“Thanks.” Emir sat down, typing furiously on his keyboard.
“Is this the part where we plan out the grift?” Silas asked before bringing his lips to my cheek. I felt a shiver of pleasure at his mere touch, and I nuzzled against him.
“Oh, no,” I said. “Not yet. This is the part where we drink champagne and talk.”
“Shouldn’t the champagne go after the grift?” he asked.
“Let me refill that for you.” Iver appeared beside us, filling up Silas’ glass. “We drink champagne anytime. This is the part where we regale you with stories of Aria-I mean, Tempest’s legendary grifter antics.”
I looked at Iver, my eyes narrowed. “Not the embarrassing stories,” I said.
“Of course those are the ones we’ll be sharing,” Oscar said. He sipped from his champagne glass. “They’re the most important stories of all. Do you remember the time in Monaco when-”
I groaned. “Come on, guys.”
Luke interrupted from where he stood in front of the television. “The camera just panned over Elias and River in the crowd,” he said. “I think her category is up next.”
“Saved...for now,” Oscar said.
We watched, standing around the television while River, clad in a floor length gold dress that shimmered under the lights, walked onto the stage to collect her award. The camera panned briefly on Elias, who sat in the audience, grinning broadly. “Turn it up, man,” Silas yelled. “We can’t hear what she’s saying.”
River’s mouth moved, and Luke pressed on the volume button. “She’s thanking people,” he said. “Can you hear it?”
“Who’s that?” I asked, watching as a man wearing tight leather pants and a ragged black t-shirt ascended the stage, grabbing the microphone from her hand.
“Holy shit,” Silas said. “That’s her fucking ex-boyfriend.”
“Oh my God, the one who cheated?” I asked. “With her sister?”
Iver and Oscar were talking and Luke hushed them. “That’s that douchebag Viper,” he said. “Do you think River is going to push him off the stage?”
We watched as Viper grabbed the microphone from her hand and got down on one knee, proclaiming his love for her and apologizing for his indiscretions. Beside me, Silas hooted. “Shit, if River doesn’t punch him, Elias is going go up there and beat his ass on live TV.”
But Viper didn’t get out more than two sentences before River yanked the microphone out of his hand. “You stupid fuck,” she said. And then, as he started to stand, she punched him in the face.
Luke and Silas whooped. Luke turned from the TV, now cut to commercial, laughing. “River can fucking hold her own,” he said. “I can’t wait for Elias to tell us the whole story.”
“She’s one of us now,” Silas said. “A Saint. And you just don’t fuck with us.”
“Speaking of that,” Oscar said. “Do we have an update on Coker?”
“He figured out that he’d been had,” I said. “Finally. It took him long enough.”
“But, as it turns out, he also owed money to some Eastern Europeans,” Silas said. “One of my friends back in Vegas said he disappeared.”
“Well, isn’t this darling,” Iver said. “It’s happy-ever-afters all around.”
“Grifter style,” said Oscar.
“Well, happy-ever-afters for everyone except for the people we’re about to con next,” I said, grinning. “The sheriff and the mayor don’t know what they’re in for.”
I’d never thought I’d return to West Bend again. I never thought I’d be with Silas, but once I found him, I wasn’t letting go this time. I was happy and Silas was happy and for the moment, nothing else in the world, including the grift, mattered. The only thing that mattered was us.
40
New Epilogue
Tempest
"We're going to go see the baby in mommy's belly," I remind Ethan, who grimaces.
"How does it fit in there?" Jacob asks.
"Stop touching me!" Ethan yells. "Mom, he's not keeping his hands to himself!"
"Jacob, come on, keep your hands to yourself," Silas groans.
"We should rearrange their car seats and put Liam beside Jacob instead," I note. "Jacob and Ethan just get under each others' skin all the time."
Silas snorts. "Elias and I were the same way."
"Yeah, and look at what kind of troublemakers you two turned out to be."
"The former C-O-N A-R-T-I-S-T is calling me and my twin brother troublemakers?" Silas feigns shock, laughing as he puts on his turn signal and heads down the exit ramp.
We decided to drive over to Grand Junction to do one of those three-dimensional ultrasound things so the kids could see the baby, since West Bend is too small to have one. We though it would be a cool experience for them and help them adjust to the idea of having a new sibling, especially since Jacob's first reaction to the news of my pregnancy was to scream, "I'm not sharing any of my stuff!” before throwing himself dramatically on the floor.
Liam pipes up from the back seat. "I have to pee."
"Can you hold it?" Silas asks. "We'll be there in two seconds."