Loving and Loathing Vegas by Lex Chase Read Free Book Online Page A

out on Foodspotting and TripAdvisor about Vegas’s killer holiday menu. The customers discreetly glanced in Jackson’s direction as he cradled the screeching baby.
    Jackson never thought he’d be that guy in a crowded restaurant with the misbehaving child. The thought raised a sense of ire in his mind. Who were they to judge him? Who were they to tell him how to parent? He wasn’t even her real parent, and how dare anyone say anything about a little girl found in the trash.
    Jeshebet was special. It was her first Christmas.
    And she was having none of the holiday spirit.
    “Maybe she’s teething?” Cillian asked.
    Jackson angled Jeshebet to get a peek into her mouth. It wasn’t hard with her gaping maw. He hummed. “Don’t see any teeth.”
    “Is she feverish?” Cillian asked. “She could be sick.” He moved closer, and her screams escalated into pure bloodcurdling.
    Okay , Jackson thought. She doesn’t approve of him either. Jackson stepped back, and she resumed her normal volume of shrill baby cries. He gnawed on his bottom lip. Cillian was trying to be helpful, but he couldn’t shake the pride of not wanting outside help. He had his moments where he could let his walls down, but then they went right back up. Jeshebet had become his baby, and she went from an awkward surprise burden to someone he cared for.
    He felt Jeshebet’s forehead. “She does feel a little warm.”
    “Are you sure?”
    Jackson felt his own forehead. “Nope. She’s fine.”
    In a corner booth, a pretty young tourist raised her water glass.
    Jackson pointed at her with his chin. “Table four needs a refill. Check if table seven needs more fries.”
    Cillian nodded, grabbing the pitcher from under the counter. “Thanks. For letting me be here.”
    Jackson mustered a pleasant smile, able to keep his emotions in check.
    Jeshebet quieted, and he sighed in relief as his ears rang.
    Only she started in again.
    “Please. Please. Please stop crying,” he whispered to her. “Do you want your baby block? You like your baby block.” He stooped slightly to reach under the counter, then blindly felt through the tote bag for her toy. He brightened when he found it, and then presented it to her. “Look, look—” He shook the squishy vinyl block and let her listen to the jingling bells inside. “—we like the block. We like the block a lot.”
    She smacked it out of his hand, sending it bouncing across the counter and into a woman’s slice of candy cane chocolate silk pie.
    Jackson withered as the woman gave him a dour look. He swept forward, reaching for her plate. “Would you like me to get you another? On the house,” he said as Jeshebet’s face bled from red to purple with all her wailing.
    The woman’s face softened just the slightest bit. “We were all that age once. I’ll pray for you that it passes soon.”
    Jackson pasted on a quick smile. “Mmm-hmm,” he said as he took her plate and set it in the dirty dish tray under the counter. “I’ll go see about getting you another slice.” It was the easiest polite response he could muster. He turned to the pass-through and called into the kitchen. “Need another slice of the holiday pie!”
    Vegas didn’t answer as he worked the grill. Sweat soaked his tank top and his bandanna, as he seasoned chicken with one hand and flipped a burger with the other. Twirling his spatula through his fingers, he then pocketed it in his apron and moved on to the ovens. As he opened the oven door, the light traced the hard lines of his face. Vegas was focused down to the second. He couldn’t make words when Eaven was at their busiest. Jackson knew he went from one place mentally to an entirely different one, where his brain shut off everything that seemed superficial.
    He had seen that same intense glare many times during their days of raucous orgies when Vegas had gotten serious about his boy of the moment. Silent, all of his concentration locked on the pleasure of the other instead of