Page 5 of Queen Of WildCards

Gemmaused the ride-share apps so often, she knew most of her neighborhood drivers by name.Andthey knew her well enough, too.I'deven met a few.

"Okay, so you know your drivers, and they know to expect you.Iassume they know well enough to call if you don't cancel a ride on your own."Thepot with the noodles was boiling over onto the fire, soItugged it out of the way and scrambled one-handed for a strainer, scalding myself in the process with the thick steam. "Shit, that stings!"

Gemma'sbubbly giggle erupted from the receiver. "Whatdid you do, smartass?"

"Justa little burn,"Iassured her asIfought tears back.Itwas more than a little burn, but nothingIhadn't seen before. "Keeptalking."

"We'regoing to a movie in the park, andIchecked to make sure there was adequate security around, andI'llbe sharing my location with at least two contact people, so that there will be someone aware of my location at all times."Shehesitated for a second, then cleared her throat. "Ialso packed some condoms, just in case—"

"Jesus,Gemma, you've been on one date with this guy.You'rereally gonna trust him to stick his dick in you already?"

Iwinced whenIrealizedI'dessentially called my best friend a whore.

"I'msorry.Thatwas uncalled for."

Gemmashuffled around on the other end of the line, andIrealizedIwas being dismissed. "Sorry,Mal, butI'vegotta go get ready.I'lltouch base with you whenIget back?"

"Yeah, sure,"Imuttered, but she was already gone, the heavyclickresounding in my ear.

Itwasn't untilIwas in my bathroom minutes later, wrapping up the minor burn on my wrist, thatIrealized she hadn't asked me to sync up for location.Hadn'teven mentioned it.

Sowho had she planned to location share with?

You'renot her only friend,a little jealous voice in the back of my head echoed faintly.She'snormal, not codependent on one or two people like you.

Gemmawas allowed to have other friends.Theyprobably didn't pester the fuck out of her like she was a teenager still likeIdid.Theyalso probably didn't know her likeIdid, but that was beside the point.

Ijust wanted to protect thoseIloved.Thatwas it.

Itwas my greatest flaw.

AndoneIwas sureI'deventually come to hate.

CHAPTERTHREE

SPADE

Tonightwasn't gonna end well.Itwasn't thatIcould predict the future or anything, or thatIhad insider information.

Callit a vibe.

Andtonight had some seriously hinky ones.

I'dbeen tasked with picking upJoker'sdumb ass from the jail afterAcepulled no shortage of strings to get him out.Ofcourse, the first thing this moron would do was pickpocket the keys and drive us straight to a bar.

Jokerdrunk wasn't always a good time, either.Andfrom the downturned lilt to his lips,Icould tell tonight was gonna be a rough one.

Sure, it wasn't my place to have his back, andImight not be a drinker, per se, butI'dstick it out nonetheless since someone had to.Wewere a family, no matter how fucked up some of uswere.

Someof us being all of us, really.

Thepad of my thumb ran absently over my knuckles, the faint sting from the open wounds like a pleasant thrum in my body.Ihad to beat a man near to death before this, and the guards had given me some weird looks when they saw my split knuckles, but they wisely said nothing until we were well out of earshot.

Joker, however, didn't have the kind of filter needed to discern he shouldn't open his mouth about it.

Soof course, he did just that.

"Where'sthe fight tonight, pal?"

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