was as dead as it had been the last time she’d asked about it. Even if I was interested in diving back into the dating pool, it wouldn’t be easy. Not with my schedule.
I spent the majority of my weekend nights at the two most popular clubs Andrew owned—Ice and The Box. Tonight was no exception. I was settled in at the end of the bar at Ice, keeping a close eye on things since the manager we’d hired when the place first opened less than a year and a half ago quit last week. We gave the assistant manager underneath him a promotion, and he seemed to be taking the additional responsibilities in stride.
Just as I was thinking about heading over to The Box to check on things over there, a blonde I hadn’t seen there before claimed the stool next to me. My previously dormant libido came roaring back to life as I took in her curves. They were shown off to perfection in a top that had almost no back and plunged down the front to just above the swell of her tits, cuffed shorts that barely covered her ass, and strappy black sandals with four-inch heels. Her blond hair flowed down her back to just above her bra line would be—if she’d been wearing one.
She was the hottest woman in the club, and plenty of other guys had their eyes glued on the vision next to me. Not that she seemed to notice. Her attention was completely focused on the bartender who leaned over to take her drink order. “A vodka soda with a splash of grapefruit juice and lime, please.”
Chased into Love (Bachelorette Party Book 4) Page 2