Page 62 of Blind Luck

“How’s Trooper doing? I haven’t seen him since we were at the veterinarian.”

“He’s a happy little thing, although I’d say he can’t wait to get out of the cage. Is Sin coming back? She didn’t mention any plans to me.”

“I’m not sure. All I know is that they’re tracking some sick dude who calls himself AceInTheHole on the dark web.”

“The dark web? Isn’t that where the criminals hang out?”

“I hear there’s regular people too, but yup.”

Alexa had tried explaining more about it, but computers weren’t my strong point, so most of it had gone right over my head.

“You said earlier he was a poker-loving nutjob—did he lose money in the casino or something?” Rusty asked.

“Nobody knows, not yet. But ‘ace in the hole’ is a poker thing, that’s what Ari said.”

“And a golf thing. And an LGBTQ thing. And also a general term for a hidden advantage.”

“An LGBTQ thing? You mean ace?”

An old roommate of mine was ace, one of the few roommates who didn’t totally creep me out, and for a while, I’d wondered if I might be too, because I had zeroattraction to men. But then I’d developed a crush on Zach Torres and realised it wasn’t all men, just most of them. Clearly, the crush went the way of the dodo once I actually met Zach because lusting after Ari’s boyfriend would be weird and gross, but I couldn’t deny he was hot.

And now, sitting opposite Rusty, I realised I’d found another man to add to my “not a sleaze” list.

“My little sister’s favourite show used it to refer to an ace character,” he said. “But I agree the poker thing is more likely, seeing as we’re in Vegas. Do you want ketchup? This needs ketchup.”

Rusty rose to his feet, and the realisation that had been slithering in like a slow-rolling fog suddenly struck me like a hammer. This was what Zach and Ari had. What Kai and Maya had. Not the romance—because Kai and Maya were still avoiding that part—but the comfort of finding someone you liked and just hanging out with them. Obviously, Rusty wasn’t boyfriend material because he was still in love with Florence and also a super-rich hockey star, but he was nice. And if he was staying in town for a few more days on his wild goose chase, maybe I could use the time as practice? I knew now that there were at least three men in the world who weren’t assholes, possibly four because Cole seemed to be a good guy too. Perhaps there was another lurking somewhere?

If I found him, I found him. But otherwise, I was happy on my own. I had friends, a job I mostly enjoyed, and a place to stay with my brother.

It would be dangerous to wish for more and risk ruining what I already had.

The hoppel poppel did taste better with ketchup. Rusty had left my phone by my plate, and I checked the tracking app. Kelsey’s dot was at Miller, Sigmund, and Pace.

“She already got lunch,” he supplied. “We can kick back with a movie this afternoon. Your pick.”

Or not. Because five minutes later, the dot began to move. Rusty ran around covering dishes in foil like a pro while I put on shoes and grabbed my purse.

As we hurried out the front door, he touched a hand to the small of my back, then removed it just as quickly.

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” I took a deep breath and wished I hadn’t snapped in the veterinarian’s office. “It’s really okay.”

CHAPTER 21

ERIN

“Okay, you can open your eyes.”

We were in a parking lot. A big, grey parking lot. I looked up and saw a huge building in front of us withNevada Stormwritten on the side.

Yesterday, we’d hurtled out of the house in the middle of lunch, only for Kelsey to head right back to the Neptune. Did she feel sick? Get her work finished early? We’d never know because by the time we got there, she’d disappeared. And I sensed Rusty was growing sick of following her. Yesterday evening, I’d overheard him on the phone, telling someone it was a big waste of time.

This morning, he’d announced we were going out, but he refused to tell me where. A surprise, he said. I wasn’t expecting much. Hoppel poppel aside, surprises sucked. One time when I was working for an events company, my tyrant of a boss called me in on my day off because he forgot a whole freaking birthday party, and after I worked twelve hours serving drinks to overgrown frat boys, he thanked me with a “surprise” gift card. For five bucks. For a coffee shop his wife owned.

I quit, but I figured I might as well drink the free coffee, and that was how I overheard the fight. Although to be fair, his wife was screaming so loud, folks in North Carolina probably heard every word. The words “cheating bastard” and “divorce” were mentioned, so the five bucks actually turned out to be a pretty neat gift.

“We’re gonna watch ice hockey?” I asked Rusty.

---