by Carmen Faye
“I don’t know if I’ll be in town next weekend,” I said.
Harry shook his head and walked around the table, coming so close to me we almost bumped chests.
“Mr. Reeker, I don’t think you understand. You just signed a contract. If you don’t show up, we are going to take further action.”
“It’s just a game,” I said, and I felt small all of a sudden, even though I was taller than Harry.
“And sixty percent of the money you win in that game is ours. So you had better show up if you want this deal to go anywhere. If you want to stay in town.”
It was a threat if I ever heard one. I swallowed and nodded. I was going to have to do this now. Of course, I could just leave Cali, leave it all behind. But the idea that there was a lot of money… and I was in with a very large group of high rollers…this opportunity only came once in a lifetime.
If I was wise I would milk it. And I’d crossed paths with scum before. I could handle myself.
“I’ll be there,” I said.
Harry smiled.
“Send Tucci my regards,” I said. The smile on Harry’s face faded, but I let myself out and walked away from him. I decided I didn’t like him.
When I was out in the road again, I realized what I’d just done. I’d said yes to something I wasn’t going to be able to do without Alex. And I needed her to teach me how to play this game the right way if I wanted to keep my promise, my reputation, and my money.
I took a deep breath, dialed her number, and waited for her to pick up.
CHAPTER NINE
She wasn’t answering her phone. I needed her. I needed her to teach me how to play this damn game so that I could actually take part in a high-stakes game. I was in over my head, and this had all been my own fault. Not just because this so-called scam, which was starting to feel like less and less of a scam on my part, was my idea, but also because I’d gotten mixed up with people I didn’t know well enough.
I’d assumed I knew what to expect because I knew the Stone Cold Club well enough. I assumed that being part of the club would have prepared me for being part of anything else.
I hadn’t considered that I’d been in a favorable position with the Stone Cold Club, and I hadn’t once imagined that I wasn’t good enough to play this game.
They’d sprung me from prison. Me instead of Emmett. I thought that meant I was good enough to make anything work. I’d just realized that all it meant was that Emmett never had been.
She still didn’t answer the phone. How many times had I rung her now? Enough to sound like a stalker. Dammit. I had to make another plan to find her. I didn’t know the city; I didn’t know anyone in town; I didn’t know where I was even going to start looking for her.
A black BMW pulled up next to me. It had tinted windows, and my first reaction was to start running. Ominous cars with tinted windows usually had a gun barrel on the other end of it and bullseye painted on the back of my head.
The window slowly rolled down, and I would have figured it was too late if hadn’t been for the fact that it was the driver’s window, not the back window. It wasn’t a rule that they were going to kill me from the back window, but it was a good rule of thumb.
Ted, whose surname I never found out, sat staring out at me with a grin like we were the best of friends. And there was no one in L.A. that I was happier to see right then.
“Teddy, my man,” I said. “Brilliant to see a familiar face.”
He chuckled and gestured his head to the passenger seat next to him. I didn’t hesitate. I walked over to the passenger side, opened the door, and slid into the leather seats. The car was nice, as far as cars went, but it wasn’t top of the line.
Still, it was a good set of wheels.
“So, I hear you’ve been getting into trouble,” Ted said. He pulled into traffic and crawled down the road like a snail. This ride was all about the image and not about the speed.
“Where did you hear that?”
Ted shrugged, both hands on the wheel, as if he was still learning how to drive. “I have my contacts,” he said. “You know I know the right people.”
I wouldn’t have thought it when I looked at him. Ted looked like he was trying hard to be cool, and he managed most of the time, but now and then, small things slipped through that gave him away. Still, if he’d heard it on some kind of gossip mill, it meant that he did have contacts.
“I’m wondering then, if you’ve got so many contacts, if you can help me. I’m looking for someone.”
Ted got a look on his face that was a mix between smugness and pride. I doubted a lot of people leaned on him if they wanted info.
“You can’t ask for a favor without owing me one,” he said. Right. We were going to play big boy games.
“Of course,” I said. Because honestly, how difficult could it be to give Ted something? He didn’t really look like the demanding type.
“I’m looking for Alexandra. Do you have an address for me, somewhere I can find her during the day?”
I looked out the window. The city was bustling, cars and people everywhere. There was a crowd on the opposite corner from us, people reaching up with phones to take a picture, and I was guessing it was a celebrity. Ted craned his neck to see, like sitting up straighter in his seat was going to make a difference.
Once he got over the excitement that swept through all the onlookers, Ted whistled through his teeth. “That’s a tall order. It’s gonna cost ya.”
I looked at him. “What will it cost me?”
“I don’t know…”
“I can take anyone out for you. Who do you want me to take care of?”
Ted’s eyes widened, and when he turned his face to me, he’d gone pale.
“It’s okay,” he said. I chuckled. I wasn’t a killer. Ted didn’t look like the kind of guy who would follow through on an offer like that. “I’m fucking with you,” I said, and Ted visibly relaxed. “Seriously, though, you say the word, and I’ll make it happen. A trade.”
Ted shook his head. Maybe he was tired of playing the macho game, considering that he’d lost.
“She lives at the foot of the hills in a house that was one of the first in the city. Sunder, is her surname. Alexandra Sunder.”
“Sunder,” I said, repeating the surname to myself.
“And you won’t find her in the phone book.”
I doubted I would.
“Thanks, man,” I said to Ted, holding up my fist so he could fist pump me. He didn’t leave me hanging, and we had a little bro moment.
“What do you need to see her for?” Ted asked. I shrugged. I wasn’t going to tell him the truth. No way in hell. He might have had his contacts finding information about things that had happened, but I doubted he was ready to get involved with something like this.
“I…uh… owe her money,” I said. Solid finish. Nice.
Ted pulled a face and stepped on the brake to slow down for the cars in front of him. There was traffic everywhere, and it was nowhere near peak hour.
“Bad start, pal. You don’t want to owe anyone money around these parts.”
No shit. I’d learned that too late. That information would have been great three days ago, but then again, I wouldn’t have taken it three days ago. I only ever believed that someone was dangerous when they tried to shoot me in the face. I was stubborn that way.
Stubborn or stupid, depending on whom you spoke to about it.
“You’re a real life saver,” I said to Ted. I opened the door at the traffic light and stepped into the road.
“I’ll see you around,” Ted said to me. “If you’re at the Harlan, look me up. That’s my spot.”
I nodded, waved him goodbye, and walked across the road while the light was red to get back to the pavement.
The hills were quite some distance away, but I didn’t want Ted to drive me there. There was only so much conversation I wanted to have with the guy. He asked questions. I didn’t like questions. It meant I had a lot to avoid, and that got
harder and harder the more time you spent with someone.
I flagged a taxi and got in, giving him an area.
“What street, amigo?” the Mexican cabby asked me.
“I don’t know. Get me in the area, and I’ll do the rest,” I said. The guy nodded and put his foot on the pedal, driving a hell of a lot faster than Ted did and going through more yellow lights than I could count. By the time I was in the area, I was relieved to be on solid ground again, my knees wobbly.
I paid the guy, and he drove off. I half imagined his tires would be squealing.
I looked around. The area was definitely older than most, downtown L.A. being a lot more modern and with the times. The houses all looked like they’d been built fifty years ago, maybe more, but none of them really stood out to me.
I was going out on a limb here, looking for a woman I hardly knew, in a house with hardly any description. I walked the streets for about an hour when I saw it. There was no mistaking that this house could be the one Ted, whose surname I still didn’t know, had been talking about. The house looked as if it had sat down on itself, with a low roof and a wrap-around porch. This house was a mix of styles, from Victorian to Tudor to downright confused.
I walked up the path, noting the colorful flowers in beds on both sides. I wondered if Alex had a gardener, or if she did this kind of thing herself.
When I knocked on the door, it took two minutes before I heard footsteps, the burglar chain, and then the door opened.
Alex stood in front of me with an apron around her waist and flour on her hands.
“You know, that looks like heroine,” I said.
“You know, how the fuck did you find my house?”
Well, wasn’t that the most elegant greeting?
“Can I come in?” I asked.
She hesitated.
“I know you don’t have a very good reason to trust me, but I just got a call from the Crucifix Six, and they want me in a high-stakes game this weekend. I don’t know what I’m doing. I need you to teach me how to play so that we’ll have any winnings at all to speak of.”
She folded her arms, not caring that her flour hands left white marks on the clothes that showed around the edges of the apron.
“Yeah, sure,” she said. “I’ll show you how this works. But you better give me something in return. I’m not losing more than I already have.”
I looked around me, up and down the road, as if it would matter if someone saw me here.
“I don’t have much to offer if I have to be honest,” I said. “I can show you some tricks, sleight of hand and pickpocketing.”
“Pickpocketing?”
I shrugged. “I was cat burglar before my career started.”
She chuckled. Her smile changed her whole face, lit it up like a sunrise, and her eyes shimmered with flecks of gold that were otherwise dormant.
“I should have known you were a clown,” she said. I had the feeling it was an insult, but if that was what an insult sounded like, with her tone of voice and those sharp eyes on me, she could insult me any day.
“Close the door and chain it behind you,” she said, turning and walking into the house without waiting for me. I stepped inside and did as she asked.
CHAPTER TEN
I had to give it to him. Rip was charming. He knew just what to say and when to say it. I knew that it was part of his game. He made everyone like him, especially women, and then he made his moves when no one was looking.
I knew this. And I still fell for it. There was something about his black hair and his piercing blue eyes that just fascinated me. I was glad I hadn’t told him to leave when he’d appeared on my porch. I still didn’t know how he’d found me.
He spent almost every day at my place. He had a room at a motel that he went back to because I wasn’t planning on hosting a sleepover, but he was on my doorstep every morning.
I taught him how to count cards, and I taught him how to work Texas Hold’em so that he didn’t have to panic once Tucci put him on the table. He was doing okay. With a little practice, he could go far.
In return, he taught me some sleight of hand tricks that could come in handy in my own games. I knew how to win, and I walked away with cash in my pocket most of the time, but it was never a bad thing to add to my skillset.
He also taught me how to pickpocket. This I was very interested in learning. Part of me had always liked the idea of taking what wasn’t mine and getting away with it. I used to be a little rebel when I was growing up, and it was right up my alley.
We were expected to be at Lady Luck on Saturday. The casino wasn’t one I often visited, and I knew very little about the place or the regulars. It was a good thing. I didn’t want to run into anyone I knew, and it was going to be good that no one knew Rip either. When we were done on Friday, he started putting his leather jacket back on. He always wore it, and it worked with his look.
He looked badass, but not like those intimidating bikers. He looked bad in a good way. An attractive way.
“Do you want to grab carryout for dinner?” I asked.
He looked up at me popping up his collar, questions in his eyes.
“Tonight?”
I shrugged. My home had only been open to him during business hours until now.
“Sure. I don’t feel like cooking or eating alone tonight.”
“Yeah,” he said with one side of his mouth cocked up in a lopsided grin. “I could eat.”
I smiled and went to get my coat. The weather was starting to turn, summer was draining away, giving into fall. We walked to the Chinese restaurant on the corner. I ordered my usual, and Rip added on some spring rolls and pineapple chicken.
When we got home, I dished it up into normal plates because eating out of cartons just wasn’t my style.
“I have beer in the fridge,” I said.
“You drink beer?” he asked.
“No, I prefer wine. I just have it in case.”
He nodded, his eyes sparkling with a smile he was hiding. He opened the fridge and got himself a beer, cracking it open with a hiss. He took a long sip and then sighed.
“God, a cold one is just what I needed,” he said and leaned against the counter with his hip.
“Pour me some wine, will you?” I asked. He opened and closed cupboards, finding the bottle and a wine glass and pouring the glass half full, the way that it was supposed to be.
“Wine and Chinese food,” he said. I shrugged.
“Always time for wine.”
We walked to the family room, each with a plate and a drink.
“I think this is the first time you and I are hanging out socially,” Rip said.
I sipped my wine. “Don’t get used to it,” I said. But I liked it.
We ate and spoke about stupid things. I found out about his alter ego, Ben Reeker. He sat through my pathetic childhood and didn’t ask any questions when I was bitter about my sister. More beers, more wine and more talking, and before I knew it, it was past midnight. I put my empty wine glass next to the bottle that only had about an inch of wine left in it. There were six beer bottles on the table, and Rip sucked the last of his seventh down with tipsy style.
“It’s late, I should get to bed,” I said.
“God, it’s already past midnight.”
He stood up and reached for his jacket again. I watched his arm as he did. His bicep strained against the t-shirt he was wearing. I hadn’t noticed how built he was before. He was actually in really good shape.
I got up too and stretched. Somewhere during the night, I’d changed into baggy pajama pants and a tank top instead of the jeans and blouse I’d been wearing. I was ready for bed, and I was tired.
“Tomorrow is the big day,” I said. Rip turned to me, jacket in hand. He stood very close to me, and I was aware of the heat rolling off his body. “Are you nervous?”
He shook his head. “I’m pretty sure you’ve got me covered with everything you showed me. We’ll be fine.”
I nodded.
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br /> “Besides, with someone like you at my side, what can go wrong?”
It was a flirt line, and I knew it. I blushed nevertheless. Maybe it was the wine in my system that had let me drop my guard. Maybe it was the fact that the time we’d spent together had been nice. Rip was a nice guy, not nearly as much of an asshole as I was set to believe in the beginning.
I don’t know where it changed from normal talking to something more, but the atmosphere was suddenly thicker, and I took a deep breath to make sure I could still get air into my lungs. Rip stepped closer to me, so close that our chests almost touched, and I didn’t step away. He looked at me, and I wasn’t sure what I saw in his face, but his pupils were dilated, mouth slightly parted, and his eyes slid down to my lips.