Dirty Sex (27 page)

there were two, not including the one we were staying at.

“Four, I think. The place we’re staying, that one near that Eiffel

tower thing, the one with those neon drinks, and the one Vito saw me in.

What’s it called? By Circus Circus?” So damn descriptive.

“I don’t know. You can’t go back there though.”

“No shit.”

“So I should do that,” I said. Reese agreed so I went back to the

hotel to pick up her chips.

❖

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The chips weren’t too bulky in my pocket, but they weren’t

comfortable either. I had about eight thousand worth, mostly in five

hundred dollar chips. Before, when Reese made me carry her little loot,

it didn’t bother me. Now that I knew how much it actually was, it made

me a little nervous.

The cashier at the casino didn’t even blink when I stacked the

chips and pushed them toward her. She coolly counted out the cash in

hundreds and thanked me. I separated the bills into two smaller stacks

and shoved one in each of my front pockets.

As I sauntered out of the casino, I started to pull out my phone to

call Reese. Maybe she wanted to grab dinner.

“Don’t move, Vivian,” someone said quietly. His hand grabbed

my arm to keep me still. “Get in the car.” A dark blue sedan was waiting

at the curb.

“Fuck you.” I tried to shrug him off.

“Don’t be stupid,” he told me. The sidewalk was flooded with

people talking, laughing, calling to each other. Still, I heard the

distinctive click of a gun cocking. Maybe I felt it.

“You’re not going to shoot me on a crowded sidewalk.” I couldn’t

believe I was having that conversation.

“I have no problem doing so. But right now, I just want to talk.

Would you rather I sent my men after Reese? I won’t be kind to her. She

has made me very angry.”

“And I haven’t?”

“Not yet. Get in the car and we talk. You live. Or I can kill you and

torture Reese. Your call.”

There was a chance I could run, but there was an even better

chance he’d shoot me, so I let him lead me to the car. I got into the

backseat and he immediately followed. The driver started the car and

pulled into traffic.

Later, much later, I thought of a thousand things I could have done

or said to get away. But I didn’t do any of those things.

“See? That wasn’t hard.” He closed the door.

“What do you want, Vito?”

If he was surprised I knew him, he didn’t show it. “I just want to

talk.”

“Knock yourself out.” I gave him the go-ahead. “You guys can just

drop me at my hotel. It’s up there.” I pointed in the opposite direction.

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“You must be turned around.” Vito smiled softly. “Your hotel is

that way.” He indicated the correct direction. “The Wynn? In the Tower

Suites, right?”

“What do you want?” Shit, fuck, and double shit.

“I told you. I just want to ask you a couple questions.”

“Get on with it then.” I was going for annoyed and bored to cover

what I was really feeling, fucking terrified.

“All right.” He smiled again. It made my skin crawl. “Where’s

Ryan?”

“You know, Vic and Gino asked me the same question,” I said.

“Vic and Gino are idiots.” The two guys in the front seat started

laughing. “They shouldn’t have been sent to do man’s work. Now.”

He brought it back to the point. Not too easily distracted, this guy.

“Where’s Ryan?”

“Which one?” I asked. He raised his eyebrows, probably amazed

that I was going to play dumb. Well, buckle down, Vito. “I know a

lot of Ryans. There are three or four guys I went to high school with.

One of them went to UCSD. Another’s in Texas, I think. Not sure

about the others. There’s a couple at Sac State. I work with a Ryan. So

I’m guessing he’s still in EDH.” Vito’s eyebrows climbed continually

higher and his creepy grin got even bigger. Glad to know I amused him.

“Oh, and I dated a chick named Ryan last semester. But I don’t know

where she is. After she dumped me, we didn’t really talk. That bitch

was crazy.”

“That’s cute,” Vito said like he didn’t find it so cute. “But I’d

rather you just answer the questions.”

“I don’t get it.” I slouched down in my seat like a teenager.

“You’re going to make this difficult aren’t you?”

“Maybe your questions should be more concise.” I shrugged. “It’s

hard to answer when I don’t know what you’re asking.”

Vito leaned back in his seat like he had all night to make me

understand his questions. “How about you just sit tight? We’ll be at our

destination soon.” After that, he didn’t say another word.

We left the Strip and after that the city. I recognized that we

were on Highway 15, but it all pretty much looked the same. The sun

was dropping low so the shadows of the scrub and small boulders

elongated to three times their size. My stomach was twisting in fear

and desperation by the time the guy driving turned off the road and

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drove out into the desert. A second car followed us. I was dead. There

was no other reason to drive out to the middle of the fucking desert. I

was just so fucking dead.

The car stopped and Vito hauled me out of the backseat. The

second car stopped and there was a chorus of slamming doors as a

bunch of mini-Vitos got out. Vic and Gino were among them. Despite

the heat waves rising off every available surface and the spine melting,

brain-killing hot air, all of them were in suits. Vito was the only one

smart enough to wear linen. The others were such tools trying to be

tough.

“What’s the deal, Vito?” I threw up my hands, waiting.

“Where’s Ryan?” he asked. The other guys formed a loose circle

around us. Awesome. I was back in ninth grade and about to get beat

up. Not a great feeling.

“Which one?” I asked again. Instead of the cheap grin, I was

rewarded with a punch in the face. Awesome. “Fuck you.” I moved

my jaw around. It was going to be bruised tomorrow. If I made it to

tomorrow.

“Where’s Ryan?”

“Which one?” I ducked the punch, but one of the guys shoved me

forward. Vito swung again and connected. I could already taste blood.

“Where is Ryan?” He was a fucking broken record.

“Oh, are you talking about Ryan DiGiovanni?” I asked, all

innocence.

“Good kid,” Vito congratulated me. “Where is he?”

“I don’t know.” He slugged me on the other side of my face. Good,

mix it up a little. A couple more and I’d be crying like a little girl.

“How about the money? Where’s that?” Not much variety with

Christopher’s bitches.

“I’ve got a couple hundred. I’ll give it to you for a ride back to

Vegas.” I feigned like I was going to reach into my pocket. Vito fucking

punched me again. Fuck that. I hauled off and hit him back in his meaty

face. Don’t know why I didn’t do it earlier.

Vito laughed. “Spunky. I like that.” Three of his minions dragged

me backward.

“What’s with the bodyguards, Vito? Can’t beat up a kid without

help?” I struggled to break free. They tightened their hold on me.

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“I just bring them for show.” Vito worked his face into that smile

thing again. Did he have any other expressions? Or was it just serious

no feeling man and smiling no feeling man? “Let her go.” He waved

a hand at the guys holding me. They complied. “Where’s the money,

sweetheart?”

“I don’t have any fuckin’ money.” Yes, I was pissed off. No, I

wasn’t thinking about the future.

Vito hit my nose straight on. There was a nauseating crunch as my

nose broke.

“You broke my fuckin’ nose, douche bag.” I cupped my hands

to my face. That was a bad idea. No touching the broken nose. Warm

blood started to pour down my face, into my mouth, off my chin. Not

a slow trickle, a nice healthy faucet of sticky, metallic blood. For good

measure, I spit a stream of it onto his pretty cream suit.

“Do you really want me to hit you again?” he asked like I was

really trying his patience.

“I’d rather you didn’t.” I decided to just let the blood pour. Not

much I could do about it.

“Then tell me where the money is.”

“I don’t know.”

Vito did it again. Blood sprayed in an arc on the sand. It was sort

of merciful though. He hit right below my eye instead of on my broken

nose. If I lived, my face was going to be all kinds of purple. I shook my

head to clear it, which only made me want to heave. Then I punched

him again. After that, the underlings didn’t let me go. It was kind of

good after a while because Vito kept asking where Ryan and the money

were and I kept telling him I didn’t know and he kept hitting me, so if

it weren’t for them holding me up, I would have fallen. Not just fallen,

but curled up and cried. I didn’t tell him shit though.

The pain became a sluggish pound through my head. I wasn’t

thinking so clear. The thugs holding me up got lazy and I dropped to

my knees. They still held my arms, and one was kind enough to grip

under my chin so Vito could hit my face directly. None of this pansy

shit. Vito’s ring opened a gash on my cheek so fresh blood ran from my

face to the dirt.

The sun had fallen to just below the horizon by the time they

dropped me to the ground on my back. Blood dripped down my throat

and from my face into my ears. Vito delivered one swift kick to my

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ribs that sent a different, sharper sting through my chest and stomach.

I curled up on my side and covered my head. The heated dirt grated

against my face, infiltrating the cut in my cheek. It made me know I

was still alive. He just kept fucking kicking. I wasn’t even answering

him anymore. There were no more creative ways to say I don’t know.

“Pick her up again,” Vito said.

His men roughly grabbed my arms and heaved until I wasn’t quite

standing, just hanging there with my feet dragging on the ground. Vito

stepped closer and my forehead pressed into the soft coolness of his

jacket. His fingers brushed over the back of my head and made me want

to sleep.

“Boss?” one of the guys asked. Vito silenced him with a raised

hand.

“Vivian, sweetheart.” Vito knelt in front of me. He lifted my chin

so I was looking in his eyes. “You think you’re hurting right now?” I

nodded pathetically. “You don’t even know what pain is yet.”

“Fuck you.” Droplets of blood spewed from my mouth onto his

cheek.

“Listen to me, kid. This is Tommy.”

One of the underlings stepped away from his buddies into my

sightline. Tommy was a boy, a child. He could have been fifteen or he

could have been thirty with a face like that, like it was sculpted from

creamy wax. Every feature was too perfect and unnatural for reality.

The fading sunset cast him in shadow, so the only true details I could

see were the slice of his cheekbones and his slender, pretty fingers.

“Tommy has a way with women,” Vito continued.

Tommy began to stroke something in his hands. It looked like a

knife, but that wasn’t right. Was it?

“Do you understand me? Tommy can redefine pain for you.”

A shuddering started between my shoulder blades and spread

through my arms, chest, legs. It was a burning ice, the sudden knowledge

that no matter how much my friends, girlfriends, parents treated me like

one of the guys, I wasn’t. I was a girl, and they could inflict things upon

me I’d never even fathomed. The beating Vito had given me would

heal; I knew that much. But what he was saying about Tommy, I wasn’t

sure I’d survive that.

“I like you, Cooper.” He used my real name. That made me listen.

“When Tommy’s done with you, I will consider being merciful. Maybe

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I’ll put a bullet between those pretty eyes of yours. You’d like that,

wouldn’t you? We’ll bury you here. Understand?” I could only nod my

head. “But we need the information.” Vito got to his feet. The throbbing

in my head increased tenfold when I lifted my head to see his face, so I

just stared at the ground. “If you don’t give it to us, we’ll go for Reese.”

Hot tears began to course down my cheeks melting the congealed blood

and pooling in the dirt. “And what we did to you, what we’ll do still?

Oh, Cooper. It will be so much worse for her.” I forced myself to look

at him. “I won’t touch her,” Vito promised. “I’ll just let Tommy take

care of her.”

I never actually wanted to kill someone. Literally, just rip out their

fucking heart with my hands, but right then? Man, give me a gun and

I’d blow Vito’s head off. Tommy’s too, just to do the world a favor.

The thought of rotting in a shallow grave outside of Vegas after

Tommy’s brand of punishment was impossible to swallow. Maybe that

was why my throat was so thick and dry. And never seeing the twins

again? Fuck that. I couldn’t stomach it either. I was going to break.

Vito knew it. I knew it. Threatening Reese was just his twisted form of

whipped cream. And I fell for it hook, line, and motherfuckin’ sinker.