Sinning in Vegas (Vegas Morellis 2)

I shouldn’t feel so laidback with someone who basically just admitted she likes my baby daddy, but there’s something about her I trust. Hers seems more like a quiet crush, subdued, probably something Rafe himself doesn’t even know about—which is shocking in and of itself, since he’s so damn full of himself.

“I don’t want to be with a cheater,” I tell her quietly, looking at the tiled floor instead of her.

“He isn’t going to cheat on you,” she tells me, so adamant I nearly believe her.

“You can’t know that,” I state.

“I can now,” she insists. “He employed the dumb bitch here. If I start picking up on any vibes, I’ll just dunk her in a sink full of water and she’ll disintegrate.”

Cracking a smile, I say, “Miss Cotton Candy. I like that.”

“Don’t worry about her. If he actually spent any time with her, he would be bored in ten minutes. I’ve been training her tonight, and every time she opens her mouth I want to stab myself in the temple and end it all.”

“Don’t do that. You’re the best waitress I’ve ever had.”

Sighing as if put-upon, she says, “Yeah. I have an eidetic memory. The orderpad is a prop. I could tell you what Rafe ordered the second Thursday of last March if you asked.”

Intrigued, I cock my head in consideration. “Really? That’s awesome. That must make studying way easy.”

“It did. I’m done as of a year ago, but… yeah, easy peasy.”

“What’d you go to school for?”

After a brief pause, she says, “Not waitressing.”

“Then how come you’re still waiting tables?” I inquire.

“I make questionable decisions.”

A little burst of surprised laughter shoots out of me. “Yeah, I feel you there.”

“Rafe’s a good decision,” she assures me, her faintly resigned smile making me feel guilty, even though I don’t have a reason to. “Just hang in there. The storm will clear. The cotton candy will go away.”

“There will always be more cotton candy.”

“But he won’t always be in crisis,” she states. “Once he’s steady again, he won’t be looking for cotton candy. Trust me, if the man is in a committed relationship, you could strip naked and straddle his crotch and he wouldn’t do anything about it. He’s a damn good man, just give him a little time to come around.”

I struggle to accept the confidence of a woman who clearly likes him, but she has known him much longer than I have. The way she talks, she must have witnessed him on the inside of a relationship, so she must know more about that side of him than I do.

The problem is, I’m struggling to muster the interest in being in that relationship with him. Maybe she thinks his wandering eye and magnetic personality is worth dealing with, but all it does is turn me off. For all that she’s convinced there’s a shiny diamond beneath the dirty surface, I’m not, and I’m not about to spend my life dusting him off every time the man gets bored.

I can’t say any of that to her, but I do feel a little better now that she’s talked me down. Miss Cotton Candy. I’m going to picture a pink sugar cloud every time I look at that dumb skank from now on.

I can’t believe he fucking hired her.

Before I can get worked up again, I offer a smile to the waitress. “What’s your name? There are too many waitresses to keep track of, I swear to God.”

“Virginia,” she tells me, pushing off the wall. “I think Rafe likes waitresses. Something about them serving him appeals to his interests.”

Rolling my eyes, I tell her, “You know what? That makes perfect sense.”

Virginia flashes me a smile. “I better get back out there, make sure Marlena isn’t playing in the sink. Don’t want her to die.”

“Are you sure?” I ask innocently.

“Well… if you need someone to kill her, Rafe knows people. Sin would probably take care of it for you; just tell him she’s a troublemaker. The Morelli outfit is a real boys’ club, but Sin has a personal vendetta against cheating hoes. Ask nicely and he’ll probably clean up that cotton candy mess for you. Burn all her stuff and tell Rafe she went back to Arizona. Problem solved.” The mention of Sin drains my smile, so she adds, “I was kidding. Kinda. Not really. We can pretend I was kidding if that makes you feel faint.”

“No, I have a strong stomach. Killing troublemaking hoes doesn’t nauseate me.”