Page 18 of Blue-Eyed Jacks
“I don’t intend on it.After the shelter, what happens?”
“Anything you want.My job ends at getting you in the pick-up van.They don’t give out addresses, and I won’t know where you are or anything.”
“But what if something goes wrong?What if I need—”
This is where things would get complicated.She’d already attached to me.“I go back to being the same shitty asshole I’ve always been.And you forget about me.”
Her mouth opened to argue.
“No, Kate.I’m dead, just as dead to you as Shock.More so.He’ll kill me.Don’t call.”
And I was officially an asshole.The crinkle between her eyebrows gave her thoughts away, even if she didn’t say them.
“Sleep.Tomorrow is going to be a lot for you.Did you take your medicine?”
I noticed her slip a pill earlier.I sincerely hoped those were from the hospital, not something Shock got her hooked on.Maybe Ishould ask?
Or maybe I should justnotgive a fuck.It would be a lot easier to cover my tracks if I did.Shock would know she had help.And if that nurse talked, fingers would point.All it would take was a little jog of memory, and he’d remember how I stood between him and Kate at the junkyard.Another jog, a few calls, and Disney’s alibi would fall flat.He’d tell whoever asked that I was with a chick.
Maybe I should’ve taken the alibi a little further from the truth?
It would be a long ass day for me, too.
But if Kate got the help she needed and never came back, life would be fine.Eventually, Shock would forget about her.Move on to a new girl.And then I’d be in the clear.
I only needed time.And a teleportation device to be as far away from Kate as possible.
But if wishes were landmines, there’d be body parts flying everywhere.
“I’ll take it now.”
The defeat in her voice killed me.I pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled.Solitaire was no fun with a marked deck, so I dealt out two hands.“You play gin?”
“Gin rummy?”She settled on the end of the bed, crisscross applesauce.Her bare knees mocked me.
“Yup.I’d offer spades, but you probably didn’t learn with the best spades players on the planet so…” Even not trying to hustle her, I slipped back into the habit.
“I know hearts.Same thing.”
Our eyes met.In the dim lamplight, I couldn’t see any color at all.Only light gray.But she was smiling.If only on the inside, it was enough to light up her face.Her cheekbones disappeared under rounded cheeks, and her lips were… off limits.“That’s a metaphor for us, you know?I’m spades, you’re hearts.”
“The Jack of Death, huh?”
“And the Queen of Hearts.”Shit.Why did I say something so sappy?“Did you know they call the Jacks knaves?”I cut the deck and offered her a pick to see who had the lowest card.That player would go first.
“You’re a knave, alright.”She pulled a two.
I flipped over my card, a Jack.I hadn’t even looked at the marks.That boded well.
“I try.”Just like I tried not to pay any attention to the backs of her cards.But she made it damn easy for me to see the scratched corners.And because she made it easy, I made it easier for her to win.She’d been dealt too many shit hands in her life so far.
After four games, we called it quits.I won one just to make it seem fair, but she was catching on.“Do you always carry a marked deck?”
I threw my hand down.“What gave it away?”
She sifted through the discard pile and pulled the queen I’d practically gift-wrapped for her.The one she ignored.“You had the run.”
“I did.”
