Dead Man's Hand: A Small Town Romance (A Good Run Of Bad Luck Book 1)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “Get up,” I said, motioning for him to stand.

  He scrambled to his feet, his eyes trained on my gun. But I couldn’t do it. A bullet would be found if the body wasn’t eaten. I had to snap his neck. He could have broken it as he jumped out of the car, trying to save himself as his car went over the side.

  “Turn around.”

  Shakily, he turned around. I could hear the way his breathing sped up, and I could imagine the pounding in his chest. But he took it like any man in our business.

  I racked the gun, but shoved it in my jeans. Stepping up behind him, I quickly wrapped my arms around his neck, twisting hard before he could get his arms around mine. A sickening crunch filled the air as all the life drained out of him. I pushed him over the side of the mountain, watching as he tumbled down, smacking his head into some rocks on the way, which would only give credence to what I had done.

  I checked over the area, making sure to wipe away any evidence of us being here. Getting in my truck, I gave Max a quick rub before turning around and heading home.

  29

  Ciara

  It had been so nice to spend the day with Jo. Antonio had been gone most of the day, but I didn’t really mind. It was great to talk with a female, and actually make a friend. As much as Antonio was sort of a friend, he was more a fuck buddy than anything else. I still wasn’t sure I believed him about the whole liking me thing. Deep down, I really thought that he just wanted more sex.

  “I should get going,” Jo smiled, petting Princess. “He really is a good boy, despite the unfortunate name.”

  “Hey, I like that name.”

  “Admit it, you named him that just to piss off Antonio.”

  I grinned. “I might have.”

  Headlights flooded the driveway as Antonio pulled in.

  “Yep, that’s my cue to leave.” Jo stood and gathered her things, heading toward the door.

  “Thank you for coming out. I would come to you, but unfortunately, my car is at the bottom of a cliff. So, now I rely on Antonio to take me into town.”

  “That’s okay. It’s nice to get out of town.”

  The door swung open and Antonio stepped in, grimacing when he saw Jo. “I see you’re still here.” He was holding Max against his chest, but set her down on the floor. He wiped his boots on the rug, and I watched in fascination as Max followed the gesture, wiping her paws on the rug.

  I smacked him in the chest. “Don’t be nasty.”

  He glanced back at Jo, eyeing her for some reason. “You’re right. You should stay for dinner.”

  “What?” Jo and I both said at the same time.

  “Yeah, I’m cooking steak. You should stay.”

  “Um…I think I should probably head out.”

  “No, really, I insist.”

  Jo looked to me for confirmation, but I was just as confused as her. I shrugged. If he was serious, who was I to tell her to leave?

  “Okay, I guess that would be nice. But only if you’re sure.”

  “Of course,” he said, not quite as gruffly as he normally would. “Sit down. I’ll pour you some whiskey.”

  She laughed. “If you pour me whiskey, I won’t be making it home tonight.”

  “Alright, water it is.”

  I stared at him, wondering who the hell this man was. Why was he suddenly being so nice to her? He was never nice to anyone, including me most of the time.

  I slid onto the stool next to her as Antonio got to work on the steaks. He was making four of them, despite the fact that there were only three of us.

  “Do you need some help?”

  “No,” he snapped. I glanced over at Jo. What was I missing? Maybe he wanted to be alone with Jo. Oh my God, did he like her?

  “So, how are you liking our small town?” Jo asked Antonio.

  “It’s fine,” he said, seasoning the steaks. “Not what I’m used to, but it’s fine.”

  “What are you used to?”

  He shrugged. “Big city, lots of people…definitely not the mountains.”

  “Then why did you move here?”

  His jaw clenched and he didn’t answer the question, nor did he look up.

  “Do you get a lot of people new to the area?” he asked.

  “Well, recently, yes. You, for one, and this one,” she elbowed me. “But it’s a casino town, so people are always coming and going.”

  He nodded. “Do any of the people from the casino ever stick around?”

  “What? Like they fall in love with the town and decide to stay?” He nodded. “No, that generally doesn’t happen. People usually stop in for a few days and leave.”

  He looked up at her, his eyes intent on her. “So, you always know when someone new is in town.”

  “What do you mean?” she chuckled. “Are you looking for someone?”

  “No, I just meant, that’s how you all knew I moved here. I’m not exactly in town.”

  “Oh, well, yeah, I guess when someone new is in town for a few weeks, word spreads pretty fast.”

  This was so weird. He was talking to her, like carrying on a conversation, but he rarely did that with me. Why was she so much easier to talk to? What made her so special? Suddenly, my new friendship with her didn’t seem so great. She was fine, but not if Antonio was going to fall all over her.

  He picked up his drink, taking a few sips. “I must be getting used to the town, or becoming a regular.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I noticed someone new in town. That must mean I’m blending in.”

  Jo laughed. “I don’t think anyone could accuse you of blending in. Who was the new person?”

  Antonio put the steaks on the griddle. “Just some guy. I didn’t recognize him, so I figured he must be new to the area.”

  “Did you stop and talk to him?” I asked, hoping that maybe I could be part of this conversation.

  “Why would I do that?” he asked, his eyes hard and cold.

  Maybe not. It looked like his good mood was reserved only for Jo. Hopping down off the stool, I grabbed my coat.

  “I think I’ll let the dogs out. Princess hasn’t been out in a little while.”

  “I’ll do that,” Antonio said quickly.

  “No, it’s fine.” I forced a smile and whistled for Princess. I was out the door before he could stop me. Princess and Max quickly followed, rushing out into the night. I sat on the front steps, just watching them run around. They didn’t seem to care that it was dark out, and out here, I could stew in my anger without anyone seeing.

  I just didn’t understand it. He didn’t want me to leave. He said he liked me, and though I told Jo that we were just fucking, part of me really hoped that it was more than that. I had grown used to Antonio and all his bad moods over the past few weeks. I couldn’t imagine leaving him, but if he had a thing for Jo, I wasn’t going to stick around.

  I didn’t know what I would do, though. Where would I go? The only two people I knew in this town were currently inside having a chummy time. I was the third wheel. And they both had an advantage over me, they knew who they were and could carry on a conversation about their likes and dislikes. I had to figure everything out as I went.

  The door opened behind me and Antonio stepped out. “Are you coming in any time soon?”

  “Yeah, I was just letting the dogs run around. They seem to be enjoying it.”

  “I thought you might have been eaten by a bear.”

  I huffed out a laugh. “Yeah, you really seem concerned.”

  “If you count me watching you out the window every thirty seconds, yeah, I’d say I was concerned.”

  I shook my head, wondering what the hell he was talking about. He was giving me whiplash with his back and forth. Did he like me? Was he using me?

  “Well, dinner’s ready.”

  “Already?”

  “You’ve been out here a while.”

  Sighing, I stood, but didn’t look at him. “I guess I didn’t realize.”

  His fingers slipped thro
ugh mine, shocking me. I looked up at him warily. Was this it? Was he about to tell me that this was fun, but he’d had enough?

  “What’s going on? Why are you sitting out here all alone?”

  And that was shock number two. Not only was he flirting with another woman in front of me, he was totally clueless to how it would affect me.

  “Nothing,” I said, yanking my hand away from his. “Come on,” I whistled for the dogs, clapping my hands as they ran up the stairs. “Time to go eat dinner.” I rubbed them both down as we headed inside.

  “You were out there for a while,” Jo said.

  “Sorry,” I smiled, not wanting to let on that I knew what was going on. “I just got lost in thought. Something smells delicious.”

  “I can’t wait to try it. You have no idea how nice this is. With a town of only a hundred thirty people, you can see how I don’t really get to hang out with people my own age very much.”

  “Why didn’t you ever move?”

  She shrugged. “I was born and raised here. It’s all I know. If you thought it was isolating to come here,” she said to Antonio, “imagine how scary it would be to leave. I’m not sure I could handle a big city.”

  “You might like it.”

  “I really doubt that.”

  We ate our dinner, the two of them talking about little, insignificant things while I ignored them, pretending to be engrossed in my food. I thought this night would never end. It was the worst date ever, mostly because I wasn’t on the receiving end of any of the chatter.

  “Well, thank you for dinner. It was really great. I haven’t had a meal that good in a long time.”

  Jo stood and headed for the door. Out of politeness, I followed, smiling and pretending that this was wonderful.

  “Thank you for coming over today. It was really great.”

  “I hope we can do it again soon. You have no idea how boring my life is.”

  “Well, just imagine mine. I have to rediscover everything.”

  “You’re right. I’ll stick with my pets.”

  Antonio stepped forward, grabbing her coat. “I’ll walk you out.”

  It took everything I had to keep my jaw from hitting the floor. And even more so when he held her coat open for her, helping her put it on. What the actual fuck? It was a good thing he walked out the door, because I might have slapped him if he had stayed for even a moment longer. Men could be so stupid and insensitive sometimes.

  30

  Antonio

  “You really don’t have to walk me out to my car.”

  “That’s alright. I’m trying this new thing for Ciara.”

  “Yeah? What’s that?”

  “Being nice to people.”

  She laughed out loud. “Well, you did pretty well tonight considering it was your first time. What was it like?”

  I grimaced. “Painful.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, you hid it well.”

  “Thanks. Hey, I wanted to ask, has anyone come around looking for Ciara?”

  “Um…not that I know of.”

  “Would you do me a favor and let me know if anyone does?”

  “Why? Is she in trouble or something?”

  “No, I’m sure everything’s fine,” I said, shoving my hands in my pockets. “But we don’t know anything about her. I just want to make sure that if someone comes looking for her, we’re prepared. I don’t want anyone just walking up to her and saying shit. I have no idea how she would react.”

  “Oh, well, that makes sense.”

  “She hasn’t really remembered much. I just don’t want this to be harder on her than it has to be. So, if anyone comes around, let me know so I can talk to them first.”

  She nodded. “Sure. Thanks for tolerating me through dinner.”

  “Yeah, we should…do it again sometime.”

  Hiding her chuckle behind her hand, she shook her head. “Don’t act like it’s a death sentence. It’s just dinner with friends.”

  I nodded, but deep down, I wanted to tell her we weren’t friends. The only person I considered a friend was Ciara. I let Jo stay because I needed information from her. If she could be useful to me, I’d keep her around and deal with the fake pleasantries. Hell, I’d even pretend that I liked hanging out with her. The only important thing was keeping Ciara safe, and after what happened today, I needed to take a lot of precautions to make sure she stayed that way.

  “Be safe driving home.”

  “I will.”

  I headed back for the house, only walking in as she pulled out of the driveway.

  “Okay,” Ciara snapped, “what the hell was that?”

  “What are you talking about?” I snapped as I walked past her.

  “Oh, sure, you’re all sunshine and roses when she’s here, but the minute she leaves, it’s back to the grumpy asshole that doesn’t have a nice word for anyone.”

  “What are you talking about? I’m nice to you.”

  “When? Because you weren’t nice tonight. At least, not to me.”

  “If you have something to say, then just say it. I don’t like riddles.”

  “Fine,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, shoving her breasts up. She had no idea how much she turned me on when she snapped at me. She was sexy as hell. “If you want to fuck Jo, then you’d better tell me. I’m not going to sit on the sidelines while you run off to fuck your new toy.”

  I didn’t say anything at first, mostly because I thought it was ridiculous. But then it sank in and I started to laugh. “You think I want to fuck Jo?”

  “You were so nice to her all night, nicer than you ever are to me.”

  “I thought you wanted me to be nice!”

  “Not that nice! You don’t talk to me like that. You don’t carry on conversations about yourself with me.”

  “That’s because—”

  I stopped myself before I said too much. Running my hand through my hair, I took a deep breath so I didn’t snap at her.

  “That’s because what? Seriously, I’d like to know what makes her so special that you sat and talked with her all night, but you treated me like the leftovers.”

  “You wanted me to be nice!” I snapped. “You told me to be nice.”

  “Well, I didn’t think you’d take that as an invitation to go out and fuck her!”

  “I didn’t fuck her.” Stepping away, I shook my head. My attempts to gain intel and protect the woman I liked had just backfired in my face. “This is why I don’t date,” I muttered.

  “Why? Because you can’t keep your dick in your pants long enough with one woman?”

  “No, because I apparently fucked up and didn’t even know it.”

  “How could you not know it? You didn’t see that you were treating her like a precious gem while you basically ignored me?”

  Grabbing her chin, I forced her to look at me. “You want to know why I was so nice to her?”

  “I think I have a right to know.”

  “It’s easier for me to tell her those stupid things that mean jack shit.”

  “Why? Is it because you think she’s pretty or something?”

  “She is pretty, but you’re goddamned beautiful. And no, that’s not why. That stupid shit isn’t what I need you to know about me, but the things you need to know, I’m terrified to tell you.”

  I watched her throat work as she swallowed. “Why?”

  “Because you mean something to me, and you might not like what you hear.” I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers. She didn’t move at first, but then slowly opened up for me. I slipped my tongue inside, pulling her against me so she could feel how hard I was for her.

  “Does that feel like I want her instead of you?”

  “No,” she croaked. “But you can’t do that to a girl. You’re a jerk to me all the time and you were so nice to her.”

  I chuckled under my breath, giving her a lie instead of the truth. “Only because I know you like her and want to be friends with her. I don’t give a shi
t about her or if she comes back, but I was being nice for you.”

  She frowned. “And taking her out to her car?”

  “I was trying to be a gentleman. I thanked her for coming and told her we should do it again.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me.

  “And then she asked how it was to pretend to be enjoying her company. I told her it was painful.”

  “You did not!”

  I nodded.

  “See? I don’t understand that. How can you be so…sweet sometimes, and then turn around and be a jerk?”

  I grinned at her. “I’m like candy. I’m sour and sweet. You just have to suck on me to get to the sweet part.”

  She flushed bright red, letting her eyes drop. Then she dropped to her knees. “Should we see if that’s true?”

  I groaned as she grabbed my zipper and pulled it down. “Oh, fuck, please do.”

  She hesitated for a moment, almost like she was caught in a memory, but then she pulled the waistline of my pants down, letting my cock spring free. I was hard from the moment she got down on her knees. It had been just a week since she last had me in her mouth, but it felt like a lifetime. Her wet mouth closed over the head of my cock, her tongue swirling around me. It was heaven.

  My head dropped back as I enjoyed the feel of her warmth on me. She had no idea what she was doing to me. Why she would think I would ever prefer Jo over her was beyond me. She was fucking beautiful, and the sex was amazing. I’d never slept with a woman more than once. This was a first for me. Of course, she didn’t know that. Maybe that was something I should tell her, to really get across to her how much I liked her.

  Her hand slid between my legs, cupping my balls lightly. This woman was a fucking seductress. I lifted her off her knees, spinning her around. My lips grazed her neck, sucking at her ear.

  “You’re so fucking sexy.”

  I pulled at the hem of her shirt, pulling it over her head. My hand slid to her back, undoing the clasp of her bra. She let the straps fall down her arms as I slid my hand to her pussy, thrusting my cock against her ass. Even through her jeans, I could feel how wet she was for me already.

  “Does it feel like I want anyone other than you?”