Vegas Royals (Love Inc 0.50)

I’m holding Libby’s stare, hoping she’ll see these things inside me and tell me to get going. I notice I’m holding my breath, waiting for her wary dismissal. Instead, her mouth softens again. I wait for her expression to morph into pity or sadness, but she looks serene. “I think there are two sides to you,” she says quietly.

She must think one of my sides is a psychopath. At least she won’t be disappointed if I ever become an official suspect in the escort disappearances.

Thinking of that, while looking at her delicate face, makes my heart pound uncomfortably, and I realize how afraid I am that it might come to that. I’m completely innocent, I remind myself, but I know better. There’s a common perception, partially true, that rich people are above the law. It’s true for a lot of us, but I have a feeling my notoriety could work against me. I’m the kind of guy prosecutors like to stick a case to.

Libby can read my mind. I think she can. Her eyes are latched to mine, and I see my heaviness reflected on her face. She slides her hands into her pockets, stepping closer as she speaks. “What I mean is, most people only see what you want them to see. Like the night my mom’s Porsche broke down.”

I remember that night. It was back when I was fucking an escort from Los Angeles. The sex was explosive, but I always felt like shit after, and I’d been relieved when my security manager interrupted over the intercom. A few minutes later, after pulling on some pants, I’d gotten my first glimpse of Elizabeth DeVille. She’d had her hair in a pony-tail that stuck up off the side of her head, and she’d been wearing short red shorts and a light blue tank top with a whale on it.

“You like whales?” I’d asked her when I finished with the car.

Her face had gone all soft and pretty, making me feel more like one-hundred-and-three than the twenty-three-year-old I was, and she’d shrugged. “Yeah, but not a lot more than any other animal. I just like saving things.”

The car was a piece of junk that likely wasn’t going to make it a hundred more miles, so I convinced her to spend the night in my guest house. After Marietta went to sleep, I found myself sitting out by the swimming pool, hoping Elizabeth might wake up and come outside. It was ridiculous. Embarrassing, even.

She’s inches from me now, and reaching toward my face.

For a second, I feel a thrill of fear I haven’t felt since I was a boy. It settles deep inside my stomach. Then her hand touches my shoulder, and I start to sweat from every pore.

Her free hand grabs one of mine, and she closes the distance between our bodies with a gentle tug. I lean closer to her, moving in slow motion. I’m feel slightly dizzy, as her thumb touches between my brows.

“I see a frown mark, though,” she whispers, “right here.” I blink, surprised to find the soft sensation makes my eyelids heavy.

“I thought you were upset that night,” she murmurs as she strokes. “After...” She blushes, and I blink my heavy eyelids.

“I could see you at the foot of the bed, and I was kind of worried for you. I don’t know why, but something about you...” That frown is back, visible through my lashes, and it feels like someone’s scooping out my insides. I feel gutless and emptied, like I might dissolve into a puddle at this woman’s feet.

“Something about you just seems sad. I don’t know what about poker-playing would make a man sad, but I’m watching these,” she says, gently thumbing my frown lines one more time. “Try not to let them get any deeper.”

I nod at her, feeling like I’m in a dream. As I’m walking out the door, I turn again, fighting a vision I have of kissing her mouth.

I take her porch stairs two at a time, and my knees ache from my misadventures with Priscilla. I swing into my F-250, and before I can get a handle on myself, my phone buzzes. Priscilla. Seeing her name on the screen is like jumping into icy water.

I hit the button to answer, but I can’t bring myself to say ‘hello’.

I can hear the static on the other end, static and the clinking sound of hooker heels. “Hunter?” She says it like the lash of a whip. “Where are you? I’m waiting.”

“Keep waiting,” I spit out.

“Believe me, I will. But you’ll pay for this.”

I grip the steering wheel and wonder if Sarabelle is dead already. I’m playing this fucked up game in part for her. And in part because I can’t bear what would happen if people found out that Rita wasn’t my real mother. If people found out what I did to her.