Page 83 of Falcon's Prey

“If I were you, Ember, I’d tread real careful while we’re up there,” Ren growled in my ear.

“Or what? You’ll kill me?”

“I’ll show you how much I don’t miss and drill into your cunt in front of everyone in the room. Show them that I was the one who got the diamond.”

My chest was rising and falling by the time he let go of my head. He kept his hold on me as we walked to the top. Before we walked onto the top level, I asked him a question I feared asking. One, because I didn’t know what the truth of it would mean, or two, he could be lying to me.

“If you lose, what happens?”

He stopped and looked at me. I always felt so small under the weight of his scrutiny. I was the rich one, the one who had power, but he always made me feel so insignificant, like I was wasting my life away.

His fingers came to my chin. Not harsh, not too soft, but with enough pressure to take him seriously. “Not going to lose.”

“You don’t know that,” I whispered.

“Then I’ll kill everyone in this room.”

And I knew he meant every word. Maybe he wasn’t just a reaper. Maybe, just maybe, he was my angel of death.

My words shocked Ember—hell,they shocked me too. I’d rather die trying to kill every fucker than watch someone else who wasn’t me leave with Ember.

Her words from earlier didn’t hurt. I didn’t spend all this time with her without learning about her. She was proud, and when backed in a corner, she looked for weakness and attacked. She was a ruthless little thing, and it didn’t disgust me as much as I pretended it did. So, no, her words didn’t hurt, but they made my blood boil. It was a feeling I never knew nor had time for, but I was now becoming intimately acquainted with.

Jealousy didn’t belong in my type of work. Being jealous made you weak. It made the object of said jealousy a target. I told myself that Ember already had a target on her back, so whatever I did wouldn’t be much of a difference.

They led us to the chairs starting out at small tables, knocking out the competition one by one. I went to one and Pamela to another. Double our chances at a big winning.

Ember was about to take a seat next to me when I held on to her hand. She looked at it and at me like it burned. As if my touch was causing her pain. My mind immediately went to the night I brought her with me, the first night of withdrawals, and my jaw clenched.

“You’re sitting in my lap, princess.” I spread my legs, guiding her to sit on my left side. “Seats are only for the players.”

She snorted but did as I said. “I’m sure I could stand behind you.”

“I want you right here with me.”

“Of course you do,” she sassed.

What she didn’t know was that the meaning I had behind it was not the one she was thinking about.

Ember had gotten us through the door, but it was up to Pam and me to do the rest, or I’d lose Ember, and I wasn’t ready for that. I moved my knee up and added pressure on Ember’s waist to bring her body down to grind on my thigh as I put my cut on the table. Poker was all about skill, reading people, and maybe just a little bit of luck.

“You play?” I softly asked Ember as our table started to fill out.

When she started to shake her head, I moved my knee, bouncing it a bit.

“I don’t have the patience for these types of games.”

She was not the patient type; of that, I was more than aware.

“I’ll teach you,” I told her.

Pam had worked her charisma voodoo on Zeke and made him think it was his idea that Ember would be part of the grand prize. Not just for him, but everyone. If he didn’t win her, there would be more of a chance that I didn’t either. This provided more of a distraction for us to earn more money and not have him bitter. The fight was next week, and I needed in on it.

This game needed to be over so we could move on to higher-paying games. A grand was nothing out of all the cash I needed to score.

When I moved to put more chips in, I moved my leg again and inwardly smirked at the way Ember trembled in my lap.

“Stop moving,” she hissed.

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