Page 9 of Hard Luck (Blackstone House)

The smile softened his whole face, and I felt almost guilty as he tucked me close against him. But this was for the best. Cole didn’t belong in this dark world I lived in.

“What the?—”

He slapped at his thigh as I withdrew the syringe, but it was too late. The ketamine was already coursing through his bloodstream.

“Goodnight, Cole. It’s been an adventure.”

CHAPTER 4

JEZEBEL

Priest perched on the credenza in Cole’s living room, arms folded, legs crossed at the ankles, and he didn’t look thrilled to be there. Although every so often, his lips twitched, and I couldn’t work out whether he was mega pissed or trying not to laugh.

“Well, Jezebel, you sure hit the jackpot tonight.”

Tulsa was sitting on the arm of the chair I was currently parked in, and she couldn’t resist poking the bear.

“Just for clarification, are you talking about all the dead bodies or the fine gentleman unconscious in the bed upstairs?”

Priest blew out a breath and raised his gaze to the ceiling.

“You could bounce quarters off that ass,” Dice put in as she taped black plastic over the windows. “It would’ve been a shame if someone shot it up.”

There was a medic with Cole now, the same medic who’d strapped up my leg, and a spoilsport had covered those glorious butt cheeks with a sheet. But not before Tulsa, Dice, and Sin had shown up to admire the view. I was never going to hear the end of this.

“You have no idea why these men were here?” Sin asked.

“Nope. Do you recognise any of them?”

Sin—or Super Intel Nerd, to use her full nickname—was our intelligence specialist. Mostly, she dealt with bigger-picture issues, governments, military, and foreign agents, but she still kept her ear to the ground in Vegas.

And now she poked one of the dead guys with a toe. “This jackass looks familiar. I think he worked for the Sad Hatter a few years ago.”

“The coke dealer?”

The Sad Hatter had gotten his moniker because he favoured a fedora and always looked thoroughly miserable.

“Yup. His crew scattered after he went to prison. What do you know about Cole?”

“Not much,” I admitted. “I picked him because he was pretty, and I didn’t even realise he lived in Vegas until we ended up here.”

“This place is weird.” Dice crinkled her nose as she looked around. “Like he bought the contents at an estate sale. Could somebody pass the scissors?”

“Maybe he bought the house and furniture as-is?” Sin helped Dice to cut another piece of plastic to size. Once we’d covered the windows, we could light the place up properly. “I’ll check the property records.”

The pieces still didn’t fit. “I don’t think he bought the house. He only had forty bucks in his wallet, and he basically said he was poor. Plus the address on his driver’s licence is in San Gallicano.”

“Okay, maybe he’s poor because he spent all his money on somewhere to live?” Sin tapped away on her tablet. “Oh, wait a minute… This place is registered to a company. Nebula 68, Inc.”

“Should be Nebula 69,” Dice muttered.

I glared at her. “No, it shouldn’t.”

“So you’re telling me you didn’t have a little taste? Go on, let’s see how good you are at lying.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t taste it; I’m saying that I did it in a different position.”

“Nebula 69 would still capture the spirit of the event, don’t you think?”

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