Page 16 of Dice & Dekes

“And you didn’t tell me?”

That lands like a slap. I look away. “I didn’t tell anyone. It literally just happened, and Dante made me sign an NDA.”

“Still.” He exhales. “I thought I was your person.”

“You are. That’s why I didn’t want you involved in this shitstorm. Aaaaand… it was an accident.”

Baylor snorts. “An accident? What, did you fall and land on hisring?Please tell me you also landed on his co—”

I press my palms to my eyes and groan. “Can we just start the massage and I’ll explain as we go? Because talking about this is really stressing me out, and a salt scrub would help with that.” Or at least, it wouldn’t hurt.

Baylor settles back down onto his table with a grumble. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this.”

The masseuses approach, with the blonde woman heading to Baylor’s table and the pretty Hispanic-looking woman coming to me. As soon as she starts rubbing my skin, I start to melt. I’ve been so tense lately. It feels nice to have someone rub the knots out of my muscles.

Her hands work over my shoulders, and, despite myself, I sigh. I’ve been carrying so much. Too much.

A phantom sensation dances across my spine—bigger hands, callused palms. Viktor’s hands.

My body reacts before I can shut it down. Heat blooms in my gut, uninvited.

I should not want to remember how he touched me.

But I do.

“Okay, here’s what happened,” I say through the hole in the padded headrest. NDAs be damned. I swear with Dante, they’re just a running joke anyway. “I accidentally married Viktor. Dante made a mistake. No one is supposed to know.”

Baylor’s voice is slightly distorted when he asks, “Again,howdoes one accidentally—”

“Dante got the wrong twin. Seriously. Dante was trying to surprise Knight and Sofia with a publicity stunt, er, wedding…”

“Did he really?” my masseuse asks, because I have neither privacy nor dignity left. “I know he’s our boss, but…”

“Yup. He’s low-key obsessed with bringing back the magic.”

“That seems like a really weird accident,” Baylor says. “Why did you go through with it?”

I squeeze my eyes shut. I’ve been asking myself the same thing, and I give my best friend the only answer I have. “There was a lot of alcohol involved. Can we drop it, please? We’re not staying married.”

“You’re not staying married to Viktor? My God… If I accidentally married him, I’d roll with it. Or at least roll on top of it. A few times at least. What could be the harm in that? It would betotallylegal.”

“Me, too,” says Baylor’s masseuse. “Not that it’s any of my business, but that man isfine.”

I stiffen at her tone. “You know Viktor?”

“Not personally, just from TV. We’re big Venom fans.” She sounds casual, so I assume this is true, but Viktor could have banged every other girl in Vegas, and I wouldn’t know.

What if she does know him? What if he flirted with her? What if he’s flirted with half the damn city?

I shift slightly on the table, and the chain around my neck presses against my throat.

Nobody asks about the tags anymore. Probably because they’ve learned not to. Or maybe because they’re smart enough to know the answer wouldn’t be pretty. When I left the service, I told my mom. Baylor knows, too. But I made it clear—it’s not up for discussion.

And Viktor? He’s the last person I would share personal information with.

Baylor chuckles. “Was that jealousy I heard just now? Because you have no reason to be jealous. Have you seen the way he looks at you?”

He means the look that stops time a little. That strips you bare, even in a room full of people. Like I’m the only person Viktor sees—and he’s starving. And terrified. And reverent. Like I’m not just someone he wants, but someone he’s afraid to want because it might wreck him. Baylor didn’t say all that, but I felt it in the way my friend looked at me after, like he knew I’d seen it too. Like maybe I just didn’t want to admit it. Not even to myself.

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