Vic snorted. “Why don’t you piss her offagain?”
“While that does seem inevitable,” Kaci snapped. “I’d love for this to be a little less entertaining for the three of you.” She grabbed the whiskey bottle with her free hand and scowled at it while Chris threaded his sterile needle. “This is what you and the guysdo?”
Vic nodded. “A time-honored tradition. Take several gulps, and we’ll wait a few minutes for it to kick in. Not too long, though, because we tend to process alcohol prettyfast.”
“She hasnotolerance,” I told him. “So we need to becareful.”
“Do I want to know how you knowthat?”
“Probablynot.”
“Just…throw it back?” Kaci asked, drawing Vic’s attention before he could decide to press theissue.
“Wait. You’ll want a chaser.” I turned to look for the sodas I’d bought at the pharmacy, and Vic slapped an unopened can into my grip. “Thanks.” I popped the top and set the can in front ofher.
“Slow, right?” She lifted the bottle toward hermouth.
“No, this time the point is to get a little drunk. You want the alcohol to hit all at once, make you happy for a few minutes, then just sort of fadeaway.”
“So, take a couple of big drinks in a row.” Vic pulled the carafe from the coffee maker and started awkwardly filling paper cups, one-handed. “Then just sit back andwait.”
Kaci nodded. Then she gulped from the whiskey bottle, and made a terrible, adorable face. Then she gulped some more. “That isawful,” she gasped as she set the bottledown.
Vic laughed. “Good.”
I handed her the soda, and she drank half of it atonce.
Vic set a cup of coffee in front of Chris, then one in front of me. Both black. Then he sank onto the edge of the bed and aimed an unreadable stare at me over the top of his own cup. “While we’re waiting, why don’t you tell us what the hell possessed you to steal Chris’s car and take off forVegas.”
“Technically,Istole your car,” Kaci told him Chris. “And considering my recent history, I think you should be kind of grateful that it’s still in onepiece.”
I screwed the lid back on the whiskey bottle. “I feel like I should make sure you guys aren’t going to hold anything she says while she’s drunk againsther.”
“She’s not drunk yet,” Chris pointedout.
“I know. I’m just covering all thebases.”
“Or trying to deflect whatever she’s about to say about you?” hechallenged.
“Nope. This whole thing is my fault. Not hers. But she’ll probably say something different in a fewminutes.”
“I canhearyou,” Kacisaid.
“I overheard Vic talking about the enforcer grapevine. I knew I wasn’t going to get a fair trial, so I was going to try to make enough cash in Las Vegas to get out of the country.” Vic rolled his eyes, and I bristled. “It’s not as crazy as it sounds. I know what I’m doing. I was up to two hundred thousand before I lostit.”
“Wow.” Chris whistled. “I’m not sure if that makes you a really good poker player or a really badone.”
“Sometimes there’s not a lot of difference between the two,” I admitted. “How you feeling,Kaci?”
“Fine. Normal.” She shrugged, and the motion looked just a bit unsteady. “You should go,” shesaid.
“What?”
“I mean, we should have an hour or so alone together. But then you should go. They won’t chase you. Faythe said so. So you and I should… And then you should just get on aplane.”
“What’s she talking about?” Vicasked.
I shrugged. “I think she’sdrunk.”
