Page 10 of Tainted Love

I laugh then realize I haven’t pulled my eyes away from hers to look at my new hand yet. I check it quickly. Two jacks, two fours, and an eight. My brow twitches.

“Dealer takes one.”

I trade the card with a new one, feeling her attention on me the whole time. My eyes fall to my cards. I pulled a third jack. Full house.

Lucy reaches into her pile of money and slides one dollar into the pot. I stare at her and she doesn’t even blink.

“You don’t seem to be very good at this,” she notes. “Perhaps Go Fish is more your game?”

I flex my jaw and add one dollar and twenty-five cents to the pot.

Her lips curl. “I raise,” she says, her smooth voice charging down my spine as she drops another dollar fifty in.

She can’t possibly have a hand better than a full house.

“I call.” I meet her bet and lay my cards down.

Her eyes flick to the floor between us and she smirks. “Not bad.”

I gesture to her cards. “Let’s see ‘em.”

Lucy holds the cards close to her chest. “Mr. Hart, why did you arrange this?” she asks.

“Arrange what?”

“This informal gathering.”

“Seemed like the right thing to do at the time.”

“Why?”

“Why not?”

“Zappia sent you to kill my father. Instead, you let him go and take his daughter home. That doesn’t exactly scream faithful employee to me.”

I study her eyes, hard yet expressive. “I saw an opportunity to make some cash on the side, so I took it.”

“Why would you need to if the Zappia family pays as well as you claim they do?”

I pause. “Lucy—”

“Ms. Vaughn. What would Mr. Zappia do if he found out you were playing good Samaritan to those he means to make an example of?”

I bite my lip. “Are you concerned for my well-being?”

“No, I just have a keen sense for bullshit.”

“Lucy—”

“Ms. V—”

“Lucy, I did you and your father a very risky favor tonight. Others would be grateful.”

“Others might be more than happy to bend over for the gangsters of this city, Mr. Hart. I’m not.”

“I’m not a gangster.”

“Then, what are you?”

---