Free Sucker Bet by Erin McCarthy

mean like leave him for good, did she? She couldn't mean that. Kelsey loved him.
    "I'm moving out. You can deal with your addiction, these guys, Donatelli, all by yourself. I'm done."
    Well, that sucked. "Come on. Let's talk about this." Ringo fought to keep his eyelids open. Shit, he was sleepy, and he just wanted to sink back and enjoy the haze. But he didn't want his wife to leave him. He didn't. "What's the problem?"
    Her lip trembled as she grabbed her purse off the kitchen table. "Oh, I don't know, the fact that you offered to prostitute me for your drugs. That kind of says something about our relationship. You don't respect me. I'm not a priority to you."
    Great, she was going into psychobabble land on him. "Oh, my God, come on. I'm sorry, shit, it just seemed like a fast fix. Don't get all worked up, it's just a blow job. You should want to help me, you know. You should support me."
    She opened her mouth, than snapped it shut again. She turned to Williams. "Do what you have to do. But I'm just asking you, as a favor to me, not to kill him."
    And with that his wife left. Just walked out, rolling her little prissy pink suitcase behind him, like she didn't have a fucking care in the world. Leaving him with Dumb and Dumber and a sick stomach and no money.
    So much for loyalty. Love.
    Ringo didn't even bother to duck the next blow. He just let it nail him dead on, rattling his teeth and bursting the skin on his cheek open. Wishing Kelsey had told them to kill him, he closed his eyes. He was already in hell. Might as well make it official.
    And when he got there, he was going to make damn sure Donatelli followed right after him.
     

     
    Nate was actually surprised that Gwenna hadn't just sent him packing with a thanks and a don't call me, I'll call you. That hadn't exactly been his smoothest sexual encounter, and while he knew she'd had an orgasm, it had all been a little fast and furious. In the midst of it, he had been positive she'd been digging it, had felt her enthusiasm and her wild abandonment. But it seemed like the second he pulled it out, she was having regrets, trying to cover her nakedness up, and worrying about her phone ringing. Then she had been embarrassed as hell by the security guard and Nate had figured the night was over and he should be grateful for what he'd gotten.
    But Gwenna had come back with the idea of slipping into a massage room and he was smart enough not to question fortune when it shined on him. Now he was kissing the bejeezus out of her on a massage table and feeling damn grateful she was giving him a chance to go back into the game. This time he was going to draw things out, build a little suspense, make her completely satisfied and glad she'd spent the night with him, not waking up in the morning wondering why the hell she'd had sex with a stranger.
    To that end, he was employing a good old-fashioned make-out session, no rushing, no groping, just kissing slow and easy, like they were a raw sixteen and lip locking was enough to satisfy. He could feel her relaxing beneath him, her knees sinking back down to the table, her hands letting go of the death grip she'd had on the front of his shirt. When he'd laid her down, she hadn't resisted, but she hadn't exactly embraced the idea either. She had stiffened, knees up in the air, hands pressing against him like she was holding him at bay, her head slightly up off the pillow.
    But now she was sort of melting onto the bed, all of her body relaxing and opening for him, her hair spread out around her head, her breathing soft and languid. Nate ran his tongue across her bottom lip, enjoying the sound she made. It was a tiny sigh, a release, a letting go. That was what he wanted, what they both needed. Here in the narrow semidark room, with a lingering scent of earthy candle and lotions, there was nothing to worry about. No reality. Just each other and pleasure, for a short space of time, before it would all crash back in on them.
    Nate wasn't all