Page 233 of Waiting Game

Cole: That’s all I ask.

Gray: Liam, do you think that’s fair?

Liam: Tabarnak.

Liam: I guess so.

Gray: Anyway, your heart’s not in it. If you really wanted to fuck Cole up, you’d have brought Trent, Noah, and Kow in on this war.

Matt: Yeah, they’re trying to make up for years of sucking as brothers lol so you know they’d have fun torturing Cole if they knew the truth.

Cole: Please, guys, stop helping me

Matt: You’re a big boy, Cole. You can take it. ??

Cole: ??

CHAPTER 42

MIA

Crystal - Stevie Nicks

I’m toobusy panicking to even see the hand that settles in front of my face until Cole clucks his tongue. “Baby.”

I jerk backward and stare with wide eyes at the woman in front of me who introduces herself as: “Rachel Laker.”

“This is your lawyer, Mia,” Cole assures me as my eyes grow ever wider.

“Call me Rachel,” she asserts.

I cast a glance between the two of them and blurt out, “I didn’t do this.”

Rachel shrugs. “Whether you did or didn’t, I’m damn good at what I do.”

“Aren’t you supposed to believe that your clients are innocent?”

Her smile makes an appearance—it reminds me of a shark who’s found itself at a comedy club. “Thankfully, no.”

“But I really didn’t do it,” I whisper miserably, shaking fingers swiping at my already-leaking eyes.

God, I’m such a mess.

“She had no need to,” Cole inserts, shoving the card album that he’s been clutching to his chest as if it’s a newborn baby at her. “This is worth millions, Rachel.”

She accepts the album and her brow lifts as she starts to flip through the pages. “Even I recognize some of these names. It belongs to you, Mia?”

I swallow. “It’s been in the family for decades. Since my great-granddaddy played professional baseball.”

“You heard of Marty Charles, Rachel?”

Her lips quirk at the corner. “Who hasn’t? Didn’t he say, ‘A coffin doesn’t come with a bank account?’”

“Sage words from an inveterate gambler who lost everything,twice,before he hit forty-five,” I mutter, quite capable of being disapproving even in my current state of freak-out.

Rachel hums then gets right to business. “I spoke with the sergeant on duty. They think this is insurance fraud.”

“But it isn’t,” I whisper. “I don’t even know if thereisinsurance on the damn bar, never mind for how much.”

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