by Cynthia Eden
The bouncer’s fist plowed into his attacker’s face. Joel heard bones crunch even as the cheater fell to the floor, screaming in pain.
The others at the table jumped to their feet. Gaped.
“I am done with these games, King,” Morris declared. “Done. Shit always goes wrong here.”
Kingston’s face twisted with fury. “Eli, you dumb prick. You just made the worst mistake of your life.”
Joel didn’t look over at Eli. His gaze had returned to the bouncer. The guy with the knife shoved into his arm. “Listen, you don’t want to take that out—”
Too late. The bouncer yanked at the blade. Blood immediately soaked his arm. Hell.
“Um…excuse me?” Chloe’s voice. As smooth and easy as could be. “May I remove the blindfold? Is the game finished?”
Joel closed in on the bouncer. “Let me see your arm.”
The bouncer slapped a hand over the wound. The blood seeped through his fingers. “Screw off.”
Eli was on the floor. Whimpering and holding his nose.
“The game is over,” Kingston said flatly. “But no one is leaving the building.”
“I think your bouncer is losing a lot of blood.” Again, Chloe’s voice was mild. “He should go to the hospital.”
“N-no…h-hospital,” the bouncer croaked. His complexion was turning ashy.
“Then Joel can fix him,” Chloe continued crisply.
The blindfold still covered her eyes. How the hell did she even know about the amount of blood loss?
“He’s a doctor,” Chloe continued while everyone else seemed frozen. “Let Joel help Jimmy.”
Jimmy? Was that the bouncer’s name? There are two bouncers or guards—or what-the-hell-ever they need to be called—in the room. How had she known which one was injured?
“You a doctor?” Kingston demanded as his gaze raked Joel.
“I was.” His jaw hardened. “He should have left the knife in.”
“Well, it’s out. Take care of him, and I’ll owe you.”
Chloe’s voice seemed to whisper through his mind. If you have a chance to prove yourself, do it.
Joel stared down at his fingers.
Favors go a long way in this world.
“I haven’t worked on a patient in a long time.” There was a faint tremble in his fingertips. “He should go to the hospital.”
“Jimmy is wanted by the cops. He’s not stepping foot in a hospital. If you’re a doc, fix him. Now.”
A quick look showed that more blood poured from Jimmy’s wound. Fuck.
“Chloe, your doc boyfriend isn’t moving. Motivate him.” Kingston’s order was angry. Hard.
Joel rolled back his shoulders. I can do this. Maybe. Probably. He felt a light touch on his arm and flinched.
“It’s okay,” Chloe told him softly. She’d taken off the blindfold. She leaned onto her toes and pulled his head toward her mouth. “I can take care of him. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
“Thought you fainted at the sight of blood,” he rasped.
“No, it’s only bloody dead bodies that get to me. I can stitch him up. You don’t have to do this.”
“I-I think I’m going to pass out,” Jimmy croaked, sounding shocked. His big body began to sway.
Hell.
Joel surged forward and caught him. “I need room to work. Now.”
Chapter Sixteen
Blood covered Joel’s hands. Or rather, blood covered the gloves that he wore as he stitched up Jimmy Trainor. Chloe tilted her head and watched him work. Fast. Steady.
Kingston had plenty of medical supplies that he’d made available to Joel. The back room on the club’s first floor was almost an OR. Mostly because this wasn’t the first time that an attack had occurred on the premises. And since Kingston and his employees didn’t exactly like to report workplace injuries, he’d made a habit of keeping medical gear on hand for emergency situations.
“You heard I lost my last doc, didn’t you?” Kingston murmured as they watched Joel meticulously pull up another stitch.
“You mean the resident that you were slipping cash to treat your crew? I did hear he’d gone to Florida.” She pursed her lips. “That bit of gossip might have reached my ears.”
“That why you brought the new doc with you tonight? You looking to loan him out to me?”
She focused on Kingston. “Joel is not up for loan. He’s my partner.”
A nod. “You just brought him here then…so, what? I’d owe you?”
Yes, actually. One of the reasons.
“How’d you know we’d need his services tonight?”
She had to laugh at his question. “You always wind up needing a doctor at one of your card games.”
Joel’s head whipped toward them. He stared at her. Then his gaze drifted to Kingston.
“I don’t think that your partner likes it when someone else makes you laugh,” Kingston told her.
“That’s a strange thing to say.”
“Is it? Laughter can be a very personal, intimate thing. Especially with a woman like you.”
Joel had gone back to work.
Chloe considered the situation. “I don’t see laughter as intimate at all.”
“In order to laugh, you have to let someone close enough to be able to amuse you. You don’t let many people that close, Chloe.”
“Neither do you.”
“True.”
They watched in silence as Joel finished his stitches. He yanked off the bloody gloves. Tossed them in the trash then leaned down to say something to Jimmy. She couldn’t see his lips so Chloe wasn’t sure what Joel had said, but a moment later, he was striding toward her.
“All done?” Kingston asked. “I’ll assume my employee is no longer in danger of bleeding out?”
“He was never in danger of bleeding out. It looked one hell of a lot worse than it was.” Joel’s hands were fisted at his sides. “Told the asshole he’d better not do anything to rip out my stitches or I’d be pissed as hell.”
“Um, yes, can’t have stitches ripping.” Kingston turned on his heel. “I take it you’re now ready for payment?”
“I don’t want your money—”
Chloe put her hand on Joel’s chest. “He’s not talking about money.”
Joel’s gaze zeroed in on her.
“And, yes,” she continued when Joel didn’t speak up, “we are ready for payment.”
“Then follow me. He’s waiting for you.”
She started to follow—
Joel snagged her wrist. “He?”
“Yes. I expect the payment we’re about to get is the card cheater. And it’s perfect because he’s the man we needed to interrogate.”
Joel shook his head. “How are you so calm? Is this a typical Saturday night for you or something?”
“Yes.”
He blinked.
“We should hurry. I’m not certain how long we’ll have with our suspect before he passes out.”
A muscle jerked along Joel’s clenched jaw. “Why the hell would he pass out?”
Chloe winced. “Because he broke Kingston’s rules.”
***
The club was a freaking maze. Joel followed Chloe and Kingston down a dimly lit hallway, and the next thing he knew…
What. In. The. Hell?
He was in another back room. Only this one wasn’t nearly as clean as his make-shift operating room had been. This place was covered in dust and heavy boxes lined the walls. Right in the middle of the room, sagging in a chair that sat beneath one overly bright light, was the man Kingston had called Eli.
But Eli wasn’t just sporting a broken nose any longer. His eyes were both black. His jaw was swollen. And blood dripped from his busted lip.
“Dammit,” Joel snarled. “Am I supposed to patch him up, too?” He took a step forward.
Kingston lifted a hand and blocked his path. “You have five minutes to talk to him.” His stare remained on Eli. “You will answer thei
r questions honestly. If you lie, Chloe will know. She’ll tell me. I’ll hurt you.”
Eli cracked open his eyes. The narrow slits glared at Joel. “How’d you…know…what I was…”
“I knew you were cheating.” Chloe’s heels tapped across the floor. “Because you were winning more hands than was statistically possible.”
“Bitch…could h-have been…having good n-night…”
“When you lost, it was on a pattern. Too predictable. And you always lost on the smallest pots.”
“Y-you were…g-guessing…”
“I don’t guess,” Chloe informed him. The woman even sounded a little insulted by the accusation. “You had cards up your sleeve. You also had a knife. I heard it tap the table when you collected your winnings.”
Well, damn.
Joel looked over and saw Kingston lift a brow at Chloe’s explanation. The other man looked impressed.
“This doesn’t count as part of our five minutes, does it?” Chloe asked Kingston. “Because he’s been asking questions. Joel and I haven’t.”
Kingston glanced at his watch. “Start now.”
“Where’d you get the ring?” Chloe asked.
His busted lips pulled into a smile. “What ring?”
Kingston pulled a bloody ring out of his pocket. “This one.”
Chloe sighed. “Your prints are on it now. That is going to make things harder for me.”
He frowned at the ring. “I can wipe them off.”
“You’ll wipe off other evidence, too. Please, don’t.” Chloe closed in on the man in the chair.
“Ahem.” Joel cleared his throat. Loudly.
Her head swiveled toward him.
“Eli there isn’t restrained. How about you don’t get too close to him?”
“Eli isn’t going to attack,” Kingston assured him. “Are you, Eli?”
Eli shook his head. “All…mistake…”
“Jimmy is my nephew.” Kingston’s eyes glittered. “Driving a knife into his arm was most definitely a mistake. One you’ll regret for a long time.”
“You’re taking up my five minutes.” Chloe didn’t move any closer to Eli. “How’d you get the ring? Did you kill Donnie Adams?”
“What? Hell, no.”
“Then how did you get the ring?” she repeated.
“Donnie lost my money, so he had to pay up.” Eli licked his bloody lower lip. “Got him in a few times. One of those you-scratch-my back, I-scratch-yours type of situations.”
“What did Donnie scratch for you?”
“He…could get a good supply.”
“Drugs?”
A jerky nod. “So, I got him in. He was riding high. First time, he doubled his money. Dude thought he couldn’t lose.”
“Everyone can lose,” Joel said. Simple fact.
“Eventually, Donnie lost all that he’d ever won, then more. I covered him, but I made him give me the payment back. Didn’t have it all in cash, so he had to give me things to make up for it.”
“Things.” Chloe appeared to accept that explanation. “List them.”
“He gave me the ring. Some jewelry. Sh-shit was probably hot. Got a car.”
“I’m assuming that was, ah, hot, too?” Chloe wanted to know.
“The rest of what he owed me—he got the cash from that stripper girlfriend of his. Five grand. With the 5K and the other stuff, he paid the debt to me in full. I-I had no reason to kill him.”
“Yet you came here tonight, flashing his ring.”
“I…liked it.”
Joel didn’t buy that explanation.
Neither, apparently, did Chloe. “You were wearing it as a message, weren’t you? No one can screw you over without paying.”
Eli didn’t respond.
“Um, Joel?” Chloe called out. “I’m sorry, but I do need to get just a little closer, if you don’t mind.”
“I mind.” He immediately moved toward her.
“Don’t worry.” Kingston took up a position behind Eli. He shoved his hands down on the man’s shoulders. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t move.”
Chloe looked expectantly at Joel. “Good?”
No. “Nothing here is good. We need to get the hell out of this place.” The sooner, the better in his book.
“Hurtful,” Kingston stated. “Ever so hurtful.”
Chloe nodded. “That was harsh. I thought the music on the first floor was really quite lovely.”
“Thank you, Chloe.” Kingston tightened his grip on Eli. “Knew you’d appreciate it.”
She held Joel’s stare. “I need to get closer. Just for a moment.”
“Why?”
“So I can smell him.”
His eyes closed. “Of course, that’s why. Should have realized it sooner. You need to smell him.” He prayed for patience, then opened his eyes. “Do it.”
She did. A quick sniff. And… “Cinnamon.”
The jackass smelled like Cinnamon? Joel leaned in close, too, but, no. “That’s not Cinnamon.” It was a smell from his childhood. “That’s—”
“It’s bubblegum body butter. Cinnamon had it on when we went in for the private dance with her.”
Kingston’s brows shot up.
“Wasn’t a private dance,” Joel clarified. “We were questioning her.”
“I even saw the container of the body butter near her bag. Sure, there are probably plenty of other people who use the same lotion but…this is an interesting development, don’t you think?”
He did. Joel focused on their prey. “You know Cinnamon.”
Eli’s gaze darted away.
“You know Donnie’s girlfriend. Know her well enough that the scent of her lotion is clinging to you right now.”
Eli tried to shrug, but couldn’t due to Kingston’s grip. “I got a private dance tonight. Guess we all like them, huh? Where’s the crime?”
“You look guilty.” Chloe backed away from him. “You have the dead man’s ring. I strongly suspect you had sex with the dead man’s girlfriend. And you pulled a knife tonight, showing us all that you are extremely prone to violence. Kingston, I think you should turn him over to the cops.”
Kingston’s face hardened. “You know I don’t like cops, Chloe.”
“Yes, but I followed the trail and came here, and they will, too. If you cooperate, they’ll dig into your business less. They’ll just rip apart his life.” She pointed at Eli.
Horror flashed on Eli’s battered face. “No!”
“I assume you have businesses you don’t want the cops to know about?” Chloe didn’t seem overly sympathetic. “That’s unfortunate.”
“I didn’t kill Donnie—I swear! Yes, I know Cinnamon. She called me after she found the body. She was freaking out! We’d hooked up a few times, and she knew I could handle trouble.”
“You can’t handle shit,” Kingston fired at him.
Joel was in agreement with that assessment.
“I have an alibi! I can prove I didn’t do it! As for the ring…I had it before he died, okay? I can prove that, too!”
“You will need to prove that,” Chloe said in her cool British accent. “So be prepared to do so. Now if you will tell me—”
“Time’s up,” Kingston interrupted.
Her head whipped up. “But—”
“Your time is up. Take your doc and head out. Trust me on this, you’ll want to be clear of the Serpent very, very soon.” Kingston’s expression was unyielding.
“Fine.” She sure didn’t sound as if anything was actually fine with her. But she headed for Joel. He thought she seemed a little pale. “He means trouble is coming,” she whispered. “We need to get the hell out of here, now.”
“What kind of trouble?”
“Let’s not find out.” She curled her fingers with his and pulled him back through the dimly lit hallway. She walked quickly, unerringly, as if she’d been there dozens of times before. They didn’t speak again until they’d exited the club. Sure enough, even though hours had passed, there w
as still a long line of eager people waiting to get inside.
“Not going to happen tonight.” She shook her head. Pulled out her phone and fired off a quick text. “Told Marie to pick us up on Decatur, near the Square. We can’t wait around here.” Her heels were clicking again as she hurried.
“Just what is going down here?” He wanted to know.
She didn’t speak.
“Chloe.”
“We need to be farther away. The Square is supposed to be closed at sundown, but I know a way we can cut through it and come out on Decatur. We’ll want to stay to the shadows that the Square will give us.”
Joel glanced over his shoulder. Didn’t see anyone following them or even looking their way, so why was she hauling ass so much and worrying about staying in the shadows? Her heels clicked faster as he kept pace with her, and when they neared the Square and a streetlamp sent light spilling onto their path, Joel reached the end of his patience. “Enough.” He closed his hand around her arm and pulled her to a stop. He turned her around to face him. “Don’t you think I deserve an explanation?”
“Probably several.” She rose onto her toes and looked over his shoulder.
“No one is back there. No one is coming after us. Your boyfriend Kingston probably told them to stay away from you.”
“He’s not my boyfriend.” She was still looking over his shoulder. “And I’m certain that I am under an order of protection from him, but I doubt he extended the same courtesy to you.”
“Sure. Right. No courtesy to me. Didn’t expect that to happen. So what if I helped his cousin?”
“Nephew.”
He waited for her gaze to come back to him.
She kept looking over his shoulder.
“I’m angry with you,” he growled. “You made me cross a line I never wanted to cross.”
Her gaze flew to his. “I did?”
“Don’t play innocent. We both know that’s not something you are.”
She bit her lower lip.
“You knew I didn’t want to sew up that guy.”
“Yes, but you have the skills so why let them go to waste?”
“Because it reminds me too much of—” He stopped. Let her go. “Screw it. Let’s go meet up with Marie. No, you meet up with her. I need space.”
Her hand rose and pressed to his cheek. “You can’t let what happened in the past force you to give up something you love. You aren’t a killer, Joel.”