Besides, she took it off and handed it to me. It didn’t seem stuck. Although I don’t really know Paige that well, anything I suppose is possible.
“I’ve been credited with having an overactive imagination,” Dante says, correcting me. “Nikki doesn’t complain.”
“How are things between you and Nikki?” I ask, steering the conversation away from my lack of a love life.
“Good. Never been better. The sex, I tell you, Moreno, it’s dynamite.” Dante’s eyes light up, and the smile widens on his face.
He seems stoked to talk about Nikki and their sex life.
I want to drown myself behind the bar.
That’s not to say that I’m not happy for him. I’m ecstatic. He was a miserable bastard before he met Nikki. Chasing any piece of ass he could land in his bed.
Nikki turned the deadliest and most cunning man into a father.
And he turned her into his wife.
A small pang of jealousy rips through me.
I want that.
The same level of commitment, undying affection, and desire. There’s love between them, but it’s the passion that’s insurmountable.
Did I have that with Serene? I was madly in love with her, but we weren’t perfect.
“You’re quiet. Too quiet,” Dante says.
“Maybe you’re right, and it’s time that I move on,” I say.
Serene’s been gone a year. Basking in sorrow and pity hasn’t helped my daughter or me.
Dante glances around the bar. “There are a few girls at the bar. Do you want me to be your wingman?”
“They barely look old enough to drink.” I’m not the least bit interested in dating a girl just out of college. “Not my type,” I say, emphasizing my disinterest.
“I know. Your type is Paige, but she’s your daughter’s nanny and a thief, from what you tell me.”
I really wish that I hadn’t told him about the ring.
There isn’t anyone in the bar who looks remotely like Paige. The girls all look young and are caked in makeup. I swear the bartender and bouncer need to be checking I.D.’s better.
“I said it weeks ago, and I’ll say it again. Just bang the nanny.”
I cough, clearing my throat. Sometimes Dante still shocks me. It’s not the first time that I’ve heard that suggestion from him, but I’m not going to fuck the nanny, no matter how much I want to sleep with her.
“Any other suggestions? What would Nikki suggest?”
“You expect me to know what my wife thinks?” Dante rolls his eyes and laughs. “We’re betting on when you stick it to her.”
I should be angry with Dante, but I’m not. It’s rather amusing, considering we all live under the same roof. “That’s why you want me to screw her? Did you bet that it’ll happen on a certain date or something?”
“I bet Nikki that it already happened, and that’s why there’s been so much tension between the two of you. I didn’t realize it was unresolved sexual tension,” Dante says.
“Well, I hate to break it to you, but Nikki won.”
Dante gives a weak shrug. He doesn’t seem to care in the slightest. His pride isn’t the least bit bruised.
“What’d you bet her?”