Page 2 of Gambler's Conceit
The “boss” shakes his head. “Yes. Do continue, Vortex.”
Vortex.
I fight the urge to rub my temples. Names like “Vortex” never bode well, especially when they’re calling someone else “boss” instead of Mr. Smith or whatever. The people I’ve met with names like that have had reasons to hide their true identities—and those reasons are never good.
Mine included.
My wariness ramps up several levels, and I almost wish I hadn’t gotten into the car.
Almost.
The car starts up again, and the boss angles himself so he’s facing me. “So. Perhaps we should start with introductions. Who are you, kitt—” He stops himself and looks at Nacho. “I suppose you should introduce the cat as well.”
I grin at him. “The cat’s Nacho. I’m Seven. You’re ‘Boss,’ right?”
“Seven?” He gives me a considering look. “As in, ‘lucky number seven’?”
Seven. Fourteen. Twenty-one.
Shit.
“You got it,” I confirm.
“Not very lucky, if you got caught out here on foot.”Bossextends his hand to Nacho, who sniffs it curiously.
“But you stopped for me. I’d call that lucky,” I counter, fighting the urge to pull my cat back out of his reach.
“Indeed.” He grins at me. “Perhaps you are in luck after all. My name is Caleb Spade, and I run the Roi de Pique Casino in Calamity City. Which is where we’re heading.”
“Perfect,” I say despite the way my heart is pounding so quickly. I can’t stay in Calamity. I just can’t. There’s too much of a chance of being found there.Caughtthere. “If you can drop me off at the bus station when we get there, that’d be amazing.” I bat my eyelashes at him, slowly setting my hand on his thigh. “I’ll make it worth your while, Mr. Spade.”
“The bus station?” Caleb shakes his head with a smile. “It would be remiss of me to not feed you and let you shower first, wouldn’t it? You look like you need it.” He reaches out and runs his knuckles along my jaw. “And you did offer to pay me.”
I curse myself for running my mouth, but the perky smile on my lips never drops.
“Oh, I’d just get dirty again on the bus!” I chuckle. “And I can grab something to eat on the way. Tell you what.” I slide my hand higher up his thigh. “I can pay you right now.”
Caleb snorts and grabs my wrist. “There’s hardly enough room here for anything. And poor Vortex, he’d get such an earful with no way to take the edge off.”
I couldn’t give less of a damn about “poor Vortex,” who is obviously a grown man capable of keeping it in his pants no matter what kind of a show he gets.
Then again, I know plenty of grown men who aren’t capable of keeping anything to themselves, but that’s less of a concern than Caleb’s decision to keep me a little longer.
I cautiously try to pull my hand away, but Caleb’s hold on my wrist doesn’t loosen. If anything, it gets tighter.
Of fucking course I had to go and get myself picked up by someone who doesn’t just want a quick BJ in the back of the car.
“I can still make it worth your while,” I hint, but my attention is caught by Nacho wriggling loose of the bag. The flea-bitten purrball climbs out, crossing over my arm and heading straight for Caleb.
Caleb smiles down at Nacho and pets his little orange head. “We should feed him and get him a nice, soft bed too. With a door between us. Nobody wants a pet interrupting them.”
“Nacho doesn’t mind,” I say with an airy laugh. “Wise beyond his years. I suspect he’s a bit of a voyeur, really.”
“Then we have that in common.” Caleb scratches behind Nacho’s ears. “You enjoy being seen, Seven? We could arrange that.”
No.
No, I don’t like being seen.