Deadly Embrace Jackie Collins (the reader ebook .TXT) 📖

was a featured player. She made two grand entrances during the course of the show, and her fan base kept expanding. Dani Castle, the staggeringly beautiful showgirl, had become quite a legend in Vegas.

The fact that she walked around topless on stage embarrassed the hell out of Vincent. ‘When are you going to quit, Mom?’ he kept on nagging. ‘You’re too old to be taking your clothes off.’

‘Don’t tell me what to do,’ she said. ‘My job has put bread on the table and you into the best school. The day you graduate college is the day I’ll quit.’

‘So you’ll still be doing it when you’re forty?’ he complained. ‘That’s gross.’

‘Thank you, Vincent dear. I love it when you pay me compliments.’

‘C’mon, Mom, it’s just not cool. And I sure don’t want Nando finding out.’

‘Then don’t bring him to the show.’

‘Believe me–I won’t. But there’s photographs of you all over the hotel.’

‘Then don’t go to that hotel.’

Dean was on Vincent’s side. ‘Maybe you should give some thought to retiring,’ he said.

‘Why? Don’t you think I look good any more?’

‘You always look beautiful,’ Dean assured her.

‘Then why should I give it up? I have no other skills.’

‘Marry me,’ he said, always hopeful, ‘and you won’t need any.’

There he goes again, she thought. And yet she couldn’t help feeling flattered.

Vincent went to the airport to meet Nando. He was excited. He couldn’t wait to see his childhood best friend. Then he began wondering if Nando had changed.

When Nando strode off the plane carrying a tote bag and a stack of magazines, there was no mistaking him. He had that I-am-trouble glint in his eyes. His hair was even longer than Vincent’s, and he was wearing the tightest of ragged jeans and a black shirt. Only Nando could get away with wearing a black shirt in the middle of summer. Not conventionally handsome, he was attractive in a quirky, offbeat way, and very skinny.

Vincent took a deep breath. How did men greet each other? He didn’t know, he’d never had a father to teach him.

Nando waved, dropped half his magazines, picked them up, and raced over. ‘Son-of-a-bitch!’ he exclaimed. ‘You’ve gotten more handsome. Screw you, asshole!’

‘Screw you, too,’ Vincent retorted.

Then they hugged.

‘Sorry to hear about your grandfather,’ Vincent said as they walked from the airport.

‘Forget it,’ Nando said. ‘Esai was a miserable old bastard.’

‘He was?’

A pretty girl walked by and Nando made appreciative sucking noises. The girl ignored him.

‘The good news is that when I’m twenty-one I inherit everything. I’m a rich kid now.’

‘You?’

‘Yeah, me,’ Nando boasted. ‘The money’s in trust, so I can’t get my hands on it yet, but when I do–watch out!’

‘Wow!’ Vincent said. ‘Cool.’

‘Yeah,’ Nando said, winking at another girl. ‘I’m buyin’ me a Ferrari!’

‘Red?’

‘Naw. Black. An’ you and me are gonna take a trip around the world.’

‘We are?’

‘Betcha ass.’

‘What about college?’

‘Who wants to waste time in college?’

‘My mom’s planning a trip back East to take a look at colleges there.’

‘Your mom still a babe?’

‘She’s, uh, looking good.’

‘Hot lady,’ Nando said.

‘Don’t talk about my mom like that,’ Vincent said, frowning.

‘Sorry,’ Nando said, whistling at a passing brunette in a short red dress.

Vincent hoped fervently that Nando would not find out about Dani’s topless appearances at the Magiriano. It was bad enough that he’d had to take so much ribbing at school. Nando seeing her like that would be too humiliating.

Back at the house, Dani greeted the two of them warmly. ‘You sure grew into a big boy,’ she said, giving Nando a hug.

‘Yes, Mrs Robinson,’ he answered, with a cheeky grin, holding the hug for a few seconds too long.

‘Excuse me?’

‘Joking!’ Nando said, still grinning.

Vincent took him upstairs to his room.

‘Got a cigarette?’ Nando asked, prowling round.

‘Don’t smoke.’

‘Any grass?’

‘Don’t do drugs.’

‘Jesus!’ Nando exclaimed. ‘Thank your lucky balls I’m back to give you a freakin’ life.’

‘Not in this house,’ Vincent said quickly. ‘My mom would have a fit.’

‘Don’t tell me she’s made you into a mommy’s boy?’

‘Mom works very hard, so I try not to give her a hard time.’

‘You got laid yet?’ Nando asked, throwing himself down on the bed. ‘Had any prime pussy come your way?’

‘I do okay,’ Vincent said evasively, although the truth was he had not got laid.

‘Okay doesn’t cut it,’ Nando said, yawning. ‘I can see I gotta give you an education. An’ one that doesn’t take place in school.’

Dani wasn’t sure that the return of Nando was a good thing. She could tell that he was still a wild one, only now he was no longer a child. Even though he was only seventeen, he looked older. He was staying with them for a month, which meant that she’d have to watch both of them. She hoped he wasn’t going to be a bad influence on Vincent.

Dean was flying back to Houston the next day, so that night they had their usual dinner together after the show. Over dessert she confided her fears.

‘Vincent won’t get into trouble,’ Dean assured her. ‘He’s a decent kid.’

‘Do you think so?’ she asked anxiously.

‘Yes, Dani, and you’re quite a woman.’

‘I don’t know, Dean,’ she worried. ‘I feel I’ve done the best I can, raising him by myself. Then sometimes I look back on mistakes I might have made.’

‘What mistakes?’

She picked up her wine glass and took a sip. ‘The thing with Michael.’

‘You’re dragging up Michael again?’ he said, always reluctant to address the subject of the man he considered his chief rival. ‘I showed you the clippings and you made your own decision. You put your son first, which was the right thing for you to do.’

‘Sometimes I’m not so sure…’

‘Did he ever come back and try to change your mind?’ Dean asked forcefully.

‘No,’ she murmured.

‘Then what are you worrying about? Doesn’t it prove to you that you didn’t mean anything to him?’

‘Thanks, Dean,’ she said sarcastically. ‘You make me feel like a million bucks.’

‘I’ll make you feel even better if you’ll marry me and stop this nonsense.’

‘What nonsense?’

‘Independent woman, still insisting on paying me back, have to