Page 19 of Dead Man's Hand

“Everyone just stay where you are,” Lloyd ordered as he motioned with the weapon in his hands. “This is between me and Diamond.”

Max and Bob quickly stepped away from the table and the huge pile of money in the middle. “Easy,” DJ said. “It’s just a friendly game of poker.”

“Like hell,” Lloyd said as Keith left the couch with a bag in his hand. “Cash us out,” Lloyd told him. Keith grinned as he began to scoop the money into the bag, taking not just the pot, but any money that had been in front of the players.

“What’s the deal here?” Bob asked, sounding confused and scared. It seemed pretty clear to DJ what was happening. He’d been set up and was now being ripped off along with everyone else.

“I don’t want any trouble,” the trucker said, stepping even farther back. Bob and Frank had both frozen where they stood at the sight of the gun in Lloyd’s hand. Bob looked jittery, as if he badly needed a drink. Frank on the other hand stood watching expressionless, seeming to be assessing the situation.

DJ expected someone in the room to do something stupid before this was over. But he figured Lloyd was expecting the same thing. The man still had Sadie in a headlock and his own gun pointed in the general direction of the three of them; Bob was to his right, Frank to his far left. The trucker had moved closer to the door.

Unfortunately, the table was between DJ and Lloyd, not to mention the gun or the man’s arm cutting off Sadie’s air.

“Got a message for you, Diamond, from Mr. Grandville,” Lloyd said. “Pay up and get out of town. You’re not welcome in Butte.”

The tension in the room kicked up a few more notches. Frank swore and stepped farther back. “What the hell?” Bob said angrily. “DJ, you didn’t tell me you were mixed up with the Grandvilles.” He looked like he wanted to take a swing at him.

DJ felt the tension reaching a fevered pitch. Why didn’t Lloyd and Keith just take the money and leave if that’s what this was about? Because they’d come for more than the money. He had to get Sadie away from them. She wasn’t part of this. Unless they knew differently. In that case, they were both as good as dead.

“Which Grandville in particular sent this message?” he asked, surprised how calm he sounded. “Titus or Marcus?”

“Does it matter?” Lloyd snapped.

“Actually, it does.”

“They both want you gone, along with that PI from Lonesome who’s looking for you,” Lloyd said. “Seems you have family looking for you. You must owe them money, too.”

DJ frowned. He had a PI from Lonesome looking for him? Something about family? That didn’t sound right. Actually, none of this felt right. According to Keira, her husband, Luca, was staying just outside of Lonesome in the mountains at Charley’s cabin.

He met Sadie’s gaze, his full of apology. She was fighting to breathe but still looked angry and determined. He tried not to show how afraid he was for her. All his instincts told him that this wasn’t going to end well, and he had only himself to blame. But he knew that he would die trying to save her.

SADIEWASFILLEDwith a cold dread as she watched the scene unfold. Lloyd kept cutting off her air. She’d leaned into him, trying to relieve some of the pressure as she calculated what they could do to get out of this. It wasn’t her nature to give up. There was always a way out of a mess, wasn’t there?

She’d hoped that Lloyd and Keith would just take the money and leave. But she could see that it wasn’t going to happen. This was personal.

DJ had realized it, too. She saw it in those blue eyes of his. She couldn’t bear seeing his regret. He thought he was about to get them both killed. She wasn’t ready to give up so easily. Also she knew that he’d risk his life to save her. She couldn’t live with his blood on her hands.

For a moment she was overwhelmed with her feelings for the cowboy. He’d gotten her into this, and she should have been furious with him. But instead, all she felt was love, and that alone made her angry with herself, with him and with this jackass who had her in a headlock.

The Grandvilles had apparently set them up, that much was clear. Lloyd had known about her and DJ. He’d known she had a gun. He’d also known that they were here to make money to pay back Titus Grandville.

When he’d grabbed her, twisting the gun from her hand and dropping it back into her shoulder bag as he pulled her to her feet, she’d been taken off guard. She’d been so sure that Frank was the one they had to fear.

Now as she watched the others, feeling the pressure rising to the point where everything was going to blow, she knew she couldn’t wait much longer to do something. These men weren’t through with her and DJ. She didn’t think they would kill everyone in the room. But they weren’t going to let her and DJ walk away. She would have to act.

For a moment, she’d been distracted by Bob, who definitely looked as if he wanted to pick a fight with DJ. So she hadn’t seen how Frank had maneuvered himself out of her line of vision—and Lloyd’s—behind DJ. Keith had gone back to the old sofa and was busy counting the money.

She thought that no one had noticed Frank as he reached down and came up with the gun except her. If he fired, she feared Lloyd would shoot DJ. But before she could squeeze in her next breath, the door into the room was suddenly flung open.

“Everyone. Drop your weapons!” yelled a cowboy with a gun standing in the doorway. “Hands up! No one gets hurt!”

All she could think in that instant wasThis is it. This is the game that will get me killed—and DJ, too.

Chapter Ten

Sadie had no idea who the man was. But the distraction was enough that she saw what might be her only chance—and so did DJ. He launched himself across the table toward her and Lloyd as she drove her elbow into Lloyd’s ribs and grabbed for his gun. But not quickly enough. As DJ crashed into them, the gun went off, the sound of the shot deafening in the confines of the room.

Had DJ been hit? Her heart dropped.

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