“And he might kinda sorta be considering murdering your sister’s boyfriend for threatening his claim to power by simply breathing,” Carly adds.
Laurel nods grimly. “The statistical significance was plastered all over the wall. I should have known this might happen if I had a one night stand with a guy I met at a mob family’s Easter dinner.”
“I tried to stop you,” Carly states. “You didn’t want to listen.”
Laurel shakes her head. “It’s my fault. I was blinded by all the sexiness. It turns my brain off. I transform into a puff of cotton candy with the IQ to match. You know this about me.”
“I do,” Carly agrees, nodding. “That’s why I tried.”
“It was a valiant effort,” Laurel acknowledges.
“For the record,” I tell them, glancing at Laurel, “if he tries to kill me now, you have my blessing to seduce him if you think it might help change his mind.”
Laurel shakes her head. “He didn’t even invite me to stand over there with all his thugs. I don’t think I can be of much help.”
“Oh, shit, I think he knows we’re talking about him,” Carly murmurs, averting her gaze.
I look over to see why, and now he’s moving in our direction.
Instinctively, I shove Carly and Laurel behind me and take a step forward. He meets me over on this side of the casket, shoving his hands in the pocket of his long coat and glancing past me. “Ladies.” His gaze meets mine. “Vince.”
Tension sizzles in the air between us as we stand here in front of my father’s casket, surrounded by family and soldiers. There are so many reasons I don’t like the man standing before me. I think of Vegas, of the way he took control of Mia just to piss me off. I think of the night he took her from me at my father’s house and hauled her back to his. I think of how fucking well he and Mateo seem to get along now, and Carly’s theories that he’s been with Mia.
He dislikes me, too, but we probably don’t have a single overlapping reason.
I don’t get men like him. Men like Mateo. I don’t understand them and I don’t want to.
Finally, Rafe speaks. “Heading to Vegas this evening?”
“Yep,” I answer, evenly. “Just tying up some loose ends so we can go back home.”
He nods. “Not planning to stick around for a little while?”
“Definitely not. If I never stepped foot in Vegas again for the rest of my life, I’d be just fine with that.”
Now he nods again, but with more approval. “That’s good to hear.”
I get the feeling I’m dismissed as he steps around me and heads for Laurel.
He stops and looks down at her with mild amusement. “What’s wrong, Laurel? You don’t look happy to see me this afternoon.”
Her brain is clearly more capable of rallying in the face of his reality. Instead of turning quite as quickly into a puddle of goo, she tilts her chin up defiantly. “Why should seeing you give me any feelings? We had sex a few times, that’s all.”
There’s amusement in his voice as he murmurs, “Mm hmm.” He reaches for the neck of her black sweater, tugging it down so he can look at the marks he left on her pale skin. “Why don’t you come with them to Vegas? We can have one more night together.” He turns to glance back at me, then to Carly, then back to Laurel. “You can all stay with me while you’re in town. I have plenty of room.”
“I don’t know,” Laurel murmurs, looking to Carly.
Rafe releases the neck of her sweater and takes her chin in his hand, turning her gaze back to him. “Should I word that differently, kitten? The answer I’m looking for is yes.”
Laurel’s brain struggles to hold its ground, but I can see her sinking. “I guess I don’t have class until Wednesday…”
Carly heaves a sigh, rolling her eyes.
Rafe looks over at her and smiles. “It’s settled, then. Vince knows where I live. As soon as you land, come on over. I’ll take you all out to dinner.” He presses a deceptively chaste kiss to Laurel’s forehead as he murmurs, “Then dessert.”
Fuck this asshole.
Laurel’s brain has given up the good fight. She looks up at him with a semi-adoring smile and he rewards her with a brief kiss on the lips.
Once he and his men leave us and head for Mateo, Carly brings a hand up and theatrically knocks on Laurel’s head. “Hello? Anyone in there?”
Laurel swats her hand away. “Hey, it’s still technically Easter break. I’m having an Easter fling. This still counts.”
“When you were having an Easter fling, you thought you were banging some dangerous gangster’s muscle, not the guy calling the shots.”
Laurel points an accusing finger my way. “Vince said I could. He basically asked me to do it. You heard him.”