by Mari Carr
Riley turned to block Bubbles’ view of the table, reaching to grab the woman’s hands. “Bubbles, stop it! The manager is gonna call the cops. Do you want to go to jail?”
“I want that bitch to stand up and fight me, fair and square.”
“Who you callin’ a bitch?” Bella shouted from the table. Before Riley could turn, she felt something very cold and slimy hit her back and begin sliding down her T-shirt.
“What the hell?” She turned around to find Bella dipping her spoon into a bowl of ice cream, preparing to launch more of her hot fudge sundae.
“Put it down,” Riley said. Bella paused for a moment. “Put. It. Down.”
Riley started to yell at Aaron for not stepping in to help her but one glance to her left proved he was fighting his own losing battle. He had his arms wrapped around Johanna from behind as the woman flailed about, attempting to batter Trev with her purse, her fists, her feet. Trev was pleading with her to calm down, his hands constantly moving, alternating between covering his face and his privates. She was putting up one helluva fight.
The sound of sirens outside had the effect of someone dousing them with a hose, and the fight went out of them. Jo hung limply in Aaron’s arms. Bella put her hands in her lap and Bubbles sank into a chair at another table.
Two policemen came in and the manager pointed at them.
“Great,” Riley heard one of the cops mutter as they walked up. “Bubbles and Bella. Again. What did we do to deserve this?”
* * * * *
An hour later, the seven of them found themselves back on the street—sticky, hot and three hundred and thirty-seven dollars and fifty-four cents poorer. Somehow that was the price tag the manager put on the destruction they’d wrought in the restaurant. Luckily, Aaron had managed to talk the Vegas cops out of citing them all for disorderly conduct.
“What now?” Riley asked. She wanted to go back to the hotel and clean up. Unfortunately she was surrounded by too many crazy people looking to her for answers. There was no way she was going to risk taking them someplace where they could destroy anything else. She was officially broke.
Aaron pointed to a small café that had outdoor seating. “Do you all think you could sit at that café without throwing fists, food or drinks at each other?”
They all nodded wearily and proceeded down the street in a pack. Riley ignored the looks of passersby. She knew they all probably looked as if they’d escaped from some asylum. They were covered in food. Riley’s hair was stuck together in three places with dried mashed potatoes. Bella’s long blonde hair was coated with tomato sauce and Bubbles’ hot pink ’do was flatter than Riley’d ever seen it, weighted down by ice cream and hot fudge.
The guys had actually fared worse. In addition to the food stains, Trev had a fat lip. Aaron was going to have a black eye by morning, thanks to an accidental headbutt from Jo, who looked like a reject in a white T-shirt contest from the pitcher of soda Trev had lobbed at her in an attempt to calm her down.
Surprisingly the hostess at the café agreed to seat them. She gave them one of the patio tables and brought them all glasses of water.
“Okay,” Aaron said, when they were all seated at last. “Here’s what happens now. Trev, you and Bella are gonna tell us where you were for the last two days. The rest of us,” he gave an especially stern look at Jo, who looked contrite, “will listen. We’re not speaking until their story is finished. Then we’ll all calmly say our piece and go our separate ways. Got it?” Everyone nodded and Riley grinned.
For a moment she saw her future, saw Aaron solving fights between their children this way.
Children. She’d never considered having kids, but watching Aaron handle five unruly adults drove home to her how much she did want them. Lots of them. Maybe she’d try to break her parents’ record and go for eight. The thought made her smile and she saw Aaron give her a quizzical, confused look.
“I’ll tell you later,” she mouthed.
“So,” Aaron prompted, and Trev began his tale of woe while the rest of them listened in dumbfounded silence.
After leaving Riley and Aaron at the blackjack table, they’d gone up to his hotel room. Unfortunately, guilt over cheating on his wife had left Trev unable to perform, so they’d decided to hit the gambling tables again instead. Bella had been blowing off steam, angry with Johnny for trying to pressure her into marriage.
Riley figured Bella and Trev had found a sympathetic ear in each other. They’d only been at the slot machines for a few minutes when Trev hit the jackpot, winning a hundred grand.
“To celebrate, I took Bella out and bought her a fur coat.”
Jo narrowed her eyes but Trev raised his hand quickly. “I was gonna get you one too, honey, but since I didn’t want to carry it around with me all night, I was gonna go back later.”
His answer seemed to appease his wife, but Riley knew better. In addition to the fur coat, he and Bella had stopped by Sal’s Sex Shop and, if the note he’d left her at the front desk was to be believed, he’d intended to marry Bella. Obviously, too much time spent in each other’s presence had proven them incompatible and Trev had had a change of heart. He was putting out some serious ass-kissing vibes and Riley tried not to be disgusted by the fact Jo was falling for it. Sheesh. Stupid woman.
“Anyway, Bella knew of some guys who hosted a nightly poker game with a big pot, one where you needed five thousand bucks just to enter. She said we should go, make a fortune so we could quit working and live the rest of our lives like fat cats.”
“You took him to Vinnie’s place?” Johnny asked.
Bella nodded guiltily.
“Vinnie the Snake?” Bubbles added, her eyes wide as she crossed herself reverently. “Jesus, chica.”
Riley looked at Bella. “So let me get this straight. You called and quit your job before this Vinnie the Snake’s poker game? Didn’t that seem a bit premature to you?”
Bella shrugged. “I thought we were on a roll. We were feeling real lucky.”
“You lost all the money the very first night, didn’t you?” Aaron asked.
Trev nodded. “In less than two hours, I was twelve thousand in the hole. Apparently those guys didn’t believe in IOUs and I didn’t have that kind of cash on me. I told them I was good for it, but they got sort of pissed.”
Johnny shook his head. “Vinnie the Snake don’t get pissed. He gets even.”
Bella took up the tale at this point. “They took my fur coat and then they threw us in the back of this black sedan and drove us out of town. I thought they were going to kill us.” She looked at Johnny, tears streaming down her face. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
Johnny reached over and took her hand. “It’s okay, muffin. You’re here. Johnny will take care of everything.”
Riley rolled her eyes. She hated when people referred to themselves in third person. Aaron winked at her. He knew all about that particular pet peeve of hers. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “Aaron thinks you look hot with mashed potatoes in your hair.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Riley’s gonna kick you in the balls if you don’t behave yourself.”
He chuckled.
“So what happened next?” Bubbles asked. Riley could see her new friend was enthralled with their adventure and hanging on the edge of her seat. “Did they beat you with rubber hoses? Bury you alive in shallow graves? Strip you naked and cover your bodies in fire ants?”
Riley gestured to them. “Jesus, Bubbles. You need to stop watching mafia movies. Look at them. Do they look like they’ve been stripped and beaten?”
Trev shook his head. “No. They didn’t do any of that. They dumped us off in the middle of the damn desert. Left us there. We spent most of yesterday walking back. Had to sleep outside last night. Kept feeling like shit was crawling on me and I’m chafed on account of there’s so much sand in my ass. First thing this morning we caught a break. A guy in a pickup truck stopped and let us ride in his truck bed. He brought us the rest of
the way into the city.”
“He was taking garbage to the dump,” Bella said distastefully and Trev sighed angrily.
“It was a ride, Bella. Maybe you’d rather still be walking?”
“All I’m saying is, I’m a lady. He could have offered me a seat inside the cab and moved that stupid big dog of his to the back with you.”
“You’re lucky he even stopped, you silly—”
Aaron whistled. “Story finished?”
They nodded.
Riley suddenly thought of something. “Hey, how the hell did you plan to pay for that all-you-can-eat lunch if Vinnie and his thugs took all your money?”
“They didn’t take it all,” Bella said, reaching down her top. “I always keep an emergency fifty tucked in my bra.”
Aaron narrowed his eyes and took the damp bill out of her hand.
“Hey!” she protested.
“That still doesn’t cover your share of the destruction back at the restaurant.” Riley figured that was as much of the money they’d ever get back. The rest was riding on Aaron’s credit card until the end of the month.
Bella looked at Bubbles. “I called Louis as soon as we hit town and asked for my job back. He said you filled in for me. Thanks.”
Bubbles seemed taken aback by Bella’s sincere gratitude. She shrugged and appeared embarrassed. “Sure. No problem.”
“Johnny,” Bella said. “When I was in that car and I thought I was gonna get killed, I realized I’ve been wrong to say no to you. If you’ll still have me, I’d like to marry you.”
Johnny’s eyes lit up. “And kids?”
Bella bit her lip. “Can we maybe just do the wedding thing first? Figure out the kids later?”
Riley rolled her eyes. Oh yeah. That’s a good plan. Who gets married without talking about all the important stuff? She looked at Aaron and thought about her desire for lots of kids. Shit.
Johnny kissed Bella and the two of them stood up. “We sure can, muffin. Why don’t we go home and celebrate?”
They said their goodbyes while Riley looked around the table. “And then there were five,” she muttered.
“Jo,” Trev started. “I’ve been a dumbass.”
Johanna nodded. “You can say that again. But you’re my dumbass.”
Trevor’s eyes lit up. “Does that mean you’ll take me back?”
“Gonna have to. Somebody’s gotta be this baby’s daddy.” She rubbed her stomach and Riley thought Trev actually went pale beneath his sunburn.
“Baby?”
“I’m pregnant.”
Trev raised his fist in the air and let out a holler loud enough that it must’ve had people from three blocks away turning their heads. They all laughed as he stood up, picked up his wife and spun her around. “Come on. I’m taking my gal out for a fancy supper. I’m gonna be a daddy!”
They said goodbye and walked off hand in hand.
Bubbles sighed sadly.
“You okay, Bubbles?” Riley asked.
“Two more happy endings. And here I am still stuck in this shithole city, hooking for a living. You know, I’m starting to think my Richard Gere’s not coming to save me.”
“So maybe you should go out and look for him.” Riley leaned closer. “Come back to Baltimore with us. Start over fresh in a new city.”
“Doing what?”
“You can work at my family’s pub. I need an assistant in the kitchen and my sister Keira’s knocked up again. We’ll need another waitress.”
“I don’t have a lot of money saved up. Costs a lot of money to keep me looking so stylish. I wouldn’t be able to afford a place to stay for a while, even with the offer of a job.”
Riley laughed. “I know a place that’s about to be empty that you can rent for super cheap until you get your feet under you.”
“Um, Riley,” Aaron interrupted. “This place?”
“I’m not living in your apartment, Aaron.”
He frowned. “Why not?”
“Do you want a list? Number one, it’s tiny. Number two, there’s no air conditioning. It’s the beginning of June. Do you know how hot Baltimore gets in July and August? I’m not sweating my ass off. On top of that, you don’t have a tub—just a shower, there’s like zero parking around your neighborhood and the commute to the pub would be murder.”
Aaron grinned. “Is that all?”
She gave him an exasperated look, but he just waved her off with a chuckle. “So where are we living?”
“Until we find a place of our own, I thought we’d stay with Pop, in Tristan’s old room.” She didn’t want to admit the idea of leaving the old guy alone without proper warning was worrying her. She knew she and Aaron would move out eventually and Pop would be on his own, but she wanted to give him time to get used to that idea.
Aaron looked at her for a long time and she wondered how far he—or she, for that matter—would take this argument.
“Fine. We’ll stay with your pop. That’s closer to the police station anyway and it’s not like I own anything of value. I furnished my whole apartment with stuff picked up at garage sales and the Salvation Army Surplus Store.”
She smiled, overwhelmed with relief. “Really? You sure you don’t mind.”
He leaned close and kissed her on the end of her nose. “I don’t mind. I’m crazy about your pop, you know that. We’ll stay with him for a while, save up some money, and take our time finding a house. One with a yard.”
“A house sounds awesome.”
“So the issue of where we’re living is taken care of, but are you seriously planning to take a hooker home to wait tables at your family’s pub? Sorry, Bubbles, no offense intended.”
“None taken,” Bubbles replied.
“Yeah. That’s what I’m planning,” Riley answered.
Aaron looked exasperated and Riley laughed. She loved having this effect on him. “Don’t you think you should run this idea by your pop?”
“Fine. I’ll call him. But I’m telling you right now, he won’t mind.” Riley was certain she could convince Pop to let Bubbles work at the pub. “So it’s settled,” Riley said.
“Awesome!” Bubbles rose quickly and headed for the sidewalk. “I’m gonna start packing up. Maybe get that fresh hair dye after all. A new start definitely calls for a new color.”
“Definitely,” Riley agreed, saying goodbye.
“I’ll call you later, Riley,” Bubbles said before walking away.
“Your pop’s gonna kill you. You know that, right? And your brothers are gonna want to hurt me for letting you bring a hooker home.”
Riley shrugged. “She’s a nice person who’s down on her luck. My family is awesome. They’ll wanna help her. I just know it.”
Aaron wanted to contradict her, but he couldn’t. Her words were the truth. The Collins family was nothing if not compassionate and kind.
“So,” Riley said, leaning back against her chair. “What’s next?”
Aaron grinned at her. “Honeymoon boom-boom.”
Chapter Ten
They entered their hotel room hand in hand, walking slowly. Now that tragedy had been averted, both of them were feeling the benefit of time finally being on their side.
As Aaron closed the door behind them and started across the room, Riley remained by the entrance. “Hey. Aren’t you forgetting something?”
He turned to look at her, confusion in his eyes. “I don’t think so.”
She gestured at the door behind her. “Has the passion already died, sugar? Where’s my hot sex against the door?”
He grinned, coming back to stand in front of her. “I thought you might prefer a shower first. We are sort of sticky.”
“True that.” She reached up and lightly ran her finger along the bruise darkening beneath his eye. “Does this hurt?”
He shook his head. “No, it’s—”
“I love you.” She blurted the words, unable to hold them in any longer. “I really, really love you.”
He leaned closer to h
er, his face covered with the most genuine smile she’d ever seen. “I know that, Riley.”
“It’s just…I’ve never said those words to you and I wanted to.” Her comment sounded inane and she fought against the urge to roll her eyes at herself.
“I’m glad you wanted to say it. In fact, if you wanted to say it, oh…maybe fifty, sixty times a day for the next century or so, I wouldn’t complain.”
She huffed out a breathy laugh. “Not too greedy, are you, sugar?”
“With you, I’m the greediest man on earth. I want everything. Your heart, your body, your friendship, your soft cries as you come and as many babies as you’re willing to give me.”
“Eight.”
He looked at her quizzically. “Eight?”
“Thought maybe we could try to beat my folks’ record.”
Aaron tweaked her nipple through her T-shirt before engulfing the entire breast in his large palm. “It wouldn’t be a hardship to try.”
“Horny bastard.” Her teasing words ended with a slight squeak when Aaron cupped her mound with his other hand and rubbed hard.
He pushed her back against the door in a move she was beginning to crave more than Saturday nights. Leaning forward, he kissed her thoroughly and she wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him even closer. Sometimes she thought she could pull him completely inside her and it still wouldn’t be close enough.
For several moments, they kissed and touched. When Aaron pulled away, their shirts stuck together and they laughed.
“Shower,” she said. “We definitely need a shower. And I hate to break this to you, but I’m out of clean clothes. We may have to run out later for a little shopping. And for food. We didn’t get to eat again.”
Aaron nodded. “We’ll order room service. Less opportunity for mishaps.”
Taking her hand, he led her to the bathroom, where they took the longest hot shower in the history of indoor plumbing. It took three shampoos to get all the mashed potatoes out of her hair, but Riley didn’t mind since it was Aaron doing the scrubbing. His hands, lightly massaging her scalp, felt like heaven.
