Page 44 of Lucky or Knot
Keeping my cool while I drove the ten minutes to the dispensary, and then the ten further minutes to the parking lot, felt like a monumental effort, every cell in my body screaming at me to go faster and claw out and fuckingdo somethingas I braked and gripped the steering wheel and gritted my teeth and nearly crawled out of my own skin with impatience.
Right across the Strip from the parking garage, I hit traffic and stopped dead. Everyone honked and yelled, and in my rearview, a cop car edged its way through the jam and toward whatever bullshit had gone down.
The steering wheel let out an ominous creaking crack.
In desperation for something to do, I called Louie back,since I had to get that over with anyway.
“Tony, I’m glad you—”
I didn’t have the patience for whatever smarmy, sneering crap he had in mind. Louie liked to lean into the loan shark persona, indeterminate accent and gold pinky ring and all. Motherfucker.
“Get to the point,” I snapped. “I’ve got some of your money, not all of it, I’ll get you a payment…” Shit, when would I have the time? Later today, I’d take him the whole pile of cash I’d made in two busy, successful days at work, because I wouldn’t need it for rent, right? I’d be killing Cunningham and going to doublesupe, what the guys I knew who’d done time always called the supernatural maximum security facilities. “…tonight, I have cash for you. My parents are broke so don’t bother, I already told you that. Also, my mom might eat you. Anything else to add?”
A short pause followed, kind of like the moment of quiet before the tea kettle whistled.
“The fuck did you just say to me?” Louie demanded. “You threatening me? With yourmom?”
“You threatened to call my mom, so I’m not sure—yeah, fuck you too! No, that wasn’t for you. I’m in traffic. Fuck you too, though, Louie, now you fucking mention it.”
A low chuckle and some static crackled out of my phone, where I had it precariously leaned against the dash with the speaker on. My car was too old for Bluetooth, or I’d have sold it to pay Louie a long time ago.
“You’ll regret that,” he said, totally failing to make me give a shit. Raven would be able, and probably willing, to take care of Louie and get him off my parents’ back while I was in prison, I figured. Not that they’d care about their house once I went away. “I fucking own you, Tony.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I growled absently, because the cop had made his way through at last and it looked like we were allmerging right, and if I didn’t manage to get some forward motion of some kind—Raven crying, Raven bruised, Raven cursing my name, fuck—I was going to vibrate out of the car and into another dimension. “Fucking move! Not you. Louie, dude, if you call my mom before I get to you with the cash, I won’t bring it. So up to you. Later.”
And I poked the end button hard enough that the phone went flying down into the passenger footwell.
A minute later I finally screeched across Las Vegas Boulevard cursing and gesticulating, the way the gods intended, made it to the garage, and parked with a jolt.
Fuck Louie, Jesus. What a son of a bitch. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been paying him off in increments.I fucking own you. Right, as if that’d stand up in court outside of some Shakespeare silliness. Maybe a fae court.
Maybe a…fuck me sideways.
For a second I simply sat there, staring at the filthy marks on the concrete wall in front of my car, frozen into stillness.
Louie thought he owned me. Which meant he’d probably be willing to sell me.
By shitty fairy law, Cunningham did own Raven, in exchange for that coin.
The coin that wanted symmetry, that would only leave Raven and free him from Cunningham if he could somehow flip the deal he’d made on its head.
Paying me for the same thing he’d been paidforhadn’t worked. But what about using the coin an alpha had used to buy him…to buy his very own alpha in turn? Louie had one for sale. Not the highest quality, maybe, and preowned always came with risks. But definitely available, and beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Anyway, I’d do the begging for both of us.
Please, fuck, let him be all right.
I got out of the car, slammed the door behind me, and setout to put my plan into motion.
Chapter 15
Sean was waiting for me this time, fiddling with his phone and frowning.
“Shit, fuck, I’m sorry I’m late,” I said, and handed him the dispensary bag as he looked up. “Light up if you want, but I need information. And a favor.” He really wouldn’t like that, but then…shit. “And another one after that, probably. If that party’s still happening, I need to get in. First info, though. Did Cunningham leave the hotel? Did he take, uh, my guy with him?”
I had a hundred other questions running through my mind, and the energy of momentum fizzing in my blood, but I forced myself to shut up and give Sean a chance to answer.
Gods, maybe I could get around killing Cunningham and ruining the rest of my life. Not that Cunningham didn’t deserve to be killed, but with a tiny bit of hope for another solution now glimmering in front of me at the end of the tunnel, I could admit that Raven had a point. There were better ways.
