Page 87 of Love Gamble

Okay, no one has tried to get into mine recently, but I haven’t really socialized with anyone outside of this club. And he’s no longer jealous of Jag, who is now trying to get into bed with our doctor.

But he doesn’t need to know that.

He thinks I’m the hottest woman ever, so he’s probably assuming lots of men come after me all the time.

And I’m going to let him think that.

“Who?” he asks, stalking after me.

I ignore him and head inside, coming to a stop when I see none other than fucking Melinda standing in our kitchen.

We clearly have no security anymore after the Lost Lions MC left town. We’re just letting anyone in.

“Who let you in here?” I ask her, turning to Damon in hopes he will handle this situation right now. I don’t know why she’s here, but I do need someone to let her know that she isn’t welcome. This isn’t a restaurant where people can drop in for free food and look for men to get them pregnant.

“The door was unlocked,” she says, looking at him and not me. “I need money, Damon. If you give me some, I’ll leave right now. Even a hundred would be good. I know you have it, so just hand it over. Look at this place,” she adds, scanning the house. “You’re loaded.”

I look at her arms, and that’s when I see the track marks. And this all makes a little more sense. She’s not just a raging psychopath, she’s on drugs. And she wants money for the next fix.

Oh, boy.

“Are you okay?” I ask, watching as she visibly starts to get agitated. Did Damon break her so much she turned to drugs? Or was this always a thing? “Can I get you something?”

“Just money,” she says, hands on her stomach. “For the baby. I need to get food and things.”

I’ll bet.

“So you’re still going with that,” Damon comments, stepping in front of me. Does he think she will try to do something to me?

I walk over to Raine and whisper the situation in her ear.

She comes over right away to help, except that sets Melinda off, and she starts throwing things around the kitchen in a rage.

“Should we just give her money and lock our doors?” I ask.

Julianna storms in, not taking any of Melinda’s shit, and grabs her by the arm, dragging her outside. Raine and Damon follow behind. I know he’d feel some kind of responsibility for her and wouldn’t want to leave the women to handle it.

“I feel bad for her,” I say to Leif, who comes over to see what is going on.

“Don’t let her ruin your night—they’ll take care of her,” he says, pulling me back inside. He gets me on the dance floor and starts busting a move like nothing happened. What the hell? I take a tequila shot and join him.

Chapter Forty-One

Damon

We get Melinda to the hospital, but there’s nothing much else we can do. I didn’t even know she used hard-core dugs like that, at least she wasn’t for that short time I was seeing her. What a mess. I have to look at the positives, though: at least she’s not carrying my child. She admitted as much on the way there. She really was just desperate for money to buy her latest fix, and after her money ran out she knew we had lots of it, and decided to make her play. Lucky for us, Julianna wasn’t drinking tonight, and drove us there and back.

The party is still cranking when we return, and Corey is on the dance floor with Echo, Bella, Leif, and Diamond. I’m glad she’s not holding a grudge against Echo, which is why I didn’t tell her, but I can understand why she’d be upset that I didn’t. I should have. And next time I’m just going to go with straight-up honesty.

I come up behind her and she melts into me, straight away knowing that it’s me. “Everything all good?”

“Yeah, she went to the hospital. Hopefully she doesn’t come back here.”

Julianna gave her an earful, so I don’t think that she will. Raine also told her that she can come and see her at the hospital if she ever needs anything, which was very sweet of her. I just don’t like how we all got dragged into Melinda’s issues, but at the same time I do feel sympathetic toward her. She is someone’s daughter and I hope she gets the help she needs.

Corey spins around and dances against me, her beautiful body in rhythm with the music. And after a few drinks Diamond finally doesn’t hold back, showing off his moves for Echo.

As long as it’s not for Corey, I don’t care.