could lure me…’
‘Yeah?’
‘Trudi, my ex-roommate, the hooker downstairs, she was the one who recommended the job to me. Her pimp took a payoff to get the information to me and I walked right into it.’
‘Carlos?’
‘Yeah,’ she said, sagging back into the couch.
‘You were supposed to believe it,’ Dax said. ‘It has to be made to look good, believable, so that the victim will walk in and accept the setup without suspecting anything’s off.’
‘How many people did you set up?’
‘Whoever Mauri told me to,’ he said. ‘Yeah, I’ve taken part in gigs like that before. I won’t lie to you about my past.’
‘I had to come back to Vegas,’ she said. ‘Everything I own is here. I need to… it’s time to consolidate my old life with my new one.’
‘No better way to do that than to keep the new life at your side.’ He took her hand to his mouth and kissed it, but when he tried to let her go, she captured his forearm.
‘You can stay with me, here, in this room,’ she said. ‘But I need time alone to take care of… some things.’
‘Why? What are you so desperate to keep me away from?’
With half a shrug, she admitted the truth. ‘My ex-boyfriend.’
Dax tensed and twisted their joined hands to bring her body flush into his. ‘That loser I met downstairs? You’ll stay at my side. Why the fuck would you need to go near some loser that you used to bang? I’m here. I’ll take care of—‘
‘I’m not going there for sex. Saul and I didn’t have that kind of relationship anyway.’
‘You didn’t fuck him?’
‘I did. I meant it wasn’t just sex. He did care about me,’ she said, avoiding eye contact.
Saul had seemed like a good guy when they started going out and for a time he was besotted with her. But he always wanted to share in the next big thing and Ivy wasn’t interested in being a part of any scene. So their relationship was doomed to never work out, they wanted different things.
‘Is that meant to make me feel good? You were in love with the guy?’
‘Not like I’m in love with you,’ she said. ‘If you want to meet him again, you can. What you can’t do is invite him into the ring with you. You have to be nice to him, no threatening and intimidating him, he did me a favour when he didn’t have to.’
‘What favour?’
‘Nothing naked,’ she said, stroking the hairs on his arm. ‘I needed someone who could mobilise and disarm people, there’s no one better at that than Saul. He knows tonnes of people, and he’s so friendly, he can… he just knows how to work people I guess.’
‘So? Why did you need him to do that?’
‘The night I left here, our wedding night—‘
‘You went to your fucking ex-boyfriend on our wedding night?’ he shouted and shot to his feet.
‘No! No, I called him. I went to my old place, Trudi was working, I knew she would be, I packed up the rest of my stuff there and then went… to the house where I had the live-in job. But, there were new owners, the previous tenant was gone, and they didn’t know where he was.
‘So I was stuck there without cab money and no phone. I went to a friend’s place that was within walking distance and used her phone to call Saul, and we made an arrangement.’
‘An arrangement?’
‘He agreed to store my things for me, the stuff I’d picked up from Trudi’s. I hadn’t taken all of my possessions to the live-in job yet, I only took one bag. I didn’t know if it would work out, and I’d paid rent to Trudi for the month. I wanted to make sure that she was looked after. Funny, isn’t it? I was worried about her because I thought I’d landed on my feet with my new job. I was going to pick up the rest of my stuff from Trudi’s later, then you know, everything happened. So when we were back in Vegas to get married, I took the chance and went over to Trudi’s to pack everything up.’
‘Why did you go to the other house?’
‘I left something there,’ she said. ‘I
‘Yeah?’
‘Trudi, my ex-roommate, the hooker downstairs, she was the one who recommended the job to me. Her pimp took a payoff to get the information to me and I walked right into it.’
‘Carlos?’
‘Yeah,’ she said, sagging back into the couch.
‘You were supposed to believe it,’ Dax said. ‘It has to be made to look good, believable, so that the victim will walk in and accept the setup without suspecting anything’s off.’
‘How many people did you set up?’
‘Whoever Mauri told me to,’ he said. ‘Yeah, I’ve taken part in gigs like that before. I won’t lie to you about my past.’
‘I had to come back to Vegas,’ she said. ‘Everything I own is here. I need to… it’s time to consolidate my old life with my new one.’
‘No better way to do that than to keep the new life at your side.’ He took her hand to his mouth and kissed it, but when he tried to let her go, she captured his forearm.
‘You can stay with me, here, in this room,’ she said. ‘But I need time alone to take care of… some things.’
‘Why? What are you so desperate to keep me away from?’
With half a shrug, she admitted the truth. ‘My ex-boyfriend.’
Dax tensed and twisted their joined hands to bring her body flush into his. ‘That loser I met downstairs? You’ll stay at my side. Why the fuck would you need to go near some loser that you used to bang? I’m here. I’ll take care of—‘
‘I’m not going there for sex. Saul and I didn’t have that kind of relationship anyway.’
‘You didn’t fuck him?’
‘I did. I meant it wasn’t just sex. He did care about me,’ she said, avoiding eye contact.
Saul had seemed like a good guy when they started going out and for a time he was besotted with her. But he always wanted to share in the next big thing and Ivy wasn’t interested in being a part of any scene. So their relationship was doomed to never work out, they wanted different things.
‘Is that meant to make me feel good? You were in love with the guy?’
‘Not like I’m in love with you,’ she said. ‘If you want to meet him again, you can. What you can’t do is invite him into the ring with you. You have to be nice to him, no threatening and intimidating him, he did me a favour when he didn’t have to.’
‘What favour?’
‘Nothing naked,’ she said, stroking the hairs on his arm. ‘I needed someone who could mobilise and disarm people, there’s no one better at that than Saul. He knows tonnes of people, and he’s so friendly, he can… he just knows how to work people I guess.’
‘So? Why did you need him to do that?’
‘The night I left here, our wedding night—‘
‘You went to your fucking ex-boyfriend on our wedding night?’ he shouted and shot to his feet.
‘No! No, I called him. I went to my old place, Trudi was working, I knew she would be, I packed up the rest of my stuff there and then went… to the house where I had the live-in job. But, there were new owners, the previous tenant was gone, and they didn’t know where he was.
‘So I was stuck there without cab money and no phone. I went to a friend’s place that was within walking distance and used her phone to call Saul, and we made an arrangement.’
‘An arrangement?’
‘He agreed to store my things for me, the stuff I’d picked up from Trudi’s. I hadn’t taken all of my possessions to the live-in job yet, I only took one bag. I didn’t know if it would work out, and I’d paid rent to Trudi for the month. I wanted to make sure that she was looked after. Funny, isn’t it? I was worried about her because I thought I’d landed on my feet with my new job. I was going to pick up the rest of my stuff from Trudi’s later, then you know, everything happened. So when we were back in Vegas to get married, I took the chance and went over to Trudi’s to pack everything up.’
‘Why did you go to the other house?’
‘I left something there,’ she said. ‘I
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