Page 86 of Falcon's Prey

Her words killed me.

I knew it wasn’t easy for her to admit. She was proud, and we’d been playing this game for a long time, but I think we both were getting tired of it. She felt like mine, like nothing in this life ever had. I’d grown up in the streets, never having anything to call my own. She’d grown up with everything, but never given her whole self to anyone. Yet here we were. She knew who I was and burrowed closer to me, finding beauty in my shadows. I liked her wickedness, thrived in making it come out. She was a jewel to the whole world, and I was the only one who got all of her.

The dealer looked at me, silently asking if I folded. My eyes stayed on Gideon’s; he didn’t fold either. I could taste the anguish in the room. It was evident Gideon and I knew each other. I didn’t have to turn back to look at Zeke and Pam to know both of them were eager to see who would win.

“Straight flush.” I put my card on the table, feeling confident when Gideon leaned back his shoulder and slumped. Ember took a relieved breath.

Gideon jumped up with a smirk on his face, and I felt like I got sucker punched.

“Royal flush, Falcon.” He winked at me. “Must be the British in me.”

Zeke started to hoot, and Pam was nowhere in sight.

“Take your prize,” Zeke said. I was about to get up to get Ember when hands came at me, pushing me down. Zeke’s guard from earlier was holding me down to the chair while another ripped Ember out of my arms.

“Don’t. Touch. Her.” An animalistic growl left my mouth.

“Ren!” Ember screamed, trying to pry herself out of his hold.

Her eyes were coming to me, begging me to save her. I’d never felt more helpless than I did at this moment.

“Mates, not cool.” Gideon strolled without a care to where the guards held Ember. “Didn’t anyone tell you how to treat a lady? Whore, prostitute, virgin, prude, all the same.”

He then pulled his winnings, looking at me and then at Zeke. “Thank you for your hospitality. It was a pleasure playing with you all, but I won’t be needing this. Fucking this cold bastard over is more than enough for me.”

He walked to the guards. “Come on, love. I have plans for you.”

I watched as the guards let her go, and Gideon put a hand to Ember’s mouth, stopping her from talking shit to him.

“I would appreciate it if you gave me a five-minute window getting out of here.”

“My pleasure.” Zeke toasted.

My eyes met Ember’s through the sea of people. They begged me to save her. Before I could call out her name, my head was bashed into the poker table, making everything spin.

Since I was little,I’d learned to master my poker face. I might be in pain and dying inside, but I didn’t want the world to know it. Fear was something I could control. I remembered my father sitting me down to talk to me. I was so excited that day; I thought he’d finally taken an interest in me and my hobbies. He wanted to know what I was like as a person and not just the fact that I was his daughter. I was naïve. My father treated me like another business meeting, starting with how had I been to asking about the weather, then gave me some “this is not easy to say, blah, blah” bullshit.

Someone wanted him dead.

Relief—I remembered feeling relived. As if that would make my father want to keep me close and love me.

So, I learned to live with death as a shadow.

Now, pain was another story. I was practically born with it. I tended to put things in nice little boxes in my mind and store them away and pretend they weren’t happening or hadn’t happened. My time with Silas was in them.

Now all of those emotions I’d neglected and diminished were pouring out of every cell of my body.

The hands that held me were all wrong. They were strong, but not protective. The mouth that kept me from screaming bloody murder was rough and cold, not warm and teasing. My eyes found Ren, and he had a murderous look in his eyes.

“Time for us to go,” Gideon said.

Not like I had a choice. Gideon started to drag me out of the boat, which wasn’t all that hard since I was basically skin and bones.

His tatted hand still covered my mouth. Since he’d gotten to the room, I knew he and Ren didn’t have the best of relationships. I’d been around Ren, and nothing fazed him, but the moment Gideon spoke, he froze.

He was handsome.

Tall, fair, with a youthfulness to his face that no one would dare call babyish by the wicked glint in his gaze. Whiskey eyes that drowned you, and tattoos peeking from his neck and on his hands. There was also something dark and alluring about him. With Ren, it was controlled; you saw it lurking behind his gaze. With Gideon, it was all around him. Pure controlled chaos.

---