Page 81 of Queen Of WildCards

Iknew all their little weaknesses, thanks to him.

Well, almost all of them.

Hestared at the plate asIslid it in front of him like he hadn’t had food in the three weeks he’d been gone, and without a word, he lifted the fork from the ceramic dish and started shoveling food into his mouth, somehow still managing to make it look proper and somewhat elegant.Iwasn’t convinced he wouldn’t choke, he was going so fast.

Imade myself a plate and joined him, pleased he was at least eating something.Hemight not be talking to me right now, but he accepted food, which was a big step for him.

Hissilence lasted all the way through his plate of food until we were both staring at empty dishes sitting in front of us, neither one eager to break the silence.

Itprobably would have gone on like that forever if not for the sound of my phone’s vibration going off in my back pocket.Ace’seyes snapped up at the faint buzzing, and it was as if he’d snapped out of the trance with a code word, like he’d suddenly awoken from a dream.

“Whothe fuck let you have a phone?”

Ishrugged and silently willed it to stop vibrating, but if it was one of the boys–and who else would it be at this point?--they wouldn’t stop calling tilIpicked up.Witha heavy sigh,Ipulled it from my pocket and flipped the screen up to see who’d be talking toAce.

Whata surprise.“Spade, actually, though it wasJoker’sidea.”

Hisbrows quirked up as his scowl deepened–great, he’s back to normal.“Handit the fuck over.”

Ilaid down the fancy android and slid it across the table, wincing as he slammed his fingers into it and lifted the receiver to his ear.

“Whythe fuck does the captive have a phone?”

Iwinced at his tone, already hating the fact that he was back andIwas here alone.Therewas no running from this one, oh no.Ifhe decided he wanted to do something to me, he’d do it, andIwouldn’t stand a chance of escaping him.

“Soyou trust her?Howadorable.Andalso stupid.”

“Ididchoose to stay here, you know,”Iinterjected, but one look from the side ofAce’seyes had me clamming up again.

Heturned his attention back to the phone, grumbling as he listened to the man on the other end.Whenhe’d heard what he needed to, he ended the call without a word to the other party and pocketed my phone.Mysputtered protests met that impassive, dead gaze again, and after a minute of them falling on deaf ears,Isimply gave up.

Talkingto this man would do me no good.Mightas well save my breath.

“Whetheryou chose to stay or not, you only did so to save your own life; therefore, it’s loyalty bought, not loyalty given.Idon’t trust you as far asIcan throw you.”Hisgaze slithered up and down my body pointedly, pretending he saw something there that disgusted him. “Andthat’s not far to begin with, mind you.”

Stupidfucking liar.Iknew damn wellIwasn’t a pound over one-fifty, and he could suck my asshole if he thought otherwise.Plus,Iknew my body turned him on no matter what he said.Hisescapades in the kitchen proved as much.

“Yeah, well, you’ll have to start trusting me eventually, ya chucklefuck, or you’ll be wasting a ton of your time chasing around a woman you pretend you don’t want.”

Hisgrowl permeated the air almost as well as the thick, sharpthudof his fist against the tabletop. “Idon’t want my crewmates’ sloppy seconds, bitch.”

“Sloppy?”Howfucking rude.Iwas the completeoppositeof sloppy, andIwas nobody’s seconds. “Howcome when a man sees four chicks at once, he’s a player, but when a woman does it, she’s a whore?”

Hedidn’t answer me, andIdidn’t want him to.Iwanted to shove his smug fucking smirk down that arrogant mouth, right past his too-straight, too-white teeth, wearing nothing but a grin of victory.

Butthat wouldn’t do anything for me now.Andhe’d likely just put that gun back to my head and end me ifIpushed any more.

“Fine, be that way.Clearly, whatever you did and wherever you went did absolutely nothing for yoursunny fucking disposition,you prick.”Itossed my hair over one shoulder and wandered to the sink, dumping my coffee cup with a bit more flourish than was necessary.Iwas fuming, absolutelylivid,andIwasn’t about to let him see how his bullshit affected me.

Noway, no how.

“Whereare you going?” he asked in a dry monotone asImarched for the kitchen door, dirty dishes forgotten until later.

Ididn’t bother to turn around, choosing instead to flip him off behind my head asIstrolled on out and into the hallway.

Ifhe wanted to pursue me, that was on him.Iwasn’t spending any more time in his presence thanIhad to, and now that he’d taken my phone, there wasn’t much to do but sit around and read or tidy up the guys’ rooms.

SoIstarted inJoker’s.

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