by Sam Mariano
Jessica rolls her eyes at me, then walks back in to grab some chips or carrots or what-the-fuck-ever. Like I care if she likes me. If she wants to fuck him so badly, she should—maybe then he’ll let me go home. Or not. It would be horrifyingly funny if I had to share the man I don’t want, too. As I walk away, I have to laugh a little at the absurdity of my life.
When I get back from the bathroom, I realize we have company and my stomach sinks. It’s Rafe from next door. He’s dressed casually this evening in black swim shorts and a white t-shirt. He hasn’t seen me yet, and I don’t know why I care if he does, but I find myself straightening my bikini, standing a little taller. I still have no clothes. It doesn’t seem like I’m on the fast track to earning any—I’ve probably completely fucked any chance of getting my ring back, too. Goddamn it, I didn’t even think of that.
But Rafe’s here. He’s not Mateo, here to rescue me once and for all, but he is the closest to that I have right now. Last time I saw him he said he might consider helping me, so I need to make sure I talk to him alone before he leaves.
Maybe I could steal his phone and call Mateo myself. Of course, being a man with his own mysterious dealings, Rafe probably keeps his phone close. That’s probably not going to happen. Convincing him to help is probably my best bet. Morellis love to stick their necks out to help near-strangers, right?
Smiling a little at my own joke, I take a few slow steps closer.
Jessica is talking to him right now. I watch his face for signs of interest, but I don’t have long to look. Noticing movement out of the corner of his eye, he casually glances away from her and notices me. He nods at something she says, but his gaze wanders over my body, scantily clad in the tiny bikini Jessica picked out for me.
I slow to a stop near him, to say hi.
He speaks before I can say anything. “You should’ve worn this to make me breakfast.”
Jessica’s mouth closes and she looks a little put out. I can’t really blame her. She was literally still talking to him.
“Maybe next time,” I toss back, lightly.
Now he smiles, his brown eyes twinkling with amusement. “Maybe.”
“Okay then.” Jessica nods, accepting her dismissal, and walks away.
He doesn’t care, either. His slightly cocky smile makes my heart hurt. He reminds me so much of Mateo I just want to follow him around and bask in whatever it is he exudes.
We’re probably as alone as we will be now. Glancing over at Vince to see where he’s at, I consider mentioning that we still need to revisit what we last talked about, but I decide against it. Vince is too nearby, and Rafe just got here, so I’ll have time later. “Are you here for the cookout?” I ask instead.
“Cookout, pool, pretty ladies—this place has all the amenities.”
“You should see our house in Chicago. It has even more amenities. The company is significantly better, too. We don’t have a grotto, but we do have indoor and outdoor pools.”
“You’re really interested in me visiting Chicago, aren’t you?” he asks, amused.
I shrug. “I really need a ride.”
His gaze moves over me one more time. “Yeah, I bet you do.”
I move closer, glancing at Vince to make sure he’s still out of hearing range. “Have you heard anything? From Mateo, I mean? Or about him? Does he know anything yet?”
This seems to amuse him. “I’m not your personal informant, little one. You tried to run away and I brought you back. What makes you think I’m your friend?”
“I’m a good friend to have,” I inform him. “And Mateo’s a really good friend to have.”
Rafe shakes his head, smiling. “You’re a persistent little thing.”
“I’m desperate to get back to my family,” I state. “It’s not just Mateo. I have a stepdaughter, too. Isabella. I don’t know if you ever met her, but she lost her mother young and over the years I’ve become like a mother to her. If I never come home, she loses another one.”
“Do I seem like a sympathetic man to you?” he asks.
“I don’t know what kind of man you are,” I tell him, honestly. “But you remind me more of Mateo than anyone else here, and that makes me feel comfortable with you.”
He watches me for a moment, reading me, considering. Finally he nods toward the side of the house where Vince is grilling. “Go get me a drink.”
“Beer?”
“Not a beer guy.”
This makes me feel warm, too. Neither is Mateo. Nodding once, I head to the bar to pour him something Mateo would like.
---
“You’re not going to eat?”
“I ate.”
Vince looks pointedly at my plate. “You took maybe two bites. Did you not like it?”
“I’m not hungry, okay?”
“Jesus Christ.” Jessica looks over at Vince, looking vaguely aggravated. “Who cares? If she doesn’t want to eat, let her starve.”
I don’t ordinarily relish being disliked, but there’s just something about this girl that rubs me the wrong way. I can’t bite back a smile.
Rafe isn’t lounging like me and Jessica, but he is sitting on one of the loungers like Vince while he eats his food. “If there’s any chance you two are going to rip each other’s hair out, I want to formally request you jump in the pool first.”
Vince shoots Rafe a look of annoyance.
Jessica rolls her eyes, but Rafe’s words seem to smooth her feathers. Now she sighs and relaxes from her bitchy stance. “God, I’m tense. Would either of you sexy gentlemen like to give a girl a back rub?”
Neither man moves or speaks.
Jessica dramatically thumps her head against the back of the lounger. “I don’t know why I even come over here.”
“Neither do I,” I put in, cheerfully. “You can leave anytime. If I were you, I’d take advantage.”
“You have nothing to complain about,” she snaps at me. “For Christ’s sake, I’m sleeping with an old, unfeeling psychopath for all this shit. Vince is worried because you didn’t eat enough. You’re a spoiled bitch and I don’t know why he even wants you.”
“Easy,” Vince says, frowning at Jessica.
I hold up my hand to halt him and sit up, shaking my head. Jessica doesn’t sit up—which is probably good, because I really don’t want to get in a catfight. “You are choosing to be here. You really don’t see the difference? If you don’t like Ben, leave him. I didn’t choose to come here. I am already in a relationship. I have a great relationship with a wonderful man whom I love. I was brought here against my will. You and I are not the same.”
“Jesus Christ.” Vince stands, shaking his head. “Yeah, he’s a real fucking saint, that Mateo.”
Jessica doesn’t even know, but she shakes her head and agrees. “I’m sure he’s an asshole if he likes you. You’re awful.”
I choke on a laugh, but now that I’ve pissed Vince off he’s storming off. Jessica sees her opening and follows him.
“Good luck,” I call after her, just to be an asshole.
She glares back at me and continues to follow Vince.
Shaking my head, I look back at Rafe. At least he’s still here. Now that Vince and Jessica are gone, we have our first moment alone since he arrived.
At least he looks amused and not put off by the momentary lapse. “Sorry about that,” I murmur, moving my legs to that side of the lounger so I can sit facing him. “I’m not normally a catty bitch.”
“Just a faithless slut?” he asks, smiling warmly.
I roll my eyes. “Remember that talk we had?”
“Not until I’m fucking you.” He shakes his head as if disappointed in himself. “I can’t believe I forgot.”
“I’m sure you’re terribly remorseful.”
“Not at all.”
I smile, easing back in the seat. “So, what kind of badassery do you do here in Vegas?”
That charming smile is back. “Why? So you can tell me how much better it is in Chicago?”
&n
bsp; “Everything’s better in Chicago,” I inform him. “Vegas is the worst place in the world.”
“Nah, you haven’t seen Vegas,” he tells me. “If you weren’t on lockdown, I’d take you out, show you around.”
“I don’t think Mateo would like that,” I say, before I can think better of it.
“Well, he’s not here, is he?”
My gaze drops, the playfulness waning for me. Playing around is one thing, but I don’t enjoy even joking about disloyalty to Mateo.
I’m not always cautious when I need to be, but I know I should be careful with Rafe. In the very limited time we’ve spent together, I’ve flirted more than I probably should when there’s no one around to keep me safe.
Seeming to sense he crossed a line, he eases off and changes the subject. “You know, Golddigger Barbie has a point.”
“About me being awful?” I ask, grasping onto the chance to return to lightheartedness.
“About everything else. I know it’s not Chicago,” he teases, rolling his eyes, “but Vegas can be a pretty fun place if you let yourself enjoy it. Vince went to a lot of trouble to get you here, and I get the impression you could wrap him around your finger without much effort.”
“I don’t want to wrap him around my finger. I want him to go away.”
“How many relationships have you had?”
This question surprises me and I can’t keep it off my face. “Only two. Vince and Mateo. Why? That’s a weird question.”
“Not really. Just working out what you’re all about. Now that I’ve actually seen you with Vince, I’m getting a lot of conflicting signals.”
“Vince brings out a different side of me,” I tell him. I don’t know why I tell him that—I guess I don’t want him to think I’m mean. “We have a complicated past.”
Grabbing his drink and easing back on the lounger, he says, “Tell me about it.”
“What do you want to know?”
“How’d you get involved with him?”
Smiling faintly, I tilt my head to look over at him. “I probably shouldn’t say.”
“Did you know who he was?”
“Yeah. We went to school together. I was young, though. I didn’t realize how serious it was. I didn’t work that part out until Mateo showed up at my house, pinned me against a car, and then had Adrian escort me to his house so he could hold a gun to my head and threaten to kill me.”
“Sexy.” He manages to say this without even a hint of irony.
I grin, feeling more and more like he’s a kindred spirit. “Right? He could’ve just proposed right then and saved everyone a lot of trouble.”
“How long before he moved on you?”
“Not long. He was really sneaky about it, though. I didn’t actually…” I pause, debating whether or not to share. It doesn’t make me sound all that intelligent, but he seems interested, so I spill anyway. “I didn’t know it was him. Vince and I fought. Sometimes he stayed the night with Joey to get some space. At the time, Mateo was actually really friendly to me so I didn’t realize he was… you know, him. Anyway, he came to our room a couple times when Vince was out and I thought it was Vince just coming home late. On reflection, the sex was much different so I should’ve known better, but I also didn’t realize at the time he actually had the balls to do something that insane and then sit at the breakfast table with me the next morning and watch me kiss my boyfriend.” A fond smile flirts around my lips and I shake my head. “I wasn’t prepared for Mateo.”
“That’s a little sketchy,” he states.
“Maybe a little,” I agree, my head bobbing in agreement.
“This is the man you’re dying to get back to, huh?”
“This was a long time ago,” I tell him, dismissively. “He has unorthodox methods, but we’re happy now. Or, we were before this happened.”
“You don’t think you could be happy here with Vince?”
I shake my head with grim certainty. “I know we can’t. I tried with Vince back when I actually wanted to be with him. I made a deal with Mateo to get us out of his house so Vince and I could try to salvage our relationship after all the damage Mateo inflicted upon it. I gave up all the trappings Jessica thinks I care about; I left Mateo’s house for half of a duplex with four pieces of furniture, we gave up Mateo’s stream of cash—whatever Vince made from lower level work and whatever I scraped together working at the bakery is what we lived on. We were pretty close to broke. I clipped coupons. I gave up on the idea of going to college after graduation because I wouldn’t be able to pay for it without Mateo. I gave up everything to try with Vince, and it didn’t work. I wanted it to. It made me sick to my stomach to think of ending things. If I couldn’t make it work then, in that state of mind, there’s no chance in hell it’s going to work this time.”
Rafe sighs almost contentedly. “I like you so much better when Vince isn’t around.”
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“You’re more open. Vulnerable. I like it.”
“Do you?”
He nods. “It takes courage to be vulnerable. I like vulnerable women.”
I can’t stifle a grin. “That makes you sound like a real creep.”
“You seem to like creeps,” he states, grinning right back.
I don’t bother denying it. Before I can say anything else though, his gaze drifts beyond me and his smile dims.
“Don’t look now,” he says, his eyes still behind me, “but your captor boyfriend’s coming back.”
“His ‘Mia is enjoying herself’ sensor must be going haywire,” I mutter.
“Yeah, he’s mean-mugging me. Get up.”
I frown at his sudden shift in tone. “What?”
He nods his head, his gaze drifting back to me. “I’m thirsty. Go get me another drink. Get yourself one, too.”
Vince has already made it within earshot, but I push up off the lounger anyway.
“Where are you going?” Vince asks.
“To get Rafe a drink.”
“You’re not his maid,” Vince states. “He can get his own drink.”
Propping a hand on my hip, I cock my head at Vince. “Seriously? You’ve been treating me like a maid the whole time I’ve been here.”
He doesn’t argue with me, just nods at my lounger. “Sit back down.”
I hesitate, glancing at the lounger, but when my gaze drifts back to Rafe, his easy-going vibe is gone. He reminds me of Mateo again as he watches to see what I’ll do. Despite his unwavering gaze telling me without words that his command is still valid, he doesn’t repeat himself.
Lifting my chin defiantly, I ignore Vince and ask Rafe sweetly, “Can I get you anything else while I’m up?”
Lazily nodding toward the used paper plate beside his lounger, he says, “Throw this away.”
Since he doesn’t bother handing it to me, I have to bend over to grab it. It becomes clear that was intentional as his gaze moves to my breasts and he unapologetically checks me out, this time right in front of Vince.
A slow smile spreads across his face and he gives me a little wink. “Good girl.”
I bite back a smile and hasten away to get our drinks before Vince has a chance to flip the fuck out.
Chapter Seventeen
Mia
I’ve had too much to drink.
Way too much to drink.
I definitely should not be in the pool. If I drown because I’m drunk off my ass in Vince’s dad’s pool, I’m going to be so pissed.
Jessica’s trying to get Vince to dance with her. He’s resisting, since he’s not a big fan of dancing, but the harder he resists, the more she tries.
I don’t care. I have a margarita I definitely don’t need and I’m heading to the grotto to hide out and finish drinking it in peace. I’m normally more sociable than this, but I hate everyone right now. Well, pretty much everyone. Rafe has been nice to me, but he hasn’t rescued me, so screw him. I tried to steal Jessica’s phone earlier, but Vince caught me and got super pissed.
Now Jessica is pissed at me for making Vince mad at her, since he lectured her about leaving her phone out where I could get to it.
The pool party with my captors has not been a great time for me, overall. So I started drinking all the margaritas. After the fifth, life started to look a lot better. I have no idea what number I’m on now. I stopped counting. It doesn’t matter. I’m just going to spend the rest of my time here drunk. Being drunk feels way better than being sober.
“Margaritas are delicious,” I murmur to my margarita glass. I’m feeling so good right now. Tonight’s going to be fine. It doesn’t even matter that Vince is going to want to stick his dick in me again—actually, I’m so drunk, I might not fight him. What difference does it even make at this point? If Mateo’s going to kill me for it, he’ll do it whether I get fucked once or 30 times.
I hope Mateo doesn’t kill me. I’ll be so sad. And dead. But primarily sad.
I hear the water sloshing but I don’t pay any attention until Rafe swims into the grotto with me.
I expected it to be Vince checking on me, so I’m pleasantly surprised. I grin up at him as I take a sip of my margarita. “There you are.”
He raises an eyebrow. He’s been drinking, too, but he’s not drunk like I am. “Have you been waiting for me?”
“No,” I drawl. “But I kinda hoped you’d find me.”
“Did you, now?” he asks, moving closer.
God, he’s so nice to look at. I’ve never really been into blondes myself, but holy smokes. He makes me miss Mateo, but somehow makes me feel closer to him, too.
“I wish you’d like Mateo again,” I tell him. “I don’t want you to not like Mateo.”
“Why do you care if I like Mateo?”
“I love Mateo and I like you, and I want you both to get along. I bet you guys have a lot in common. You should be friends. It’s dumb to be enemies when you could be friends instead.”
Now he moves into my personal space, but it only makes me feel happier. Mateo invades my personal space, too. I miss him so much. I despise every inch of land keeping us apart.
“Mm hmm,” he murmurs, bracing an arm on the cave wall behind me, bringing his body in front of me. Then he takes my margarita glass and puts it up on the ledge, his other arm moving around me. He’s closing me in with his body, just like Mateo does.
